Big Swell, Digital Coquis, Covid Neighbors, Four $eason$

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

7/23/22

Aloha Everyone!

Hope you're surviving the heat.  This summer has certainly been "interesting," both on the mainland and here in Kona.  Our latest tweak from nature occurred last weekend, when a very large swell from storms far to our south (*not* the remnants of Darby, which only gave us a small amount of rain), combined with a

A Wet Wedding Crasher

higher than usual tide, produced some huge surf and great photo ops, which you may have seen on national news.  One was a wave that crashed over the top of a two story condo, and the other was of a wave crashing through a seaside wedding venue.  Spectacular! Dramatic! Awesome! Stunning! And very unrepresentative of what was in fact a rather limited event up and down our coast.  I drove along the shore the next day, expecting to see widespread devastation and destruction and saw...nada, bumpkiss, zilch.  Even at the house of our friends from Oregon which is 20 feet from the ocean there was no evidence that anything had happened.  So, boooorrrringggg.  Other than that, we've had pretty good weather, though it has definitely gotten warmer.  A few nights warranted our bedroom ac, but a few nights were actually quite chilly, getting down to our winter levels (high 60's).

One of my life's poignant moments happened this week when I cleared out about 125 of my 225 frozen coquis. It speaks to my pack-rat nature that I have kept every one of my hand catches over the past 4 years

Bye Bye!

in our freezer -- labeled with the date, location, and description of conquest.  The motivation was a mix of trophy-touting ego and compulsiveness about keeping data -- no doubt left over from my research years. Coquis are quite small, but hundreds of them start to take up a bit too much space.  Before letting them go I tried to see if anybody at the University of Hawai'i might be interested in the collection but I had no luck.  However, I have created a spreadsheet that contains information about each frog so I at least have a digital memory of each one.  In the long run this might be even better, because once I get all the data entered I can easily track things like the number of females and males over time, where the density has been highest, and how the number of catches has changed over the years, etc.  Fascinating, right?

On Thursday Karen and I had dinner at the Four Seasons Resort up north. We used a gift card that our friend gave me for taking care of the cats and for my birthday.  The restaurant was one I hadn't eaten at before called The Beach Tree.  Open air but covered, view of the ocean at sunset, beautiful decor.  Everything you'd expect in a $1700 minimum per night resort.  The food was excellent but absurdly expensive.  We've had meals at least as good for 1/3 the cost during our travels, with service and ambiance to match.  Honestly, without the gift card I wouldn't go there anymore.  Lots of people obviously have the money, though, including a number of families with 2-3 kids, because it was fully booked and the hotel has near 100% occupancy year round. Sigh......

The wife of my coqui-catching partner 2 doors down the street got Covid about a week ago.  She was fully vaxed and boosted, and so far has had a fairly intense but short-lived case.  He has self-tested every few days but so far remains clear.  This ba.5 strain is very contagious, no doubt, but note that although she is somewhat ill, he is not, which is likely due to their vaccination status that has given them protection.  We're still taking precautions, but it's hard to keep it up when few other people are doing so.  Given the odds that we would have mild cases, living semi-normally seems justified to us, thus leading us to go to restaurants, retail stores and even a movie theater last week when we saw "Elvis." We also worked out yesterday at Planet Fitness -- masked, of course.  The facility has very good ventilation and there weren't very many people, so we didn't come at all close to anyone else.  We'll see what happens in a few days. I've stockpiled a fair number of tests and will use them whenever it seems appropriate.  For instance, we had talked with our Covid neighbor last week so I waited a few days then did a test that was fortunately negative.

Our friend who broke her leg was transferred Thursday afternoon to a rehab facility in Hawi, way on the north end of the island.  She'll be doing physical and occupational therapy for at least a couple of weeks before facing the next challenge --- living in her house alone.  She'll definitely need help.  Her plight has been a real wake-up call, not only for her but also for us.

Ok, that's most of what's going on here.  Keep cool and stay away from crazies.

 

Good Eyeball, Birthday, Lack of Good Sense, Roof Gardens

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

7/16/22

Aloha All!

