Tight Buns and Hard Bodies

[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.

10/10/26

 

Aloha  Everyone!

 

Today is he annual Iron Man Triathlon World Championship here.  All week long we have been humbled by the 2500 participants as they have been getting ready for the race.  They are easy to spot as they bike, run, or swim:  tight buns, upper bodies like inverted triangles, zero body fat, and leg muscles like steel cables.These magnificent specimens of humanity are very distinct from usual visitors (and ourselves) who are considerably more squishy.  Only about 130 of the participants are professional triathletes.  The rest are amateurs with jobs and families who somehow find the time and commitment to train for this grueling event.  Even in my most fit moments I could not have completed any of the three legs, let alone do all of them back-to back.  The professionals finish in 8-9 hours, while the amateurs take around 12-13 hours, with a final cutoff of 17 hours. Although Iron Man competitions are held at many locations throughout the year, the one here is the World Championship.  Not just anyone can sign up.  You have to qualify by winning in your age group in one of the designated qualification races leading up to this one.  This selection process has resulted in a higher and higher percent of finishers, now about 95%. This year there is special concern, however, because it may be excessively hot and humid, although we had some overnight rain that cooled things off a bit.  If it clears later, however, the number of dropouts may be higher than normal. The ultimate DNF is death, and about 3 participants die per year worldwide, usually from cardiac arrest during the swim portion.  I'm not sure what the number is for the Kona race in particular, but I would certainly be one of them.

 

In past years we have served as volunteers to help put on the event.  We used to enjoy this, primarily

because it gave us a chance to interact with the participants and to help make their experience a uniquely special one that they had worked so hard to achieve.  However, this year we opted out.  Iron Man has become more and more commercialized.  It is now a big business, bringing in yearly revenue of about 250 million dollars,  It's a privately owned company so the exact profit amount isn't public, but one thing is certain:  company profits are heavily dependent on the free labor provided by volunteers.  Many come from the community where the race is being held, but a large number are family and friends of the athletes.  The largest chunk of revenue comes from entrance fees -- about $1000 per athlete. There are now around 200 Iron Man events per year held in 80 countries around he world, with about 200,000 participants.  Do the math and you will see what I mean -- Big Bucks!  In recent years we've gotten the feeling that the company takes volunteers for granted, a work force to be exploited rather than appreciated.  One of the few positive aspects of Geezerhood is the freedom it gives you to not put up with that #@%%^ We wish the athletes well, but not the money-centered owners of the race.

 

Not much other news this week.  Our continuing hot weather has kept us holed up, except for a couple of shopping expeditions, two workouts at PF, and at least one daily session in our pool.  Our three a.c.'s are humming in harmony starting in the late morning.  Surely this will break soon.

 

Ok, that's it for this week.  Here's my latest question for you: Is there a difference between a skeptic and a cynic? Carpe Vitam!

Nolo No Show, Steam Bath, Good Geezer News

[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.

10/3/26

 

Aloha Fellow Time Travelers!

 

Despite the dire warnings of certain doom, Nolo came and went with very little effect.  At our house, as with most of the leeward side of the island, the wind and rain amounted to bupkis, nada zilch, nothing, It's tempting to excuse the overhype by saying it is always better to be safe than sorry. I'm not so sure that's the case.  The predicted track of the storm NEVER showed it coming to within 100 miles of the south shore, and the actual path it took followed the predicted one almost exactly.  Radar showed areas of heavy moisture extending out from the center that did indeed include the southern portion of our island, but hardly the entire island, as the news seemed to imply.  Further, the arrival time of a hurricane's effects are generally predicted fairly accurately, yet county offices, schools, libraries, and beach parks were shut down days before it was necessary to do so.  This amounted to alarmist fear mongering, not rational risk assessment.  When dire effects don't materialize it may make people less likely to heed legitimate future warnings.  Hmm.  I believe there's an old folk story about this -- something to do with a chicken and the sky falling.   Ok, stepping down from my soapbox now.....

 

One effect of Nolo that was real was that it jumped our heat and humidity to very uncomfortable levels for almost a week.  I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer in our bedroom that objectively ocumented our steam bath conditions.  At times the humidity hung at 88+% with temperatures near 90 degrees.  The peak during the day was in the mid-afternoon, when doing anything outside except going in our pool was out of the question.  Consequently our usual gardening activities and house maintenance projects were put on hold.  As I mentioned last week, thankfully we have three rooms in the house that have a.c.,and we have a photovoltaic system to cover the cost of running the a.c. units.Even without hurricane-driven weather this year, it has been much warmer than in our previous 25 years here.  Meteorologists attribute this to a recurrence of the El Nino weather pattern, which is predicted to continue into next year.  Ugh!

 

The Geezer Gazette news this week is mostly positive.  First, on Tuesday my visit to my eye doctor went well.  Acuity improved a smidge in my left (good) eye, and my injection in the right went smoothly, as

Ono on Ono

usual.  Pressures were good, too.  We're holding off on doing the SLT procedure on my left eye so that I can have a preemptive shot before my trip to Bascom-Palmer. Moving to other body parts, my heart continues to behave itself after my ablation in February.  According to my self-monitoring devices, I haven't had an Afib episode for 7 months.  As you recall, my cardiologist said I could stop my blood thinner as long as I continued to stay in normal rhythm.  After about two months my bruising and bleeding problem has greatly improved -- I no longer look like I have leprosy.  A third bit of good news is that my blood pressure has lowered enough that I'm almost off the control medicine.  I'm not sure why this has happened, but for several months now my readings have gradually lowered.  I will be seeing my regular doctor in a week or so for my routine 6-month checkup and I'll ask him about trying to go off the medication entirely and see what happens. Finally, the inhaler he prescribed the last time I saw him has definitely been helping with my emphysema symptoms.  The improvement was very slow and subtle, but it seems to be much easier to breathe now and I don't get out of breath as badly as before.  My blood oxygen level, which is tracked by my Fitbit, has ticked up a couple notches, too -- although it was ok to begin with. Who knows, maybe the lung medication is what has lowered my bp, too.  Better living through chemistry!

 

Ok, that's it for this week.  I'll leave you with a question to ponder.  Which of the following is optional:  Being a Geezer or being a Curmudgeon?  Take care and Carpe Vitam!

Crazy Nolo, Pele Pops a Pimple, Double Tap Vax

[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.

9/26/26

 

Aloha Fellow Humans!  I promise this entry has not been generated by AI -- but then, how could you tell? Come to think of it, how do I know YOU'RE not an AI?!  What interesting times we live in, eh?

 

Well, the big flap here this week has been the approach of Hurricane Nolo.  As I write this the storm is in full swing and dumping lots of rain on the East and South parts of our island.  So far we have had very little ill effects in our immediate area and I hope it stays that way.  Tomorrow night will be the time when I'll know for sure.  Tracking hurricanes has been a favorite pastime of mine during our 25 years of living here.  I've seen them behave in all sorts of ways, but Nolo is the strangest so far.  As many hurricanes in our region do, this one was passing well south of the island, heading from east to west.

