August Already? Abnormal Normality?

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

8/7/21

Aloha Everyone –

Well, August caught me by surprise.  What happened to June & July? I swear, since last year it is difficult to keep track of time.  In many respects it is like we skipped last year altogether.  Then I start to think back to the sh*t storm of events that happened. Maybe it’s because I’d like to forget that time and I have blocked it out.  Anyway, our return to “normal” seems to be an uneven lurch into the future.  On the one hand, we now have travel plans, we’ve returned to some of our usual routine (golf, Planet Fitness, Saturday mornings at the beach), and tourists have returned bringing much need revenue to businesses and providing jobs. On the other our Covid cases have now reached and exceeded last year’s record levels, tourists are overwhelming our infrastructure, and we’re spending time worrying about who is vaccinated and who is not – hardly “normal.”  Oh, and our travel plans now include arranging to have a Covid test in order to get back into the U.S.

One high for the week was last Sunday, when we had friends over for dinner – the first dinner guests (aside from our Ohio visitors) in 1 ½ years.  It was a real treat to chat, joke, and share a meal with someone.  Of course even that had a tinge of crapola because it was necessary to agree on some pandemic precautions for the evening.  Sheesh.  Anyway, it was still very pleasant. This is the couple I've mentioned before who own a coffee farm up above us.  He was fraternity brother back in the dark ages, and his wife is an expat Japanese who has been trying unsuccessfully to get back to Tokyo to honor her mother, who died last year. Tough. On the other hand, their house has one section that is a family vacation rental, and the return of tourists has been a great financial relief to them. As I said, abnormal normal.

Such Excitement!

My big house project of the week (!) was to apply some anti-algae spray to parts of the roof.  I routinely do this about once a year to combat dark discoloration of our asphalt shingles, but the online sellers of the product I used to buy from now no longer ship to Hawai’i.  I could do the old trick of sending it to a friend on the mainland and then having them reship it to us, but I recently discovered a different product that is available here at Lowe’s and Home Depot that may do the same thing.  Whoopie! (My threshold for excitement has lowered considerably lately.) My biggest challenge has been to find a 12-hour period without rain so that it has time to work.  We’re still getting almost daily showers – Tuesday it rained all day starting about 11 am, for a total of just over 1 inch.  Anyway, we’ll see if it works as well as the old stuff. Getting up on the roof will also allow me to fix another problem that is common in Hawai’i – we’ve got some nice foliage growing in one of the gutters and it’s time to do some weeding.

Since I haven’t mentioned it in a long time, I should give a brief update on our volcano that caused so much havoc a couple of years ago.  Not a speck of surface lava has been observed since May, and the lava lake that was in Kilauea caldera is completely crusted over. The volcanologists know that this is just a nap, though, because seismic measurements and other sensor data indicate a slow but continuous resupply of lava deep in the plumbing.  It could be years without any significant activity, or it could be only a few weeks.  The best bet, though, is that it *will* happen.  Kilauea volcano has been erupting more or less continuously (in geological time) for over 10k years, and there is no reason to expect it won’t continue for at least that same number into the future.

Well, on that semi-happy note I’ll end and get ready for our usual “normal” Saturday morning activities.  

Stay cool, unburnt, and uncontaminated.

Covid Mo’ Bad; Rain Drops & Wild Fires; Minnie Turns 50

[Note: this is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. I've delayed posting this one by a day to give this week's Tattoo blog a little more exposure.]

7/31/21

 Aloha All –

Well, our preventable epidemic among the unvaccinated continues and is getting even worse. The number of daily new cases remains about 5-10 times more than it was before the Delta variant became dominant here, and on Friday set a record by exceeding the number at the height of our epidemic last year.  Over 99% are among unvaccinated people, though "breakthrough" cases are increasing. Hospitalizations are starting to tick up, and our local Kona Community Hospital reports that nearly all those cases are young and unvaccinated.  The severe cases all have pre-existing conditions, including those few who are vaccinated. We’re still ok, but it won’t take much more to become a problem for severe cases to get treatment. A newspaper article this week did report some good news – the number of people getting their first shots has increased slightly.  Karen had a good idea of offering “stealth vaccinations” for those who were vaccination-hesitant or anti-vax but who have now come around to facts.  For example, restaurants could open a back room near the restrooms that you could slip into for a quick jab while you wait for your order. That way nobody would have to know you were doing the responsible thing, and you wouldn’t lose face with your anti-vax friends.  Of course, they might get suspicious when you aren’t getting sick or being hospitalized but they are dropping like flies......

