[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]
Aloha All --
Well, Hawai'i's contribution to the current global weather mayhem was pretty wimpy. After much over-hype, Hurricane Calvin arrived on Wednesday with almost no oomph left. The news media focused on the possibilities -- the possibility of high winds, the possibility of flooding. and the possibility of power outages, etc., etc. Ignored were the data indicating that the actual likelihood of these dire developments was shrinking to almost zero well ahead of Calvin's arrival. Better safe and panicked than safe and calm. Anyway, I did take a few precautions, like lowering our pool umbrella and removing some light weight objects, but even these minimal steps turned out to be overkill. Tuesday night and Wednesday arrived and....bumpkiss, nada, zilch. No rain, no wind, nothing. The east side of our island got a fair amount of rain but frankly not more than it often does during a good storm. That's it. On to the next doom and gloom possibility.
Karen and I contributed to the financial well-being of our dermatologist this week with both of us going to see her. Recall that she doesn't take *any* insurance, so you pay at treatment time, though her charges aren't all that bad, and if there are any lab tests or biopsies involved those will be covered by our Aetna Medicare. My visit was just a followup to check on the squamous cell thing on my thigh that was removed a few months ago. All ok, and she then did a quick exam of a couple of other areas we're keeping an eye on, and froze three small areas. Karen's visit was to have a recent growth on one of her eyelids diagnosed and removed. We're still waiting for the biopsy results but the visual assessment was that it wasn't anything dire. All in all, good news for both of us. I think we're getting good medical care from this clinic, but they are focusing more and more on the stretching/sculpting/firming/scraping/beautifying angle to the practice, which is probably far more lucrative than slicing off potential cancers. We really don't have many alternatives here, though, so as long as I feel confident in the medical aspect I'll stick with it.
Karen played golf on Tuesday with two friends. I stayed home and supervised our gardeners. The weather at Makalei ahead of the dreaded Calvin was beautiful, according to Karen -- sunny and only a little wind. On Wednesday it was sunny in Kona nearly the whole day, and we didn't have our usual cooling on-shore breeze, so it got really warm -- the hottest day of the year so far. The rest of the week has also been very warm. We've gone from daytime highs in the low to mid 80's to highs in the mid- to high 80's, with humidity to match. This may be a legacy of the hurricane, but I'm not sure. Anyway, we've been making very good use of our PV surplus to power our a.c. units during the day and some of the nighttime.
We finished cleaning the lanai furniture and replacing the pads this week, and the result was very good. Our old stuff didn't have as much color as the new pads, and the difference is very striking. So far we're pleased, and now we'll see how well the new pads hold up to Kona weather over time.
That's it for this week. Hope you are all doing ok in these fun times. Stay happy -- it's always a healthy choice.
1 comment:
Glad that Calvin turned out to be less than advertised. They do seem to overdo the dire “possibilities.” The furniture looks lovely and quite striking. Here in Pacific Northwest we are dealing with very warm weather for here - high eighties. Doesn’t sound like much to worry about but most people here do not have AC. I do so I am quite comfortable when hiding indoors. Egg loves the porch and spends most of her day on it watching the world go by. We need rain here - we are well under the usual rainfall and many are worried about wildfires.
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