Then it took a 95degree turn to the right, which brought it directly in line with the bottom of the island.  It has been approaching for the last few days, and right now it is about 50-100 miles south of the island.  This might seem like imminent doom, but now it is doing something even more  bizarre -- it's making another 90 degree turn, this time to the left (west).  It is currently projected to stay well south of us and meander west northwest until it peters out.  Very, very strange.  But then, craziness seems to be the dominant quality of our times.....

 

Speaking of odd behavior, Kilauea is locked and loaded, but still hasn't fountained as it was expected to do again.  There has been occasional oozing, gurgling and sputtering from Pele's pimple, but nothing dramatic. Unpredictability seems to be another quality of the times, I guess.

 

In Geezer Gazette news, last Saturday Karen and I had our Covid and Flu shots.  We opted for both at once just to get it over with so that both vaccines would be in effect when we make our trip to Florida in a few weeks.  To refresh your memory, this trip will be for my evaluation at Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. The side effects of the shots were very minimal this time, just a slightly sore arm for a couple of days.  Also minimal was the recovery from my SLT procedure, which was just a day of minor discomfort, a light ache in my eyeball.  I'll have the other eye done next week.

 

Ok, that's it for this week.  I don't know about you, but I yearn for the good old days when reading the news didn't make me cringe and want to shout the old saying, "Stop world! I want to get off!!!!" Take care and keep smiling.  Carpe Vitam!

Home Again, Pele's Pimple, Eyeball Trabeculoplasty

[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.

9/19/26

 

Aloha Everybody!

 

We returned home last week.  Our trip to Alaska and Colorado was a very good one.   I managed to survive the cold temps in Alaska better than I had expected. Of course, this was partly due to layering up until I looked like a cross between the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Michelin Man.  The scenery in Alaska was stunning, and its remote wildness was palpable.  It is truly a wonderful, unique place.  Among other revelations, we learned that Alaska and Hawai'i share of number of things in common.  First, in both places "2nd-Day-Air' is a joke, as is fast shipping by Amazon Prime.  Patience is a necessity if you want to live in either state.  Second, everything is super-expensive because it must be shipped in from the mainland.  Third, in both Alaska and Hawai'i American missionaries sought to improve the lot of indigenous people by establishing schools for them --definitely a good thing.  However, in both cases the cost of this education was the near obliteration of the native culture, because traditional dress, customs, ceremonies, and even language were forbidden. Fortunately in both places there are current attempts to recover what was almost lost. 

 

Colorado was likewise enjoyable, particularly our 6-hour train ride from Denver to Glenwood Springs through the ruggedly beautiful canyons of the Rockies. Also, we got to see my nephew and his wife, as well as old friends in the Denver/Boulder area.  This was definitely a "return-to-your-roots" visit.  We spent one day driving around our old neighborhoods where we grew up, reminiscing to the point of nearly drowning in nostalgia.  We also spent a few days in Aspen, a ski-resort town we last visited about 50 years ago,  It is now a Disney-esque  haven for the uber rich, with average home prices in the tens of millions,  As the saying goes, in some respects you can't go home again, and Aspen is now way above our pay-grade.  Two cultural highlights of our time in Colorado were a visit to Denver's superb botanical gardens, and attending a traveling production of the Tony Award winning musical, "The Outcasts." All in all, we rate the whole trip very highly.

 

Our active volcano may be changing its behavior.  Fountaining episode 55 is way overdue, even though

Volcano Acne

the magma system is pressurized and seemingly ready to spout.  Early this week several new vents opened up near the existing ones, but they only oozed and gurgled.  The volcanologists are both puzzled and excited by this change.  So far they are being very cautious about predicting what it may indicate.  In the meantime, the main vent has been bubbling and spurting for so long that it has built up a small pimple-like cinder cone around the hole.  Again, a very interesting and unusual feature.  This new behavior shows that when humans think they have something figured out, nature shows us that things are more complicated. Another well-deserved lesson in humility!!

 

On Tuesday I had my laser procedure to help lower my eye pressure in the right eye (in a couple of weeks I'll have the other one done, too).  To be clear, this will NOT improve my eyesight.  It is now a standard treatment for people with glaucoma to head off future problems by reducing fluid build-up that increases internal pressure and harms the optic nerve.  The name of the procedure is very fancy, worthy of extra points in any session of Geezer Competitive Complaining:  Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty.  It took about 10 minutes and was only slightly painful.  I will probably keep taking drops, but hopefully the same dosage will produce even lower pressures.  I'll let you know, though it may take several weeks for the full effect.

 

Other than that, we've been working to get the landscaping back to a semblance of pre-trip condition.  In other words, lots of trimming and whacking. However, our weather has been so hot and humid since we returned that we can't stand to do this for very long each day.  Thankfully our pool and our three rooms with a.c. have given us relief from the heat.  In our 25 years of living here, this is the hottest it has been.  I've also had a few house repairs to take care of, like replacing a toilet lever and dealing with a battery-operated door lock whose electronics crapped out.  We've managed jet lag pretty well this time, since Colorado is only 4 hours different. We even managed light workouts at the gym on Monday and yesterday, for which we rewarded ourselves with an ocean-front lunch and a long nap.

 

That's all for this week.   Stay cool and well. Carpe Vitam! 

Waiting Pau: Cool Car, Short Trees

[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.

8/7//26

 

Aloha Folks!

 

Well, my big news this week is that my waiting list has evaporated.  On Thursday my Subaru dealer finally installed the a.c. parts that were ordered over a month ago.  Whether this fixes the problem permanently remains to be seen, of course, but at least right now the a.c. unit is putting out plenty of cool air. The attempted repairs have been totally covered by warranty, so I haven't been burdened by this financially, but it has certainly been a hassle and a huge waste of time.  

 

Yesterday our tree trimmers returned and finished the job they were supposed to do two weeks ago.  My total wait for this project was about 1.5 months.  This now means I currently don't have any delayed projects to grouse about.  What's a Geezer/Curmudgeon to do!!  Oh, right  just take a look at the national and world news -- plenty of grouse-worthy material there........

 

Karen and I played golf on Wednesday.  We wanted to make sure we got this in because next week we

Big World to Explore

will be busy preparing for our trip to Alaska/Colorado.  I didn't do so hot, but Karen did pretty well, with 2 pars and a bogey.  The course was really dry because we haven't had much rain lately. On Makalei's hilly course this means the ball will really roll a long way once it lands.  This helps get more distance when the hole is downhill, but when it is uphill the ball can roll back so that it shortens your shot considerably. In fact there are a couple of holes on the course where on occasion I've actually had negative yardage!  When this happens we invoke Kon-a-Lago Rules and play the ball from where it first hit the ground.  Anyway. we saw quite a few Peacocks and Peahens this time, including one white Peahen.  This is the time of year when the mothers bring their babies out to forage. a very cute sight.  We counted about a dozen young ones, and there may have been more still hidden in the margins of the fairways. 