Our wet period is still with us.  I’ve said before that this is one of the coolest and wettest summers we can remember here.  However, by “here” I mean RIGHT here.  In fact, this morning it is raining as I write this and we may have to alter our usual routine. The northern end of the island is in drought conditions and we are even fighting wild fires near Waimea, only 45-50  miles away. The geological, meteorological, biological and cultural complexity of this place continues to fascinate me – there’s always something more to learn and to puzzle over.

Karen’s little Mazda Miata reached a milestone on Thursday – 50k miles!  I know this doesn’t sound very impressive, until you figure that Karen bought the car nearly 20 years ago in 2003. So the average mileage per year works out to less than 3k, which is very low.  The car’s nickname is “Minnie” and “she” has been a great car. We had her shipped over from Honolulu, a common practice even today.  We

have dealerships on the island of course, but selection and availability are much better on Oahu. Over the years it has been a very reliable car, and I bet we haven’t spent more than $1500-2000 on repairs & maintenance.  We just put on a second set of tires, and of course there have been several batteries, oil changes, some body work, a new vinyl top, new O2 sensor, and something called a cam sensor that measures revolutions and controls the engine timing accordingly. That’s it.  Now, like the rest of us, she will soon be hitting the age when sh*t starts to happen and we’ll likely spend a lot more keeping her going.  I bet new brakes are soon going to be one of those expenses, and a new timing belt (big bucks for that one).  I’ve suggesting getting a new model, but Karen won’t hear of it.  Being Karen’s car, I’m not allowed to drive it unless she’s with me or if it is necessary to get it serviced or repaired.  When I do get to drive, though, I’m always blown away from how much fun it is – responsive, nimble, great on curvy roads, and not overburdened with complex convenience and safety features.  Oh, and even at 18 she is great-looking and still gets compliments.  

Ok.  Weather permitting, off to market, beach breakfast, and a few errands.  Stay cool, healthy, and happy.

Gramps Gets a Tattoo!

Injecting ink into people's skin is big business these days, and the "body modification" industry, which includes piercing, has been growing briskly in recent years. According to a 2018 analysis by Market Research, in the U.S. about $1.35 billion is spent on tattoos, another $900 million on body piercing, and about $700 million on tattoo removal.  This totals about $3 billion per year, nearly double the amount spent in 2007.

Fun Times

At one time, displaying a tattoo was considered a mark of delinquency, drunken misjudgment, criminality, or rebellion against mainstream society.  Today it is far more acceptable and regarded by many as a reasonable thing to do as an artistic expression of personal identity.  A 2021 survey by Statistica found that 35% of Americans report having one tattoo, and about 20% have 2-3. The percent of 30-39 year-olds with 1 or more tattoos doubled from about 28% to 55% in 2015.  Today's mainstream acceptance of tattooing is illustrated by another recent study by Market Research in which 30% of college graduates reported having 1 or more tattoos.

Although most people get their first tattoo while young (40% when 18 years or younger), there is a

Looking Good!

growing trend for people in their 60's, 70's , and even older to get tattooed.  Many of them are retirees who feel they are no longer constrained by considerations of workplace acceptability and career advancement. There is also a common feature of geezerdom that involves an attitude of  "who cares what others may think -- I'll do what I want." As one tattoo artist put it:

“They hit the ‘screw it’ stage — ‘I’m going to do what I want, and screw the rest of the world,’ ” said Sandy Parsons, 63, co-owner of Great Southern Tattoo in Alexandria and College Park, where business from people older than 50 has gone up by 30 percent in the past 20 years. Two or three times a week, someone older than 50 comes in for a first tattoo. (Tara Bahrampour)

In addition to the rebellious codger attitude, there is likely a desire among some older tattoo recipients to identify with being young again, like all those all those 30-somethings they see sporting ink these days. Better to look like that than just another geezer with liver spots.

