Life Up on the Ridge

Although there were many plusses to our life in Hilo (in my childhood home) in the end we realized that Hilo wasn’t the best place for us. So in 2020 we sold the house on Wailuku Drive that had been in my family for 75 years, and moved to Freeville NY, which is just outside of Ithaca. (I’ve been assured that saying “I live in Ithaca” is OK.)

We now live in a (mostly) solar-powered geothermally-heated house that sits on a ridge and is surrounded by more than 130 acres of woods and meadows. (“Mostly” because, of course, in winter there’s not much sun and snow covers the 53 panels except for the bottom row, which I can keep clean of snow . . . but in the other three seasons, we make much more power than we use.)

We see deer, turkeys, hawks, vultures, foxes, and groundhogs. We know that coyotes, fisher cats, bears, and who knows what else visit the place, but we don’t see them. We lost a favorite cat to an unknown predator.

The driveway is .3 mile long, curves, and climbs 200′ through forest. Keeping it clear in the winter isn’t much fun, although during the first winter I did learn to do it with an old F150 and plow. The rough-conditions driving that I’d learned on Mauna Kea as a boy and refined as an adult came in handy. As I said to a neighbor, “First gear low range is my happy place.”

I put the F150 in the ditch once, and had to use every skill I’d honed driving on Mauna Kea’s remote tracks to get out. And with a plow, there’s always the issue of where to put the snow. So…before the next winter set in, we got a John Deere 3039R tractor, 5 foot snowblower, and blade. (Also we have a tiller, a brush hog, a chipper and a log splitter…I joke that as an earnest young grad student I never envisioned myself saying “I have to go to town for diesel,” but that’s how I live now.

We had a semi-antique Massey-Ferguson 245 tractor, but sold it to a farmer.

What else has happened since we got here?

Two grandchildren can come visit much more easily than when we were in Hilo. We posed for an “everybody’s wearing bib overalls” picture. I told them they could drive the tractor when their feet can reach the pedals.

Well, after almost twenty years as a couple, Ruth and I decided to get married. I still think of her as my partner, because married or not — that’s what we are — partners.

And we got a dog, a rescue Labradoodle, who’s turned out to be a great companion. Here’s a picture of him and Ruth playing in the snow.

And I’ve continued my book-designing career. I’m pushing up to 80 (for several small publishers and a few self-publishing individuals).

And I continue to write. My novel Mauka: A Novel of Hawai’i is complete, and in early 2025 I’m looking for an agent.