I’m short on words but don’t really know how to say so much thanks at one time…that’s like 60
So far so good; got the car accepted at the port, driven by a friendly neighbor from there to the airport, got my rental car, airline knows I need some special handling with 2 dogs. Bringing bribe money for other passengers who may get annoyed or if I have to go to the bathroom I’m worried about my new dog trying to get up on the seat. I have harnesses & tethers & carabiners & a backpack to block one at least …
At the moment I’m wondering if the Airbnb host ‘s smoke alarm will go all night again (no windows in these places, just screens.
No communication for 3 days, denied my request for buckets of water for toilet flushing… exposed bud bar on the wall…an isopropyl wipe of the toilet seat turned black.
Got ill & had to go to urgent care because I was faint & going numb. They said my vitals were ok, probably just need food & rest.
Sacrificing a trip to get food because I want my dogs to sleep as much as possible & the shack here has doors that barely latch & one dog already escaped but came back somehow ()
So going to bed but probably not much sleep
Looking forward to telling all and getting back to growing.
Hoping things get better for you and the dogs
@cannabissequoia I hope we can all look back on this one day and laugh about how you survived this life altering event, Safe Travels my friend.
Me too
Waiting to board first flight
Dogs ok so far. Not perfect but close enough
The shuttle from car return to check in freaked them out & one backed into a friendly guy from Eastern Europe- by the grace of strangers we exist.
Aloha
Huakaʻi Palekana Braddah
Head down and straight ahead ,go for that goal line !
Good vibes sent from the East coast so that you make it to the West coast !
I lived on the big island 17 yrs ago , it was beautiful but the people can be rough. I bought gas one day and had to prepay , after filling I had a few dollars coming back to me. I went in the station and the “auntie” wouldn’t turn around when I asked nicely for my change and she said “No change for you haole “.
Good luck and the best vibes bro
Best wishes for a safe landing bro! Sorry I missed this for a few days, but at least by now you’re pretty close to wheels-uP! May your 2024 be so remarkably good you forget all about 2023!
Hopefully landing soon and had a smooth journey
Sending good vibes that all is well!
Hopefully all went well and you are safe and sound, not sure if you are religious but one quote that has helped me in tough times is “god will not give you more than you can handle, he gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers” keep your head up bruh, you have got this.
I’m home with the dogs & have plenty to write about this whole ordeal but not the energy to do it just yet.
@SCJedi graciously picked me up at the airport in the rain at midnight & hooked up some kush mintz & ice cream cake… & oh man I missed good weed.
Aloha to all of you & thanks for helping me keep my eyes open.
Get settled in decompress and glad you are far away from the unnecessary stress. Wishing for a better 2024
Welcome home man. It’ll take a few days.
Home sweet home with some nice Pakalolo, glad you made it safely and can relax.
@SCJedi deserves a grace note here! The right guy at the right time to help a brother through a very rough patch.
Solid move brother, esp the quality herb for the ride home!
-Grouchy
Let’s get the dust to settle back at home and your comfort level up and we’ll break all the chains come Spring!
Thank you @SCJedi for being an Awesome Person. Welcome home @cannabissequoia looking forward to reading about your survivors guide to Air-E no window Bed’n somewhat Bath in Hawaii. Happy New Year!
So…
Frday 12/22 my neighbor’s wife texts me to please come cut the chain to their driveway because she can’t get in. It’s pouring rain, I just smoked one, & didn’t think much other than to ask if her husband was home(no). They’ve lived there with 2 kids since I moved in & yeah, they fight a lot but I got used to that.
As I walk back to my place she says “hurry! he’s coming!” …& confused, I just keep going.
5 minutes later I get a text from the husband asking if I cut the chain & I’m an honest dude just trying to help, so I say yes, which gets me a dozen texts telling me everything from “fuck you” to “she’s a crazy. cheatin bitch - why you think she locked out?” to “you gonna get smoked”. (he has plenty guns & not much brains or self control. I only have brains, no guns.)
After a few attempts to clarify it became clear that he wasn’t interested in talking.
At that point my PTSD kicks into overdrive and I call the cops to report him hanging out in front of my driveway gate…they say they’ll send someone out. I call my friend 2 hours away & tell him I need an emergency stay in his driveway up on the volcano. He says OK but no dogs inside on his perfect hardwoods.(I get it)
After a half hour of grabbing most of my important stuff & call the cops again & tell them where I’m going…they say they’ll send an officer out to talk to me over there.
Drive out to my friends’ place…then to the local market to call The Man. Dispatch transfers me to a cop who tells me to file a report & harrassment claim, then go to court… I reply “actually, I’m trying to fly back to the mainland ASAP”-- OH! dat’s a betta idea! :-/ (as in, ‘haole go home’)
I spend the night with the dogs in the back of the car, don’t sleep much. The ground is all rough lava rock & pretty bad for dog feet, no fence, so they only get bathroom breaks for about 24 hours.