Speaking of liver spots, older skin can pose a number of problems for tattooing.  Not only does older skin have more blemishes, sags, and bags, it can also be much thinner than young skin, and therefore more susceptible to bruising and bleeding, something I've explored previously ad nauseum in "Geezer Grease: My Missed Opportunity to Make Bazillions."  Age-related health conditions can also make tattooing more challenging -- like diabetes and coronary treatments with blood thinners, which make bleeding more likely.  This can lead to the ink "blowing out" and leaking into adjacent areas and spoiling the tattoo design. Skilled tattoo artists who are experienced with older clients can ameliorate some of the issues, for example by setting their needles to a shallower depth and working more slowly.  It seems to me that the designs themselves might be adapted to these challenges, though I lack the artistic sensibility to create examples.  For instance, imagine a design that can morph gracefully and artfully from detailed realism to abstract smoosh depending on the amount of "blowing out."  Or designs that can incorporate blemishes like liver spots, making them features, not flaws, like say spots in a small leopard or markings on a snake. And wrinkles, sags and bags?  Sure -- just look at artists like Salvador Dali and other surrealists for possible inspiration!

You Be The Judge

So far we've considered only the issues involved when people get tattoos when they're older.  Another of this seems relevant for today's ink-happy young'ns to consider. You will get old....and so will your tattoos.  That cute little smiley face on your young tight butt may eventually swell to a thin-mouthed pudgy-puss or morph into Mr. Potato Head as the cellulite takes over.  And that lovely hummingbird on your calf might become a rather evil-looking pterodactyl as the chicken-skin takes over.  Finally, the inks in tattoos fade over time, and a gorgeous colorful pattern at 22 can be nearly monochromatic as the decades march on relentlessly.  I think there is real opportunity here to make gazillions if an entrepreneur can somehow combine computer software that can project the ways that age can transform the human body with software that can map different possible tattoo

Well......

designs onto those changes.  This would allow a preview that could greatly help in deciding which tattoo to select and where to put it.  This might have to be pretty sophisticated programming to take into account each individual's own body type, family background, and life-style choices for predicting how that person's body might change over time. However, I'm sure there are many geek-coders out there who could rise to the challenge.

You may be wondering if I have any tattoos or if I'm considering getting any. A definite double NO to that. I'm getting more accepting of other people having tattoos, except when I think they've taken it too far.  I also question whether they realize that the values and bold statements of identity they're making are almost certainly going to change later in life. And I've certainly hit that "screw it" stage of life and what others think of me has much less power than it used to. But even though I'm far from delighted with the way my aging body looks these days,  I'm pretty sure that covering it with ink won't help. Rather, I'm working on coming to grips with the idea that maybe it's more important to accept that this is the normal and inevitable consequence of living.

Note: All photos of people's tattoos are from a Buzzfeed post by Alison Caporimo 

Reference Sources and More Information:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/721567/number-of-tattoos-united-states/

http://www.historyoftattoos.net/tattoo-facts/tattoo-statistics/

https://blog.marketresearch.com/tattoo-parlors-tattoo-removal-is-now-a-booming-3-billion-industry

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/science/tattoos-cells-laser-removal.html

https://www.livescience.com/14212-tattoo-laser-removal-popular.html

http://www.parscientific.com/InfinitInk.html 

https://www.npr.org/2014/02/21/280213268/job-seekers-still-have-to-hide-tattoos-from-the-neck-up

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/grandparents-and-retirees-get-tattoos-fulfilling-lifelong-dreams-and-raising-eyebrows/2013/09/21/b95a0e5c-219e-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alisoncaporimo/24-reasons-to-never-get-a-tattoo

Mexico A Go-Go; Negatrons; Covid Spike

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

7/24/21 

Aloha Everyone –

Hope you are surviving summer by staying cool, unburnt, and uninfected.

