Iron People, Eyeball, Volcano

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

10/14/23

 

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

Clouds Over Kona

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

 

 

Back Home -- Sorta Kinda

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

10/7/23

Aloha Everyone --

Our long trip (34 days give or take) came to an end on Monday around noon. Well, our bodies returned home anyway, but our luggage was still in Zurich and our brains were lost in fog somewhere.  We got our suitcases back on Thursday and the brains seem to be arriving in pieces.  Maybe another few days.......

The trip back began in Tirana, Albania, about 1 hour late.  We barely made our connection in Zurich for

our 11 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco but our luggage didn't.  As we have done often, we spent the night in SF (there aren't any flights from the west coast to Kona in the evening) then continued on the next morning.  Actually, not having the luggage was convenient because we didn't have to hassle with re-checking it and just went straight to the gate.  We always pack what we need for a day or two in our carry-on bags so we had what we really needed anyway.

Adjustment to local time has been really rough this time -- maybe yet another fun part of geezerhood.  The Balkans are 12-hours ahead of Kona, so as the day goes on here our bodies are thinking it's getting later and later at night--time to sleep!  For me the worst symptom of jet lag is the mental fog.  Every little task, no matter how small, seems irritatingly complicated.  I can feel this improving a bit each day in the morning and lasting a little longer, but the recovery seems to be taking longer than it used to. Hopefully by next week things will be more or less back to "normal."

The house seems to have fared pretty well, no major problems that I've discovered so far.  Of course, have a lot of gardening and cleaning to do.  In...between...naps.

Oh, I should mention that right before we left I wrote that Kilauea was showing signs of waking up and that it would be just our luck (or curse) if it erupted while we were gone.  Yup, sure enough -- not long after we left there was activity at the summit, complete with fountains of lava.  Then it shut off completely.  Well,  now that we are back there are again signs that something might happen in the near future.  We'll see....... 

Ok,  that's all I can muster at the moment.  Let's all hang in there, though it's beginning to look like the only intelligence around is the AI kind.

Golf To Go, Anniversary, Swelling Volcano

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

8/26/23

Aloha Guys--

The world seems to get crazier by the hour.  I'll leave the analysis to the talking heads but it certainly feels like as a species we're regressing, not moving forward.

This week we have been in full prep mode for our trip to the Balkans with a stop first in Ohio to see our

friends there.  The pile of trimmings for our gardener to haul to the green waste facility is getting pretty large as we whack and weed.  Also, we've been cleaning, arranging to stop the mail & paper, scheduling house visits by our handyman, lining up someone to take us to the airport and pick us up at the end, etc. We have to-do lists to help us with this -- increasingly helpful memory aids, provided we remember where we put them......

On Monday we got in a partial round of golf that went pretty well.  We each got two pars and I also got a bogey.  As usual, some of my shots were amazingly good.  Others, well, not so much.  Yesterday we celebrated our Wedding Anniversary by making a visit to Planet Fitness (!?).  We decided to keep it low-key this year because of all the travel preparations. We'll make our trip the real celebration.  However, we did have our neighbors over for dinner on Thursday, and we were joined by the niece of one of them who is visiting from the mainland.  A very pleasant evening.  We may do more celebrating in Ohio.

The depth and complexity of the Maui tragedy are becoming clearer and clearer.  One example is the fact that while 115 are confirmed dead, less than half of them have been specifically identified and over 800 people are still unaccounted for.  Such ambiguity and uncertainty must be very difficult for the survivors to deal with.

Kilauea is still showing signs of stirring.  Here's what the volcanologists said in a recent update: "The earthquake activity and tiltmeter data indicate that Kīlauea summit is becoming increasingly pressurized. Similar episodes of earthquake and ground deformation activity occurred in November 2020 and August 2021, prior to eruptions in December 2020 and September 2021. The activity is currently confined within Kīlauea summit region and if it continues, could escalate to an eruption in the coming days, weeks, or months."  In other words, nature may be about to give us yet another lesson in who is really the boss.  Stay tuned.....

Ok, that's all for this week and probably until we get back. Stay cool and healthy, both physically and mentally.  Do yourself a favor by turning down the volume on those talking heads.  Aloha.

Spam for Maui, Valve Surgery, Travel Prep

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

8/19/23

Aloha All --

The focus here this week has been on the horrible aftermath of the fires on Maui. If there is anything at all positive in this it has been the local outpouring of support on all the islands for the survivors on Maui.  Volunteers have been collecting food, clothing, money, and transporting it to where it is needed.  It's one thing to have state and federal agencies and organizations like the Red Cross involved in the relief effort, but it is particularly gratifying to see neighbors helping neighbors so willingly and unselfishly.  The other day Karen and I saw a pickup truck in the Walmart parking lot loading several shopping carts' worth of donated items which were going to be transported by private boat over to Maui.  A characteristic local touch was what the carts contained -- SPAM and big bags of rice. Among the many controversies that have begun to surface about this tragedy is one that is also uniquely Hawaiian -- should Maui encourage or discourage tourists at this time?  On the one hand, it seems insensitive for the big resorts that weren't harmed by the fires to be catering to vacationers, and for those guests to be blissfully lounging by the pool while many locals are staying in shelters because their homes were completely destroyed.  On the other hand, many of the survivors have jobs at those resorts and if tourists stay away they will lose them, as will many other workers in tourist-related businesses.  If I knew someone considering visiting right now, I think I'd advise them to come but be compassionate and respectful of what's going on. For the future, there is a larger question of what to do about an economy that is so dependent on one thing, and which both benefits from and contributes to financial disparities.

The Old

Another focus this week was on surgery -- cutting into our house water supply line to replace one of the irrigation valves.  In my investigations of the high water usage in the last billing cycle I found that one of the six irrigation valves in my system was dripping slightly.  This valve is original to the system, so it is over 25 years old.  Although the amount of the drip wasn't enough to account for my high usage, it seemed prudent to replace the valve -- normally not a huge project.  However, then I noticed that the original installers hadn't put in a shutoff valve that would isolate the zone and allow work on just the irrigation pipes. It would instead be necessary to shut off water to the whole house.  Hmmm.  In the spirit of "don't-just-fix-it-make-it-better" I decided to install a shutoff valve and replace the irrigation valve at the same time.  This required re-routing the plumbing to make room for the shutoff and some careful planning of the pvc parts needed.  Of course, like almost any other project, the plan was altered a few times as reality and practicality overruled theoretical

The New!

planning.  In other words, I made three trips to Lowe's to get more and different fittings before the job was done.  It was a bit unnerving to make that first cut because at that point there was no turning back and no water going to the house until I got that new shutoff valve installed successfully. When I turned the water to the house back on, I experienced relief and a big ego boost when nothing leaked and the new irrigation valve worked perfectly!!

