Back To Bogie-Land, Car Shopping

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

4/13/24

 

Aloha Everybody --

 

Hope you enjoyed the eclipse.  It was a non-event here for two reasons,   First, it was only a partial eclipse, unlike the total one that much of the midwest and northeast were treated to (assuming cloud cover didn't screw up the show).  Second, it occurred here very early in the morning, and the sun hadn't yet cleared the top of the mountain (i.e., volcano) to our east. Anyway, there were plenty of news stories and photos online, so we experienced it vicariously. 

 

The big event for me this week was getting back to golf after almost four months off.  We were joined by

Toll Collector

our usual golf partner, plus a visitor who was on the Wednesday cruise ship in port.  I was wary of having a fourth person in the group at first, but it worked out ok.  He was a friendly guy from Mexico City who  was consistently a notch better than us but not intimidatingly so.  Anyway, I did a solid "meh," with some decent shots and one bogie to go along with a lot of really lousy shots as well.  We invented a new Kona-Lago scorecard entry ---"AB," for "A Bunch."  With all the rain we've been getting the course was in great shape.  We didn't get any rain and it was pleasantly overcast most of the time.  We saw

I Need a Crowbar

quite a few Peacocks and also 13 Nenes.  Interestingly, the Nenes were in one flock, which is rare.  This might be because they are about to leave for the season and they take off as a group.  Unlike Canadian geese, they don't migrate far  -- just to another part of the island.  We made it through 12 holes before pooping out. Not bad for a first outing.  We'll try again next week.

 

It was a good thing we played on Wednesday because Thursday afternoon and all day yesterday were rainy and  cool. We opted not work out in the pool those days and instead went to the gym yesterday, just like a pair of mainlanders.

I'm considering getting a new SUV to replace my 2007 Honda CRV.  I bought the 2007 used after I totaled  my Honda Pilot about 12 years ago. It's been a great car and has no major issues at the moment, but it now has 60k miles and lacks nearly all of the safety features of the newer models.  After doing a lot research online and using Consumers Reports' latest evaluations, I've narrowed my choices to the new Honda CRV and the Subaru Forrester.  Last week I visited the Kona dealers for each brand to get a quick in-person look.  Walking onto each lot gave me the same feeling I bet Frodo had when he entered Mordor -- impending doom and abject helplessness and loss of control.  I didn't talk price at that time, I just focused on the physical features of the cars.  On Thursday I went back to the Honda dealer to get a very close look and to take a test drive. This went well.  But when I asked about the bottom line price I found I was in a land where nothing is what it seems, and the window sticker numbers are like my golf score -- illusory and lower than reality.  I'll go through this again with the Subaru dealer of course, but it remains to be seen whether I'll get a number I can compare to the Honda deal.  Yuk!!!!  I'll let you know, perhaps next week.

 

Off to something more pleasant -- market and breakfast picnic, though this morning we may get rained out. Take care, stay safe & sane......

Happy Hula, Muscles, Travel Plans

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

4/6/24

 

Aloha Ohana --

 

We're continuing in our damp/cool weather pattern and it's getting a bit old.  Imagine, brilliant sunshine in the morning, temperature barely a chilly 75d, followed by clouds and at least a sprinkle in the afternoon, topping out at only 80-82 degrees!  I'm sure your early spring weather is much better, right?  Oh, and the pool is a mere 84d these days.  Oh, how we suffer!!

 

This weekend is our annual Merrie Monarch hula festival, which is the World Series/Super Bowl/World

Miss Aloha Hula Competition

Cup equivalent of hula.  "Merrie Monarch" is the nickname of King David Kalakaua who ruled Hawaii in the late 1800's.  Hula was banned for many years under the influence of Christian missionaries, until Kalakaua openly supported it and promoted it as a unique expression of Hawaiian culture. The event is held in Hilo and has become a VERY big deal.  Tickets are severely restricted and hard to come by, in case you were thinking of zipping over to attend. Every minute of the competition is televised on local tv, and YouTube undoubtedly has videos of past performances in case you're interested.  You'll be amazed, I guarantee.

After a couple of rained-out attempts, we finally got in some time at Makalei putting, driving, and chipping.  Amazingly, we both could still hit the ball most of the time and a few shots were actually pretty good.  This was around noon on Monday, and we celebrated afterward with a burger and a beer at one of our favorite seaside restaurants in town.  We've contacted our golf partner and we are planning for a return to the course for next Wednesday, with Thursday as a rain backup.  We're doubtful we will be able to get in a complete round either because of exhaustion or rain, but it will still be great to be back to the game.  Recall that we play by "Kona-Lago" rules, in which aspirational score-keeping is allowed and rewarded.  

 

Continuing this week's physical emphasis, yesterday we went to the gym for a fairly vigorous workout. Note, that's TWO visits in seven days, plus whacking golf balls.  As usual, however, we immediately counteracted the benefits of this exercise by going for fried chicken, creamy coleslaw, and French fries after our workout. We might call it our "grunt & gorge" routine.

Now that we've recovered from our Ethiopia challenge, we have plans for several upcoming trips that we're kind of excited about.  One is my bucket-list birthday trip and another is Karen's (we both turn xx this year).  Mine will be in July, when we'll fly to Vancouver for a few days before taking the overnight train through the Canadian Rockies to Jasper, then traveling by car to Banff and Calgary.  I reserved the train months ago in order to book the first-class version with our own cabin and dining-car meals. From Calgary we will fly to Utah and spend about a week around Moab visiting some the National Parks there that we haven't explored before, including the highly touted Arches with its fantastic stone formations,  Should be quite a complement to the lush Canadian Rockies.  

 

Karen's bucket list trip will be delayed until November to optimize the destination weather conditions.  She chose to return to one of our favorite parts of the world, Southeast Asia.  The plan is to start on one of the southern islands of Thailand for about a week, most likely the island of Phi Phi.  Though Thailand may sound exotic, we will hardly be roughing it.  We know this because we've been to this area several times in the past and it has beautiful resort hotels, terrific snorkeling, delicious food, inexpensive massages (!) and wonderful local people. The other half of the trip will be in Cambodia, a country we have visited but only for a short time as part of a group tour to neighboring Vietnam.  This time we'll return on our own and travel at our own pace by pre-arranging a "tour for the two of us," which will allow us to fine-tune the itinerary to our personal interests. As you recall, this is our preferred way of traveling, and it will avoid many of the problems we encountered in Ethiopia.  We also have a couple of shorter domestic trips in the works, but I'll fill you in on those later.

Ok, off to market and breakfast picnic.  Enjoy your early spring.  As I recall it can be quite nice for a few minutes.......

