Merrie Monarch

The Merrie Monarch is a week-long cultural festival with a focus on hula.  The festival is named after King David Kalakaua, the last king of the Kingdom of Hawaii (1836-1891, reigned 1874-1991).  He was known as the Merrie Monarch for his love of the joyful elements of life and was a patron of the arts.

The festival is extremely popular and it's very hard to get tickets for the main hula competitions, but there are some free events including exhibition performances by some of the competing groups and local hula schools.

Manalani Mili Hokoana English - 2013 Miss Aloha Hula

A few short videos of some these groups are here.

First preparations for the start of Phase II

We received the first delivery of materials for construction of the main house -- lumber for the concrete forms, rebar for the concrete, and concrete footings.

Lumber and rebar

Some of the footings

The house pad (where the 25 cubic yards of gravel went) and more footings. Stakes show the approximate location of the house.

House pad with stakes and string showing location of the front lanai.

Chicks are nearly full grown

The chicks are nearly as big as their mother.  Unfortunately, one of them was caught by a mongoose when they were still much smaller.  The mother hen fought off the mongoose once, but during a later attack, she wasn't able to save the chick.

Here they're resting in their natural habitat.

Closet poles installed

The poles in one closet were installed, so now we have a place to hang our clothes!

The wood is mahogany. It had to be cut to size, sanded, stained, and finished before installation.

Upper

 Lower

Both

Hilo Heart Walk & chicks

Kaiser Permanente, where Diana works, participated in the annual Hilo Heart Walk, and we went to show our support.

The walk begin at the Liliuokalani Gardens on Hilo Bay, through the Bayfront Park, and then back.  It was cloudy and rained a little, but most of the time it was nice and cool.

The turnout was much larger than we expected.

A group from the local culinary school

 Views of the bay along the route.

The chicks are growing and are starting to get their real feathers.  Here they are huddling under a bale of hay.

Water tank is full

It's been raining a lot lately, and the water tank has gone from about 40% full when we first set it up and got water delivered to 100% full.  That's 10,000 gallons.

More Fun with Chicks

Before their feathers grow in, the chicks don't retain heat well, and at the end of the day, they sometimes get under mom's wings to stay warm--or use other methods.

Rain

It rained a bit yesterday.

The "Rain Total" on the rain gauge is how much it rained yesterday.

Chicks are Already Growing

The chicks are only a few days old, but they are already bigger and a lot steadier on their feet.

Baby Chicks

The eggs under the house hatched, and we have five chicks.
This is their first foray out into the world, and their first meal.

 The regular cracked corn chickenfeed is a too big for them, so we need to get some chick feed.

 Following mom back under the house after a tiring walk out and a meal.

Looking at the chicks, we have a pretty good idea of who the father is ....

Buffy, the Buff Orpington rooster.