We're close enough to our Balkan trip to start our preparations in earnest.  This week was mainly garden-oriented (with the exception of the valve surgery), with a lot of heavy trimming of plantings that don't grow very fast.  Next week we will focus on things that are faster and therefore can't go as long without being whacked back.  Our gardener can take care of some of landscaping while we're gone, but mainly at a maintenance level rather than deciding on heavy trimming and shaping.  Also next week we'll start the long-term cleaning routine that we do before a long trip.  Whew!

Last night we attended our local community theater's production of  "Toil and Trouble," a modern spoof of the famous scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth.  It was pretty well done, given the small budget and restricted pool of actors to draw from in our little community.  The stars are likely to be somebody who will help you find plumbing fittings or serve your poke bowl at lunch the day after the show -- ordinary people who also happen to be very talented!

Finally, I should mention that Kilauea has shown some signs of "restlessness," as the volcanologists have called it.  This week there was an increase in small earthquakes and the summit has been "inflating" slightly, consistent with magma moving around underneath.  The SO2 levels have remained very low, however, which suggests the magma isn't degassing near the surface.  This might be just a sleep-snort and if so the activity should subside.  Or it will be our usual luck that an eruption will occur shortly after we leave, like the last time we went on a trip.  Fun times. 

Ok, I'll check in again next week.  Hope you all stay well and as cool as conditions allow.

Fires, Leaks, Pars & Pads

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

8/12/23

Aloha Folks --

Well, Hawai'i joined the year's devastation club this week and did it dramatically.  I'm talking of course about the wildfires on Maui and here on our island.  Maui was really hit hard, particularly the waterfront town of Lahaina, which is a somewhat larger version of our Kailua waterfront.  Both have (in the case of Lahaina, HAD) a core of old wooden historic buildings that epitomize "flammable."  Most were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The picturesque setting, along with the tourist shops and restaurants that now occupy them, are (were) a big tourist draw.  The fires on Maui started inland and were pushed toward the ocean by high winds, cutting off the few escape routes.  Dozens of people were killed, as you probably know, and hundreds of buildings and homes were destroyed.  It will be a long time before Maui recovers in the Lahaina area, but much sooner in other parts of the island. Naturally this will be a blow to the island's visitor-centered economy, which was just getting back to pre-Covid levels. The fires on our island were up north near some of the megabuck resorts, one of which was evacuated briefly, as well as a residential area called Kohala Ranch.  Very little damage occurred, perhaps because we didn't have the strong winds that Maui did.  By the way, the news attributed the high winds to Hurricane Dora, but that is misleading.  Dora passed 1000 miles to the south, normally too far to have any effect on us.  However, a pressure system to our north interacted with the hurricane pressure and produced the winds that fanned the fires.

The saga of the water leak continued this week.  I found another couple of leaks in the garden system and fixed them, and ran careful checks on the usage for each zone.  One zone seemed very high and my calculations over a 2-month billing period suggested it would account for the recent high bill.  Until I rechecked my calculations and found...ahem..an error that wiped out the high usage value altogether.  This left 2 possible explanations.  First, while we were gone something went kerflooey, like a toilet that didn't shut off after my handyman checked it on his weekly visits.  Second, the new meter is inaccurate and reads 30% too high.  I checked the meter's accuracy by noting the before and after readings when I filled a one gallon container.  It was exactly one gallon.  Likewise toilet flushes were exactly correct. I also checked the meter's consistency by running my irrigation cycle a couple of times and getting exactly the same values each time.  The one-off possibility is by far the more probable of the two at this time, and this is reinforced by the fact that so far my usage is normal for the period.  I've now done all that I can, and I'll have to wait and see if this problem has somehow gone away on its own.

Speaking of leaks, the edema in my right retina returned and on Tuesday I had an injection.  The timing is good, because I knew I couldn't last until we returned from our Balkan trip.  Unfortunately the clinic was out of the new drug (Vabysmo) and so the doc had to use Eylea instead.  It should be ok for the time being.

Karen and I played golf on Monday, and this time it was gorgeous. In fact, my solar system recorded an

Lots of Photons

almost perfect day as far as its power curve. I played pretty well  -- 2 pars (!) and a bogey.  We did the 16-hole version of our game, still not the full 18 but way better than the rained out game we had last week.  On Thursday we went to Planet Fitness, though it was tough to convince our bodies to do it.  We hadn't been there for several weeks and we were definitely overdue.  Whomping soreness yesterday was the penance for being remiss.

In the fun news department, I got a new Ipad that I recently ordered and got it all set up.  The old one was getting very slow and the battery needed replacing.  I could have had the battery replaced, but the money would have just given me a slow device with a longer lasting battery.  Besides, a new techno toy is always a treat.

That's about all -- kind of a busy week by our standards.  We're beginning our preparations for our trip, though the real push won't be for awhile yet. Take care, stay cool and remember that contrary to the crazies, there is nothing wrong with the middle.

Looking for Leaks, Golf Cart Pontoons, Clean Teeth

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

8/5/23

Aloha Ohana --

Well, glad to see some of you are cooling off a bit.  I noticed in the news that even Phoenix cooled down a little, dropping below 110d after a record-setting month of daily highs at or above that level.  Of course, it's a dry heat.  Kind of like a convection oven or an air fryer.  And it cools down at night -- to around 92d, downright chilly!  Schadenfreude is unkind, I know, but it sure is fun occasionally.  I do, however, feel sympathy for those who don't have the means to deal with this kind of extreme heat by retreating to home air-conditioning. It must be truly brutal -- and even deadly in some cases.

A main focus of my week was dealing with leaks.  The first was with our garden irrigation system.  Part of the system was already installed when we moved into the house, but I've greatly modified and expanded it over the years.  It's relatively efficient, with low volume sprinklers that are placed to benefit specific areas of the garden, rather than blanketing everything. Also, by adding several additional zones, I can adjust the amount of water depending on the locations and the plantings in them.  The system is controlled by programmable timers that I have set to go off every other day for about 10-15 minutes depending on the zone.  If we get a lot of rain, I have the controllers skip a cycle.  Like many repair projects, this one started as something else.  Karen accidentally poked a hole in one of the lines while gardening, and in the process of fixing that I discovered there was another leak that had probably been going on for some time.  It wasn't obvious, however, exactly where the problem was because it was in a section of line that was buried pretty deep, and the symptom was that a fairly sizeable area was overly soggy.  So I had to trace the line and dig down until I found the leaking spot.  However, here "digging" is not an easy matter of "stick-shovel-in dirt-and-move-to-the-side."  Our volcanic, rocky "soil" requires a lot of effort and swear words.  Anyway, I finally found the leak and repaired it so now more water should be going to where it's needed.