 

In Geezer Gazette news I saw my eye doctor on Tuesday.  He recommended a laser procedure that can reduce or even eliminate the need for pressure-drops.  These drops lower the pressure inside your eyeballs to help stave off eye damage from Glaucoma.  I've been using them nightly for years and my pressures have been low.  If the laser treatment works it may mean I can stop the drops entirely.  Fine with me -- the fewer medications the better.  The procedure is called "selective laser trabeculoplasty."  It is non-invasive with no down-time and no pain. I'll have this done after I return from our trip.  Note, this is unrelated to my other eye problems, so I'm not expecting any improvement in my vision.

 

Ok, that's it for now.  I may not be sending a missive next week because I'll be getting ready to freeze my butt off in Alaska.  I'll catch up when we return.  In the meantime, try to keep a firm grasp on the distinction between delusional blather and rational assessment.  These days we need to defend valuing the difference. Carpe Vitam!

 

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! 

Shorter Waiting List, Hurricane?

[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.

7/25//26

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

My big news this week is that two of the items on my waiting list were taken care of.  As you may recall, about a month ago we got an estimate for doing some tree work -- namely lowering a couple of trees called Podocarpus by about 20 feet, and trimming another one back to the property line.  These trees are vigorous growers and reach heights of 60-80 feet before you know it.  They have

Hi Tech Tree Whacker

to be kept in check or it can be difficult and expensive to get them back to manageable levels, a lesson we learned the hard way this week. We finally made it to the top of the schedule on Thursday.  It was quite an operation, with a crane that had a claw and a saw at the end rather than one where the trimmer works from the bucket at the end of the arm.  Instead, an operator was on the ground and guided the tip to the branch to be cut with a remote control device. Then he had the claw grab the branch and hold it while the saw cut if off.  The crane operator then swiveled the arm and dropped the branch in a convenient spot for workers to feed it into a shredder.  Pretty neat. Unfortunately I had to leave before the job was done and I didn't notice that the final height of the tree was still too high, so the trimmers may have to come back to do more work.  Still, quite an improvement.

 

Also on Thursday (!) I finally saw my cardiologist to go over the results of my heart monitor.  It was about a month ago that I sent the device in to be analyzed, but Thursday was the first available appointment I could get to learn what my cardiologist saw in the results.  Bottom line:  all good. During the two weeks I was wearing the monitor I had no afib episodes at all.  This jibes with my FitBit device that hasn't recorded an episode since March 9.  Yippee!  Given these results, plus the fact that I am constantly self-monitoring with my FitBit, the doctor felt that I could stop taking my blood thinner after gradually reducing the dose over the next week.  This is very welcome news on several fronts, including reducing the blood stains on our sheets and my clothes, as well lessening the vanity-deflating bruises all over my geezer carcass. 

 

Still on the waiting list is getting the a.c. problem fixed in my '24 Outback.  It's been almost 3 weeks since the car was in for service and when repair parts were supposedly ordered. The plan was to contact me when they arrived and make an appointment for them to be installed.  I've heard nothing but the sound of crickets......I called last week and the person I spoke with said she couldn't see any notes indicating the parts had arrived, but that she would check with the Parts and Service Departments and get back to me.  More crickets  It looks like once again I will have to show up in person and get them to deal with this.  Sheeesh!   

 

In more sobering news, there is a hurricane heading our way, foretasted to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.  As usual, this one is coming from the east-southeast, so it will primarily effect the Hilo side of our island.  The predicted track right now is for the center to pass to the north of Hawai'i .  This puts Maui, Oahu, and Kaua'i on the direct path.  Fortunately DOGE didn't fire everybody at the NWS, so we are getting pretty good tracking and forecasting information well in advance.  The next couple of days will give a better idea of how serious this is.  By the way, do you know the difference between a cyclone, a hurricane, and a typhoon?  This came up at a party a while back and so I did I bit of a dive for information on the distinction. The answer is that hurricanes and typhoons are both tropical cyclones, storms that draw energy from warm ocean waters and produce rotating winds.  The term hurricane is used for cyclones in the west, while typhoon is used to refer to them in east.  Here's an authoritative description from NASA:  "Over the Atlantic and East Pacific, tropical cyclones are commonly called "hurricanes." The common term is "typhoon" for a tropical cyclone that forms in the West Pacific. Tropical cyclones are called just "cyclones" in the Indian Ocean and near Australia." Now you know!

 

Ok, I'm off to Farmer's Market and a beach breakfast picnic.  Take care.  In your spare time you might consider this question:  Can someone behave like a toddler, a bully, a buffoon, and an ignoramus all at the same time?  Any examples come to mind?

1001 Frogs, Stealth Birthday, Travel Plans, Golf

[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.

7/18//26

 

Aloha Fellow Humans!

 

I reached couple of significant milestones this week -- one wanted, the other not so much.  First, I caught my 1000th coqui frog on Sunday night (plus #1001 just for good measure), a rather oddball achievement of which my inner macho-man is nevertheless rather proud.  One...Thousand...Coquis! Even though these

Stuff 'em?

are very small critters, 1000 of them would make a pretty big pile.  They also represent enough collective noise to rival the decibel level of a jumbo jet engine at full throttle.  To remind you, coquis are an invasive species that was accidentally introduced to Hawai'i from Puerto Rico in a shipment of nursery plants.  Without any natural predators, they quickly multiplied and spread.  Besides being noisy, they also prey on beneficial native insects, making coquis a serious environmental threat.  Contrary to the mistaken belief that many people have, they do NOT control mosquitos. Coquis can be killed by mild solutions of citric acid or by dustings of baking soda, but they must be thoroughly coated for these to work, a difficult task because they often hide in sheltered places between leaves of bushes or in leaf litter at the base of plants.  The surest way to kill them is the way I do it -- by hand catching them, putting them in a plastic bag, and tossing the bag in the freezer.  This method is also the most humane.  Over the years I've become quite good at hunting them, even with my recently reduced eyesight.  I use a headlamp at night, which helps me to locate them and to blind them long enough for the "Hand of Doom" to grab them.  I've developed a good sense of where they might be hiding, so that I can be successful even if they go quiet.  Anyway, do you think a good taxidermist could  mount these guys for my study wall?

 

The other milestone this week was the one I'd rather not have reached -- my xxnd [censored] birthday.  As you recall, I wrote recently about a couple of early presents; my new guitar case and my new AVR.  This week was my actual birthday.  I'm to the point where I really wanted to keep it low-key rather than make a big deal out it.  I view this as a celebration only in the sense that I'm still alive and doing fairly well compared to many in my age cohort.  Anyway, I planned the day to my liking with as little fanfare as I could.  Lunch was at a favorite dockside restaurant in our small-boat harbor.  Very picturesque, informal. fairly inexpensive, good relaxed service.  We shared a burger and a beer with fries and coleslaw.  How's that for fancy?  The afternoon was spent mostly in my "osmotic information transfer position" -- aka taking a nap with a book on my chest.  For dinner I barbecued a New York strip steak.  I imagine this sounds like I'm just another meat-and-potatoes guy, until I tell you the rest of the menu:  angel hair pasta with truffles and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, sauteed mushrooms, blanched fresh broccoli, mixed green salad with crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  All, in all, a good birthday!  To top it off, Pele took pity on my dismal fireworks experience on the 4th of July and popped off  a present for my benefit.  At 8:30 a.m. the morning of my birthday lava fountaining began for the 51st episode in the current eruption and lasted until just before 5 p.m. hitting almost 1000 feet high at the peak. Thanks, Pele!

