A couple of newcomers

[JWFITZ]

Funny thing, and it's demonstrative. . .

No pigs out here. There were when I got here. I haven't seen evidence of a pig in a year. I'm not kidding.

I expect they all got et'

[tlboyles1]

Hi KathyH, I appreciate your comments. I assure all of you that I am not into judging others on an individual level. On the other hand, I do have to admit that I have been saying for many, many years that by and large (stereotyping, I know) Americans are pigs. I grew up when the average family size was 5 and the average house was 1200 sq. ft. with one bathroom. Now the average size household is 2.something and if you don't have the formal living room that no one is allowed to use, plus the casual living room and maybe another "great" room as well as 3 or 4 bathrooms enclosed within 3,000 or more square feet... well you must be poor or something. Looking at new housing developments around here, that's the only thing they are building (well, maybe starting at 2500 sq ft). I mean....WHY??? And the vehicles.... that's a whole 'nother story that parallels the housing one. I've read articles about new housing developments in India and other countries that are developing a middle class and are following the US model. If the whole world goes that way, I'm just afraid that this planet will be nothing but a dead cinder when we are done with it. Just because we can afford to consume and waste doesn't necessarily give us the right to do it. One thing I've noticed is a difference between quantity and quality. Many want the quantity. I said I have little in common with the stereotypical American Dream. I just don't see bigger and more as being better. That's just me, and each to his own.... really. I just have no use for it. Given a certain amount of money, I would much prefer a small, very well built home than the typical 2500-300 sq ft with the shoddy construction that is so common in this country. But again each to his own. I am a mainlander, and I just happen not to aspire to the same things that "most" mainlanders aspire to. Does that make me a different kind of mainlander? I really don't know. I am who I am and it matters to me that I will be accepted by people that already live on the island. I still say it's sad to see lots bulldozed just so the owner can build the same thing in Fern Forest as the thing they left on the mainland, when there is so much beauty in the natural flora of the place. But again, I DO TRY not to be judgmental about those that do. I just really have nothing in common with that way of living. Live and let live is always the best way. The worst thing that can happen, and I hope it doesn't happen in Fern Forest is this.... Living in Seattle for many many years, starting in the 70's, there were really GREAT beach communities, such as Alki Beach where kids, causing no harm to anyone, regularly "cruised" the strip along the beach, just to see and be seen (It's what kids do, and was harmless). People from other parts of the country with much higher home values started moving in and driving up the prices. Once people who paid $1,000,000 (minimum) and up for their homes became the norm, they started complaining about the street traffic, and that they paid all this money for their home and want it stopped. Well, money talks, city council caved in, and they started ticketing people that drove past the beach more than 3 times in a given amount of time. When that kind of thing happens, it's all over as far as I'm concerned. All the kids have to do any more is sit at home and do drugs. And please don't accuse me of being anti-drugs for making that statement, I am definitely not. I just think it's sad that some of these alternative forms of recreation that used to be available for kids or not there now. And heaven help those that don't want to conform to the "new" breed that moved in. People who lived there in peace their whole lives....they don't make it/are force to move out. Call me judgmental, but I would really hate to see something like that to happen to any place in Puna district. It is entirely possible.

[Barbara]

The size of your house is irrelevant. Means nothing, nada, zip.
The size of your heart, your contribution to the well-being of your/our community, the gifts of your talents, mean everything.

[tlboyles1]

Barbara, now that is something I can relate to completely. And I only hope I am up to the task to at least partially meet those kind of expectations. I appreciate the comment. I like to think of myself as a "good" person regarding that, but I know that it's really how others see me that tells that story, rather than what I think of myself.

[david73173]

http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/use..._user=True

[missydog1]

Hi Tim
I understand what you are saying, but it's hard for me to read a long post like that without white spaces such as you put in your original post. My eyes bounced off it. Edit? []

While I agree with you about the big house being overkill and unnecessary, that is a matter of choice. Your reply didn't quite address what I said re people on the island also wanting the American Dream. You talked about people moving here from the mainland.

I was talking about people here. There are families here who are still in the coming up in the world phase, coming up from living in poor tiny plantation houses. They're not at the stage where they've attained it and they realize that it's empty. They still want the symbols of materialism because they've been out of reach.

Re the forest, as you get more town dwellers from Hilo moving to Puna, they may want to have homes with lawns. That is the style in Hilo, if you have noticed.

As for having a lawn, there's another area where East Hawai'i differs from the mainland. On the mainland, a lawn consumes water resources and may read as wasteful, especially in summer dry areas like California.

Here, the weeds are so tough that they overwhelm most ground cover (except JFITZ has some good options). It's a very viable way to control a cleared area because you can mow it and do away with the weeds, and the rain keeps the lawn green. I have a whole bunch of lawn and I don't water or fertilize it. A common landscape style here is to do islands of plantings surrounded by lawn, if the terrain is flat enough to mow. Conventional flower beds don't work very well because of the weeds.

Then if you want your house not to mold and be damp, you will clear around it so the sun can hit the entire wall and dry it out, or so I've been told by oldtimers here. I live in a high rainfall area and I have no mold and mildew issues because I have a clearing around my house and the trees are set back. It can rain for a month and I don't need a dehumidifier and I don't have funny smelling closets!

There are only so many ways to deal with a clearing. Pave it, gravel it, cinder it, plant it with lawn or ground cover. Weeds will grow in cinder or gravel. I have a lawn. It helps cool things off.

While I don't agree with bulldozing a lot, I have seen too many damp houses that were planted close to trees with that home in the forest look.

There is a lot to learn about living, building, growing in the tropics. Talk to a lot of people who've seen it all and you will learn why things are done why they are. It may not be for reasons that you imagined.

As far as tolerance goes, I will only repeat that this land is home to numerous ethnicities and mixtures who have very specific cultural values, and they are going to be different from you, with different values and different dreams. You are a minority and will remain so, and coming to terms with that will help you settle in.

[PaulW]

You call 300 million people "pigs" but you're not judgemental?

How about you do what you want to do, and let others do the same.