It was an interesting week here.  First off, my eye exam last Saturday went very well -- absolutely no sign of leakage and therefore no shot.  I'm now scheduled for another exam right before we leave on our trip in August. My doc and I agreed we will keep a low threshold and most likely I'll have an injection at that time no matter what.  That will be a new record between treatments, by far! Yippee!

Yesterday was my birthday, much less cause for celebration than my good eye exam.  I think I'm

Liquid Gold

Neighbor's "Garden".

somewhere around 35 or so.  I lost track after 21.  Anyway, I wanted to keep it quiet and low-key and so I celebrated with a couple of naps and a burger + good beer for lunch at a seaside restaurant. Oh, and for fun I did a minor repair to our irrigation system and *weeded our gutters.*  In our warm and wet climate if you don't watch it, stuff will begin to grow on your roof and suddenly you'll find tree roots dangling from the ceiling.  In this case it was a small sapling of some kind in one of our gutters, which required a quick and careful trip up to the roof to yank out.

Saturday our Miata suddenly developed engine problems, as in refusing to start (it would turn over, but not fire up).  It did start on the next try, and Karen drove it to the hospital to visit our friend who broke her leg last week while I went for my eye exam. Although it ran fine on the way there, the "check engine" light came on and it again refused to start when she tried to leave.  Fortunately it did start after another couple of tries when I got there, and we were able to get it home ok. On Monday morning I called our usual mechanic and although the shop had a full schedule, he said he'd try to work it in if I could get in to to garage.  It started one more time (whew!) and we dropped it off.  It turned out to be either a faulty cam shaft sensor or a crankshaft sensor, and they replaced both.  These sensors are what determines the timing of ignition (back in the dark ages this was done by something called a distributor).  Voila!  A mere $500+ and she's running great.  Despite this and a few other repairs, this has been a terrifically reliable car and we've had to spend very little to keep it maintained.

Finally, I guess I'll include as part of my birthday celebration the round of golf at Makalei that Karen and I

From Par to Bogey

played on Thursday.  Despite getting a bit wet (it was misting most of the round) I did pretty well -- two pars and a bogey.  It might have been 3 pars, but my par-putt was just a couple of inches short, one of those frustrations that might lead to broken clubs and lots of swearing if I took the game more seriously.  Saw lots of peacocks, including both of the white peahens.  The Nenes, though, have all left.  During the summer they fly to a different part of the island -- a minnie-migration compared to their distant relatives, Canadian Geese.

Weather-wise we've been getting less rain and more sun.  However, the remnants of Hurricane Darby are passing by to our south today and we are likely to get some moisture from it. Three times this week we used our new a.c. in our bedroom -- something we rarely do but have come to appreciate when the need arises.  We're definitely cooler than many parts of the mainland, though, which I see has been really cooking this summer.

Ok, off to market and the beach.  Take care.  Stay cool.

July 4th, Moving Anniversary, ER

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

7/9/22

Aloha Everybody!

Summer finally arrived here. We've had several sunny days this week that kicked up the thermometer and the solar production.  We even managed to have dinner by the pool a few times because the rain has held off or has been very light.  I wonder how long it will take before we'll start complaining about how hot and dry it is????  I note that much of the country is still a bit warm, too.

Hope you had a good 4th of July.  We didn't do much, other than get some very good corn on the cob that was shipped from the mainland to our local Safeway.  I'm not sure how they do it, but these days we can

get some that tastes almost as good as back in corn country.  However, since supplies are limited here you have to get it quick before the store runs out.  Also, Safeway ran a special for the holiday and this meant people descended on the corn like ants on spilled sugar.  We managed to get enough even to freeze a few ears, though.  Our community fireworks display was held this year at its pre-Covid location, down on the waterfront in town.  Given the recent uptick in virus cases we were hesitant to join a big crowd, but finally decided to mask up and go anyway.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, maybe) we were a little late and the show started as we were driving down to the shore.  We found a good spot on the road and still enjoyed the show -- all 10 minutes of it.  It was really good, with some impressive displays and coordination of high and low stuff, despite being rather short.