 

We're moving along with our travel plans for next Spring's trip to Portugal.  As you may recall, we've already booked a river cruise on the Duoro in the northern part of the country.  This will be June 8-15.  The cruise itself is much too short to make the trip worthwhile, so we've been working with a travel company based in Lisbon to make custom arrangements for another three weeks.  This outfit specializes in putting together u-drive itineraries, but they also do other forms of transportation.  We've opted to do a combination of trains, buses, and private drivers to get us between locations.  The company has suggested hotels and activities along the way, and we're now going back and forth to make the itinerary fit our travel style, past experience, preferences, and geezer challenges.  At the moment we plan to fly to Lisbon, stay a week, then take the train north to Porto, where we will do the cruise.  After that we will make our way south, staying several nights in towns along the way.  Some of these towns with be on the usual tourist track (like Coimbra and Tomar), but also places less visited, like Portalegre in the eastern side of the country.  We will end up on the southern coast and then take the train back to Lisbon for the trip home, for a total of about a month -- our usual.  We're making sure that we have a lot of time on our own to enjoy these places, but also to have some interesting  pre-arranged excursions and activities (like a private tour of megaliths in the central part of the country).  The mix of transportation modes should be interesting as well.  So afar the agent we've been working with (a young Portuguese woman in Lisbon) has been very good at interpreting our wishes. One very positive aspect of this company is their payment and cancellation policy, an important consideration since we are making these plans so far in advance.  They require a deposit, of course, but the final payment isn't due until a month before the trip, and we can get a full refund up until just 5 days in advance.  I'll keep you posted as this progresses. 

 

My final bit of news is that yesterday I went with Karen and her friend to Makalei.  I didn't attempt a full round but I wanted to test whether I could still hit the ball.  The answer is "sorta kinda."  In fact,  given that I haven't played for five months and that my vision has degraded since my last outing, I did surprisingly well -- three bogeys and a par!  I also enjoyed revisiting the course itself, which is one of my favorite scenic places on the island.

 

Ok, that's it.  I hope you are staying cool and dry, though that's somewhat difficult these days.  Btw, we're watching the wlldfires in Canada and Colorado with a feeling of deja vu -- it was two years ago that my birthday trip to the great outdoors turned into a perfect storm of health problems, heat, fire, and smoke.  I'm keeping my fingers cross that our trip next month isn't a repeat.  Take care, everyone.  Carpe Vitam!

Fireworks A Bust, Moving, Techno-Toys

[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.

7/11//26

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

It was a busy week here. Several good things happened, but a couple of negatives, too.  First, for a pyrotechnophile like me, the fireworks show on July 4th was a huge disappointment. As I mentioned last week, we didn't go down to the shoreline to watch the community fireworks this year.  Instead, we accepted an invitation from a neighbor to attend a get-together for socializing, hot dogs, and to watch the fireworks show from her lanai.  The socializing and the hot dogs were great, but the fireworks viewing was a major bummer.  A huge Monkey Pod tree a few streets down-slope was perfectly positioned to block all but the very highest explosions.  Not only that, we were so far away you could barely hear them.  Nosiree, I want to be close enough to be awed by the size of the fireballs and to feel the booms in my chest.  Next year I'll opt for less socializing and more sensory overload.  I did enjoy watching a YouTube recording of the D.C. fireworks, but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person.

 

On a more positive note, on July 5th we celebrated our 25th anniversary of the the day we moved to Hawai'i, arriving around 9 p.m.  Our realtor had left a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator, and

Yikes!

that's how we celebrated this year, too. The move was an exciting but daunting moment for us, to say the least.  Obviously it worked out pretty well, but we weren't at all certain of a positive outcome at the time.  We were leaving behind close friends, a paid-for house, a familiar, supportive community, and a very predictable life-trajectory. We were instead launching ourselves into an unfamiliar environment where we knew almost nobody, had a new mortgage that looked to us like the national debt, and where the future was an adventure into the unknown.  It was, however, one of those periods in our lives when we felt intensely energized and open to new challenges and experiences, something I don't think we would have encountered the same degree had we stayed in Ohio.  Cheers!

 

On Tuesday I finally had my Subaru's a.c. checked out.  Sure enough, more problems.  Here's the official written diagnosis:  "...found obvious refrigerant leak coming from evaporator cooling pipe connector near vehicle firewall.  Also found low pressure hose from compressor to evaporator has sign of leak on hose crimping."  Parts are ordered and are covered under warranty, but this will mean more waiting until the parts come in and I can get an appointment to have them installed.  To remind you, this car is just a little over two years old and has only 6700 miles on it. Other than the a.c. I do like the car very much, but it's a bit irritating to be wasting this much time on a problem that really shouldn't be happening.

 

On Wednesday I switched our internet service back to Spectrum from our Hawaiian Tel fiber optic service that we've had for the last couple of years.  I was quite happy with the fiber service, but Spectrum made me an offer I couldn't refuse:  internet at more than twice the current speed for half the cost, guaranteed for two years and a third year at an increased price that is still less that what we are paying now.  As you may recall, when we switched to fiber I installed a special network cable (CAT6) that runs from the garage wall where the fiber and coaxial cables enter the house to my router inside the house.  This setup made it very fast and easy to make the switch -- it simply involved unplugging that cable from the fiber "modem" and plugging it into the new (free) coaxial modem.  Done.  This means that going back to fiber would be even easier, because the fiber "modem" (actually called an ONT) is already installed.  The special deal I received is the result of the current intense competition between the two internet providers in our area, which definitely is benefiting the customers. Anyway, the new service is going great right now, and I can use the savings to help pay for the increased health care premiums I was just informed I'll be paying next year (!).  

 

Another technotoy I have enjoyed this week is my new AVR.  The Costco shipping was very fast, and I now have the new unit just about installed.  I still have to tweek the speaker settings a bit, and solve a small glitch in the Blue Tooth connection to my tablet and phone so that I can stream music.  Otherwise everything seems to be working fine again.  I really enjoy setting up things like this -- it forces me to solve problems, use some physical dexterity and coordination, and learn something new.

 

I'll just mention in passing some Geezer Gazette news --I don't want spoil the mostly good vibes so far. I saw my retina doctor on Tuesday, had a shot as expected, and my test results confirmed my subjective impression that there has been no improvement from my Valeda treatments.  Oh well, it was worth a try. 