Smoking Crossover, Golf"ish", Pool Proposal

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

3/30/24

 

Aloha Everybody --

 

Our fun guests left Tuesday evening and it has seemed awfully quiet since then.  Of course, we've kept busy with house and  personal projects, but we kind of miss being on the tourist circuit.  Our visit to the volcano area, which we haven't seen ourselves in quite a while, was interesting as always even though Pele is taking a deep snooze at the moment.  The rest of the trip around the island was likewise interesting, though it is quite a drive, far more than most tourists expect,

 

On Monday I passed a very significant personal milestone. It was my 30th anniversary of quitting smoking! As promised by the anti-smoking campaigns, my appetite returned, my sense of smell increased,

NastyHorribleYuck

I never got sick again, my hair grew back, my hangnails disappeared, I was able to bench-press 600 pounds, I became immensely popular, smart, and rich.  Well, maybe not all those, but after a year or two I definitely felt better, and my risk of lung cancer has declined almost to that of a non-smoker.  Of course, no one mentioned emphysema..... This year's anniversary is more significant than usual, because it marks the crossover point from years smoked to years not-smoked,  Believe it or not, I smoked a total of 40 years, starting when I was ten years old!  It's been 30 years since I quit, and 30 added to my 10 years of childhood innocence makes 40 smoke-free years,   Each day from now on will add to my smoke-free time and a celebratory excess over the smoking total.  Note, however, that I am likely to die before I can claim more consecutive smokeless than smoking years.  Sheesh.  Youth is definitely wasted on the young!

 

My recovery from my newest retina vein occlusion continues to be frustratingly slow.  I'm eager to get another shot, scheduled for 2 weeks from Tuesday. If it seems to be getting worse I may have to make an earlier appointment, even though that would mean being treated by someone other than my regular doc.

On Thursday we managed to get back to the gym for a light workout, followed by an antidote of salt and cholesterol at Taco Bell. Sure wish the stuff that is bad for you didn't taste so good!   We attempted to go to the driving range at Makalei on Friday but got rained out.  We may try again tomorrow or Monday.  I'd sure like to get back to whacking that little ball, though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to see where it goes with my current eye problems.

We got a proposal for replacing the pool solar heating system this week, and even though it is a bit more than we expected, we are likely to go ahead with it.  The work will include adding two more panels to the system.  This adds to the cost, of course, but it will also bump up the system's heating capacity.  The project will also include replacing all the old valves and gauges that control and monitor the system, something that might preempt problems in the future.  Now the next question will be how long we will have to wait before the work actually gets done.  Things tend to move a bit slowly here in near-paradise.

Ok, that's it for the week.  Off to market and picnic.  Hope you are well and in good enough shape to handle the upcoming election campaign! If not, now is the time to buy some good earplugs and blinders...body armor and a helmet might be a good idea, too, just in case rhetoric becomes reality.

20/60; Patience, Grasshopper

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

3/23/24

 

Aloha All---

 

We've had a great time this week with our mainland guests.  One of the sisters has never been to Hawai'i

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau

before, and the other was here 19 years ago, so everything is new or only vaguely recalled for them. We've been in full touring mode this week, visiting the iconic sights on the island, like Kealakekua Bay where Captain Cook met his fate when took one voyage too many, and several important pre-contact Hawaiian archeological sites. Today we are driving south to Volcanos Nariona.Park to see Kilauea, spend the night, and then continue around the island on Sunday. While we are in the volcano area we're going to have dinner with two other friends who are visiting from Colorado, even more fun.

Now for my eyeball update.  After my shot a week ago Thursday my vision quickly improved. By the time I saw my regular retina doctor on Tuesday just five days later my acuity had gone from 20/200 to 20/60.  The tomograph scans showed much less edema, but there was still a considerable amount left.  Since then my improvement has slowed to a crawl, though I think I notice a little improvement each day.  I sure wish it would pick up the pace, though, because I still have trouble reading small print that I used to see easily, and a number of daily tasks are frustratingly difficult when they used to be easy -- like writing this.  Oh well, I'll try to be patient.  My next injection is scheduled in 3 weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

Ok, got to hit the road.  Take care.  Focus on the important things, like enjoying a good beer.

Pool Time, Tax Time, Retina Relapse, Reunion Fun

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

3/9/24

 

Aloha All ---

 

Our cool winter continued this week -- more rain, cloudy in the late morning, chilly overnight (mid- to low 60's!).  Still, the pool managed to hit our MAL (Minimum Acceptable Level) and we were able to go in a couple of times. We sure have missed out daily workouts but hopefully Spring will kick in and bring warmer weather soon.  The pool solar system has been behaving itself, giving me a little time to line up a possible replacement system.  I hope to get at least one e$timate next week. 

Over the weekend I got our taxes done and submitted.  I was motivated this year because once I had put in

most of the numbers I found that we're getting refunds for both the state and local taxes!  As I've written before, this isn't a windfall -- after all, it's our own money and all it means is we gave the fed and state interest-free loans during the year.  Part of the problem in figuring the amount of the estimated payments we have to make during the year is that a fair amount of our income isn't predictable -- it depends on how  the stock funds are managed as far as capital gains and performance are concerned.  Next year we could just as well end up owing more at the end to the year.  Anyway, I'll let you know how long it takes to get our money back....

 

The bummer news this week is that my vision took a dive and I had to make a special visit to my retina doctor.  About the middle of last week I noticed that I suddenly couldn't see as well as usual, and the scary part is that both eyes were having trouble.  Last Saturday I called and managed to get a appointment for Tuesday and sure enough, my right eye showed significant edema which warranted a shot.  Hopefully we caught this early and it will reduce the problem quickly..  My real concern, though, is with the left eye (my good one).  My acuity was down very little, and a pretty thorough exam didn't reveal anything significant, but I'm using some anti-inflammatory drops just in case.  My next appointment is in two weeks to follow up on both eyes.  Fortunately my insurance has just approved coverage for the new Vabysmo injection drug through August so this shouldn't be a financial problem.  Sheesh.  Remember the good old days when you didn't think about health issues all the time?

 

On the good news side, we have really enjoyed our time with our friends from Colorado.  Yesterday they flew to Kauai to join friends and family there.  Their visit focused on catching up on what has been going on in our lives since we last saw them.  This was accomplished over lots of good food and joy juice at home, the beach, and a couple of our favorite restaurants.  Oh, and you'll be glad to know that we managed to solve nearly all of the world's problems while we were at it.

Ok, off to market and our usual Saturday beach breakfast picnic.  Stay warm, healthy, and unscathed by all the craziness out there.

Whale Tails, Lost Phone, 9 to 5

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

3/2/24

 

Aloha Everybody---

 

March already!  Can you believe it?  Next thing you know it will be time for hotdogs and fireworks...

 

This week we've been having fun spending time with our friends from Ohio.  The schedule has been low-key, with several beach picnics and some surprisingly good whale watching.  This year has been a very good season for sighting the Humpbacks that are spending the winter here before returning to Alaska.  The numbers seem way up compared to the past few years, and for some unknown reason more whales have been active just off our coast rather than the northern part of our island.  Anyway, we've enjoyed watching them with our friends -- there aren't many whales in Ohio.