The other leak appears to be related, but I'm not so sure. We got a notice from the water department of unusually high usage based on their latest reading of our meter.  I know, you're probably thinking this might have been coming from the leak in the irrigation system that I fixed.  Maybe, but the holes I found didn't seem big enough to account for the amount of high usage. This week I checked the meter myself many times and I'm almost positive there's isn't currently a leak in house plumbing (like a bad toilet valve).  Our meter is read once every couple of months, and our bill is figured on the difference between the latest two readings.  However, a few months back our meter dial hadn't moved, so a couple of weeks after that the water department replaced it. The following reading, then, was based on fewer days than usual.  The latest reading is what showed the unusual usage, but it isn't as far out of line as I first thought. I'll keep checking a few more days to get a good idea of how much we use for irrigation and how much for other things.  I'm beginning to wonder if the latest reading was wrong, and if it was, the billing will straighten itself eventually. And I'm still open to the possibility that the irrigation leak was the cause. Time will tell.  Patience, grasshopper......

Speaking of water, Karen and I tried to play golf on Thursday but we only completed 5 holes before it started dumping.  A die-hard committed player would have just kept going but we aborted and headed for cover, sort of surfing our way down the mountain to the club house.  Maybe the course should add emergency pontoons to the golf carts?  I played really well the first couple of holes, and we saw seven peacock babies, then even the birds opted to find someplace dry.  We'll try again Monday.

Finally, a big deal for both of us this week was getting our teeth cleaned (!).  There is a shortage of hygienists on our island and so you have to schedule very far in advance.  Last year we had to change our appointments because of a conflict with travel dates and it was a major hassle getting back into the schedule at our regular clinic.  Our insurance will completely cover 3 cleanings per year, and we try to take advantage of that, but a 4-month interval is difficult for the scheduling people to handle.  Anyway, we're back on track and have appointments for December, April, and August all set.  So far it looks like our travel plans can be adjusted to accommodate the dates.  Note the oddity of planning your life around getting your teeth cleaned!

That's it for this week.  Take care, whistle a happy tune.

Lahaina Noon, Popping a Peacock, Manta Rays

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

7/29/23

Aloha All --

Wow, I can't believe it's almost August. I'm sure that many people on the mainland are getting eager for this sizzling summer to be over, but I'd just as soon things slow down a bit.  We're still in our warm spell, but it's hard to complain at 88 when parts of the country are hitting near 100d.  We're continuing to get just enough rain to keep everything green and growing, which means much of my time is still spent whacking back the jungle. For some reason our vegetable garden hasn't done all that well this year, but our fig tree has had a bumper crop -- to the point that we're giving many of them to friends, like we used to do with zucchini back in Ohio.

On Tuesday Karen and I played golf with our usual partner.  The weather was ok, but not nearly as nice as the week before when I didn't play --we got rained out after 16 holes.  Part of our problem is that we start late, about 10 am usually, and after about 3 hours the clouds and mist build on the mountain.  However, starting earlier isn't part of our cavalier approach to the game. Unfortunately, we had an injury this time....to a peacock.  We were teeing off and our friend hit a peahen on the foot.  Our friend is a vet and could have made a professional evaluation but the hen wasn't having any of that.  Visually it didn't appear misshapen or dangling, so we think she'll be ok.  This is bound to happen occasionally, given the number of birds and their proximity to humans hitting small hard balls with long mallets.

The cloudiness at Makalei prevented us from seeing a unique phenomenon called Lahaina Noon, when the sun is directly overhead and objects cast no shadow.  Hawai'i is the only place in the US where this happens because we are in the tropical latitudes, between 23.5 degrees north and south of the equator.  Kona is at 19.64 degrees.  It occurs twice a year, once in the spring and once in the summer.  The name "Lahaina" was given to the phenomenon in the 1990's as part of a contest and translates as "Cruel Sun."  The old Hawaiian name was more anatomically descriptive but not as succinct:  "kau ka lā i ka lolo," or "the sun rests on the brain."

On Thursday we went to a fascinating talk about our resident Manta Rays. Three researchers presented information about Manta characteristics, current status and conservation efforts.  These animals are

Gentle Giant

magnificent, reaching wingspans here of about 12 feet, but elsewhere up to 30 feet.  They are entirely harmless filter feeders without a tooth in their bodies, and they have no barbed poisonous tail like the sting ray.  Our population is about 300, and some individuals have been studied for over 20 years -- identified and cataloged by the unique pattern of spots on their bellies.  We learned that there is no sustainable way they can be harvested for food, because they reproduce very slowly.  Each female has one "pup" at a time, with a gestation period of 13 months, and can produce only about 5 in her lifetime.  They live a long time, on average about 25-30 years and don't reach sexual maturity until 10-15 years old.  One of the researchers is looking at injuries to Mantas and has found, contrary to common belief, boat strikes account for only about 7% of Manta injuries, whereas entanglement with fishing and boating gear is about 42%.  A hot issue here in Kona are Manta Night Dives and Snorkel trips to watch Mantas feed.  They've become so popular that the common sites are way too crowded.  Efforts to voluntarily limit the activity have been only partially successful, and legislation to control it has so far been difficult to pass.  The good news, though, is that since the 1990's killing a Manta for any reason is illegal, unlike other parts of the world where they are being sold for food.  I was pleased to see that the talk was well-attended, an encouraging sign that people are interested in well-being of these wonderful creatures.

Karen got the results of the biopsy of the spot on her eyelid. All good -- a benign "barnacle," where "barnacle" is our dermatologist's informal term for "symbiosis ohmygoshiac cashonlyoma."  

Ok, that's my week.  Off to market and beach breakfast picnic.  Take care and tune out as much of the b.s. as you can.

Calvin Fizzles, Skin Scrutiny, Summer Arrives

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

7/22/23

Aloha All --

Well, Hawai'i's contribution to the current global weather mayhem was pretty wimpy.  After much over-hype, Hurricane Calvin arrived on Wednesday with almost no oomph left.  The news media focused on the possibilities -- the possibility of high winds, the possibility of flooding. and the possibility of power outages, etc., etc.  Ignored were the data indicating that the actual likelihood of these dire developments was shrinking to almost zero well ahead of Calvin's arrival. Better safe and panicked than safe and calm.  Anyway, I did take a few precautions, like lowering our pool umbrella and removing some light weight objects, but even these minimal steps turned out to be overkill.  Tuesday night and Wednesday arrived and....bumpkiss, nada, zilch.  No rain, no wind, nothing.  The east side of our island got a fair amount of rain but frankly not more than it often does during a good storm.  That's it.  On to the next doom and gloom possibility.

Karen and I contributed to the financial well-being of our dermatologist this week with both of us going to see her.  Recall that she doesn't take *any* insurance, so you pay at treatment time, though her charges aren't all that bad, and if there are any lab tests or biopsies involved those will be covered by our Aetna Medicare.  My visit was just a followup to check on the squamous cell thing on my thigh that was removed a few months ago.  All ok, and she then did a quick exam of a couple of other areas we're keeping an eye on, and froze three small areas.  Karen's visit was to have a recent growth on one of her eyelids diagnosed and removed. We're still waiting for the biopsy results but the visual assessment was that it wasn't anything dire.  All in all, good news for both of us.  I think we're getting good medical care from this clinic, but they are focusing more and more on the stretching/sculpting/firming/scraping/beautifying angle to the practice, which is probably far more lucrative than slicing off potential cancers.  We really don't have many alternatives here, though, so as long as I feel confident in the medical aspect I'll stick with it.