On Tuesday the 5th we celebrated our 21st anniversary of moving to Hawai'i.  Hard to believe it has been that long!!  This was the day we actually flew from Cincinnati to Kona on a one-way ticket and arrived at our new house about 8 or 9 pm.  Our furniture and other stuff was still on the way (and took several weeks to arrive) but our new place was fully furnished and we didn't need much.  We were exhausted after all the moving preparations but very, very excited to be starting this new phase in our lives.  The next morning was magical, looking out over the coast and the ocean, quite a contrast to the cornfields of Ohio!  The view wasn't the only difference, and moving here has involved a number of adaptations in lifestyle and attitude, and has involved learning a lot of new things about cultures, geology, gardening, house maintenance, critter control.  We celebrated our anniversary with a workout at Planet Fitness, champagne on the lanai at sunset, and homemade tacos for dinner.

I'm back on cat care duty because on Wednesday our friend fell at her house and broke her leg.  She called us late afternoon and we rushed over, thinking we might drive her to the ER.  But it was clear that moving her ourselves might do more damage, so she called for an ambulance.  I timed their arrival at just 8 minutes, a comforting implication for those of us who might need the service ourselves. We followed her to the hospital and waited to see what her condition was.  She wound up staying overnight and will stay at least one or two more because she had to have surgery to fix a problem with her knee.  Sheese!  It goes to show you that sh*t happens unexpectedly, no matter how careful you are. 

Today I have my followup eye exam. I'm not sure if I will need an injection, but it will be 11 weeks since the last one, almost 3 months!  

Ok, off to our usual Saturday morning routine.  Hang in there.  Enjoy your summer.

Hand of Doom, Fig Pickin' Fingers

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

7/2/22

Aloha Everyone -- 

Hope you're enjoying your summer.  Well, weather-wise anyway.  The world at large and our country in particular seem to be going berserk these days.  I try to keep up with what's going on, but the news is almost always a depressing flood of gloom and doom.

100 Decibel Coqui Chorus

Speaking of doom, since we returned on June 7,  I've caught 34 coqui frogs.  They've met what I call "The Hand of Doom."  Actually, I'm an ambidextrous coqui catcher, so I guess it should be "HandS of Doom."  Anyway, it is a lot quieter now around our place, though the little devils are still noisy in neighbors' yards who don't control them.  As I've mentioned before, besides just being obnoxiously loud, coquis are bad because they eat beneficial insects that normally control other pests.  They were introduced accidentally from Puerto Rico and here they have no natural predators to keep them in check -- except THE HAND, of course.  I'm up to almost 200 kills over the past couple of years, and my neighbor who also hunts them is probably twice that number.  The goal here is not to totally eradicate them, which would be as impossible as getting rid of all ants, say. But controlling with spraying and hand catching is definitely possible.  And being the weirdo that I am, I kind of enjoy the challenge of the hunt and the macho thrill of the actual catch!

The coquis are super-abundant this year because of the unusual amount of rain we've had this spring and summer.  The rain has also made our fig tree produce more fruit than ever.  This is a variety called "Brown

Tasty "Turkeys"

Turkey" and they are very tasty figs -- to us and to a number of other critters, including birds, mice, and rats.  Every day I have to pick the ones that are ripe before they're eaten by somebody else. We usually get a fair number of figs around this time of year, but this season there are dozens, and like other homegrown crops (zucchini comes to mind), we have way more than we can handle all at once.  Karen has made some fig jam, we've given away a bunch to friends, and we're now trying to freeze them. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.  I've found they keep pretty well in the refrigerator if you put them in a sealed container with some paper towel to absorb the moisture, but this week we had four containers taking up precious space -- way too many.  Two ways we like to eat them are in a salad with goat cheese, and as a sauce with pork.  There are only so many times you can do this, though.  What a dilemma, eh?

We've had a few sunny days this week and the pool is up to 84d, very nice.  Karen and I played golf again on Thursday and managed to finish 16 holes before we got rained out.  Overall I did lousy this time, but I did some good moments, including one par and the best tee-shot I've ever had, at least 600 yards (that's WTD, or "Wishful Thinking Distance).  We didn't see as many Nenes this time, nor any white Peacocks (actually Peahens), but quite a few baby Peacocks, including one mom with four!  It's hard to stay negative about your game when this is what you see.