I had the panic experience of losing my cell phone this week.  It happened Wednesday afternoon and was a dramatic reminder of how overly dependent on this little hunk of technology I've become.  We went to a seaside restaurant for a sunset drink and when we left my cell phone didn't -- I must have left it on the table, a puzzling and dazzling example of obliviousness.  Usually  I try to do a quick inventory -- hat, billfold, credit card, sunglasses, regular glasses, cell phone, wife.  I thought I did that this time, but the evidence is now clear that I didn't.  Anyway, we got all the way home before I noticed I didn't have it.  We tried calling the number in case it was somewhere in the car but it didn't respond.  This is an Android device, and just like Apple phones, there is a way of remotely detecting where it is, as well as locking it and even erasing all of its contents.  I decided to return to the restaurant as quickly as I could to see if I could retrieve it before taking any drastic action (the restaurant wasn't answering their phone).  Sure enough, the phone was waiting for me at the reception desk -- the person bussing the table had found it and did the honorable thing by turning it in to the hostess.  Crisis averted, but the whole thing was sobering because it illustrated how a momentary lapse in usually taking care not to misplace something can have an unwelcome outcome.

 

On Thursday we had a very pleasant get-together with two other friends from Ohio who are visiting their daughter in Waimea -- she's the one who teaches at a private school there.  All of us were friends back in the olden days at Miami and it was remarkable how easily we rekindled our connection.  Of course the b.s. flowed quite freely.....

 

Last night we exposed our guests to a touch of local life by attending a performance by our local community theater.  It was the musical version of the comedy "9 To 5," in which three female office workers take revenge on their chauvinist male boss.  As usual, we were impressed by the talented amateur performances and with the low-budget yet effective stage design.  We always try to support these kind of efforts as a way to contribute to the quality of experiences available in the area.  Definitely worth the modest price of the tickets in this case.

 

Our current guests will leave this evening to return to Ohio, and on Tuesday we will welcome two more old friends for a short visit.  These are college friends from Colorado who we haven't seen for a number of years and it will be great to get together again.  They will continue on to Kauai, where they have a condo.  We are really looking forward to our reunion. 

Ok, that's about it for the week, other than to report that the pool temperature has nearly reached our minimum.  We should be able to take a dip in the next day or two, the first time since before we left for our Ethiopia trip.  Take care, stay warm, don't strain yourself with that snow shovel......

Grand Jury Pay, Fixing Fixes, Ethiopia Post Mortem

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

2/24/24

 

Aloha Ohana ---

 

This was a busy week.  I think. I'm not sure since much of the time I was in a mental fog or taking yet another nap. My 12-hour jet lag is lifting, but slowly.  You might be amused to learn what the first three foods we indulged in after getting back to the good ol' USA:  pizza, Taco Bell, and barbecued steak. Shameful and sad.  But really tasty!! 

Neither of us has developed any new symptoms this week, so we survived the 22 hours in a sealed metal tube without catching anything from fellow passengers.  We were particularly concerned about the San Francisco leg -- the plane was absolutely full and there were many young kids on board (aka precious bundles of germs). 

 

Among other catch-up tasks was going through the mail back log.  Lots of tax forms and charity appeals, plus the usual travel brochures, and hidden in the pile was my pay for showing up at the Grand Jury selection session.  Whoopeee!  I quickly deposited that $31.32 and figure I 'll use it to buy some of my favorite beer.  Seems appropriate.  

 

I also spent a bit of time re-fixing my pool solar system that I fixed before we left.  Near the end of our Ethiopia tour I got a text from my handyman who was doing his weekly inspection and found water shooting off our roof and the pool level way down.  One of my connections had come loose and the system was on its way to emptying the pool through the gap in the pipe.  Fortunately he was able to turn off the system and refill the pool.  Over the weekend I re-did the connection (correctly, this time) and got the solar heating going again.  However, it will take some time before the temperature gets up to an acceptable level.  Always something!  Oh, I should note the techno-marvel of texting in real time with my handyman half-way around the world, with my location being in a primitive lodge in the middle of nowhere.

 

On Tuesday I saw my retina specialist and got very good news -- no new edema, so no injection needed.  The pool solar system may be leaking but my eyeball isn't.  I'm scheduled for 5 weeks from now, which would put me well over four months between injections.  Definitely good news.

 

Karen saw her doctor on Tuesday and got some antibiotic for her bronchial infection.  She acquired this fairly early in the trip after catching a cold from another person in the group.  The cold went away but she was left with a persistent cough, made even worse by the dry, dusty, and smoky conditions we encountered everywhere in Ethiopia. She got some medication there but it didn't entirely clear it up.  Hopefully this new antibiotic, plus rest and better air, will do the trick.

We're excited to host some very good friends from Ohio who arrive tomorrow afternoon and will spend about a week. They've been here several times before, so high-power sight-seeing isn't required or desired.  This is good -- given our diminished states I'm not sure we would be good tour guides.

 

It is hard to give an overall assessment of our Ethiopia trip. Here's what I said in an email to some friends

"No Ma'am, this isn't Kansas"

who are interested in our travels:  "Ethiopia lived up to our expectation of being historically and culturally unique and exotic to a degree we hadn't expected. But no one should underestimate how difficult it is to travel in Ethiopia, both physically, in terms of elevation changes, temperature extremes, poor roads, sketchy infrastructure, and psychologically, in terms of exhausting constant cultural whiplash -- from mass exhibitions of Orthodox Christian religion unlike anywhere else we've seen to tribes whose women stretch their lower lips to hold a clay disk as a way of attracting a mate. Oh yes, and food that led to overall weight loss for the trip, a rarity for us. But despite the difficulties that reached even our limits, the trip epitomized why we have traveled all these years-- to experience firsthand the full essence of what it means to be human --warts and all."

 

That's about it for this week.  Stay warm, stay healthy.  Don't listen to the crazies, including the ones who are really AI....  (Put the "I" in quotes....)

Back Home -- Sorta Kinda

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

2/17/24

 

Aloha Everyone ---

 

This will be just a quick note to let you know we are home, arriving Thursday early afternoon.  It was a

Batchelor Club

killer trip -- 6.5 drive from our last safari camp to Nairobi, 8.5 hour flight to Frankfurt, 7-hour layover, 11.5-hour flight to San Francisco, a blissful night at an airport hotel there, then the final leg of 5.5 hours to Kona.  Jet lag is severe -- a 12-hour time difference that is hard to adjust to, as it flips day and night around completely.  Everything seems like a monumental task -- it's like mental molasses for 3-4 days at least.

 

Anyway, it was an interesting trip and next week I'll report more.  For now we're getting the house in shape again for visitors next week, and dealing with a few problems that cropped up while we were gone.

 

Take care.  Hope you are surviving winter ok.

 

 

Pool Bubbles, Ho, Ho, 2023 Go!

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

12/30/23

 

Hou'oli Maka Hiki Hou! (Happy New Year!) ---

 

Our Christmas was quiet.  I turned on my Pandora Christmas Carol station and managed to last about 6 hours until the Silver Bells, Sleigh Bells, and Hosannas got to me.  As  I mentioned, Karen and I weren't going to give each other presents -- but two days before Christmas I had a stroke of inspiration as we were doing our usual Saturday morning rounds.  Mescal!!  Karen and I were introduced to this high-brow version of Tequila during our last visit to southern Mexico year before last, and we became quite fond of it -- especially Karen.  We brought back some with us but "we" (mostly Karen) drank it all months ago.  It's hard to find here in Hawai'i but one of our local grocery stores does carry it, and I was able to score a bottle on Saturday morning and surprise Karen with it for Christmas.  Good going, Dick!