Karen played golf on Tuesday with two friends.  I stayed home and supervised our gardeners.  The weather at Makalei ahead of the dreaded Calvin was beautiful, according to Karen -- sunny and only a little wind.  On Wednesday it was sunny in Kona nearly the whole day, and we didn't have our usual cooling on-shore breeze, so it got really warm -- the hottest day of the year so far.  The rest of the week has also been very warm.  We've gone from daytime highs in the low to mid 80's to highs in the mid- to high 80's, with humidity to match.  This may be a legacy of the hurricane, but I'm not sure.  Anyway, we've been making very good use of our PV surplus to power our a.c. units during the day and some of the nighttime.

We finished cleaning the lanai furniture and replacing the pads this week, and the result was very good. Our old stuff didn't have as much color as the new pads, and the difference is very striking.  So far we're pleased, and now we'll see how well the new pads hold up to Kona weather over time.

That's it for this week. Hope you are all doing ok in these fun times.  Stay happy -- it's always a healthy choice.

B-Day, Anniversary, Peacocks in the Mist

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

7/15/23

Aloha Everybody:

Geez, this week's mainland weather was downright scary -- floods in the northeast, killer heat in the south, drought in the west, tornadoes around Chicago, etc., etc.  Earlier in the week I happened to look at the temperatures in the areas we visited on our recent European trip and they were all in the mid- to upper 90's!  In short, our timing was very good because traveling there now would be extremely uncomfortable.  Here not so much of a problem.  Yet.  Not to be left out of the weather craziness, hurricane Calvin is heading our way and should come close to the islands around Tuesday or Wednesday, probably passing over the southern part of our island. Right now the forecast is that it will weaken to a tropical storm by the time it gets here, so I'm not too concerned at the moment. 

Well, today is my XXth (censored) birthday.  I'm not too thrilled, frankly.  These yearly hallmarks don't carry quite the same upbeat significance they used to, but I guess they can be a stimulus to reflect on the richness of the past and the wonders of the present (including the wonder of still being here).  It's been quite a ride, I must say.  One part of that journey began 21 years ago last week, when we moved from Ohio to Hawai'i.  The anniversary of the move was July 5th.  We normally celebrate the day with a glass of champagne, but this year we forgot -- something we vow not to let happen next year.

The big house project this week was replacing the pads on our outdoor furniture. How's that for excitement?!  We actually wanted to replace the frames, too, but we had difficulty finding something we like that was available here, and given the expense of ordering online we wanted to be certain of our choice. This has dragged on for over a year, and Karen finally had the idea to look online for just replacement pads.  We had some picked out and were ready to order when we saw an ad for some locally that we liked and that were on sale.  Perfect compromise!  Of course, nothing is that simple.  First we have to clean the old frames, not a terrifically hard job, but still one that has to be done after dragging the chairs out to the driveway.  And naturally I noticed while cleaning that I need to repaint many of the bases of the chairs.  I have decided to put that off and just do a couple of chairs at a time later rather than hold up the whole project.  Anyway, we're about half done and the new pads look much better.  Ta Da!

Peachicks in the Mist

On Tuesday we played golf at Makalei with our usual partner.  I did a smidge better than last time, and even got one par and a bogey.  This time I got through 15 1/2 holes before frustration and exhaustion took over.  The weather was slightly better, though the fog moved in for a short time and made seeing a white ball a bit difficult.  Even with the mist we spotted quite a few peacocks and even a few peachicks.  We also saw quite a bit of feral pig damage, a significant problem here.  The course has several hunters on retainer but it sure looks like

Double Hazard

they haven't been up to the task lately.  As do other kinds of local wildlife, the pigs find a golf course to be a buffet sent from heaven, so you can't blame them from trying to move in.

Ok that's it.  Take care and I hope you have good weather next week.  Oh, and I have to admit this blog may have been written by ChatGPT4.....or not. What do you think?

A Darwin Award, Quiet 4th, Pump & Grunt

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

7/8/23

Aloha Everyone:

Hope you had a good 4th of July!  Mine was pretty good.  No fireworks of my own, but I got to see

some big ones set off in town.  We went to a party a neighbor's house that was very nice -- good people and traditional food including hamburgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob.  The house is just one street below us and has a good view of the coastline, including Kailua Bay, where the official fireworks were set off.  The show was quite good, considering our small town budget, and the aerial stuff was impressive even though the whole thing was only about 10 minutes.

That reminds me -- this fall our next big trip is going to start in Ohio, and the timing will allow me to see the Labor Day fireworks show that Cincinnati puts on each year along the Ohio River.  This show is huge, and when we lived there we went almost every year, getting as close to the action as possible. It will last a solid 30 minutes and it's coordinated with music that's broadcast on a local TV/Radio station.  Being the pyro-nut that I am, I'm really looking forward to it!

The dogs had a good year in our neighborhood because few people set off their own fireworks and it was very quiet. Each year there are tighter restrictions, particularly on the big bang aerial stuff, but it seems illegal fireworks are available if you really want them.  This is especially attractive to high-testosterone types with an unfavorable hormones-to-brains ratio, as illustrated in a story published in our local paper, West Hawai'i Today:

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Police say a 20-year-old Kailua-Kona man died following a fireworks incident on Tuesday evening.

Police and fire responded at 10:27 p.m. to a report of a public accident, possibly illegal fireworks, in a retail parking lot in the 74-5400 block of Kamakaeha Avenue in Kailua-Kona.

Upon arrival, officers located a young man, later identified as 20-year-old Glen John Nakata, lying on the ground with a substantial head injury.

According to police, bystanders said they saw Nakata holding a fireworks launcher above his head when the firework went off, sending him to the ground.

Nakata was taken by ambulance to the Kona Community Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 11:55 p.m.

Holding a fireworks launcher above your head?  Really? This tragic miscalculation makes this man a hands-down nominee for a Darwin Award, given each year to those who accidentally remove themselves from the gene pool.  In this instance, doing so in a very spectacular way.

No golf this week, but we did manage to work out at PF on Thursday.  Ouch.  I did my full regime this time, and my body is still objecting. You'd think that all the gardening I do and the pool workouts would use the same muscles as the gym machines, but obviously not.  Anyway, we followed the PF session with a nice beach picnic and a trip to Costco.

That's about it for now.  Hope your summer is going well.  Stay happy.  It's hard, but the only way we can win against the woe-mongers. 

Miracle Drug, Physics, Ball?