 

Ok, that's all for the week.  Hang in there.  Ponder the possible relevance to our times of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Emperor's New Clothes."  Carpe Vitam!

Sizzling 4th, Window Film, Birthday Presents

[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.

7/4//26

 

Aloha All! 

 

Happy HOT 4th of July!  And a special one, at that -- the 250th.  There hasn't been as much hoopla here as elsewhere.  Still, the town will set off fireworks tonight over Kailua Bay, and we're hoping the show might be a bit longer than usual.  This year we won't be going down to the shoreline to see them.  Instead, we are going to a pot-luck dinner at a neighbor's house and watching the fireworks from the lanai.  I'll miss being up close, but at least we won't have to contend with the traffic and the crowds.  

 

One of the frustrating waiting periods I wrote about last week is now over.  On Wednesday our window film was replaced!  The guy did a great job, and fortunately the old stuff came off easily.  We were worried that it might crumble and make a huge mess. The new film is the same darkness as the old, so it looks about the same, but we can definitely see that it is clearer.  The best part is that it didn't cost us a cent -- 3M honored the warranty totally.  Not only that, the warranty is still in effect so that if the new film fails in any way they will replace it again.  When we had the film installed 23 years ago we thought it was a bit pricey.  Given that it lasted fine for two decades and that we now have a brand new application, I'd say it was a good deal.  I have to hand it to 3M.

 

Something that hasn't had nearly the same longevity is our AV receiver, which crapped out this week after about 5 years.  This unit is at the heart of our sound system for our t.v. and also for playing music which we stream from Pandora. Many electronic devices designed for indoor use don't fare well here.  The salty air, coupled with a dose of acidic vog from the volcano, takes a toll on appliances, metal fixtures, and printed circuits.  Of course, having a house that is open to the outside air 24/7/12 contributes to the problem.  Anyway, the receiver is long since out of warranty, and repairing it is impractical.  So, just in time for my birthday, I get a new techno-toy!!  I ordered a new receiver from Costco online and it should be delivered late next week.  The price was pretty good, but the best part about going through Costco is that if there is something wrong, I can return it to the local store for a refund.  Costco also extends the warranty automatically.  Ahh, nothing like the smell of new electronics for my birthday!

 

Another early birthday present arrived Thursday by UPS.  This is Karen's present to me, though I picked it out and ordered it.  It's a new guitar case!  I know you're underwhelmed, but consider that the old one

Happy Birdthday!

came with the guitar she gave me 55 (!) years ago.  The case wasn't very high quality to begin with, and after all these years it's no wonder it is barely in one piece.  The guitar is better quality than the case, and the sound it can make far exceeds my playing ability.  I have become very attached to it, playing almost every afternoon while I sip my beer before dinner.  I could buy a new one but it would be like turning my back on an old friend.  Nope, I intend to keep it and give it the home it deserves -- a nice cushy case. Happy birthday, guitar!

 

In other news, the volcano spit up again, just hours after I wrote last week.  It's 50th fountaining episode was a pretty good one, lasting seven hours and hitting a maximum height of 1000 feet.  All signs point to a 51st episode soon, probably next week.  Too bad it didn't happen today to supplement the fireworks around the country!

 

Ok, that's it from here.  Stay cool, and again, have a fun and safe 4th of July.  Carpe Vitam!

Waiting Games, 50 Fountains of Fire

[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.

6/27/26

 

Aloha Everybody! 

 

Have you ever had one other those times in your life when everything seems to be moving in slow motion or stuck on hold?  That is pretty much the story of this week.  Hurry up and wait.  And wait. And Wait.

 

First of all, it took two un-returned phone calls and two physical visits to the Subaru Service Department to get an appointment to have the a.c. checked.  Each time I called I got the usual recording saying the agents were busy with other customers and to leave a message with your phone number and someone would call as soon as possible.  I waited an entire day after each call and never got a response.  Finally I stopped by in person to make the appointments but found nobody at the service desk.  I waited about 10 minutes then found someone in another department who assured me the service clerk would be back soon.  So I waited some more.  Nothing.  After 15 minutes I left.  What kind of business doesn't call back customers and then has nobody on staff to handle customers face-to-face?  If the agent knew they were going to be gone for 1/2 hour or more, wouldn't it be courteous to leave a note on the desk? I went back the next day at an earlier time and managed to find someone who made the appointment for me.  Now I wait until the appointment day two weeks from now.  If this was the mainland I'd just go to another dealer for this warranty work, but.....there isn't one here on the island.  Complaining to Subaru Central probably wouldn't help -- there isn't anyone else they can give the dealership to, so if they want to sell cars they'll put up with this kind of thing.

 

Speaking of warranties. we are still waiting to hear back from the local 3M dealer about replacing the

Waiting...

window film in our living room. We had this installed years ago as a way to combat the afternoon heat and UV.  It did help, but over the years the film has started to chip off and has become hazy.  The warranty that came with the film was quite explicit:  full cost of removing and replacing film that failed, no time limit.  We have the original invoice and warranty, both signed by the company who did the installation.  They are no longer in business, but it doesn't matter.  The warranty says it should be honored by any authorized dealer. Slam dunk, right?  Wrong.  Since the job was so long ago the dealer didn't enter the warranty in 3M's digital data base. We have had to send copies of our documentation to 3M and wait for them to approve the replacement.  We started this almost 3 weeks ago.  More waiting.

 

Other waiting games include the status of my eye treatment with Valeda, my heart monitor results, and trimming more of our trees.  It's been 1.5 weeks since my last Valeda session, and nothing seems to have changed yet.  I finished my 2-week heart monitoring stint on Tuesday and sent off the recording device.  I have to wait about three weeks for my appointment to go over the results with my cardiologist.  Finally, our tree trimming company is 3-6 weeks out in their scheduling, about the typical delay here.  Bottom line: if patience is a virtue, living in Hawai'i can definitely make you a saint!

 

In more positive news, Karen played golf this week and did pretty well despite not playing since last October.  I opted not to endure the frustration of not being able to see the ball, but next time I may go anyway, just to experience the course at Makalei, one of my favorite places on the island.  Also positive, or at least noteworthy, is that the 50th fountaining episode in Kileaua's 1.5 year eruption is about to start any minute, according to the volcanologists.  It's been bubbling and spurting for the past several days, the usual precursory signs.  Like I said, any minute now.  Just wait for it..... 

 

Ok.  That's it for this week.  Be kind, be good, be well.  Carpe Vitam.  

Mayo No Go, Pig Problems, A.C. Woes

[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.

6/20/26

 

Aloha Everyone! 

 

I hope your early summer is going ok.  I know there has been some nice weather on the mainland, but also some of the usual nasty stuff, too, like tornadoes, floods, and fires. No tornadoes here, and really not much to complain about weather-wise, other than we've had a bit of VOG from our volcano eruptions, and it seems to be clouding up earlier in the day than usual.  The afternoon clouds aren't really a bad thing, though, because they make for easier napping......

