Leis, Eye Shot, PT Reject

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

11/18/23

 

Aloha Everyone ---

 

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

Pound 'em!

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

Lots of work!

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

Wordle In 1, Coffee Festival, Snoozerama

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

11/11/23

 

Aloha Everybody ---

 

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

Yippee!

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

 

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

The Winner

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

 

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

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

 

 

Sliced, Diced, Pumped & Shot

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

11/4/23

 

Aloha Ohana ---

 

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

 

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

Our Outfits for Ethiopia

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

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

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

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

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

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

10/28/23

 

Aloha Everyone ---

 

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

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

 

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

That's the spot!

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

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

 

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

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

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

Blood, Safari, Golf"ish"

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

10/21/23

 

Aloha All ---

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.