Fighting with Bubble Wrap; Catching Coquis

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

10/30/21

Aloha Everybody –

I hope your fall is going ok.  Our weather had definitely changed from the last time I talked about it, which was when I was complaining about all the rain we were getting during the summer. Now we need some.  Maybe this was another aspect of the Sherman Travel Curse (see last week) but since we left for our trip it has been very dry, though it has stayed fairly cool. Some parts of the island are nearing drought conditions whereas a few months ago they were flooding.  Sigh.....

It was a very quiet week here.  We’re more or less over our jet lag, though it still seems hard to get much done each day.  My big project this week beside the usual maintenance stuff was to remove our old pool cover and install a new one.  This is the cover we use at night to keep our pool water warm.  It

looks like a huge piece of blue bubble wrap – the little bubbles trap air and act as an insulator.  These things last about 3 years and then the plastic starts to deteriorate from the sun and pool chemicals. We try to rationalize the environmental impact of the covers by buying very few plastic drink bottles, and by noting that people who use covers require less energy to heat their pools. Don't look too close at these arguments.

 It has been much cheaper over the years to buy replacements on the internet and install them ourselves.  This year, however, no company would ship to Hawai’i, so I had to find one locally.  They come in standard sizes which requires buying one that is actually too large and then trimming it to fit.  Sounds easy, right?  The problem is it is large, heavy, and difficult to maneuver.  Plus it comes folded up and needs several days to flatten out the wrinkles before any cuts are accurate.  I’ve found it usually takes around 3-4 trimmings along the sides to get it to where it will roll up fairly easily.  I’m on the third trim – this involves being on my hands and knees leaning over the edge of the pool.  What could possibly go wrong?

Our Covid situation is better but stubbornly continues with daily infections still higher than before the Delta variant came on the scene. The good news is that we now have a few ICU beds available and only one is being occupied by a Covid patient.  I learned this week that my gardener got Covid just after we left for our trip — yet another blow from the Sherman Travel Curse. (Let's see, we're up to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought, disease---quite a trip!). Although he is now working again he can only manage a few hours a day.  Turns out he wasn’t vaccinated, but his wife, who works with him, was.  She didn’t get sick, nor did any of the others on his crew, all vaccinated.  He admits he should have gotten the vaccine, he said he just never found the time. He now regrets it, as I’m sure his wife reminds him, you know just from time to time....

I caught 4 coquis this week, all in our front garden.  When we returned last week I heard one and thought it was only one that moved in while we were gone.  Wrong.  Even with four on ice there is still another one that is taunting me, so at least 5 were setting up territories.  I think they are all very young and haven’t yet been able to attract females, but I can’t be sure.  It takes about 8-9 months for males to become sexually mature, and that’s when they start singing in earnest.  My captured frogs this week were very timid singers, usually only making a few calls at a time. I doubt any females were impressed. The fact that they were nearly all in the same small area and the same age makes me think there were from the same clutch of eggs deposited about 8 months ago.  The depressing aspect of that being true is that I could be battling a bunch more -- coquis generally lay clutches of 20-30 eggs.

Yesterday I saw my eye doctor.  It was six weeks since my last injection., which was right before we left .  The Eylea did its job, and there was no sign of new fluid buildup.  Bottom line, no shot. I'll go back in 4 weeks.  I won't have the drug discount for my next injection, but I'll get it anyway.

Karen played golf on Tuesday and did pretty well.  Her golf buddy will be returning to the mainland in November for routine medical checkups and to visit friends & family, so it looks like I’ll be taking to the links again in her place.  My goal this time will be to actually make it through all 18 holes.  Oh, and not spin the cart or drive it into one of the lakes.

That’s about it for this week.  Off for our usual Saturday morning itinerary.  Take care. Stay healthy and warm.
         

 

Jet Lag, Volcanic Twitch, Earthquake

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

10/23/21

Aloha Guys –

We returned home last Monday night.  The next couple of days were tough – a mental fog made it hard to concentrate on getting things going again, and both of us took more than the usual number of naps. Jet lag has always bothered me, but it seems to be worse as I get older, or maybe I just am more intolerant of any kind of discombobulation these days.  Anyway, by Thursday we felt much better, enough to even go to the gym for a light workout.  My Mexico muscles let me know on Friday that we hadn’t worked out for a month. We also got our annual flu shots on Thursday, motivated by our neighbor who had a bad case after returning from a weekend on Oahu and spent a couple of days in bed.  The pharmacy person giving the shots confirmed that there is a particularly nasty strain going around this year.  BTW, my neighbor and her husband did the responsible thing and got tested for Covid – both negative.

Getting back into the US was actually not a big deal.  The requirement right now is that you have to show a negative Covid test result within the last 3 days, regardless of whether you are vaccinated. This meant getting a test in Oaxaca, which was very quick and easy – there are both clinical labs there and at least one big pharmacy chain which offer tests.  Our guide made appointments for us and the whole process went very well.

We spent about a week in San Diego before coming home, but it didn’t seem to help with the jet lag (CA is 3 hours later than here, Mexico is 5).  We had a very good time visiting friends and doing some sight-seeing.

While we were gone the Sherman travel curse struck again.  This phenomenon involves something bad happening after we leave, either at home or where we have been traveling.  In this case there was a 6.2

10/12 Great News Photo

earthquake just off the southern tip of our island not long after we left, and a few weeks later the volcano decided to wake up and put on a hissy-fit for a while. The two events were not related, in case you’re wondering.  Anyway, the only damage from the earthquake we’ve found is that Karen’s golf bag fell over in the closet, and some golf balls on top of a cabinet rolled off.  The volcano is still erupting but all activity is confined to the summit caldera, and it has almost shut off again.  Our neighbors said that the vog was bad for a few days, but now we can barely notice it.  Vog comes

10/18 Back to Sleep

from the SO2 gas released from magma, and right now it is a mere 2,700 tons per day, whereas it had been 85,000 tons per day while we were gone.  It has always been hard for me to grasp that gas could be measured in tons and 85,000 tons is particularly difficult.

Ok, that’s about it.  Off to market and to our usual beach breakfast picnic.  Take care, and enjoy your early fall weather.  You know what comes next....