Termite Repairs, Under the Knife, Clubs for Sale

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

8/6/22

Aloha everyone!

Fires, floods, searing heat, viruses running amok, political extremism in both directions, wars, famine, intolerance, etc., etc., etc.  Time for something mundane and much, much, more important --- my week!

On Monday my handyman and I attempted to repair damage to a portion of the railing by our pool that was caused by termites (now dead, after we had the house fumigated). The railing has some vertical pieces

The culprits, now deceased

that the termites find really tasty, and rather than replace just those pieces we rebuilt the whole section.  This time, though, I used pvc pipe instead of the wood dowels that had been devoured.  Let'em try to eat THAT! Everything was going swimmingly until my handyman's nail gun stopped working.  We recessed until Tuesday, when he returned with a new one and we finished the job.  I still have to do some touch-up painting and caulking, but I should get it done this weekend.

This was also a week of some repairs to my geezer body.  On Wednesday my dermatologist sliced off a couple of hunks of skin on my right thigh.  These weren't cancerous, just "barnacles" as she calls them, and I've had them for years.  Recently, though, they became a nuisance because of their location -- one rather close to my private parts, another at the point where most of my shorts end.  The second one had gotten big, crusty, and itchy.  She's offered to remove them for quite some time, but I demurred out of modesty and cheapness (she doesn't accept insurance, like many physicians here).  Anyway, they're gone and I'm nursing the surgical sites, trying to prevent infection and promote healing. It occurred to me that these are the first pieces of my body that have *ever* been purposefully removed in my lifetime so far, except for tonsils and one tooth.

This was a rather physical week.  Besides the effortful repair work and body slicing, on Tuesday Karen and I worked out at Planet Fitness, and on Thursday we played golf.  Both of these in one week is fairly challenging for us these days.  The workout went fine, though the muscles didn't think so.  Afterward we bought a lemon grass chicken sandwich at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and had a beach picnic. The golf on Thursday was at Makalei and unfortunately it was raining that day -- not so hard as to make us stop, just a light drizzle for much of the time which made it cold and uncomfortable.  We quit after 16 holes.  My playing matched the weather, i.e., lousy, and to top it off the usual bird sightings were way down so there wasn't a compensation.  Good thing I don't take this all that seriously.  I did get one bogey but on several holes where I usually do pretty well I did spectacularly badly.  Maybe next time.....

Our friend who broke her leg is now back home as of Thursday, much to the delight of the cats.  She doesn't have a cast or a splint, but she still can't put any weight on the bad leg for a few more weeks.  She's trying to get around with a walker and a mobile bench, which I'm sure is very difficult.  Fortunately she has help every day for most things, as well as a physical therapist who visits.  She seems very positive and determined to get back to normal, which is to her credit given the challenges she faces.  Again, this has been a sobering experience for her and for us, too.

The only other item I might regale you with is my difficulties trying to upgrade our house alarm system.  I ordered everything online and received notification that it had shipped -- but then it went into a black hole.  Somehow FEDEX lost the package!  I contacted the company and after a bit of back and forth, they agreed to ship another one.  A couple of days later I received another notification that the package was being shipped -- this time via USPS Priority Mail, which usually works well for us here in Kona. However, the notification was simply that the label had been generated and that USPS was waiting for the item.  They've been waiting since August 2nd and it is now August 6.  Hmmm. If USPS ever gets the package, it will probably arrive in just 3-5 days. IF and WHEN.  I put in the original order on July 22 -- this seems a bit long to wait.  I'll update you next week.  In the meantime, the old system works ok, so it's not like we're unprotected.

Ok, that's it for now.  Try to stay cool, sane, and healthy, despite the many challenges.