 

Christmas day we went to a dinner hosted by a neighbor and good friend that we've attended for the last few years.  Very pleasant, with some interesting discussions with people we don't ordinarily interact with -- including a couple of professional musicians and also a couple of fellow travel-addicts.  The menu included both Turkey and Ham, the second of which love -- maybe too much.  Ham is something I've had a weakness for bordering on derangement for as long as I can remember.  As a kid my mother would serve

ham on the bone, like the kind in cartoons.  These hams predated the ones you can now buy pre-cooked and pre-sliced .  These had to be baked and then served with some of the meat sliced onto a platter.  My weakness was so strong that if there was left-over ham in the refrigerator, I would get up at night and eat a fair percentage of my body weight in the stuff.  Today, because of the salt and fat concerns of geezerhood, I have had to limit my intake so that my death certificate doesn't read "death by ham ingestion."   However, I might have exceeded the reasonable limit this year -- by just a smidge, I assure you.

On Thursday we played golf at Makalei.  It was a sunny, clear day for the most part, a definite contrast to last week's rain-out.  In fact, we played all 18 holes, a noteworthy feat for us. I did a solid "meh," but

Karen did great -- a par on one hole with a one-putt, and SIX consecutive Bogeys!!!  Obviously my "meh-ness" wasn't contagious.  At first we were puzzled because we didn't see hardly any Nenes or Peacocks, but as the day wore on they came out from the tree-lined margins and we wound up seeing about 20 Nenes and 20 Peacocks, including the white male Peacock who was displaying for some interested females.  We were pleased to get in this round and have it be a good one because it may have been our last until after we return from our trip.

 

My big techno-woe this week was fighting bubbles.  Bubbles in our pool, that is.  Somehow air is getting into the solar heating system and this means there is a problem to be solved somewhere.  I consulted with my pool service guy and I'm going to replace something called the vacuum breaker valve that is attached to the solar panels and is supposed to open only when the system is off, allowing air to enter the pipes so that water will drain back into the pool.  It may be that mine, which is now 18 or so years old, is allowing air all the time, thus creating the bubbles.  On the mainland finding a replacement would be fast and easy, I'm sure, but here the main supplier of parts for these systems doesn't stock the size I need.  Soooooo, the problem will persist until one that is ordered arrives.  While investigating the cause of the bubbles, I also found a couple of leaks in the roof panels themselves which I tried to fix yesterday myself.  Ah, home ownership!!  

On a philosophical note, I'd say 2023 was somewhat of a mixed bag.  It certainly had some up sides for me personally in terms of travel experiences, personal development, learning opportunities, and generally being in pretty good health.  However, the depth and breadth of problems around the world in terms of climate change, wars, ideological extremism, social antipathy, and a loss of anything resembling a moral center, leave me with a nagging feeling that humanity is heading in the wrong direction.  It also leads me to realize that I've lived in some very good times that may not recur in the near future.  So, as this year comes to a close I'm grateful for my past life and somewhat leery about what the next years might bring.  Nevertheless, I sincerely wish you a Happy, Healthy, and Fulfilling New Year.... 

 

Off we go one last time this year to the beach for our breakfast picnic.  Take care, stay warm!

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

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

12/23/23

 

Mele Kalikimaka!  ---

 

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just TWO days away!  I guess I'm ready, and I've been trying hard to get into the spirit of things -- we have lights up inside and outside, the tree is decorated and we've been lighting it each night during dinner and throughout the evening, our Christmas cards are mailed, we've been to several festive events and get-togethers with friends, etc.  I've noted that each year we send fewer cards, partly because this tradition has been fading universally, and partly because of the sad fact that fewer on our mailing list are still upright.  Also, we've taken to sending Season's Greetings by email, a convenient, cheap, but less expressive way of keeping in touch. 

On Sunday we attended a presentation by the Kona Choral Society of Handel's Messiah -- well, the part that focuses on the birth.  It was very well done and featured four soloists, three of whom were exceptionally good.  We know a couple of people in the chorus, including the wife of my old fraternity brother who lives here now.  In fact, we had a delightful dinner with them on Wednesday in their new house that replaces the coffee farm they sold this year.  On Monday we went to a holiday party hosted by the women's organization that Karen belongs to -- one of the fun things they did was to stick a famous name on each person's back and the person had to guess the name by asking any of the other attendees three yes/no questions.  I was Tom Cruise..... Last night we hosted dinner for two of our Ohio friends who are here on their yearly visit to their daughter, a teacher at a private school up north in Waimea.  They are now living in Wisconsin, and have shown the wisdom of their years by coming here during the winter.  It was a real treat to catch up with the three of them, and certainly appropriate to the season. Whew! I'm sure that this much socializing is routine for many people, but for us it is way more than normal.

 

Karen and I have decided to forgo personal gifts this year (except for her new Iphone), and instead we've designated a few items for both of us as Christmas presents -- a new kitchen scale, a portable carpet cleaner, and an electric blanket (!).  Jingle bells!

Early in the week we received our Kenya e-visas (we already have them for Ethiopia).  This eliminates one more obstacle to our trip.  Now all I need is for the Circuit Court Judge to let me out of being on the Grand Jury, something I won't find out until January 5th.  Cutting it a little close, I'd say.

On Wednesday Karen and I played nine holes of "aqua-golf" at Makalei.  It started out sunny, but by the

Where's the Hole?!

fourth hole it began misting, and by the seventh it was raining at a pretty good rate.  We slogged through the ninth hole and then aborted.  Too bad, because although I started off poorly, I was doing much better around the time it started to rain, including one bogey and some satisfyingly good shots.  After the rain started the peacocks ran for cover, but before that we saw quite a few, and also saw our first baby Nene of the season.  Cute little guy!  Actually, our Kona weather has been kind of sucky lately -- night temps have dropped to a frigid 62d and it has been cloudy and rainy parts of most days.  This resulted in a rare monthly electric bill that exceeded our maintenance charge because our pv panels just couldn't cover our usage. It was paid from our surplus credit, but it wiped out our reserves.  Because of the lack of sun and the cold nights, our pool temp has fallen below our wimpy geezer threshold, so we haven't been in for several days this past week.  Oh, the hardships of winter!!!!!

 

Our RSV vaccinations gave neither of us hardly any problems at all, much less than our Covid updates and flu shots. I had a *very* slight sore arm for about a day, but otherwise felt fine. It's a bit of a relief for me to have the extra protection, especially prior to an international trip.

 

Ok, we're off for our usual stop at Farmer's Market and then a beach picnic breakfast.  Take care. Stay warm and healthy.  Merry Christmas!

 

Cologuard Results, Fiber Installed, "RSVPlease"

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

12/16/23

 

Aloha Family ---

 

I finally got the results of my Cologuard test this week, and my poop passed with flying colors! In the report's words,  "Cologuard did not find blood or abnormal DNA in your sample...You're unlikely to have colon cancer...The chance that a person with a negative Cologuard test has a colorectal cancer is less than 1 in 1500 (negative predictive value >99.9%) or has an advanced adenoma is less than 5.3% (negative predictive value 94.7%)."  Whoopee!  Next test is recommended in three years.  If anything was missed this time around, two negatives would be very, very unlikely.