This week we finalized our Mexico plans for September, made a deposit, and booked our flights.  As I mentioned last time, the itinerary is non-standard and very much to our travel preferences.  The area

Mount Alban near Oaxaca

will be quite small by tourist standards, with lots of visits to small towns and villages, architectural sites (this area was the center of Aztec, Zapotec, Mayan, and other civilizations), natural areas (especially a bio-reserve just north of Oaxaca), and we won’t go anywhere near the glitzy Yucatan coastal resorts.  Our two guides are a married team who have been doing this for a number of years. He’s a local-born naturalist who has been a guide for 20 years, and she’s an expat Canadian who is an expert in food, culture, and art.  She’s particular knowledgeable about the famed artist Frida Kahlo and has even written a book about her life and her work.  In short, we are certain we’re in good hands, and we like the fact that we’ll get the perspectives of both a local native and an expat who has adopted Mexico as her home.  (Here’s a link to their tour website, and also one to her personal page: https://discover-oaxaca.com/ and https://www.suzannebarbezat.com/ ). Now all we need is for Covid not to screw this up.  There is a surge in Mexico recently and unfortunately not a lot of people have been vaccinated.  Unlike the US, though, their low rate is because of unavailability of vaccine and lack of infrastructure, not to people choosing to leave themselves unprotected and to infect others as a consequence.

Speaking of that, Hawai’i has seen a dramatic surge in cases in the last few weeks, including on our island.  This is nearly all “community spread”, and about 30% are young people 18 and younger.  Less than 1% of the Covid-related deaths in the last month have been people who were fully vaccinated.  That is, 99+% of the people dying here are those who are unvaccinated, despite the fact that we have plenty of vaccine and there are many walk-in medical and retail venues giving free shots. The paper reported yesterday morning that about 20% of the recent cases are related to local unvaccinated people traveling to the mainland and returning to spread the virus among unvaccinated friends and family. Nearly all of the recent cases are unvaccinated people. It seems to me that freedom of choice should entail accepting responsibility for the consequences of your decision to other people.  I could argue that this is evolution in action and we should just let people go ahead and kill themselves and each other, except that the cost to treat those who request it in terms of medical facilities and personnel is borne by the rest of us.  “Freedom” doesn’t mean “free.”  Getting...off...high horse...now.......

On another cheery note, large parts of the mainland are experiencing dire drought conditions, fires, and record-breaking heat, but we have continued to have showers almost every day and cloudy skies even if it doesn’t rain.  We’re still covering our pool each night whereas in most years we would have been able to stop a month ago. This has kept the pool temperature pretty nice, and the rain has meant we haven’t needed to add water for months and months.  However, the cloudiness has put our pv production in the dumper, and our recent HELCO bill a few days ago showed we were in the red for the month by about 70 kw hours, the worst production in the last year. I call these “negatrons.” With our high energy costs 70 kwh translates to about $25.  We pay about 30-35 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas back in Ohio the rate was about 5 cents when we lived there and about 8 cents now).  We have a surplus built up from previous months that will be used to pay this, but I’d rather have a bigger cushion if we go into a.c. season.

Ok, that’s it.  Sorry for the pontificating but sometimes I can’t help myself.  Stay well.  Stay happy. Carpe Diem.

Shiny Mo’ Bettah, Travel Plans, Stealth Birthday

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

7/17/21

A few things to report this week, nothing earth-shattering but thankfully that’s my life these days.

Got nearly all of my bathtub metal replaced in the two guest bathrooms.  After 35 or more years of corrosion and pitting, the old cover plates and handles were looking pretty bad, despite the fact that they don’t get that much use.  The new chrome makes a big difference visually, which is the kind of project I like – you can actually see that you accomplished something.  Of course, to other people it just looks like it should, rather than a problem standing out.  I still have a couple of tweaks I might do – replacing the shower heads might be nice and should be fairly easy (oops, never say that out loud – you’re bound to jinx it).

