Good Eyeball, Birthday, Lack of Good Sense, Roof Gardens

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

7/16/22

Aloha All!

It was an interesting week here.  First off, my eye exam last Saturday went very well -- absolutely no sign of leakage and therefore no shot.  I'm now scheduled for another exam right before we leave on our trip in August. My doc and I agreed we will keep a low threshold and most likely I'll have an injection at that time no matter what.  That will be a new record between treatments, by far! Yippee!

Yesterday was my birthday, much less cause for celebration than my good eye exam.  I think I'm

Liquid Gold

Neighbor's "Garden".

somewhere around 35 or so.  I lost track after 21.  Anyway, I wanted to keep it quiet and low-key and so I celebrated with a couple of naps and a burger + good beer for lunch at a seaside restaurant. Oh, and for fun I did a minor repair to our irrigation system and *weeded our gutters.*  In our warm and wet climate if you don't watch it, stuff will begin to grow on your roof and suddenly you'll find tree roots dangling from the ceiling.  In this case it was a small sapling of some kind in one of our gutters, which required a quick and careful trip up to the roof to yank out.

Saturday our Miata suddenly developed engine problems, as in refusing to start (it would turn over, but not fire up).  It did start on the next try, and Karen drove it to the hospital to visit our friend who broke her leg last week while I went for my eye exam. Although it ran fine on the way there, the "check engine" light came on and it again refused to start when she tried to leave.  Fortunately it did start after another couple of tries when I got there, and we were able to get it home ok. On Monday morning I called our usual mechanic and although the shop had a full schedule, he said he'd try to work it in if I could get in to to garage.  It started one more time (whew!) and we dropped it off.  It turned out to be either a faulty cam shaft sensor or a crankshaft sensor, and they replaced both.  These sensors are what determines the timing of ignition (back in the dark ages this was done by something called a distributor).  Voila!  A mere $500+ and she's running great.  Despite this and a few other repairs, this has been a terrifically reliable car and we've had to spend very little to keep it maintained.

Finally, I guess I'll include as part of my birthday celebration the round of golf at Makalei that Karen and I

From Par to Bogey

played on Thursday.  Despite getting a bit wet (it was misting most of the round) I did pretty well -- two pars and a bogey.  It might have been 3 pars, but my par-putt was just a couple of inches short, one of those frustrations that might lead to broken clubs and lots of swearing if I took the game more seriously.  Saw lots of peacocks, including both of the white peahens.  The Nenes, though, have all left.  During the summer they fly to a different part of the island -- a minnie-migration compared to their distant relatives, Canadian Geese.

Weather-wise we've been getting less rain and more sun.  However, the remnants of Hurricane Darby are passing by to our south today and we are likely to get some moisture from it. Three times this week we used our new a.c. in our bedroom -- something we rarely do but have come to appreciate when the need arises.  We're definitely cooler than many parts of the mainland, though, which I see has been really cooking this summer.

Ok, off to market and the beach.  Take care.  Stay cool.