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

7/1/23

Aloha Everybody:

Well, some of you may be experiencing something even worse than what we experience when we have bad VOG-- the smoke from the fires in Canada is apparently pretty nasty in some parts of the mainland.  Maybe it should be called "COG?" And of course we have one more new word for our weather vocabularies -- "heat dome." My sympathies. Hopefully it won't last too long. 

My own mental fog lifted around Sunday morning and most of the week my body and mind were in sync. Well, as much as they ever are these days.  I've just about got the jungle whacked back, and most things around the house are up and running.  Also, as soon as we got back we started covering the pool at night and by early in the week we had the temperature back to a tolerable level, so we've been able to get in almost every day.  Our cutoff is 80d, and while we were gone the cool nights and lack of sunshine dropped it to 76d, practically ice.  This week we did get more rain, but even so we managed to eat dinner outside by the pool several times, something we haven't been able to do for months.  I'm sure you recall that we eat breakfast and lunch outside almost every day, too.

One big event this week for me was going to my retina doctor on Tuesday.  Recall that before we left I had an injection of this new drug called Vabysmo that might lengthen the time between shots.  Well, Tuesday had been 7 weeks and there was no sign of edema!  I'm scheduled to return in 6 weeks for a total stretch of almost 3 1/2 months, about as long as I've ever gone.  It will be interesting to see how things are doing then, but right now I'm hopeful that my problem is finally stabilizing.  Now, about those cataracts....

Another piece of good medical news came yesterday, when Karen had a followup with her orthopedic doctor.  Her hip problems are definitely not something calling for replacement, but rather are muscle related. She has responded pretty well to physical therapy, though it was tough to keep up her exercises while on our trip.  She resumed sessions this week and hopefully will make even better progress now.

Another major activity this week for me was dealing with insurance to cover the costs of repairs to our rental car.  The damage occurred in an Italian parking garage, where I tested the law of physics about two things not occupying the same space at the same time.  The law still holds. The car we had was a tad bigger than I thought and I managed to scrape both sides on the garage support pillars.  The damage didn't interfere with driving the car, but it was too extensive to hide from the rental agent when we returned the car in Rome.  Our home auto insurance (State Farm) doesn't cover damage to a rental car in another country, but our credit card company does.  AVIS charged us for the estimated repairs on the spot, and now I'm filing a claim to get reimbursed.  This has to be done online, and it has required gathering a lot of information and putting in the required format.  We'll see how this turns out -- it should be 100% covered, but I'm guessing it could be some time before we get the money.  I'll keep you posted.

Wrong Hole!

On Thursday Karen and I played golf at Makalei, our first outing in about 2 months.  We got rained out after the 12th hole, probably a merciful thing.  My performance was a solid "meh," though I did have some stellar moments and even managed to make several good shots in a row.  With all the rain while we were gone, the course was in very good shape, and as usual there were peacocks and peahens and even a few peababies.  Despite the mediocre performance and the rain, it was very enjoyable.

Ok, that's about it this week.  Hope your summer is going well.  Be good, stay healthy, stay away from the crazies. They sure seem to be multiplying....

 

Back Home, A Pele Present, Jet Lag

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

6/24/23

 

Aloha Folks:

 

Our bodies returned to Kona Tuesday around 11:30 am.  Our minds are finally just arriving.  We're gradually adjusting to the 12-hour time difference so that getting up at bedtime isn't so disorienting.  The trip back was a killer, and a lesson in the fact that the hardest thing about travel is the journey itself.  We were scheduled to return from Rome on Monday, flying non-stop to Chicago then on to LA for a night before the final leg to Kona.  However, the plane in Rome had some kind of never-explained mechanical issue and the flight was canceled after several hours of delays.  United put everyone up in a nice new hotel near Rome's new convention center and provided meals and transportation back to the airport.  However, we had to scramble to re-book and finally got on a flight from Rome to San Francisco the next afternoon and on a Kona flight the next morning.  These days planes fly nearly or completely full, so we were lucky to score two of the last four seats on the Rome to SF flight.  As you can imagine, these weren't the best seats on the plane -- we were separated of course, and I was in a middle seat, normally a BAD spot, but it turned out to be in an exit row, so at least I had lots of leg room.  Anyway, it was a mere 12.5 hour flight and then we got to rest overnight before the last 5 hours.  Fun times. 

Overall it was a very good trip -- lots of good food, quaint surroundings, and interesting sights.  We also really enjoyed getting together briefly with our two expat friends living in southern France. Italy was delightful, particularly the places we had not visited on earlier trips, such as the northwestern part near the alps and the cities of Turin and Genoa, and the Umbrian/Tuscany towns of Assisi, Orvieto, and Spello.  We were reminded, though, that traveling can be quite a workout.  We must have walked a thousand miles, often along steep streets with lots of stairs.  I also had to forgo many of my usual nap sessions, definitely a hardship!

 

From This.....

I joked in last month's final email before our trip that the volcano was probably going to erupt while we were gone -- the Sherman curse.  Sure enough, Kilauea woke up and for a while put on a good show at the summit, complete with multiple fountains and a resurfacing of the lava lake in the caldera.  Vog returned, of course, and the air quality along the Kona coast dropped.  We were anticipating returning home to this when Pele gave us a homecoming  present --

To This.

on Monday all activity stopped and the SO2 (which produces the Vog) dropped to almost zero, so that when we landed there was virtually no Vog at all.  Thanks, Pele.

 

Our unusual rain pattern has continued, and now one of our main tasks is to whack back the vegetation produced by all that moisture. Unfortunately this requires a fair amount of energy and alertness, something we're lacking until the jet lag wears off.  Yesterday we did manage a light workout at Planet Fitness, followed by a huli huli chicken beach picnic, some grocery shopping, and a lonnnggg nap.

Ok, that's enough for now.  We're off to farmers' market and to our beach breakfast.  Take care.

 

Vabysmo in My Eye, Birthday, New Cell Service

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

5/13/23

 

Aloha All!

 

Yet another wet week here.  Despite the rain, we're in full prep mode for our trip, plus there were a couple of significant changes to the usual routine. First, on Tuesday, as predicted, I got another eyeball jab.  Actually, the scans didn't show much buildup but we went ahead with the plan to stave off any problems during our trip.  However, this time we tried a new drug called "Vabysmo," which sounds more like it should be for indigestion than for eye problems. The generic chemical name is faricimab, which isn't much better.  Do you realize there are people who are actually paid to come up with these names?!  Anyway, Vabysmo is a relatively new drug that is showing promise in controlling retinal edema.  In at least some patients it can extend the time between injections by a month or more over Eylea, which is my current medication.  That could be 4 months between shots if I respond well to Vabysmo.  Anyway, it seemed worth a shot (so to speak), and we'll see how things are when I return from the upcoming trip.  In case you're wondering (I doubt you are, but humor me), the difference between the two drugs is described by Drugs.com as: "Vabysmo is a bispecific antibody that targets both vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), whereas Eylea is a recombinant fusion protein that targets VEGF and placental growth factor (PlGF)."  Clear as can be, right?