  

I'm sorry to say that my news this week is unfortunately mostly bad.  First up in the Geezer Gazette, my attempt to get an evaluation at Mayo Clinic for my eye problems has failed, and I'm getting a bit frustrated.  The problem turned out to be insurance-related, like it was with the Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.  Everything seemed to be going ok with Mayo, though I had to re-fax the referral form and letter.  I called on Tuesday and a very helpful and knowledgeable representative was starting to schedule a vist when she noticed that my insurance was a Medicare Advantage plan from Aetna.  Dead stop.  Nope, as of January 1st Mayo is no longer accepting patients with that insurance.  This may sound like the same story as with Stein at UCLA.  However, when the Mayo person explained the problem, I realized it had it exactly reversed:  It isn't that my insurance won't cover the evaluation, it's that Mayo (and Stein) simply won't deal with the Aetna Advantage plan at all.  I learned that Medicare Advantage plans re-negotiate contracts regularly with providers. These contracts deal with things like reimbursement levels, timeliness of reimbursement, and criteria for denial of coverage and appeal procedures.  It seems that a number of large providers, like Mayo, Stein, and others, are opting out of participating with Advantage Plans because it is simply too costly for them.  Note, in my particular case it isn't a matter of Mayo doctors being in-network versus out-of-network, nor that I needed pre-approval for getting services from Mayo.  Rather, the lack of a contract means no coverage, period.  Welcome to health care in America, where none of the thousands of people with my insurance plan can obtain treatment at someplace like the Mayo Clinic which provides some of the best medical services in the world.  So I'm now looking into my options.  Of course, I could try to find yet another place to get my evaluation, and hope that I can get in before they too cancel their contract.  I could also try to change insurance plans.  But my current plan is through my retirement system, and changing would likely lead to much higher premiums and less coverage, including if I went with straight Medicare.  Finally, I could pay out of pocket, an alternative nipped in the bud by the representatives at both Stein and Mayo, who said no way.  Geez, what a waste of time. I'll let you know if anything changes.

 

Now to a more down to earth problem. Our neighborhood is currently coping with a couple of feral pigs who have been routing in people's gardens and causing a fair amount of damage.  We've had trouble with pigs starting before we moved here, when we got calls from our gardener informing us that pigs had again dug up our irrigation system.  One of the very first house projects when we arrived was to build a fence to keep them out.  It works -- sort of.  Sometimes a few adventurous marauders circumvent the fence by coming down our driveway, roto-tilling as they go.  It's Open-Season on pigs year-round here, but hunting is with traps, knives, and arrows since shooting guns in residential areas (favorite hangouts of hungry pigs) would probably not be a good idea.  Pigs, like nearly all other mammals, aren't native to Hawai'i.  The first pigs were brought to the islands by the Polynesians who settled here about a thousand years ago.  These pigs were a small, domesticated variety that stayed pretty close to home.  However, in the 1800's Europeans imported and released wild boars for sport and for food.

Where's Dinner?

 What could go wrong, right? Well, these piggies are big, smart, and nasty in disposition.  They also have no natural predators here to keep their numbers in check, lots of good food, and no deadly winter weather.  I think you get the picture -- swine heaven.  The two currently posing a problem are probably brothers from the same litter, and are hitting their prime.  They are huge, bold and if they smell food, like ripe fruit or an abundance of garden grubs, they are very determined to reach it.  Our neighbor two doors down has a fruit tree that is now bearing and has become a real magnet for the brothers, to the extent that they cross the un-fenced part of our lot, cross our immediate neighbor's lot, and then make their way to the area around the target tree. Despite their size they can be very quiet and agile, making them hard to detect until it's too late.  We have a driveway alarm to alert us if they come that way, but their current trail to our neighbor's tree is not monitored.  I really can't complain --- in Ohio I had to deal with deer, rabbits, raccoons, woodchucks, skunks, squirrels, and possums.  Here it's only pigs and tiny frogs. Oh, and an occasional garden rat.

 

My final problem this week is that my car a.c. seems to be going weak again.  Recall that this is my 2-year old Subaru Outback, which started having a.c. issues just a couple of months after I bought it.  Eventually the dealer replaced the entire guts of the a.c. unit, and that seemed to take care of the problem.  Until now, about a year later.  I'm hoping this is still a warranty issue, particularly since the problem started early and is well-documented by the dealer.  Still, it means making service appointment(s) and going through the hassle of taking the car in for it to be fixed.  Grrrr.

 

I'll end on a more positive note.  Yesterday marked the anniversary of the day we closed on our Oxford house 25 years ago.  This was quite a relief at the time, because we had been owners of two houses simultaneously for a few months after sealing the deal on our house here.  There was a bit of a cash flow problem that was relieved when the check for the Oxford house was deposited.  No champagne for this anniversary, but we toasted with a nice glass of wine.

 

Ok, sorry to have been such a bummer this week.  Hang in there, and remember, no matter how often a certain someone claims otherwise, down is not up, wrong is not right, cruel is not kind, lies are not facts, and ignorance is not knowledge.  Carpe Vitam. 

Horse Parade, Heart Monitor, Travel Plans

[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.

6/13/26

 

Aloha Fellow Time Travelers! 

 

On Thursday we celebrated King  Kamehameha Day, a state holiday honoring the first king of

Hawai'i who unified the islands and established the Kingdom of Hawai'i.  One of the hallmarks of the yearly festivities are floral parades, the biggest of which is on Oahu, but there are also smaller versions, including one in Hilo and one in Kailua on our island. Kamehameha was born around 1750 at a spot on the northwest coast of our island -- the exact year is uncertain. He was about 20 years old when Captain Cook arrived and Kamehameha was much impressed by the firepower Cook brought with him, which he adopted in his conquest of rival territories.  The floral parade here in Kona was last Saturday. Of the annual parades I like this one the best for three reasons:  (1) it is along our picturesque shoreline in town, passing by the historic winter royal palace, (2) it is intensely Hawaiian, with groups of colorful horseback

riders representing each of the major islands, and (3) it is short, lasting only about one hour. My favorite feature by far is the horses wearing floral leis, a unique sight. Of course, in Kamehameha's days Hawaiians had never seen a horse. They aren't native to the islands and weren't introduced until 1803, 7 years before the final unification of the islands. Their centrality in the Kamehameha celebration might therefore be a bit of a stretch, but most parades aren't really hallmarks of historical accuracy. On the other hand, it is quite true that horses have figured prominently in modern Hawaiian culture since their introduction, particularly in their role as mounts for our Hawaiian cowboys called Paniolo. The parade was great fun, well-attended by locals and tourists alike.

 

Just a couple of quick updates in Geezer Gazette news.  First, I'm still waiting to hear something from Mayo Clinic.  It's been about 1 1/2 weeks since I faxed the consultation request form. I'll wait until Monday and then try to contact them.  Second, on Tuesday I had my heart monitor pasted on for a two-week recording session. I'll have to wait until July to find out the results. Finally, I have three more Valeda treatments next week and then I'm finished for several months.  No noticeable changes yet.  All this is the health equivalent of watching paint dry.