We’ve made progress on our fall travel plans to Mexico. We heard back from the travel company we contacted last week with a couple of options that sounded good.  We urged them to go ahead and send a detailed itinerary and cost, which they did.  We were impressed – both options fit our interests very well and the price was reasonable, considering this will be a custom tour just for the two of us (you may recall we’ve traveled this way before, for example in Peru, the Middle East, and in South Africa).  We’ve decided on an itinerary which will start in Mexico City and then go south through the state of Puebla visiting small towns, archeological sites, and nature preserves for 6 nights before arriving in Oaxaca for 8 nights. We'll use Oaxaca as a base for exploring the many sights in the surrounding area.  We’re going to add on 3-4 nights in Mexico City on our own at the beginning.  We spent time there decades ago and it will be interesting to see the changes, as well as visit places we didn’t take in before, like the Frida Kahlo Museum.  Frankly, we’re getting kind of pumped for this trip – it sounds like just the kind of trip we like: historic, full of rich culture, art, architecture, natural beauty, unique flora & fauna, and of course *food.* I’ve read the craft beer movement has even established itself there, and I’ll be eager to exercise my beer snobbery.  Of course, Covid is the wild card that could ruin our plans.  This spring and early summer have been very good in the areas we will be visiting, but there has been a recent uptick of cases that may lead to restrictions that could make enjoying things much more difficult.  We’re not worried for ourselves but the vaccination rate there is quite low and a new variant of the virus could really take off.  We have to put a deposit down for the tour soon, but the balance isn’t due until right before the start.

On Thursday I had another #@!*^  birthday anniversary.  Unlike the others we’ve been celebrating

recently, this one isn’t all that joyous.  In this case it is a sobering reminder that life is a terminal condition – so enjoy it while you can. I wanted to keep the day low key and self-indulgent, so it was a simple agenda of working out at the gym, having my favorite Vietnamese sandwich at the shore, a nice nap in the afternoon, and then a tasty New York strip steak which I barbecued to my own liking, accompanied by a good craft beer and a glass of Merlot. The side dishes were all favorites: angel hair pasta with olive oil, anchovy, and parmesan, a fig salad with goat cheese, and some fresh sauteed asparagus spears.  Oh, and my favorite home-made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for desert.  Good meal and a good day, considering!

Off to market.  Take care everyone. Be safe. Be cool. Be healthy. Be happy!
 

Fizzled Fireworks, Celebrating a New Beginning

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

7/10/21

 Aloha Everybody –

Last weekend was one of snafus, but one wasn’t a problem and the other was actually fortunate.  I showed up at my eye appointment on Saturday only to find I had misread my calendar and it was actually *this* Saturday.  Not a problem, really, because the new office is just down the hill from us less than 5 minutes away.  So today I will be having my follow up and possible eyeball injection.  I’ll update you next week.

Our community fireworks were supposed to be Sunday night, the 4th.  Everyone was pretty excited since this was the first display since Covid.  This time the venue was changed to the shoreline park just north of town. We were leary of getting stuck in traffic after the event, so we positioned ourselves upslope in a nearby shopping center parking lot, along a few hundred other people, many setting off their own fireworks.  Many hundreds of other people were positioned in other vantage points -- we

locals really know how to make the best of  our conditions. The time came for the big bang and......nothing, nada, zilch.  We waited for ½ hour and then went home.  The story we’ve heard is that a computer cable malfunctioned and no one had a backup.  Of course, there was no way to get word to the spectators, so the celebration slowly wimped down as people drifted away. The show was re-scheduled for the next night, July 5th, which turned out nicely for us, because that is the date Karen and I moved to Hawai’i twenty years ago.  We celebrated with champagne, dinner on the waterfront, and FIREWORKS!  Granted, the show was only about 10 minutes long but very well done.  