Another change this week was that I switched cell service providers.  I was using Mint Mobile, which was very good and certainly a bargain at $15 per month for unlimited calls and texts plus 5 GB of cellular data per month.  However, Mint's international data rates are rather steep, and now that we're back to traveling I looked around for an alternative.  I settled on Spectrum Mobile, the same company that is also our internet service provider. It is also low-cost ($14 per month) and has international rates that are 1/10th those of Mint.  I made the switch this week, and it went fairly smoothly, by which I mean just a couple of snafu's that required a chat session with a tech.  It's been a couple of days now and all seems well.  One limitation of Spectrum compared to Mint is the amount of included data -- 5 GB versus 1 GB for Spectrum.  I'll just have to see if that will be enough.  Also, it will be interesting to see how well the service works when we get to France and Italy.  I can, of course switch back to Mint without a major hassle if I want.

We played golf on Thursday.  It was an ok outing but rather rainy, which I'm using as my excuse for not doing as well as last week.  I had some very satisfying shots now and then, so I'm still enjoying it overall.  We may not play next week because that will be rather close to our trip departure, and we will be in full-blown last minute prep mode.

 

Thursday was also Karen's XX (censored) birthday. At her request the "celebration" was low-key, with the main events being our golf outing, a quick stop at Costco, late afternoon pupus at our neighbor's house, and some hulihuli chicken for dinner.  I got her a long-sleeved t-shirt with an island design, but it was the wrong size.  Fortunately it was from one of the stores along the waterfront and she'll be able to exchange it.

Guess that's about it.  Oh, Kilauea volcano is still not erupting, but there are signs it's getting restless.  There has been significant inflation lately, and an increase of earthquake activity that signals magma moving around underneath.  I wouldn't be surprised that something happens while we're gone.  Too bad -- our stretch of vog-free days since March has been very pleasant.

Take care.

Driveway Paint, Thick Air Golf

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

5/6/23

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

I can't believe it's May already.  What happened to April?  And last year?  And the last several decades?

 

This was a fairly productive week here.  On Tuesday my handyman and I repainted our driveway starting

Paint Job!

at 8 am to get it done early so that it could dry before any rain could ruin it.  It turned out to be a mostly sunny day, so our timing was perfect.  Monday was rainy for part of the day and I was getting worried.  But Tuesday morning was clear and the forecast (usually wrong) was for dry conditions.  I quickly mopped up the bird poop that had accumulated since I did the power-washing last week, and used my leaf blower to sweep off leaves and other debris.  The bird poop is particularly annoying -- we have a power line that runs right above the driveway all the way to the garage and birds love to sit on it and do their business.  Also, there is a nest of Mynah birds in one of our palm trees at top

Poop on the Paint Job

of the driveway, and Tuesday morning mom and pop must have been suffering from eating some bad berries, because they had left a fairly sizeable area of disgusting poop that I had to clean up before the painting.  Anyway, all went well and it looks really nice.  Of course, within hours new splattos of poop appeared.  Sigh....

 

I also managed to get some heavy monthly pruning done.  Some of this is great exercise using a long pole-pruner horizontally from our lanai.  Talk about a core workout!  The target was a vigorous bush/tree called podocarpus.  It looks a little like an evergreen tree, and it will grow to 40-50 ft. if not pruned back.  It is a very good tree for screening views of neighbors and other than pruning it requires almost no care.  It is drought resistant and insects don't like it.  It does shed needles like pine needles, but other than that it is a very useful and attractive tree.  And gives me a good workout.

 

On Thursday we played golf at Makalei and I did pretty good this time, including *two* pars and one bogey. All three of us noticed that our drives didn't go as far this week, which we attributed to the face-saving explanation that the air was extra thick because of all the rain lately.  Indeed, we skipped one hole because it started raining pretty hard, but the next one was ok so we kept playing for a total of 15 holes. There are two natural stopping points on the Makalei course.  The 11th hole is back down by the parking lot and the club house, so it would be easy to stop there and call it a day.  Our fellow player did just that but Karen and I kept going.  The twelfth hole starts back up the mountain again but after the 16th there is a junction on the cart path.  One way continues up to #17 and 18, and the other is a fast track down to the parking lot.  We are usually pooped by that time and choose the "down" direction.  Given how many times I have to hit that #@$#%% ball, I don't feel bad at all to call it quits early.

Speaking of rain, late Thursday afternoon after we got home from golf, there was a brief downpour that was so heavy it was almost scary.  Our over-sized gutters overflowed, as did the pool and the drain across the front of our garage door.  In about 20-30 minutes we received 2.2," an amount we've gotten before but over a much longer period.  As is often the case here, this was a very local phenomenon -- a few miles north or south of us got much less.  In the last two weeks we have had about 6.5" of rain, way more than our normal amount.

Karen started Physical Therapy this week for her hip pain. The therapist's assessment concurred with the doctor's -- not a bone problem but rather irritation of the muscles and ligaments.  She'll go twice a week until we leave on our trip, and she has exercises to do at home that should help. The therapist also advised against using a couple of the machines at Planet Fitness, which she thinks might make matters worse because of the specific ways they put pressure on the joints and muscles.  Interesting.  Note, this advice only applies to people with a problem to begin with --- she wasn't saying that the machines caused the problem in the first place.

Our pre-cleaning for our trip got a boost this week because Karen hosted a book discussion group at our house.  Naturally this called for a flurry of dusting, vacuuming, washing, polishing, etc.  I hope the women attending were suitably awed by my driveway efforts, but Karen didn't report any compliments.  

Ok, that's about it for this week.  Stay safe, dry, and healthy.

Coqui In The Buff, Eyeball Unmolested, Sparkling Driveway

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

4/29/23

 

Aloha Family!

 

We've definitely had our April showers this month (another 4+ inches this week), but of course here we

Kona Beachmobile

already (always) have the May flowers to go with them.  Another sign of spring has been the additional cruise ships making stops.  We always have a visit on Wednesdays, when the island cruise based in Honolulu comes to town.  However, in the spring we also get ships that are repositioning from their southern winter routes to their northern ones for the summer. This week we had three extras -- one on Saturday, another on Tuesday, and one on Thursday. This makes the town merchants very happy, of course.  It's such a far cry from a couple of years ago during Covid when the waterfront area was basically a ghost town.  It also makes for a very picturesque view of our bay.

 

This next item will convince you that I've lost it and may be ready for the rubber room.  I am very determined to keep coqui frogs out of our property, and I've become an avid and accomplished hunter.  This past week one tried to move into a large pot near our front door and I finally nailed him after an

Be Thankful No Selfie

initial difficult time pinning down where he was.  When coquis move into a new territory they tend to be timid about singing at first, and this one would stop just about the time I got close enough to spot him.  He finally got bold enough to sing a little too long, and my hand of doom ended his career.  Well, a few days later another one started up in the front of our house, but further down our path toward the garden.  As soon as I'd rush outside at the beginning of his song he'd shut up.  However, after a few days he got more cocky and I was getting closer each time he sang.  Then the other night when I got up to use the bathroom I heard him going for extended periods.  I got my headlight and my flip flops and went out to the garden path.  Please note, I had nothing else on because I didn't want to take the time to get dressed (besides, it was a warm night and the area where I was wasn't visible to anybody who might be passing by).  Sure enough, he started chirping and I zeroed in on him pretty quickly.  He was soon in the freezer, I was back in my warm bed, and it was blissfully quiet.