I spent a fair amount of time this week working on our fall itinerary in Europe.  I've made hotel reservations in all the places we'll be visiting, and Karen made a car reservation. Most of our stops will be the Czech Republic rather than Germany, but we will wind up in Berlin at the end and fly home from there. The more I researched our route, the more I became convinced that this will be an interesting and fun trip.  Making the arrangements also reminded me of how much I enjoy the process of planning itself.  It's challenging and time-consuming, but very rewarding in terms of the feeling of accomplishment and in the satisfaction of learning so much.  I was a little rusty after the hiatus of the Covid years, but the strategy details came back pretty quickly.

That's about it for this week.  Take care. Stay safe. Stay positive.

My Week of Special Numbers

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

6/25/22

Aloha Everybody!

This week is best summarized by some numbers:

 21:  Last Sunday we celebrated the 21st Anniversary of the day we finally sold our house in Ohio, after an agonizing month or so of paying the mortgage on our new Hawai'i house yet still owning a place in Ohio. This was a huge relief, of course.

2, 2, 3, 3:  On Thursday we played golf for the first time since returning from our trip.  With all the recent rain the course (Makalei) was gorgeous, far greener than when we left.  I lucked out by seeing both of the white peacocks that live on the

course, as well as a mating pair of Io's (indigenous Hawaian hawks) soaring above one of the fairways, 3 flying Nenes circling and then landing in perfect formation near one of the lakes, and finally 3 baby Peacocks, cute as can be.

12, 1, 1:  We managed to complete 12 holes before pooping out.  Although my overall performance was not all that great, there were moments of  competence, including 1 par and 1 bogey on consecutive holes -- something I've never been able to do back-to-back before.

3+, 82:  On Sunday it rained 1.6 inches, followed by another 1.4 inches on Wednesday for a total of at least 3 inches this week. In other words, our wet pattern has continued, though our mornings have still been very sunny.  Unfortunately this morning is an exception, and we may have to curtail or modify our usual Saturday morning agenda because it's raining lightly at the moment.  It has stayed warm enough at night this week so that our pool temp averaged about 82d, warm enough for working out most days, rain permitting.  The locals are really moaning and groaning about the weather, though the tourists don't seem to mind as much.  Good thing for our economy!

Bonus Points 1, 2:   A friend from Australia has been house sitting for our neighbors, and we've enjoyed getting together with her.  Also, a real treat has been taking care of two cats while a friend is on the mainland.  I've known them since they were kittens, and it is very heart warming that they seem to immediately recognize me -- of course, I'm also the guy with the chow..... I visit a couple of times a day to renew their food, clean their litter boxes, and get some petting.  Loving it.

Ok, that's about it for this week.  There are lots more numbers I could share, and in fact this exercise has made me aware of how much our lives can be expressed his way.  Not sure that's good or bad, but we humans certainly count a lot.  Take care.  Stay safe and sane.

 

Travel Plans, Eyeballs, Gold Stars, and Clues

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

6/18/22

Aloha All!

My jet lag is almost gone, though it sure is easy to take a nap.  We've got most of the garden and house chores caught up, and things are returning to "normal."  We even managed a light workout at PF on Thursday, and the pool got warm enough for us to get back in for a few times during the week.  The weather continues to be weird, though, and after a few good days it's now returned to the rainy, cloudy, and cool pattern we've had all spring and now into summer.  Looking at the mainland weather reports, though, I know it could be way worse.

As I expected, my eyeball didn't need a shot last week, and I'll return in a month for another checkup.  With the retina problem more or less under control, I talked to my doc about cataract surgery.  Mine aren't that bad (he said they were "moderate") but friends who have had the surgery almost all say they were pleasantly surprised by how much difference it made.  My issues are the usual -- fuzzy lights at night, and difficulty adjusting to a darkened place after being in bright light.  Still, I'm not sure yet whether I'm bad enough to justify the operation.

Now that we've returned from the Caucasus trip we've begun to plan our fall trip -- our river cruise on the Danube followed by a couple of weeks traveling on our own through Germany and the Czech Republic.  It's been quite a while since we've planned this kind of journey and it involves a fair amount of active research and decision-making.  A group tour, of course, is easy once you make the initial choice.  But I find it rewarding and informative to fashion our own itinerary -- I learn a lot about the destination, what there is to see and do, where to stay and for how long, etc., and in the end I feel much more invested personally in the trip than when we've on a tour.  Once we're on our own after the river cruise, we''ll be splitting our time between Germany and the Czech Republic as we make our way north to end in Berlin.  We've been in both countries before, but we didn't spend as much time in the Czech Republic as we would have liked. That time we traveled by train and were limited in the places we could easily visit.  This trip we'll have a car and therefore be much more free to explore.

