[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.
5/926
Aloha Gangl!
A fairly busy week here. Our good weather has continued, to the delight of locals and tourists alike. Kileaua's 46th (!) fountaining episode came and went after about 9 hours of spitting. It was a pretty puny event compared to others, with just one of the two vents shooting up lava and only to about 800 feet. However, the wind direction again sent tephra onto viewing areas and the park had to be temporarily closed, so the show could only be witnessed online. Two cruise ships (neither had any cases of Hantavirus, thankfully) visited besides our usual weekly ship. They were repositioning to their northern summer bases, a common springtime sight here. One even stayed for two nights, which was unusual.
On Tuesday I saw my retina doc for a shot in my right eye this time. I also got him to refer me to a mainland clinic for a thorough neuro-opthamology workup. My objective is to see if anyone can tell me why my vision is continuing to decline despite regular treatment. I've chosen a place called Bascom-Springer Institute, reportedly the top-ranked center in the country for ophthalmology. The only downside is that it is in Miami -- as in Florida -- and it will probably require spending several days for all the tests and consultations. I'm not sure yet when this will be. I had my clinic here fax the referral to Bascom-Springer on Wednesday. The next step is for them to contact me to set up an appointment. It's possible this might be before our August trip, but I don't want it to interfere and I may put it off until October or November. We'll see.
The big house news this week was that the tree service we contracted to trim back our neighbor's
trees to the property line and to clean up branches from the big storm in February came yesterday and did a major whack-back. I really admire their skill and strength in doing what they did. The trees aren't easily accessible and they couldn't use any fancy equipment, plus the branches had to be dragged a long distance over loose volcanic rock to where they could be dumped. Although in the past I've done a bit of this myself, it is way beyond me now, and I'm happy to pay someone to do it. Tree trimming here is a very good business because it is never-ending. Like everything else, trees grow vigorously and continuously, and unless you regularly prune them, they will soon be sending branches into your living room. One of the
lessons I learned from managing an apple orchard is that the worst thing you can do is wait until a tree is a problem and then cut it way, way, back. This stimulates it to send out new branches to try to balance the root system. This "vegetative" growth is weak and prone to disease and insect damage. Regular light pruning doesn't do this -- the tree puts its energy into flower, seed, and fruit production instead.
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Ok friends. Be good, be wise, behave. Carpe Vitam.
1 comment:
Judging by your before and after pictures, your tree man indeed did a spectacular job. It looks nice.
Miami? Yikes, that is a long way. I hope you are happy with them to make it worth your while. Maybe you can plan some cool activities while you are there.
Coleen
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