 

We got our Hawaiian Tel fiber internet service installed this week in a two-step process.  On Monday a crew showed up to run the cable from the street to the box on the side of our garage where the old land

line used to be.  There were actually three old lines that were legacies from the olden days of wired phones.  They removed those and coiled up a bunch of the new cable in the box.  The fiber optic cable is remarkably thin and light weight.  I had the guys strip back the insulation to reveal the actual information-carrying core -- a tiny hair-thin strand of clear plastic.  Incredible.  On Thursday another guy arrived to install the actual equipment and activate the line.  Because of my advanced planning this took less than an hour and went very, very smoothly.  The main piece of the setup is a small white box about the size of a business letter and as thick as a paperback book.  The fiber light signal goes in and digital info comes out, thanks to many little digi-fairies inside.  From there the signal runs to our router and is distributed throughout the house.  I simply unplugged my Spectrum cable service from the router and plugged in my CAT6 to the new equipment in the garage, and in about 30 seconds I had made the switch, getting 4x the speed for less money.  Very happy at the moment.  Yesterday I called to cancel my Spectrum internet service.  They immediately offered to match the Hawaiian Telcom price and increase my speed, but I told them they were a day late -- I already made the switch.  They did, however, let me keep my mobile phone plan, so I'm I'm definitely a happy camper.

No golf this week but we did manage to go to the driving range and practice putting green on Thursday

Santa's Outrigger Comes to Town

after the cable installation.  These are rather different than at most courses, I'm sure.  The practice areas at Makalei are halfway up the mountain, so you have to have a cart.  The driving range is down slope with a fantastic view of the ocean, framed by tall trees.  In other words, it's a nice outing even if you don't play a round.  We had beautiful clear weather, but honking wind.  Like St. Andrews, but 40 degrees warmer and no rain.  I did pretty good, certainly much better than last week when I couldn't seem to hit the ball.  Hopefully some of this will carry over to the next time I play, probably next week.  

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the latest challenge to fulfilling my bucket list visit to Ethiopia.  The judge rejected my written request to be excused!  I got a call on Wednesday telling me the news, and that I must report on January 5th (7 days before we're scheduled to leave) "for the drawing of names for the upcoming Grand Jury."  I'm hoping that somewhere along the line I'll be able to get excused on the grounds of pre-aranged travel that will be a financial hardship to cancel.  Maybe my name won't even get drawn, which would be great.  One positive to this:  I will get paid $30!!

Finally, later this morning Karen and I will get our RSV vaccinations.  I'm particularly motivated to get this because of my Emphysema, which would make any respiratory problems much worse.  It's likely I'll have a similar reaction to this vaccine as I have to others, hopefully only lasting a few days.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok, that's it for this week. Take care.  Beware of false moral equivalencies.  Stay warm.

Switch to Fiber, Golf Jinx, Grand Jury Duty?

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

12/9/23

 

Aloha All ---

 

Well, my timing for getting my cables run to handle fiber optic service turned out to be excellent!  This week Spectrum raised our rate by 25%.  I called to complain and didn't get anywhere -- they wouldn't match the price I can get for a year or more with Hawaiian Telcom's promotional rate, and Spectrum would still be higher than HT even when my fiber service increases after the introductory period. So, I then contacted Hawaiian Telcom and got more details on their fiber optic service, and went ahead and ordered it. The installation is scheduled for next Thursday.  Should be interesting. I'll wait to cancel Spectrum until I'm sure everything is working ok with the fiber service, but this time next week I should have faster internet at a lower cost.  With my new cable set up all it will take for me is to unplug the modem cable from our router and plug in the new cable I ran to where the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) will be located in the garage.  Fingers crossed.

My bragging about doing so well at golf has come back to bite me.  This week Karen, our friend, and I

Grrrrr!

played on Tuesday.  It was a gorgeous day.  The course was beautiful.  We saw lots of peacocks and nesting Nenes.  I played really, really, badly.  For some reason I just couldn't seem to hit the ball!!  After 11 holes of exhausting frustration we called it a day.  Karen and our friend were also having a bad day, possibly due my negative influence.  I hope it was just a matter of sore muscles and stiffness from being a troll in our crawl space for a good part of the previous couple of days.  Anyway, I'll certainly give it another try next week.  If I do well, though, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Speaking of jinxes, the latest obstacle to my bucket list attempt to finally visit Ethiopia came this week in the mail -- a letter from the Circuit Court appointing me to the Grand Jury for 2024.  I would ordinarily be interested in this duty -- it involves deciding whether cases have enough evidence to go to court.  However, it entails being on call the entire year, including, of course, the time we are scheduled to be in Ethiopia and Kenya.  In the fine print of the letter it says that you can be excused on the basis of previously arranged and paid travel plans.  So I've crafted a letter explaining our arrangements, and enclosed a copy of our flight itinerary.  Hopefully this will get me out of  it.  I'll certainly let you know.!

Ok, we're off to market and our beach breakfast picnic.  Take care.  Be nice to your AI -- hopefully it will then be nice to you.

Wordle in 8, Kona Low, Cable Guy

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

12/2/23

 

Aloha Everybody ---

 

Well, I jinxed myself with all that talk about solving Wordle in 1 or 2 guesses.  This week I went to the other extreme and after my 6th guess there were still at least 2 possible words, so on the basis of my lousy luck up to that point I gave myself a score of 8!  My strategy was good -- identify the obvious possibilities and then make a guess that eliminates as many as possible.  For example, a bunch of words might end in "-ly" and another large group might end in "-te," making your best strategic guess one would remove one or the other set of words and also eliminate as many other letters as possible.  Right.  Good strategy. Except it didn't work this time.  The letters and their positions in my guesses just didn't help narrow down the list enough.  Oh well, I expect my memory will follow the Las Vegas model and dim the losses more than the gains and I'll still keep trying to win.....

Karen and I played golf on Tuesday with our friend and the weather was gorgeous.  No turkeys, by the way, but we did see lots of peacocks and nenes.  I got one par and a couple of bogeys, and this time my overall playing was more consistent from hole to hole -- not great but not overwhelmingly frustrating, either.  I hope I'm not jinxing things again.

Mauna Kea

It was a good thing we chose Tuesday for our golf outing, because overnight we experienced a weather pattern called a "Kona Low," something that in winter is caused by a dip in the jet stream that picks up moisture from the tropics and carries it westward across the islands, continuing on to the west coast of North America. This shifts our wind from the usual trade wind direction of northeast to southwest and makes our side of island suddenly the target of weather patterns rather than the Hilo side.  In this case the Kona Low brought up a huge amount of moisture and some strong winds.  Wednesday and Thursday were rainy all day with occasional scary wind blasts, and over those two days my rain gauge recorded 3".  Also, Mauna Kea got its first snow of the season. Things were a bit better yesterday and today is close to normal.  Imagine -- 3 days of crappy weather!!  We hunkered down and whimpered.