Two big events this week took place yesterday.  The first was that we both got our driver's licenses renewed (!).  I know, this doesn't sound like much, but because of the backlog here caused by Covid, we've had appointments to do this since before we left for the Caucasus.  Also, for me this will be the time when I get my "Gold Star" version (the so-called REAL ID required by TSA).  Whoopee.  A downside of the renewal this time is that I now fall into the Geezer category and from now on will have to renew every two years. Pain in the **s but overall a good idea to protect the public at large I suppose...

The other event yesterday was that we went to a community theater production of CLUE.  Really cute, and the locals did a very good job.  The venue was just south of us in a town called Kainaliu,  at the Aloha Theater, a vintage movie theater now converted for live performances.  It holds about 200 and has very good acoustics.  This was the first time we've attended a performance there since before Covid, and we really enjoyed it.  The only precaution we were required to take was to wear a mask.  This, like the lowered precautions at the gym, is making me a bit nervous because our new cases increased last week, and hospitalizations almost doubled.  At this point all you can do is be defensive and hope for the best.

Today we will return to our usual Saturday morning routine of market, beach breakfast picnic, and errands.  After so much discombobulation lately I'm ready.

Take care, avoid crazies, germs, and enjoy your summer.

Back Home Safe (?) and Sound

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

6/11/22

Aloha Everybody!

We got back home last Monday night after our three weeks in the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia, and

Baku-- The Old and The New

Armenia) and a week in Chicago.  Except for a dandy case of jet lag (14 hour time difference), we are sound -- we both passed our Covid test for our return to the US (as did everyone else on the tour).  To be sure I didn't pick up something on the long flight, I did a self-test on Thursday which was also negative. I'd say we are also safely back, but I'd have to ignore the danger in our country from crazies with assault rifles and concealed handguns.  Anyway, we really enjoyed the trip and learned a lot about a region that has had a very important and complex history, and that currently is caught in the push and pull of geopolitics.  In general, all three countries are very beautiful (of course, we're biased toward mountains and high plains), and the three capital cities are surprisingly modern, sophisticated, and livable.  Travel, as usual, corrected our inaccurate conceptions of the destination and the people who live there.

While were were gone it was unusually cool and cloudy.  This was good and bad.  It was good because the lack of sun kept the jungle from going berserk, which it usually does at this time of year.  There's lots to cut back and get back under control, of course, but not as bad as we feared.  It was bad because our solar production is sucking air, and our pool temp is way below our minimum comfort level.  We left it uncovered while we were gone but now we have started covering it at night again. Hopefully we can get it warm enough for our daily workouts sometime early next week.  It will depend on how cool it gets at night (66d last night!) and how much sun we get during the day (remember, we have solar panels that heat the water for the pool -- no sun = no heat).

Speaking of workouts, I managed to do a light one at PF on Thursday -- boy did I feel the lack of working out while we were traveling!  Ouch!  Karen didn't go -- she was having lunch with a friend who is leaving for a visit to the mainland (this is our friend whose cats I take care of when she travels, and I'm looking forward to that starting next week).  Very few people were masked at the gym, which made me a little nervous even though I was wearing mine.  Cases here are on the uptick, as are hospitalizations, but so far it hasn't overwhelmed our health care facilities. 

Today I see my retina doctor again.  It is about 6 weeks since my last Eylea injection, and I think things are ok.  If the tests justify it, I'll probably go another 4-6 weeks.

Unfortunately my eye exam will prevent me from enjoying one of the unique events here -- the annual King Kamehameha Days parade.  This will be the first since Covid, and it's really special because this is the parade that features horses with leis, and a group of riders representing each of the islands.  The parade route is along the shorefront through town and it is a lot of fun.  If my exam doesn't take too long I might be able to catch the tail end (so to speak).

Ok, that's it for this week.  Hope you are all ok and enjoying your early summer.