Post #367246 by Aloha John on Sun, Mar 16, 2008 11:43 AM

Aloha and thanks for all the nice compliments. I have been reading them daily but only now had the chance to reply (I have been busy getting my Fairlane unburied and off to a shop for some metal/chassis work).

Quickly about the cars, T-bird and Econolines are sold, F100 and Fairlane are both off at different shops, Buick (girlfriends) and Willys are just hanging out.

I think I actually worked harder than I should have considering I started all this just when things started to heat up for summer. Many 100 degree plus days were spent digging...glad those days are gone. It was tough on the water bill getting those tropicals established in the heat of summer too. There was a period when I thought I was loosing the bamboo (they were quite expensive), but now they are doing great. Once established the new shoots were growing so fast I started measuring them. During Sept the stalk I was measuring was averaging OVER 2 inches PER DAY...no joke! They are the "Green Stripe" variety. I do have extremely sandy soil here I had it pretty easy when it comes to digging. So sandy in fact that a post hole digger is almost useless, did someone say "DIG?" :roll:

As for the details I hope to add lots more. I'd like to add some carved (routered) trim pieces and some rope wrappings to the structures. I also like to try my hand at making some signs. My idea for "Aloha John's" came from "Aloha Jhoe's" and I'd like to make a sign using the same font style. If my sign making skills suck I'll be talking to Danny. :wink:

I had considered using thatching for the roof above the spa, but once the framework was up and I realized how tall it was going to be, I decided for the sake of my neighbors I'd better go with something more "professional" and shingled it.

The reed fencing on the back wall of the Kapu Cove was intended to just be temporary. I have something in mind, that my girlfriend thinks we can handle, but I am considering enlisting a pro (Ben do you give free estimates?) :)

BambooBen, speaking of you, was I asking lots of questions, interesting you noticed you never answered any!? :P Well you may think you didn't help with this project but I can assure you you did with the photos of your work giving me inspiration and ideas.

Polynesiac- yeah I just had to build something cool to hang your float from. The sun has taken it's toll on the frosting, now it's quite patina'd. The shed was an cheap and easy fix to hide something that is critical to a guy like me, storage! One of these days I need to grind off the rest of the screw tips poking inside of it. Anyone know the Hawaiian translation for "Iron Maiden"? :D

Grog- our party hosting skills are pretty rusty, since not too many of our friends liked hanging out in a junkyard, but once we get a few more under our belt I think I will toss out an open invitation to TCers.

Lake Surfer- you are very welcome for the support! I have had some nasty frost damage out here at times, but I'd say we SoCal'rs are pretty spoiled in the weather department.

jp- "airquarium" I like that. The big Moai was made my Tiki Ray!

I noticed I didn't include a decent shop of the front of the bar. Taken 12/17.

Thanks again everyone for the compliments! I suppose I should go work on my bar stools now...