Despite the bad weather (or maybe because of it) I made good progress on my cabling project.  I got all the cables tacked up under the house and brought up through the walls to their proper location.  The coaxial connectors were the easiest to put on, and they work!!  The cat6 connectors, on the other hand are a different story.  They require the precise positioning of 8 fine wires into the connector at the same time.  It took some practice, a lot of patience, my extra strong pair of reading glasses, and a few botched attempts to finally get them on.  If the tester shows one or more wires isn't carrying a signal, then you have to cut off one or more of the connectors and start over.  Needless to say I was *very* happy when all the lights on the tester turned green!  The new cat6 capability means I accomplished the project's goal of making us fiber-ready in case I have a falling out with Spectrum Cable. All I have left now is to do some cleaning and tidying up, though I may decide to run a few more cat6 cables to replace my older cat5.  I've got plenty of leftover cable and now that putting on the connectors is part of my cable guy skill set, why not?

I managed to get a few decorations up but no lights yet.  Barring interference from the weather, I should be able to get more stuff up this weekend and next week we might even get out our artificial tree.  In other words, I'm inching closer to the Holiday spirit. It sure is hard to get the warm and fuzzies, though, when you look at the domestic and international news.  Is it possible to resign from the human race?

Off to market and our beach breakfast picnic.  Take care.  Careful with that snow shovel!

 

Week of 3's, 'Par'ty, Here Comes $anta

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

11/25/23

 

Aloha Ohana ---

 

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you had a good one.  Ours was very quiet -- just the two of us and a very large hunk of cow instead of turkey. We cooked a prime rib roast we bought on sale earlier in the year and had frozen for a special occasion.  Very, very tasty.  We enjoyed it very much, but I doubt the cow had the same experience.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of my season of ambivalence and angst, as you know from my comments during previous holiday seasons.  To kick off this season of love, charity, and compassion, we have the glaringly contradictory phenomenon of Black Friday, a spectacle of consumerism and commercialism that boggles the mind.  Of course, the selling of Christmas began about the time of Halloween, with rather interesting side-by-side displays of ghouls and Santas in the big box stores as early as mid-October!  It's ok.  I'll be alright.  Don't worry....I'll get through it. Maybe.

 

This was a week of 3's, and possibly it was my high-water mark for puzzle solving and golfing.  First, after my Wordle-in-one-guess two weeks ago, this week I had three days in a row of solving it in 2 guesses!  However, that string was followed by 4's and 5's and even a 6.  The other "3" phenomenon happened when Karen and I played golf on Wednesday -- I got three pars in a row!  This represented 11 consecutive good shots, something of a miracle for me. And like what happened with Wordle, the rest of the game was mediocre to lousy.   Consistency is not my strong suit, obviously.

It was a beautiful day on the Makalei course, and we saw about 10 pairs of Nenes, plus the usual resident peacocks.  Normally we also see several flocks of turkeys as well as peacocks, but this time we didn't see a single one. It occurred to me that this was the day before Thanksgiving and their absence may be a sign

Groundskeepers on Break

that they are smarter than they look and were in hiding so as to avoid being the main dish in Thursday's dinners.  On the other hand, it could indicate they are as dumb as they look and had already been axed. Which is the better explanation will be determined by whether we see them next time.  Stay tuned. Another interesting thing at the course was a spot where they were using goats and sheep to mow down the weeds. This area was very rocky and uneven making it impossible to use machines for the work, so they brought in the browsers.  A temporary electric enclosure keeps the crew in place and they happily chow down. Of course, they are also fertilizing the weeds so this may not be quite the benefit it seems.

My cabling project is progressing.  Yesterday I began running the cables (two network cables plus a new coaxial cable) from the garage the the main house.  This went pretty well, considering it required a couple of trips into the garage attic and some hot-yoga positions to feed the cable through the holes I drilled.  The next step is to feed the cables across the breezeway that separates the garage from the main house.  This involves fishing them through a pre-existing conduit under the raised floor of the breezeway to the crawlspace under the main house. The really enjoyable part will be when I have the cables in place and then I will put on the connectors.  This is something I've never done before, but my neighbor down the street has.  Between his coaching and loaning me the tools, and the excellent online videos that are available on how to do it, I should be able to master this new skill.  I'm really looking forward to the challenge.

Today and tomorrow I'll start putting up our Christmas decorations. Maybe this will get me more in the holiday mood....

That's it.  Stay warm and well.  Off to the beach.

Leis, Eye Shot, PT Reject

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

11/18/23

 

Aloha Everyone ---

 

Last week I wrote that we were going to drop by the Kona Coffee Festival Lei Contest later in the

Pound 'em!

morning.  We did, and it turned out to be a much bigger treat than we anticipated.  It was held at a community center where the morning's events included not only the leis but also a performance by the local Daikufuji Taiko Drummers (kids from a nearby Buddhist Temple), followed by a group of Irish Dancers, then by Miss Kona Coffee '24

Lots of work!

doing her Tahitian hula performance that helped her win the pageant.  Outside, the food booths offered everything from Poi to Mochi balls to Malasadas. All of this was absolutely delightful and the diversity captures the character of Kona perfectly.  Great fun!

On Tuesday I had a double dose of medical attention.  First was my eye exam, and as I expected I needed a shot.  The edema wasn't too bad, particularly considering it had been a little over 3 months since my last injection.  I'll go back right before we leave on our Ethiopia trip, but I may hold off getting another shot until we get back.  

 

The second medical appointment was with the Physical Therapist to assess my back. This was my first session and, after completing the usual 200 pages of medical history and signing promises to pay my bill, not be late, and allow them to turn me into a pretzel, I spent about 45 minutes with a therapist.  He was very knowledgeable and thorough, and he seemed to be very careful to identify my specific problem.  He first did an assessment of my flexibility, strength, symmetry, and balance. This was a similar exam to the one the orthopedic guy had done, but I thought it was even more thorough.  He wanted to know what exercises I do routinely, had me demonstrate them, and then suggested just a few others that were simple, quick, and portable. I was very impressed that the exercises he recommended were complimentary to what I am routinely doing now rather than replacements or add-ons. Whereas I was expecting a regime of strengthening exercises, he indicated that his exam showed I really don't need those.  His suggestions focused on stretching the lower back in ways I'm not doing now, and on increasing my hip extension and range of motion. I also appreciated the simplicity of his suggestions very much, because I told him up front that I am a minimalist -- I don't want exercise to become a major focus of my daily life.  And get this -- his overall assessment is that I don't need any more formal sessions and he advised me to cancel the ones I have scheduled!! I definitely agree with him -- this problem began about six months ago and at that time it was a serious concern to me, but it has gotten better and better and at the moment is really not much of an issue.  Wow! I'm a PT reject! I will certainly return, though, if things get bad again -- I'm a strong believer in PT.

