budget.... what do you spend your money on?

[Carey]

Ice Melt is a fond memory for those of us from the northern regions...What you need bags & bags of to TRY to melt off the ice on your drive, walk, mailbox (couple of times we had to chip the ice of that bugger!)....whadeva!

ETA: TomK may STILL know of it here... but I think they have OSHA trained professionals to deal with ice eradication on the summit...

[dayna]

God I hate icemelt. All those chemicals.

This last winter I even mixed sand/gravel in with the ice melt to try to make it stretch further. I run a business from my home apartment and I have to be very careful due to all the people coming and going with their dogs.



Dayna

www.AvianNation.com

[DanielP]

quote:

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Originally posted by csgray

Unless you are the rare Puna resident who lives and drives on all paved roads expect to be steadily bled of cash for car repairs (major and minor) due to the poor condition of most subdivision roads. Tires, shocks, and struts all take a beating, and all those cheap little tiny plastic parts seem to just shake loose and fall off! I thought the gravel road I grew up on was bad, but Puna has "roads" that barely qualify for the label.

---

Tip for driving rough roads: Do not ride your brakes going down a rough road, Downshift. Riding brakes down rough roads puts a huge amount of wear on front brake calipers and bushings. Big $ repair that is totally avoidable.

Dan

[csgray]

Dan,
My dad taught me to downshift instead of riding the brake, even on paved roads! On washboard gravel roads, like the ones I learned to drive on, braking too fast can cause you to lose traction and skid out anyway. Almost as bad as black ice!

Carol

[KeaauRich]

Sunscreen is a big item on our shopping list, and not just for beach days. You can get cooked here easily. Remember, as my former dermatologist used to say..."That freckle on your chin can do a feller in.."

[TomK]

Carey -

quote:

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ETA: TomK may STILL know of it here... but I think they have OSHA trained professionals to deal with ice eradication on the summit...

---

It's mostly spades and shovels at our place. We do have some chemicals, not sure I'd call it "ice melt", we refer to it as anti-freeze, but it's used for emergencies when the summit is being evacuated and the windshield needs to be cleared so we can see where we're going and don't drive off the side of the mountain!

Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/

[hawaiideborah]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

Funny all the posts about humidity and mold! SE Alaska is a temperate rain forest- if it's not raining, it's snowing. The only time it's dry is when it's too cold to snow.

Basically, we're moving from a cool expensive rain forest to a warm, slightly less expensive rain forest.

These posts are great. thanks! Keep 'em coming.

---

NOT THE SAME type of mold humidity concerns... not at all.
We moved from the Olympic Penn. of Washington State. Yes, we were used to wet and mold. Here in Hawaii this is very different. How? We never close our windows in the several of the rooms in our house. The windows we do close at night are open all day. The INSIDE rusts. The air is hot humidity. In Alaska you have cold inside with not a lot of the constant ventilation. Here there is constant ventilation but it is all humid. The refridge and washer get rusty inside the house.

The biggest cost is electricity, electricity, electricity.
The biggest surprise is how much faster the stuff molds and rusts here. We lived right on the beach in Washington, so were used to corrosion and upkeep. Here it happens three times as fast. Tools and things rust much faster here. Stuff grows much faster here. There is no down time for growth in Hawaii. Thus no down time for upkeep here.

WE LOVE IT HERE and wouldn't trade it if we were paid to go back. It is so worth living in paradise.

[Carey]

Deborahs post reminded me of a garage sale we went to in the first few months we were here....this was at one of the coastal homes in HPP...one that always looked clean & crisp from the roadway...and even more so up close...every tool in the garage was clean & painted black (even saw blades)... no rust anywhere...

Talking to the homeowner, they said that it wasn't that much maintenance, just wash all of the windows weekly, powerwash the exterior monthly, clean & wax, oil or paint every tool after every use....

So it has a lot to do with perspective.... electricity rate is high, but for us, our total utility bill is electricity & water, we have no heating oil, no heating gas & and we do not need AC in the summer ...so our TOTAL yearly utility bill is the combination of our electric & water (we do have county water)....even with the higher elec. rate & the fact that we pay for water, it is less that our combined utility in IL....and we had a private well in IL, so did not pay for water...)

On the same note, if you look the maintenance of weeding & trimming & cleaning, oiling, waxing & painting as just something you do all the time, it may seem like not much (we are still not totally there...but the neighbors I know that do it, seem to not mind & seem to think it is no big deal ... so maybe it is a zen state of maintenance....)

ETA - one the plus note of maintenance... haven't HAD to shovel any snow since moving here... (did shovel a little once, but that was for fun & did not HAVE to!)

[terracore]

"Olympic Penn. of Washington State"

Yeah, I used to think Portland, Oregon was wet too. No comparison to a real rain forest.

[dayna]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

"Olympic Penn. of Washington State"

Yeah, I used to think Portland, Oregon was wet too. No comparison to a real rain forest.

---

Steve, I agree. I moved to Juneau from Warrenton Oregon. And I thought Warrenton was wet, and it was way wetter than Portland Oregon! Warrenton has NOTHING on Juneau for mold, mildew, rust, etc. I feel like we NEVER dry out.

Dayna

www.AvianNation.com