Iron People, Eyeball, Volcano

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

10/14/23

 

A fairly busy week here, in between jet-lag naps.  Today is the yearly Iron Man Triathlon, which this year has an interesting twist -- all 2000+ competitors are women.  The separation was the result of a huge

Clouds Over Kona

number of athletes qualifying for the race during the covid years, but not being able to compete here for the final championship because of travel restrictions.  Last year the organizers tried to handle the large numbers by having women compete on one day and men compete another.  The local community was adamantly against doing this again, because race day pretty well shuts the town down, screwing up work schedules and depriving businesses of customers.  Twice in one week was just way too much.  This seems like a much better solution. The men have already competed this year, in France.  We missed out on doing any volunteer work this year, due to our Balkans trip and our recovery from it.  As always, I'm in awe of the competitors who can actually complete the course -- a 2.4 mile ocean swim followed immediately by a 112 bike ride and finally a 26.2 mile run.  The pro's do it in about 8 hours and the amateurs average about 12 hours, though some take nearly the full 17 hours allowed.  Geeeez!

 

I got some good medical news this week from my retina doc.  I went Tuesday for my usual check up and all went well -- no sign yet of any edema.  I'll go back in a month, which will be 3 1/2 months from my last injection, a very good interval for me. Speaking of medical news (which we geezers do a lot), yesterday I had my blood sucked and I peed in a cup for my routine lab work before seeing my regular doctor, probably next week.  Always interesting to find out how things are progressing.... Also up next week is my appointment with an orthopedic specialist for an evaluation of some back problems I've been having for the past few months.  I have a feeling this is just another fun aspect of getting older, but I want to rule out anything more serious.  Note -- two doctors in one week!  If possible, we hope to  maybe get back to golf one day next week, if we can fit it in between medical visits.  BTW, we did manage a light workout yesterday at Planet Fitness.  All the Iron Man hard bodies around town shamed us into at least making an attempt at getting back to our exercise routine (though we did go in our pool a few days this week). Of course, we immediately nullified the positive effects with lunch at Taco Bell and a long nap...

Kilauea is still showing signs of waking up, and the volcanologists are paying close attention to three factors that might predict an eruption.  First, the summit seems to be swelling, a sure sign that magma is coming up from below and being forced into the cracks and crevices that underlie the surface of the volcano, causing it to swell.  The amount of inflation is measured by increases in the distance between points on either side of the summit.  They are too small to be noticed by the human eye but are important indicators of a possible eruption.  A second factor is seismic activity, the number and location of earthquakes produced when molten rock moves around underground.  Right now there are dozens of quakes per day mostly just to the south of the summit in an area where there was a brief but showy eruption in 1974.  Some of the quakes are occurring at a more shallow level, meaning there is magma moving around closer to the surface.  A third factor is the level of SO2 being produced near the summit and elsewhere.  This is gas that is dissolved in magma under pressure and is released when lava is at or near the surface. So far the measurements of SO2 have remained low so there is no vog at the moment.  Bottom line, 2 our of 3 indicators are suggesting a big volcanic burp at any moment.  I'll let you know.

 

Ok, take care. Stay safe and as sane as possible, given the current craziness.....