Mainland Missive: A Viral Birthday

7/18/20

Another Week, Another Year Older

Aloha Everyone –

Hope you’re staying cool.  Mainland weather seems a bit toasty.  We’re still in the sunny-morning-then–cloudy-with-late-afternoon-showers pattern that doesn’t seem to want to go away.  High temps at our elevation top out about 85.  It has been warm a couple of nights (and muggy with all the rain) so we’ve actually tried our new bedroom a.c. that we had installed last spring.  So far so good, though we’re still tuning it for fan speed and direction.  I don’t like a.c. in general, but I really don’t like it when it blows directly on you.

Karen played golf again on Monday and lucked out with only light mist instead of the out-and-out rain she has encountered the last few times.  On Wednesday we went for a hike instead of going to Planet Fitness.  This was in honor of my birthday, which was pretty good actually.  I had wanted to hike a trail on the side of Hualalai that is not far from the golf course where Karen usually plays.  It is a very interesting trail through the cloud forest at about 4k feet elevation. I like it because a lot of the vegetation is native and it’s not too challenging. There are also quite a few native birds that are hard to spot but easy to hear. However, when we got to the trailhead it was starting to rain (!) so we decided to go further north to find something drier.  On the way we stopped at the Makalei golf course parking lot so I could pet a resident cat there, and that was a nice present for the cat-lover in me.

We wound up doing a 3.5 mile hike through an Ohia forest at the base of a cinder cone called Pu’u Wa’a Wa’a (note – 6 vowels and 3 consonants).  We have done this before, but it seemed long and tiring this time since we haven’ been hiking in almost a year. We were also stiff and sore the next day, which means that must have been using muscles in a different way than at Planet Fitness. After the hike we had a picnic lunch at one of our favorite spots along the shore, an historic site that was once a large Hawaiian settlement.  After some shopping at Walmart on the way home, my final present was a nice long nap! 

I was supposed to see my retina doc yesterday but it was re-scheduled for today.  Good chance I may need an injection – my acuity in my bad eyes seems to be slipping again.  I’ll let you know.

House projects include the usual whacking back stuff, and I’m starting to repair some rotten slats I discovered on one section of lanai railing.  I’m trying to redesign it so the slats will be more maintenance-free, probably with plastic lattice work.  As with most house projects, it’s often both a mental and a physical challenge.

Ok, that’s it for now.  Off to Farmers’ Market, our usual beach breakfast picnic, then a session at Planet Fitness followed by my eyeball appointment.  Take care.  Stay cool, healthy, and sane........