Color Staining the Concrete with Iron Sulfate

Yesterday I "painted" the master bedroom lanai and exterior landing and step with a solution of iron sulfate!  I am pleased at the outcome.  There are a few tricks we learned in the process that should make it easier for the next projects!  The carport, the second lanai and the courtyard side walks!  The best news of all is that it is inexpensive!  Acid stain is about $70 a gallon compared to $5 for the iron sulfate which you then mix with 1 gallon of good old H2O!

Stained and sealed!

Stained - not sealed

Almost done - waiting for more sealer to arrive!

All done!  Not too bad!

We are seeing some white come to the surface on the concrete that was most exposed to the rain.  In that area the concrete aggregate is exposed.  So some of the salts may be leeching to the surface.  we are hoping that the concrete still has moisture and the sealer is showing white until it dies completely??!!??

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Birthday Tuesday!

Scott celebrated his 59th on the golf course of course!  We traveled 40 minutes up the mountain to Volcano Golf Course.  The air was crisp and clear with a brisk breeze!  At times we could see the plume from the Halema'ma'u vent!

After golf we enjoyed a lovely diner at the Kilauea Lodge in Volcano.

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At least we din't have to call 911!

Late afternoon today we were sitting on lawn and noticed a couple of spear fishermen off the sea cliffs.  We heard someone yelling and realized that two of their buddies on the cliffs were calling them to come in.  Good thing because the calm waters were turning into larger waves!

 

They guy on the top of the cliffs was waiting for the wave set to end, then he called them in.  As they swam in, the first guy hit the rocks and started to climb to safety with out much trouble.  However, the second guy made it to the rocks, but a new set of waves moved in and ripped him from the rocks.  He was pushed very close to the cliffs and I hoped he hadn't hit his head.  His friends waved him out to sea to get into safer waters. Mean while one of the guys on the top ran towards the street.  He came back with a garden hose which they eventually threw to the guy.  With the help of the garden hose and the first spear-man pulling, the guy made it to safety! Whewww...

Scott did see about a 20" parrot fish hanging from their stinger!  We hope they did not spear the one that we see off of our sea cliff!

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Me Thinks We have Hit the Bottom!

Not the housing bottom but the solar bottom...
Our electric bill was $22.16 for July!  Only about $.60 was for actual electricity, the rest was taxes and fees!  The trend has been going down thanks to the longer days.  It should start to trend the other way as the days get shorter.  And after a year we should see something like the classic "U" curve!  Kind of fun...

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