 

On a more cheery note, we've made more travel plans.  Just to remind you, we are all set for our Alaskan cruise and visit to Colorado in August.  But we've now looking ahead to next year -- advanced planning is necessary these days because of the uptick in the numbers of people traveling.  We have chosen to return to Portugal next spring. We were there 35 years ago for several weeks, traveling on our own by car.  This time we're going to do it a bit differently by booking a river cruise on the Douro River.  Yes, that makes the fifth cruise in the last few years, noteworthy for someone who disavowed that type of travel in the past.  I admit to the inconsistency.  Chalk it up to geezerdom. Anyway, we have booked a week-long  trip next June with the same  company (AmaWaterways) that did our recent Colombia cruise.  The plan is to supplement that with another 2-3 weeks of private travel in Portugal which we will arrange with a local company -- in other words, another "tour for the two of us."  Nothing definite on that yet, but reading through the guidebooks and online suggested itineraries is getting me excited about the trip.  I'll keep you posted on our progress,

 

That's about it for this week.  I'll leave you with this thought exercise:  Do you think someone with a trillion dollars can resist becoming a powerful oligarch whose values are misaligned with our own? Tale care. Summer's here.  Carpe Vitam.

Paw Prints, Anniversaries, Mayo Maybe

[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.

6/6/26

 

Aloha Folks! 

 

June already!  Hard to believe that just a few months ago we were freezing, up to our keesters in snow, slipping on icy streets, etc.  Oh, wait, that's not here.....nor has it been for the past 25 years after we moved to Hawai'i.  July 5th will be the anniversary of the day we spent our first night in our new Hawaiian home.  Speaking of anniversaries, this past week we celebrated two others:  the last day of teaching and the first day of retirement for both of us.  That was May 31 and June 1, 2000.  Every year we mark the occasion with a bottle of champagne, half one day and half the next.  It's a chance to reflect on our good fortune for the past 2 1/2 decades in terms of being able to live in such an awesomely unique place, to learn about new cultures, new plants, new geology, and also to have the many global travel experiences that retirement has provided. We have no doubt that retirement has been a richly fulfilling period in our lives.  Cheers!

 

Last Saturday, as we were leaving for our beach breakfast picnic, sun hit the windshield and revealed

the unmistakable evidence that a felis catus had recently investigated the car.  There were paw prints on the windshield (and later we found them on the hood) showing the cat's path up one side and down the other, with four slide marks on the down side, each ending in a perfect paw print, likely left when the cat jumped rather than continue to slide ignominiously.  I was far from being annoyed by this.  For one thing the car needed washing anyway, and for another I love cats and felt honored to have been deemed worthy of such consideration.  We must have left the side door of the garage open the day before, and a neighborhood cat sought refuge from an afternoon shower.  Attracted by the possibility of a high perch where it could take a snooze, it may have hopped up for a look but was disturbed by one of us getting something from the garage, or perhaps the location just didn't meet its snooze-spot standards. At any rate it decided to go elsewhere. We used to have cat companions when we lived on the mainland and intended to bring our last one with us when we moved here.  However, she died shortly before the move and we decided to not seek another one because we felt it would be unfair to leave it during our extended retirement travels.  As a substitute for permanent cat companionship, I have tried to befriend the neighborhood cats we encounter on our daily walks.  Cats are wisely wary of human beings, of course, so it is very difficult to gain their trust.  There are a few, though, who will interact with me and even allow me to pet them.  This is always a highlight of both the walk and my entire day.  For more of my feline fawning, see Cats: Unifiers Of The World.

 

The Geezer Gazette news this week is all about eyeballs. I completed my first three Valeda treatments on my left eye. The procedure is simple and painless.  You look into a machine and a bright yellow light flashes rapidly for about a minute.  Then you close your eyes and a bright red light shines for another minute or so.  This is repeated once more.  I asked about why the first light was flashing rather than being a constant light hitting the retina.  Apparently research has found that the retina cells respond more to intermittent stimulation.  The red light also stimulates the retina even through the closed eyelid, but at a much lower level.  Anyway, the worst part of the whole procedure is having to take the eye chart test each time, something I find very frustrating. I'll have 6 moire treatments, 3 in each of the next two weeks.  It won't be for at least another month before effects are detectable, if they occur at all, because the retina physiology changes slowly.  Remember, nothing can bring back the cells that I've already lost, but the goal here is to make the rest more healthy, along with the retina tissue itself.  Patience, Grasshopper.

 

On Tuesday I saw my retina doctor and had a shot it my left eye.  I also got a letter from him referring me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  Recall that last week my health insurance company dropped coverage of the Stein Clinic at UCLA, so I was in the market for another center to do my neuro ophthalmology evaluation.  I decided to see if I can get in at the Mayo Clinic because, well, it's the Mayo Clinic.  If anyone can figure out what is going on, they can.  Their list of ophthalmology doctors goes on for pages, and many are leaders in their field.  Besides, Mayo is renowned for a multidisciplinary team approach to diagnosis and care, something I heartily endorse.  I faxed the referral letter and Mayo's referral/consultation request form and now it's a matter of waiting for something to happen.  Again, patience, Grasshopper.

 

Ok, that's it for this week. Be good to each other -- the world certainly needs more of that.  Carpe Vitam.

Quake Damage, Volcano Bio, Eye Stymie

[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.

5/30/26

 

Aloha Guys! 

 

A nice, quiet week here. However, I know it won't last -- the volcano is predicted to erupt any moment, and next week I will spend 4 out of 7 days in a doctor's office (my regular visit to my retina guy plus three Valeda treatments at the same eye clinic -- the staff and I are getting to be close buddies.  Fortunately the clinic is just a few blocks from our house. The Valeda treatments won't be given by my retina doctor but by two optometrists in the same clinic, which I think is reasonable considering the simplicity of the procedure.

 

The damage assessments from last week's 6.0 earthquake are in -- 5 houses down south near the

Home Sweet Home

epicenter were declared destroyed and some structural damage was reported to about 140 other structures.  The houses that were destroyed were all built using the "post and pier" method and were on a hillside.  A vulnerable combination, obviously. Elsewhere, including in our area, there was very minor damage, mostly stuff falling off shelves and out of cabinets -- more of a mess than true damage.  By the way, I was partially wrong last week in describing the nature of earthquakes here.  I was correct in saying that ours aren't caused by tectonic plates colliding or moving apart, but I was incorrect in attributing this particular quake to the island settling under its own weight.  The geologists' assessment was that this one was due to the tectonic plate under the island bending suddenly under the island's weight  -- sort of like a floor board creaking under a heavy footstep.  Interesting, eh?