5 AirBnBs rejected me, either for “no vacancy” or wouldn’t allow service dogs indoors. I’ve found that more than half the people I encounter don’t know that’s a federal crime, but I also don’t have the time or energy to fight & educate them. In the past, the US DOJ told me to piss off pretty much. Finally I get one for about 50$ a night, about 30 minutes from my house(but 2.5 from my friend).
I also spent Saturday arranging a flight for me & 2 service dogs…which was a little confusing for the airline computers…since I bought 3 tickets for one “passenger”…aaaaand they cost almost $3000(short notice, holidays). I already had an appointment for the dogs to get rabies vaccinations(the Hawaii dog, Riley, had never had one), so that was in order.
What to do with my car was another issue. If I left it at my property it may well get broken into or stripped, and I couldn’t find a buyer quickly, so I bit the bullet & decided to ship it home. Another $2000. :-/
Saturday night I find my way to the AirBnB in Kapoho, a place with a lot of lava inundation near the coast, and it SUCKS.
The main thing was 4 walls, a roof, and no one aiming a rifle at me, so that was good. I knew it would be only screens for windows based on the description, but I also expected an operating toilet, electricity, running water, and bedding that didn’t smell like an old homeless man with a dash of mildew & old-spice aftershave.
Barking dogs kept me up most of the night, but that’s not new. I get up & go to my place as quietly as possible, hoping to get my last remaining things, & let the dogs shit in a familiar place. The new dog Riley apparently won’t poop on a leash & after 48 hours they needed it. No activity next door & it looks like only the husband’s home.
I get what I can & try to get food that will spoil into the refrigerator, use a proper bathroom, & go back to the rental shack.
Monday is Christmas & I needed a shower, so I again go quietly & get out ASAP. Not much else to do since everything’s closed. Riley sneaks out & runs off & I had to basically write her off right there in the moment…no way I’ll find her out there. I finish my cigarrette here she comes, all happy as shit. Because she had to take a shit!
To ship a car they require the fuel tank be below 1/4(amongst other things) so I try to calculate how many miles I need to drive to burn off a full tank…& wonder if I’ll have to siphon out 5 gallons…
Tuesday I go back again for more sorting out & this time see the neighbor sitting in his car with it pointed to the road… & suddenly fear he’ll follow me when I leave…so I call a different neighbor & arrange to pull in to their property & see if I get followed. Nope. Better to be safe, though.
Hit the post office & send my baubles & beans & laptop to my dad in CA. The post office in Mountain View HI is so cramped & overwhelmed…I waited for 2 years & never got a PO Box.
The veterinarian does her thing & I head back to the shack.
Wednesday I wake up nauseaus, feverish, cold sweats, crapped my pants twice, & decide to drive to my place for pepto-bismol & a shower & dog-relief…en route I start to go faint & my hands won’t grip the steering wheel…so I decide to just drop the dogs & go straight to urgent-care. The vitals were all OK & a nurse talked with me for an hour(not a busy day)…tells me I just need to eat & rest.
Then I go straight to an appointment I had with my Dr., to find out whether the anti-thyroid medication was working, & then to walmart for some new clothes, since I can’t do laundry. Ended up throwing away a lot of old clothes.
I grab the dogs & return to the shack to discover the host has been burning brush all day… & since there’s no windows there, a smoke alarm is going off randomly, sometimes constantly. After 4-5 hours I start to get pissed off. No reply from host. Didn’t give me buckets of water for toilet flushing. The alarm goes ALL F’NG NIGHT.
Thursday morning I find the hosts phone number & try voicemail instead of the AirBnB app. WTF.
Then we go to the Harbor 3 hours ahead of schedule to confirm my paperwork & car are good to go. NOPE! Paperwork was, but the employee checked for mud under the car & said “too dirty-- USDA will deny it-- go wash!”
So the car-wash was broken & wouldn’t get the underside well anyway, & I drive back home to do one of the most intense washings & scrubbings with off-grid water supply(not good). After an hour of that I still have to clear the service reminder light, hit youtube, done. But they ALSO would deny me for the cursed Toyota Tire Pressure Monitoring System(TPMS) that virtually never works. I don’t think they’ll be OK with spraypaint or electrical tape, so I fire up the air compressor & fill up the tires, INCLUDING the spare… & no love. Light still on. I didn’t have the luxury of time to mount the spare, drive, & wait & see if it cleared, so… I grabbed the drill & a 1/4" bit. It baaaarely fit behind the steering wheel & I had to shatter the clear plastic that covers the guages, & drill, baby, drill… all the while totally afraid that my “repair” would light up the dash like a christmas tree or worse, not start… but VOILA! it worked!