Speaking of exercise, Karen played 16 holes with our mutual golfing friend on Monday.  She did pretty well, including 1 par and she saw quite a few Nenes that have returned for the season.  She also saw all three of the white peacocks.  The male is getting quite big and this year might be his time to debut a white fan tail. It will be interesting and we'll see if we can get a photo or two.  I didn't play golf this week but on Monday I went to Planet Fitness instead of playing golf -- not as much fun but much faster.  A full workout on the various machines takes about 1 hour, in keeping with my minimalist philosophy. Then, in a blazing burst of energy, we both went to PF yesterday!  This certainly is a high water mark for the time since we returned from our Balkans trip, and it hopefully means we're recovered from our double vaccinations.

My latest techno/house project involves investigating the possibility of switching to fiber internet instead of the cable service we have now.  Hawaiian Telcom has now strung fiber lines all around town (a logistically huge and expensive project) and has begun offering service to home subscribers.  This is really good news because it breaks Spectrum's near-monopoly as an internet service provider and the competition will hopefully keep prices down.  One problem for us, though, is that it would require running a new network cable from the spot in the garage where the fiber line would be installed to the main house in a way that would hide the cable and not be hideous.  Our house isn't the typical mainland setup where the cable could just be run through the attic. We have no attic.  In fact we have no ceiling per se -- the wood we see above is in fact the roof.  No drywall, no dropped ceiling of any kind except in the garage. Anyway, I think I've figured a way to use our crawl space and an existing conduit that will work.  If so, then if Spectrum raises my rate too high, I can use the possibility of switching to Hawaiian Telcom as a bargaining chip.  And running the new cable might be a challenging and fun project!  I'll keep you posted.

Ok, that's all for this week. Hang in there.  I don't know about you, but it seems like I'm in the center lane of a highway and the drivers to the right and to the left are going berserk, even bouncing up and over the guard rails.  Anyway, try to stay warm and healthy!

Wordle In 1, Coffee Festival, Snoozerama

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

11/11/23

 

Aloha Everybody ---

 

I started this week on a real high note -- solving the Wordle word puzzle in one try!  Karen and I usually give this a go as a way of exercising a few grey cells and of neutralizing some of the toxicity of the

Yippee!

morning's news. If you play this game you know that the starting guess is a key ingredient in successfully guessing the solution in less than six tries.  Up until Monday I've had pretty good results by alternating between two words, one of them generated by an AI bot that has apparently studied the game.  For some reason, on Monday I decided to try a different start word, and damn if it didn't turn out to be the day's solution!  This was obviously accomplished with a huge dose of pure luck, so I can't take much credit.  Still, human egos being what they are, I'll boast a teensy bit anyway.

 

This week is our annual Kona Coffee Festival, a celebration of the island's signature industry (aside from tourism, of course).  The festival isn't really geared to tourists but rather to the community itself -- particularly those of Japanese heritage because of their success in running small coffee farms in the late 1800's and early 1900's when a world-wide crash of coffee prices led the owners of large coffee estates in Kona to divide their holdings as a way to survive.  All week long there have been events and activities,

The Winner

including a parade, coffee picking contests, crowning Miss Kona Coffee, a Kona Coffee Cupping contest with international judges, a cooking recipe contest, and a lei-making competition.  The vibe here is very positive and supportive, even with all the "contests."  I have to confess that I no longer drink Kona because it has become VERY expensive -- $40-60 per pound.  The growers have succeeded in making the name Kona a legal appellation, and blends have to have at least 10% beans grown in the official region and be labeled as blends.  The blends are considerably cheaper, of course, but hardly the real thing.

 

As I mentioned last time, we had appointments a week ago today to have our flu/covid shots.  We have our vaccinations usually at the pharmacy where we also buy some of our groceries (Safeway) because we get 10% coupons for shopping. The pharmacies here are short-staffed, so you really have to schedule this in advance.  All went well.  Until it didn't.  Nothing catastrophic,  and certainly better than the alternative of getting the viruses, but both of us had "vigorous" reactions.  For about 6 hours I had achy joints and itchy crawly skin but that was gone by Sunday morning.  Karen had a very sore arm for about 3 days, but I didn't.  Both of us, though, have been Zombies all week -- sleepy and lethargic much of each day. This is all probably a good sign that our immune systems kicked into high gear and will be much better at recognizing and fighting the real thing.  We're feeling better, and in fact we managed to spend some time at the Makalei driving range on Thursday and did fairly well.  Maybe a round next week....

Ok, off to farmer's market, a beach breakfast picnic, and to the lei-making contest.  Take care, try to ignore the crazies if you can.....

 

 

Sliced, Diced, Pumped & Shot

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

11/4/23

 

Aloha Ohana ---

 

Karen's Mohs surgery on Oahu went very well. As you probably know, this technique involves removing the offending cancerous thingy, then immediately examining it carefully to see if all of the nastiness has been removed.  If not, more "slicing & dicing" (my attempt at a dark humorous way to refer to surgery) is performed right then.  Karen was lucky and the surgeon got it all in one slice.  There were people in the waiting room, though, who were up to four rounds of this -- each time requires waiting for a half hour or so for the tissue examination. The surgeon advised Karen against stitches because the skin on her leg is too thin to hold them, so the quarter-sized hole is open at the moment.  She's supposed to keep the initial bandage on for a week (!) before changing it and applying two kinds of antibiotic. No pool time for a couple of weeks.

 

It was interesting to travel the way we did.  No luggage -- I used my backpack and Karen used a large purse.  We had our boarding passes in our phones, so we headed right through TSA and to the gate, then didn't have to fight for overhead bin space because our stuff fit beneath the seats in front of us.  When we

Our Outfits for Ethiopia

got to Honolulu, we walked out the terminal door and within a few minutes caught the bus to Waikiki, which went right by our hotel.  The next morning we took an Uber to the doctor's office, and another one afterwards to the upscale Ala Moana Shopping Center, where we had lunch and spent the afternoon shopping until it was time to take the bus (which stops right at the mall) back to the airport for our return flight.  Since we were only gone about a day, we drove ourselves to the airport and parked in the long term lot, which in Kona is an easy walk from the terminal. Whole trip was 36 hours, max.  We enjoyed seeing Honolulu and Waikiki.  It's been several years since we were there and we were impressed by infrastructure improvements and by some of the striking architecture in the downtown and Waikiki areas.  Plenty of tourists, but it didn't seem overrun.

No golf this week, partly because of Karen's surgery, but also because she hosted a book club meeting yesterday which involved a fair amount of cleaning and house prep.  However, on Thursday we went to Planet Fitness for a full workout.  I even upped my weights slightly and increased my reps on some of the machines.  I was particularly focused on the back and core muscles.  There are about four machines that target these muscles in different ways.  My sacroiliac problem seems to be waning at the moment, but I figured the exercise was still a good idea.  We rewarded ourselves with a Vietnamese Lemon Grass Chicken sandwich on the beach.

Today we have appointments to get the latest Covid/Flu vaccinations.  I decided to do the combo and get it over with.  Some friends who have had the shots experienced pretty vigorous reactions, so I anticipate some down time later today and tomorrow.  We'll see.

Ok, that's it from here for the week.  Enjoy what's left of your good weather, and get set for the holiday merchandising blitz.