On Tuesday I saw my retina doctor and my eyeball was deemed not to need a shot.  We're going to wait two weeks and then I'll get one for sure.  That will last me until we return from our trip.  Two months is my current minimum interval, and it seems to be creeping up towards three months.  Yay!!  Speaking of shots, Karen and I had our additional Covid boosters on Thursday.  This will give our immune systems enough time to whomp up the Covid antibodies before our trip.  I had a pretty significant reaction for about a day, mostly feeling blah and achy.  Karen had the blahs, but she also had a very sore arm.  Still, these symptoms beat the heck out of the disease itself.

 

No golf this week, though we did visit the gym on Tuesday.  We canceled the golf because it rained the whole day before and it would have been just too wet and soggy.

My big house project for the week was to powerwash our driveway in preparation for re-coating it next week.  It had been quite some time since I had done this and it turned out to be quite a chore.  I've got my handyman scheduled for next Tuesday to help me do the painting, but I'm a little worried about the weather.  The coating has to have several hours drying time before it is rain proof.  We'll start very early and hope it stays dry long enough to be ok.  We do this with paint rollers on poles and it usually takes a couple of hours.  This coating not only makes the driveway look nice, it really helps in keeping down the mold and mildew around the house.  

Ok, that's the news for the week.  I also had a techno-woe that required way too much time and frustration to solve, but I'll spare you the details.  Stay well, enjoy your Spring.

Popping Peacocks, Putting Birdies

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

4/22/23

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

This was a pretty quiet week here.  Our yearly onslaught of Spring Break tourists is winding down, Merrie Monarch is over, and aside from a "cold" front that moved through the state early in the week bringing another .5" of rain, the weather has been uneventfully nice despite some afternoon and evening showers.  Our pool hit 84d degrees, which is our age-adjusted sweet spot and so we managed to work out most days.  

 

My main house projects have been to begin our month-before-the-trip preparations, and to repair our pool robot cleaner. The preparations are mostly outside trimming and spraying, timed now so I can do them again right before we leave. The pool cleaner repair is something I've done before when it suddenly seems to get lazy, because a leaf or other debris that gets hung up in the inner mechanism, a part wears out, or there is something lowering the suction pressure at the pump.  I've become very good at taking this thing apart and replacing pieces that routinely wear out.  I can find the parts online and they generally aren't very expensive.  I replaced several things this week but that didn't completely solve the problem, so then I suspected there was something lowering the suction. This is the type of robot cleaner that works when the pool pump sucks water from the pool and filters and heats it before sending it back to the pool. The flowing water drives a little turbine inside the cleaner and that powers its movement. I did a quick search for "how-to" videos on pool equipment adjustments and I found one explaining how to adjust the vacuum.  Closing and reopening the main valve seems to have improved things a lot.  Perhaps something was partially clogging the valve and the sudden surge dislodged it.  I'll keep you posted.

 

Karen and I played golf on Thursday at Makalei, along with her golfing buddy.  It was a pretty good round

Don't Pop The Peacock!

for me, much better than the previous outing.  Even though my score wasn't much different, I felt like I was playing a lot better.  I got a couple of bogies and even one birdie!  The birdie was on a par 3 hole. My t-shot felt pretty good, but I lost track of the ball.  However, we found it -- about 6 feet from the pin!  And darn if I didn't make that putt!  Another highlight was when one of Karen's fairway shots hit our friend's ball, bounced onto the green, and rolled up close to the hole!  Billiards!  A final example of why this was a fun round of golf was when I hit a beautiful chip shot that looked like it was going to land right near the hole -- but instead came down on the butt-end of a peacock who had suddenly decided to stroll across the green.  He wasn't harmed, thankfully, but boy did he jump!

That's about it. Hope you're all enjoying Spring!  Stay well, ignore the crazies.

Puddles, Merrie Monarchs, Guests

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

4/15/23

 

Aloha All!

 

Another wet week here. This is getting old, though it has its upsides -- I've been able to switch off my garden irrigation system for several cycles and I haven't had to add any water to our pool for many weeks now.  Unfortunately, our photovoltaic system doesn't have many photons to convert to volts, so we've been cutting into our reserves. Twice this week I even had to turn on our electric backup heating for our hot water so our showers would be at least lukewarm, and that uses even more reserves.  I'm confident, though, that in no time at all we'll be complaining about how relentlessly sunny it is and how badly we need rain....

A major feature of this week was hosting a long-term friend who is visiting from the mainland.  This is the woman who used to live here for over 30 years and then moved to Portland because her husband had health issues. I just realized this may be somewhat confusing because we have another friend in almost the same predicament, and both now live in Portland. The other friend, though, was a snow bird who never lived here on a permanent basis.  At any rate, we really enjoyed having her stay with us for a few days.  A

Hula Kahiko

highlight was sharing dinner at Four Seasons resort up north one evening. She is now over on the east side of the island, where she attending the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo.  This is the World Cup/Super Bowl/World Series of hula, in which groups (both male and female) from all the islands and even other parts of the world perform and compete in honor of King David Kalakaua. Kalakaua is credited with saving hula as an art form after it had been severely repressed by Christian missionaries in the 1800's.  It is certainly alive and well today, and each year it evolves and gets more complex, expressive, and demanding. Two major categories of competition involve "hula kahiko" (old style performed to a chant and only a drum) and "hula 'auana" (modern, post-contact, performed with instruments and in more modern dress).  Both are fascinating to watch.  This is the first year since Covid that live-audience tickets have been available and they sold out almost immediately. 

 

Speaking of our ultra-posh resorts along the Kona coast, the demand is apparently strong enough that two more are opening:  the re-built Kona Village next to the Four Seasons, and the Auberge, which took over the Mauna Lani further north. These comfy accommodations start at a mere $1200 per night and go up to  $3000+ for a bungalow at the Kona Village. Sorry, airport parking for your private jet isn't included....

 

No golf this week, but we did work out at Planet Fitness yesterday. We were pleased to have the place almost to ourselves.  However, after lunch at one of our favorite Thai restaurants (TK Noodle), we stopped at Safeway on our way home.  Absolutely jammed. Karen tells me this is normally the case, and so I made a vow to avoid going on Fridays at all costs in the future.

 

That's about it.  Hope you are seeing some signs of spring.  If so, enjoy.  If not, take comfort in knowing it must be just around the corner (right?).  Take care.

