A Light in the Dark, A Ballot, and A.C. Woes

 [Note -- this is another in my series of blogs based on weekly emails I send to my family on the mainland.]

 10/17/20

Aloha Guys –                                
                                
Still here and still thankful I am. Like Willy Nelson who jokes when asked how he is doing these days, “Well, woke up again today not dead...”  A teensy bit morbid, but I’ll take it.

My handyman streak continued this week.  I finished refurbishing a landscape light that is in the entry area.  At first I was going to just buy another one because we like the design – sort of a hanging lantern that casts a nice circle of light – but nobody in town is selling them any more.  So I took the old one apart, spray-painted it, rewired it, and used some old hollow rigid tubing I had squirreled away to make a new and taller support post for it.  Damn, *better* than new! Notice the theme here in my latest projects – don’t give up on old things. We geezers have got to stick together!  On a more “iffy” note, I replaced a fill valve in one our toilets but it still kept losing water and turning on intermittently. So I got a flush valve kit, removed the tank and replaced the gaskets and the valve itself.  Good news is that nothing leaks externally.  Badish news is that it still runs occasionally and this will take a bit more problem solving.  Also good news, though, is that this toilet is over 25 years old and the gaskets were really shot – I have probably headed off an even worse problem.

On Wednesday Karen and I cast our ballots, something I’ve been waiting to do for four years. Hawai’i votes entirely by mail in a system that I defy nay-sayers to find fault with.  Besides mailing your signed ballot, you can drop it off at several special drop boxes that are available 24/7 until the end of voting on November 3.  These are located at each of our police stations on the island and at the guarded location in our Kona Civic Center. We opted for the CC option since it was  on our way to Costco and to make sure we didn’t add to the burden of postal workers right now (not because we’re worried about security).  This took about 1 minute, not 7 hours like some voters in Georgia have had to endure. Like most other states, we can now check on the status of our ballots by going online to make sure they were (a) received and (b) the signatures and the ballots themselves were validated (i.e., the same ballot was received that was mailed out to us, no votes on the ballot were changed, and that we have voted only once).  
                        
Yesterday I deferred to the experts for our CRV’s AC problem and dropped it off at my trusty mechanic’s shop for diagnosis.  The refrigerant was down to near zero even though I recently added some.  They refilled the system with a pump that is much more effective than my can-from-Autozone method.  Their refrigerant has a dye in it that will allow them to check for leaks in the external lines.  However, no leaks in the lines means an internal problem that will require a rather major repair (roughly $650), not something I want to tackle myself.  Gotta do it, though – ac is a must for driving here.  The plan is to wait until the refrigerant drops again, check for leaks, and then go from there.  Stay tuned.    

Our Kona Corona contamination continues, and we have now far outstripped the Hilo side of the island in new cases, with 150+ in the last month to their measly 115.  The University of Nations currently accounts for about 1/3 of that total on our side and the rest are in the community somewhere, presumably under isolation.  Despite this, on Thursday the state dropped the 2-week quarantine for people arriving with negative COVID 19 tests, but if you go directly to Hawaii Island you must also have a second test at the airport when you arrive in order to avoid the 2-week quarantine.  Until the end of the month anyone who has spent more than a day on any other island and then comes here will still have to quarantine, no test options unless you get tested again on the previous island within 72 hours of flying here. Even if you aren’t quarantined, you must still wear a mask in public venues and thankfully people here are responsibly doing this – visitors who don’t will find us very unwelcoming. This may sound strict, but I’m all for it, mainly because no other state has health facilities more likely to be overwhelmed than ours, especially on our island.

Also on the health news front, I have an eye appointment today around noon.  I shouldn't jinx this, but my right eye seems to be holding ok even though it has been 3 months since my last injection.  Even if I have one today,  the long interval is a great relief after 5 years of almost monthly injections.  I'll let you know.

Ok, that’s it.  Off to market and beach breakfast.  As nearly always, it’s a beautiful morning here and we intend to enjoy it as much as we can.  Stay safe, warm, and healthy.  And VOTE as soon as you can.