Bones, Vanishing Electrons, & The Poop is in the Mail

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

10/28/23

 

Aloha Everyone ---

 

A fairly eventful week here in near-paradise -- well,  by my low standards anyway.  It included visits to two doctors, giving our electric company a $400 gift, and exercisus maximus.

The first doctor visit was on Monday, with my internist.  We went over my routine blood test results and he confirmed my own impression -- "nothing to see here, move along." We also discussed the progression of my emphysema (still no miracle cure), high altitude medication for our trip to Ethiopia (diamox), and getting another probe-up-the-butt-oscopy.  That last topic generated a surprise response from my doc. He said that he has had experience of having the necessity of the procedure questioned for someone of my age with previous negative results and with my high level of current health and lack of family history.  (Turns out the government guidelines for colon cancer screening every 10 years end at 75 unless there are specific problems to be diagnosed.)   I then mentioned the Cologuard test and he thought that was a very good alternative for me, though he laid out the possibilities of false positives and false negatives and their consequences. Bottom line:  I'll get a kit in the mail and send in a sample for analysis, which looks for DNA signatures associated with the major forms of colon cancers and precancers.  If it is positive, the follow up will be a colonoscopy to see if the result was a false alarm.  If it is negative, I'll have a low possibility something was missed.  However, the test can be repeated every few years with a good chance of catching whatever wasn't detected previously. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Sticking with the Geezer medical talk, on Wednesday I saw an orthopedic specialist about my hip issues. 

That's the spot!

Good news is that the x-ray shows my joints are in very good shape -- "the hip bones of a young man" he said! No hip replacement in my future! The pain is located in the sacroiliac joints, likely caused by a touch of arthritis.  I don't have shooting pain, numbness, etc., which means my case is very mild and can probably be controlled with occasional anti-inflammatory medication and special exercise.  The bad news, of course, is that it isn't likely to go away completely and is yet another sign of the relentlessness of geezerhood.  Anyway, I'll try some physical therapy sessions and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, this week is the end of our solar contract year with Hawai'ian Electric Company.  This means that any surplus we've generated over the last 12 months is forfeited to them and we start over at zero.  Our gift this year was a bit over $400, and in most years it has been about $300.  We just finished out 10th year of having the system, so that means we've donated around $3000 to the company coffers. Hopefully they've been putting it to good use, like a new fishing boat for the CEO.

 

In more positive news, on Thursday we went to Planet Fitness and I managed to get back to my previous settings and number of reps on the machines.  It felt good, I must say.  Then -- get this -- yesterday Karen and I also played golf!! We both did surprisingly well considering being off for a couple of months.  On one hole we both got pars, on another Karen got a birdie, and on a third I got a bogey. We pooped out after 12 holes, and I have to admit that we played by Kona-lago rules, meaning that we skipped holes we didn't like, took unlimited do-overs, and sometimes "assisted" each other's ball in finding its way into the cup, which is rewarded with a "pardon" of one stroke off the helper's score. As an added treat we saw about a dozen pairs of Nenes that have returned for the winter breeding season. 

Tomorrow we're flying over to Oahu and spending the night so that Karen can have Mohs surgery for a cancerous thingy on her leg.  We'll fly home Monday evening.  This arrangement isn't unusual here.  Many people travel for treatment because Honolulu is the closest place for certain kinds of specialty care.  Anyway, it might be kind of fun -- we haven't been on Oahu for several years.

Ok, that's it.  Take care and have good Halloween. 

Blood, Safari, Golf"ish"

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

10/21/23

 

Aloha All ---

 

Last Saturday's Iron Man World Championship went extremely well.  As I mentioned, this year's competitors were all women,  and everything went much more smoothly compared to last year when they tried to do two races in one week.  This was almost back to the good old days in terms of community support and the competitive yet friendly vibe.  The weather was perfect -- clear and sunny in the morning and fairly calm seas for the swim, and not much wind on the northern bike run.  Relative to some years it wasn't too hot -- rain the day before kept the temps down.  The good conditions were reflected in the record-breaking performances.  The professional winner finished in 8 hours 32 minutes, a course record.

I got my blood test results back over the weekend, posted to my online account.  I haven't gone over them with my doctor (next Monday) but I compared them to my results for March myself.  To me they look very good, and in some respects, like Cholesterol levels, even better than before.  Still no signs of diabetes or heart issues.  I'll see if my doctor agrees with my assessment.  His usual overall conclusion is that I have a very low chance of dying from heart attack or stroke.  Comforting, but that still leaves a whole range of nasty ways to go.  One of the things I want to talk to him about is getting a Cologuard test -- a non-invasive test for colon cancer.  I'm due for another probe-up-the-butt-oscopy, but I'd like to try the less unpleasant option if I can.  The Cologuard test isn't as definitive, and has about a 10% false negative and false positive rate.  In my position if it was a false positive the worst that would happen is that I'd have a colonoscopy and it would be clear of cancer.  A false negative, though, means that the test missed something that really was there.  The uncertainty is how bad is the thing that was missed?  My previous two colonoscopies were clean, I have no family history of colon cancer, and my diet for at least the last 25 years has been good for reducing risk.  What would you do?

A lot of this week was spent going back and forth with a safari company in Kenya to do an add-on to our Ethiopia trip next January.  The Ethiopia visit, as I have mentioned, is something that we have wanted to do for about 50 years.  Our first attempt was in 1976, the year we spent 1 1/2 months in Africa, a good portion of which was in Kenya, where we stayed with a friend who was doing research at the University of Nairobi.  We had to cancel the Ethiopia portion at that time because of warfare.  A few years ago we tried again -- this time on a group tour -- but had to cancel because of  Covid,  We rescheduled for the following year but once again had to cancel because of internal conflict.  We're now trying once again, probably for the last time.  Given the horrendous trip to get to this part of the world, we thought it might be good to revisit Kenya and go on a safari one last time.  Our previous safaris in Kenya were on our own in a little Toyota rental.  We traveled with a good friend from Ohio and went from camp to camp on a Serengeti circuit through southern Kenya and Tanzania.  Since then we've made several trips to Africa, and have done safaris in South Africa (twice) and Botswana. These were also on our own, but arranged with a company that provided transportation and accommodations at the game parks, two of which we had to fly into because there were no roads.  Our plan now is to fly from Ethiopia to Kenya after the group tour and do a private 1-week safari to three different parks north of Nairobi. We'll have our own vehicle and driver/guide/game-spotter) and we will stay in a lodge at one place and in tented camps at the other two. We're looking forward to it very much, but we're mindful that trying to re-create the past can lead to disappointment, also.  Of course, this all hinges on making it to Ethiopia first, so stay tuned........

On Wednesday we managed to go to Makalei to see if we could still hit that little golf ball.  We still aren't

up to a full round, however, so we opted for the putting green and drive range instead.  GOOD THING we didn't pay for a full round!  I was pretty pathetic, I must say.  Two geezer months off from this sport is a real problem, because the body not only forgets what to do, it can hardly do what it remembers to do.  Anyway, ready or not we are likely to try at least a partial round next week.  

Ok, that's it.  Off for our usual Saturday morning rounds.  Take care. Whistle a happy tune and hang garlic around your neck -- it might help keep the poltergeists and politicians at bay!