Lazy Lava, Snowball Blooms, 400 Frogs

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

4/8/23

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

Karma bit me again this week.  As you recall, last time I bemoaned your lousy mainland weather compared with ours.  Well, within hours of sending my email it began to rain and our usual friendly sun didn't reappear until Tuesday.  By then we had accumulated over 2" of rain and nearly lost our tans. Our volcano summits got more snow, adding to the amount that was already there and making this the most we can remember since living here.  Most of the week it has been overcast and rainy in the afternoons, and our recent solar gains have evaporated. Go ahead and gloat.

I might as well go for broke and really ask for it by reporting on our still-quiet Kilauea volcano.  It has remained essentially shut off since the beginning of last month. The lava lake in the summit caldera has crusted over, and the usual earthquake activity signifying magma moving around has dropped to non-eruption levels.  Show's over folks, move along.  Now, just wait --all three of our active volcanoes will erupt and set new records of devastation. As I've said before, Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and this quiet period is the exception and not the rule.

 

Waking Up

One of our signs of Spring here is the reappearance of plumeria blossoms. In the fall the trees lose most of their leaves and flowers and remain bare for about 3 months. When they begin to wake up, flowers appear on the branches before the leaves, kind of like dogwood trees.  For a few weeks the trees look like colorful snow balls.  Unlike other flowering trees, though, the plumeria will continue to bloom for the next 9 months.  This snowball period is just beginning now, and it is one of my favorite times here.

 

This week we got two pieces of good medical news.  First, I peed in a cup and had some more blood sucked for a follow-up test to check my vitamin B12 level.  All good, though in the low range.  Karen saw an orthopedic doctor about a problem she's been having with one hip.  We both foresaw the all-too-common geezer hip replacement coming, but that wasn't the diagnosis at all.  Instead, she has a case of bursitis exacerbated by mild arthritis, treatable without slicing and dicing.  Definitely good news.

 

With our rain and warmer weather, the coquis are getting active and noisy again.  Being the semi-compulsive guy that I am, I keep track of my catches -- dates, locations, sex.  I'm nearing my 400th catch over the past couple of years.  My neighbor has 462.  I can't imagine how loud and obnoxious it would be with nearly 900 more frogs nearby! 

We played golf on Thursday at Makalei.  Not my best round, but I did manage to get four bogies.  I console myself for my overall high scores with the realization that if you calculate the cost per shot, I'm playing practically for free.

 

Ok, that's it for now.  Stay well and warm.  And remember as you contemplate the world scene that there is humor even in the Theater of the Absurd....

Techno-Jinx, Techno-Triumph, Travel Plans

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

4/1/23

 

Aloha Family!

 

April 1st! Can you believe it?  Springtime is here!  Well, except for those pesky little snowflakes and freezing temperatures.  I recall Spring in Ohio as a nice time when the tulips and daffodils bloomed, as did the forsythia and lilacs and flowering trees.  Of course, that was also the time of sudden frosts, tornadoes, and horrific thunderstorms.  Hmmmmmm...

Well, remember last week when I said that all my techno-toys were working again, and that I was afraid saying so would jinx things?  It took only a couple of days before the jinx kicked in and my receiver went on the fritz again -- same issue as before, it suddenly stopped streaming video to the t.v.  This time I went right for the fix -- re-initializing (re-booting) the system -- and again it worked.  However, this means I have an unreliable unit that shouldn't do this, given that it's only 2 years old.  Naturally, this happened the second time just 2 days after the warranty expired!  I decided to call anyway to see if I could get some help (of course, at the moment there is no problem).  I first tried Costco, where I bought the receiver, but they couldn't help me and referred me to Yamaha Customer Service.  I called, but their talk-to-a-human hours have been cut severely and the phone message suggested going online for a "chat."  I did, but the agent (maybe an AI?) was stumped and "escalated" my complaint to another level, one where someone was to call me on the phone, sometime in the next decade.  I was surprised and pleased when I got a call a couple of hours later and was able to explain the situation to a very knowledgeable and personable geek.  He was sympathetic but stumped, other than agreeing it must be a firmware problem on the hdmi board of the receiver.  Then for the good news.  He said Yamaha would extend my warranty and cover one future repair if it happens again!  The only downside is that I'll have to ship it to Honolulu because there is only one authorized repair place in the whole state of Hawai'i.  Yamaha will cover return shipping, but I'll have to shell out for the first trip. I'll wait until it fritzes again, so that the repair place can hopefully locate what's wrong.

Banned From The Pool!

Balancing the problem with the receiver, I managed to fix the umbrella lights that stopped working after the second dunk in the pool.  I forgot to mention last week that I had located replacements online for the solar panel and battery pack that go on the top of the umbrella.  These arrived on Wednesday and work fine.  The cost wasn't too bad, much less than a new umbrella, and all I had to do to was screw the parts into the top of the umbrella.  Now, if I can just keep the umbrella out of the pool everything will be great.  

We've finalized our travel plans for the rest of this year and we've also made preliminary arrangements for early next year.  As I've mentioned before, in May/June we'll be back in southern France and northern Italy.  The France part is primarily to see two expat friends (the current brauhaha about retirement age hopefully won't interfere much). Most of the trip will be in northwest Italy (Piedmont, Turin, Genoa) and also in Umbria and Tuscany.  We've been to Italy several times before, but not to all the places on this year's itinerary.  We'll be entirely on our own, renting a car in Marseilles and returning it in Rome.  In the fall we've signed up for another tour with ElderTreks, the company we used for visiting the Caucuses.  This time we'll be going to the Balkan countries of Macedonia, Albania, and Bulgaria.  Should be interesting, as these three have unique cultures with long and important histories.  We'll stop in Ohio on our way to visit friends.  Finally, in the spring we may finally get to go to Ethiopia.  This will be another ElderTreks tour, and we are really hoping that the political situation stays calm -- however, we've made multiple attempts for 50 years to go to Ethiopia and something has always prevented us from achieving our goal.  We'll see what happens this time.

On the home front, we did our usual Tuesday workout and on Thursday Karen played golf.  I opted to go to the driving range and practice green instead.  We drove separately and I drew the short straw to go to Costco afterwards for grocery shopping.  My big house project this week was to trim back a clump of bamboo that was getting out of hand.  This started as cutting just one stalk that had fallen over, but that led to another, to another, to another -- until the pile of cuttings was exhaustingly large.  Fortunately our gardener came for his weekly visit a couple of days later and hauled it all away.  We planted this clump shortly after we moved in to screen the view of the house next door.  It has done that, and also keeps us supplied with garden stakes, but this variety can send up stalks 30-40 feet and they lean outward toward the house, other trees, and into our neighbor's yard.  About every 6 months or so I have to whack off the stalks that are leaning too much.  Fortunately this is a "clumping" variety of bamboo, so it doesn't spread all over like some varieties do.

 

Ok, that's it for this week.  Stay the course and turn down the volume.