Fausto Fizzles, Mainland Sizzles, Pele Pops

[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.

8/1//26

 

Aloha Friends!

 

August already!  It's warm here, but nothing like many parts of the mainland.  One place that isn't hot is Alaska, where we are headed soon.  Highs there in the upper 50's and low 60's, with a lot of cloudiness and light rain,  In other words, WAY below my comfort zone.  I'm determined to try to enjoy it anyway, because this will be my one and only trip to Alaska. After cooling down we will head to Colorado, currently on fire.  Nature seems to be reminding us of who is ultimately in charge, regardless of all of our planning.

 

Speaking of travel, we finalized our plans for next Spring's return trip to Portugal, and we put down a deposit.  I'm pretty happy with the final itinerary, and our agent was very good to work with.  Of course, health, weather, and political uncertainties may interfere with our plans between now and then.  But we can cancel up until 5 days before the start and receive a full refund of both the deposit and the final payment (due 30 days out), so this seems like a pretty low-risk arrangement.  

 

A Miss This Time

Hurricane Fausto wound up tracking far north of the islands and was a total non-event here on our island.  In fact, by the time it reached our region it had pooped out and was no longer a true hurricane.  The cooler waters had robbed it of its energy and a dry air mass absorbed a lot of its moisture.  This is commonly the case and is the main reason Hawai'i has been hit by fewer devastating hurricanes than other Pacific islands. 

 

Speaking of nature's antics, Kilauea popped off again, the 52nd time since December of '24.  This episode was relatively brief, about 7.5 hours, and only hit 500 feet.  However, it was a fan-shaped fountain that was very pretty.  Visitors who were there got a very good show because it started about 7:30 p.m., occurring after dark.  Watching the live video reminded me of how deceptive lava looks.  Our conception of liquids is primarily based on our experience with water.  We don't grasp the reality of how dense this stuff is and how heavy it is compared to water.  I once watched a guy try to push a metal pole into a pool of molten lava and having limited success because it just wouldn't give way.  And of course, liquid rock is still as heavy as solid rock, so the energy to send a stream of it  500 or 1000 feet straight up is staggeringly great. It is worth remembering, too, that Kilauea is a pipsqueak compared to many volcanoes in the world.  Human arrogance when it comes to controlling nature is definitely unjustified.

 

I've got some good news and bad news about my waiting list woes.  The good news is that Wednesday I got a call from the Subaru dealer telling me the parts for my a.c. were in, and we set up an appointment next week (!) to get them installed.  Whoopee!  Only 5 service visits to get this problem fixed (well, maybe).  The bad news concerns our tree-trimming last week.  When I had a chance to closely examine the finished result I could see that the crew really had not done the work as specified and agreed upon in the proposal because they left the height of the trees much above the stipulated level.  I called the foreman on Saturday and had to insist they return and complete the job before I would pay the bill.  After a bit of arguing it was agreed they would do that, but now we must wait for them to work it into their schedule.  Sigh.........

 

Ok, that's my week.  Hope you are staying cool, dry, and unburnt. Take care.  Carpe Vitam!