I hurry back to the port of Hilo & get the car to Matson shipping, & as they’re screening it, we “lose” they key remote. OMFG. So dig in my backpack & give them the spare, which has a dead battery (fuck!), & I touch the starter button & the car starts, so I know the key isn’t far…dig in my pocket…& VOILA! Ooops. I apologized & the one guy acted like I called him a thief & just couldn’t comprehend an honest mistake. Shit.
A good & better neighbor kindly met us & drove to the airport where I got a one day Kia rental for $450. :-/ This was also a good time to test my new dog’s behavior around people & busy places… in which she did very well. We even got compliments.
Thursday & last night there, I get back to the shack & the fucking alarm is still going off randomly a few times an hour… so I try the app again & I tell him I have to fly for almost 15 hours Friday & if he can’t fix the smoke alarm, I’d pay him 100$ cash right there if I could have it & drown it. He replies apologetically after 3 days of no communication & he lives there.
I sort out all my gear & end up leaving a lot of treasure for whoever…rolling papers, pipe, actualy dry weed, dog food, OTC meds, ice chest, etc. Controlling two leashes means I need that backpack to be as light as possible.
Friday morning we leave around 6:30am, drive 2 hours to Kona, refuel car & buy garbage food, return the rental, then grab the shuttle bus to the terminal…which was nerve-wracking. The ride was so rough that one dog fully backed up into a very kind man from Eastern Europe…he began to pet her & his wife spit out some unintelleible words meaning “service dog - do not pet, can’t you read moron?” but I was grateful, actually.
I arranged with the airline to have assistance from the checkin to the gate & would normally have a companion, so we got to board early. The flight was very rough, the worst turbulence I’ve felt, the row next to us was a lady with 3 toddlers, including a screamer, and the landing in Seattle was so rough I though the landing gear snapped off. The dogs were nervous & trembling the whole time & I had to maintain a tight grip on their harnesses or they’d bolt into the ailse. So no bathroom for a guy who has a bladder problem & recently had to throw away underwear from food poisoning.
The airport in Seattle is chaotic, unfriendly, & primarily staffed by East Africans who gave me dirty looks, probably because of the dogs, possibly my ancestors. We abandoned our un-helpful assistant & found the outside…started smoking as we walk to the pet relief area…notice a lot of smokers & a lot of no smoking signs. We get to the spot & Betty shits immediately (sorry, dog), Riley eventually pisses, & I have to BAD. I tie them to a fence & under the guise of going to pick up the shit, I just unload my bladder behind the only tree. PHYEW!
We go back in to the gate on my boarding pass…a little yappy dog saw mine & started barking, making me worry mine might whine or bark…but nope. I notice the gate is unmarked & really small & start to worry so I asked a guy next to me if he was going to Sacramento-- “No, I’m going to Anchorage”. Oh shit. So I find a display board with the flights & determine I have to take 4 trains to get to the correct gate. These trains are almost as bad as the shuttle bus in Kona & the dogs are just about done with me & my BS.
The gate agent is young & needed to recheck my TSA dog paperwork but then asks if I’d like to board first-- “Hell yes, please”.
We board & as we’re getting situated the 2 flight attendants were very friendly, actually knew exactly where my house is in Hawaiian Acres, and also knew that it’s the “wild, wild west” out there. They gave me a whole quart of water & 2 chocolate bars & that really helped reduce the stress in the moment.
An uneventful flight lands around midnight & we find our way to the passenger area/curb…call up @SCJedi & after he warmed up the tires with a few practice laps in the terminal, we were on our way, listening to the potcast.
My old man left my house key in the wrong place. Pouring rain, 45F, I get us into the back yard because dad still hasn’t finished a fence & there’s just a tarp, then discover EVERYTHING locked. I still had one old key but it was for a locked door BEHIND another locked door… Argh. I tried to kick in a side door to the garage but only managed to fuck up the door frame. Yay. So I tie the dogs to a handrail & rip a window screen out, then shimmy & lift a bedroom window & climb in.
No heat, no insulation, & the washing machine is broken, but I’m safe.
In the moment a week before I had to realize, if the fucker next door burns my house down, I’ll lose 150k$, but I won’t be dead.
I couldn’t relax or sleep at my place ever again until the guy was in a cage or dead himself, & here we are.
Many people helped me get through this and I’m grateful for every bit of it.
I’ve got over 60 strains worth of seeds & am very anxious to start germinating, growing, polinating, harvesting, & sharing. At the moment there isn’t any useable space for indoor cultivation, except maybe a 2x4’ tent, & that isn’t enough for me to bother with. I’ll try to do multiple outdoor light-dep & one natural this year, definitely going to get the soil tested, especially for toxins.
Back to the mission at hand… OVERGROW!
Aloha!