 

In keeping with the geological theme, an interesting article appeared in our local paper this week about the history of Kilauea's eruptions. There have been several recent instances of recurring fountaining -- 1959, 1969-'70, and 1983-'86.  The current one, which began in December of 2024, just broke the record for the most episodes, 48 with the 49th imminent. The previous record was 47 during the 1983-'86 eruption at a side vent named Pu'u O'o (pronounceable with lots of practice). Compared to Pu'u O'o, the current pace of the episodes has been much quicker, with an average pause between events of just 10 days compared to nearly a month for Pu'u O'o. The real speed demon, however, was a brief eruption in 1959 in the summit crater of Kileaua Iki, with 17 spurts in just two days.  As spectacular and accessible as this was, not many people got to see it because it was over so fast.  Likewise, not many people saw the fountaining at Pu'u O'o -- the vent was remote and difficult to reach.  Our current eruption is by far the biggest crowd-pleaser because its frequent, regular and predictable episodes have been very easy for visitors to view. Keep it up. Pele!!

 

My final news of the week is a Geezer Gazette item that I think reflects badly on U.S. healthcare.  I called the Stein Eye Institute yesterday just to check if they had received my doctor's referral.  The very cordial and competent person I spoke with found some of the documents we faxed, but not the letter yet.  In passing, the representative asked if my insurance was Aetna Medicare. Affirmative. He then informed me that as of May 28 the institute is no longer a provider covered by Aetna!  WTF! Apparently Stein and Aetna couldn't reach an agreement regarding reimbursement levels. The represeentative said that this has left a lot of their regular patients in the lurch, and they have to now find another provider. For me, this means the only way I could get my neuro-opthamolgy evaluation at Stein is by paying for it myself.  I can't just fall back on Medicare itself because Medicare has transferred all processing to Aetna.  By the way, the Aetna Medicare coverage is provided (at a premium) by my teachers' retirement system -- switching to any other insurance would be way more expensive.  So there it is.  In the U.S. healthcare is available to those who can afford it and only in limited ways, if at all, to others.  Bottom line:  I'm now searching for another neuo-opthamology clinic, and this time I have to make sure they take my insurance.

 

I'll close on that happy note.  Enjoy what's left of Spring.  Now more than ever, Carpe Vitam!

Earthquake, World in Kona, Miami "Veyes," Car Mini-Woe

[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.

5/23/26

 

Aloha Everybody! 

 

Wow!  Karen and I were watching t.v. last night when about 9:30 the house started to shake violently.  I've felt earthquakes here before, and at first this one seemed about the same intensity, but then it got really honking.  Something in the kitchen crashed and the wall-mounted t.v. was flapping. It wasn't long objectively, but it seemed to go on and on.  Bottom line: a 6.0 earthquake happened, centered about 25 miles south of us.  We checked all around the house and are relieved to say that we could find very little damage.  The crash I heard was one small bowl that had fallen from an open shelf.  I think we were very fortunate -- I don't know yet about damage closer to the epicenter. We have quite a few earthquakes in Hawai'i, none of them caused by the action of tectonic plates, like in the northwest U.S..  Ours result from either magma moving around below us, or from a sudden settling of the island under its own weight.  This was the second type.   Since it just happened last night we'll get more information in the next few days.  I'll let you know next week what the reports are.

 

This week the world came to Kona.  The World cruise ship, that is.  This is no ordinary ship.  For one thing it wasn't repositioning to its summer commercial routes like other ships I've mentioned lately.  Rather, the World follows a year-long itinerary that takes it...well, all over the world.  We've seen it in Bordeaux, France, and it has visited Kona once before. The route varies from year to year and is

Ultimate Cruising

determined by the passengers themselves, who own their cabins and the ship itself.  It was built in 2002 with space and luxury in mind.  There are only about 160 "cabins' (apartments or condos, really). They range in price from $2-15 million, with a yearly additional fee in the 6 figures.  In short, the owners have mega-bucks. The concept is apparently catching on because there are five more ships planned, and one other ship started cruising in 2025.  The owners can live permanently on board, of course, or they can come and go depending on the ship's location and the desirability of the destinations.  They aren't allowed to rent their units, and only family and vetted friends can stay when the owners are absent.  This cuts down on unwanted riffraff. The World stayed here for three days, an unprecedented length of time for a large ship. Strangely, I never got an invitation from one of the residents to go on board.........

 

Last week I forgot to mention a car problem that I triumphantly solved. When Karen was leaving for a meeting and tried to start her Miata she got the dreaded sound of the engine not quite turning over.  Fortunately this happened while she and the car were still in the garage so the inconvenience was minimal.  She took our other car to the meeting while I valiantly drew on my vast store of machine knowledge and diagnosed the problem as a nearly dead battery.  A look at the install date etched on the battery confirmed my suspicion -- just a few days short of four years -- about all you can expect from car batteries these days.  Over the Miata's 23 year life it has gone through about 5 or 6 batteries-- I'm not real sure of the exact number.  This usually happens, as in this case, with no warning, which makes a good argument for preemptive maintenance.  Anyway, I called around to see if any parts stores had a replacement -- not a slam dunk for a car that is 23 years old in a small, isolated island community..  The first place had just run out of that particular model and it would be 2 weeks before more arrived.  Fortunately I found one at NAPA.  I took the old battery with me when I picked up the new one to avoid the "core deposit" and I had the new one installed before the end of the day.  Yup, that solved the problem! As with a lot of my projects, I could have hired someone to do it.  But I still like the mental and physical challenge of solving problems if I can.  Of course, the scale and scope of those problems is getting smaller and smaller.......

 

There are a couple of quick Geezer Gazette items this week.  First, I managed to get an appointment with the eye clinic in Miami for an evaluation and consultation, but not without a frustrating amount of hassle.  The forms that I faxed apparently disappeared into cyberspace. No one I spoke to on the phone had any record of them.  Even getting through to someone on the phone was a hassle, Each time I called the number listed for the eye clinic I was transferred to a general scheduling number and someone who had no idea about eye problems.  Anyway, I made an appointment for the first available slot -- October 26th (!).  I may cancel this if I can find someplace more agreeable.  I'm now thinking of the Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.  I quickly got through on the phone to a compassionate and competent person in the Institute itself.  The first step is to fax a letter of referral directly to the clinic requesting a neuro-ophthalmology consultation, then they should contact me to schedule something. Hopefully this will go better but I'm not holding my breath.  The other piece of geezer news is that I will begin treatments with the newly approved Valeda procedure on June 1st. This is a bit of a "Hail Mary" play for me.  The procedure uses repeated exposure of the retina to certain wavelengths of light (3 treatments per week for 3 weeks). It is non-invasive and only takes about 10 minutes per session.  My eye clinic obtained one of the machines and is beginning to offer treatments. The reason it is a bit of a long shot for me is that so far it has only been shown to be effective for people with dry macular degeneration. I don't have have that problem, but the underlying logic of the treatment seems plausibly beneficial in my case.  Since there are no known bad effects, I figure why not?  I'm desperate enough to give it a try. I'll keep you posted.

Ok, that's it for now. Oh by the way, I've come across a way to reduce your angst in these troubled political times.  Keep repeating the following mantra over and over until your brain is fully anesthetized:  "Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fi........."   And as always, Carpe Vitam.