It is hard to believe it has been 20 years since our move. Looking back, we agree it was a good decision and we’re glad we did it.  It is a very special place to live and when we consider the alternative of staying in Ohio, well........

We’ve canceled our Ethiopia tour for fall ‘22, for good this time.  We’re sad about this – it was a place that has been high on our destination list for decades, but something always seems to prevent us from going.  We’ll see how the political/health/agriculture situation goes over the next 6 months or so, but from our research it doesn’t look good.  So we’ve now booked a small group tour to the Caucusus – Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan – for three weeks in May next year. This is another very historic area with unique culture that should be very interesting.  We’re also trying to put together a trip to Mexico this fall.  We contacted a company that does custom itineraries to make one in the Oaxaca area for a couple of weeks. Our thought is we’d couple this with a visit to southern California to make it a bit longer.  So far we haven’t heard back from the company so this is all very iffy.  I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve been doing some plumbing repairs that have involved replacing corroded parts in two bathtubs, a fairly easy task except that I discovered some non-standard installation in the original work that posed some complications.  So far, so good though.

Ok, that’s about it.  Stay healthy, sane, and cool.

Please Shut the Gate!

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

7/3/21

Aloha All – Happy 4th of July!

We have a number of snowbirds from Canada and from the US northwest who flock here each winter to escape their cold and cloudy weather.  Right now I suspect many are thinking of returning here to cool off.  Wow, 116d in Portland!  People in Canada, Washington, and Oregon dying from the heat! The only upside I can see is that the blistering heat wave seems to have passed quickly.   

I really hope that more folks don’t decide to come to Hawai’i right now no matter what the reason.  In the 20 years we’ve lived here we’ve never seen the problems tourists bring as bad as this.  The economy is doing great, but the cost of that is incredible traffic, empty store shelves, overcrowded beaches, long waits at restaurants, and a general breakdown of the “aloha spirit.”  For instance, this week we noticed stressed-out and even surly clerks at a several venues, a very unusual phenomenon here. And in response to higher demand, airlines are adding flights and using larger planes to bring even more people, One thing that might have a positive impact on the problem is that our weekly cruise ship is going to return to service in a few weeks. Here in Kona this brings a thousand visitors who sightsee, spend money, and then get back on the ship and go away. As long as this stays at one ship we can handle it. Another thing that might help is that our vaccination levels are getting high enough so that restrictions on capacities at venues may soon be eased, making facilities available to more people at the same time.

I finally managed to get my driveway power-washed and most of the bird poop removed. Some poop seems to have industrial-strength sticking power, though, and even the force of the power washer has difficulty getting it off. We have an electric line that runs above the driveway that is a favorite roost-and-poop spot.  I shoo birds away whenever I see them up there, but they still manage to make a mess. Indeed, after the power washing the driveway was nice and clean – for less that 12 hours.  The next morning as we started our neighborhood walk I found three big splattoes, like the birds were thumbing their beaks at me.

The driveway was one of my few physical efforts this week, other than doing some insect spraying and heavy pruning.  Karen, on the other hand, in addition to our usual weekly workout at PF, played golf twice.  Once was her weekly round with her golfing buddy, and the other was a small group lesson given by the course pro.  This is a four-week course on Friday mornings and after this week she has two more to go.  I’m beginning to feel like a slug compared to her!

Caught two more coqui frogs this week, one of which I’ve been after for weeks that was setting up in our front garden.  He was a young one, which means he would only call a few times in a row. Even though the area is close to our kitchen and living room, I took just a little too long to get our there, and by the time I arrived he would shut up for an hour or so.  I was close to catching him a couple of times, but I was never able to see exactly where he was hiding.  Finally, I happened to be out there Thursday night when he started up and I was able to locate him and make a successful grab.  This was a very good one to get early, before he could start mating and producing a number of little coquis because this is an area where we would hear them loud and clear inside the house.

Finally, I have my 6-week eyeball check later this afternoon. I’ll let you know next week what the outcome was.

Take care everyone.  Stay healthy and cool.