Volcano Snow Cones, Heart Echoes, Christmas Pau

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

1/10/26

 

Aloha Everybody!

 

This week some of you got a good taste of coping with the white stuff that is a common part of the mainland winter wonderland.  Early in the week even we had snow, when a storm moved in and coated both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, our 13k+ volcanoes.  The happens a few times each

Which Way To The Lift?

year, though it most often is confined to the slightly taller Mauna Kea on the northern part of the island.  Our other two volcanoes, Kileaua (the one currently erupting) and Hualalai  (the one we live on), are much too low to get significant amounts of frozen precipitation,(4k and 8k, respectively), though snow has been recorded on Hualalai occasionally.  By the way, the storm this week brought a day of cloudiness that made for a record low 24-hour pv production at our house of just 5.8 kwh -- rock bottom for the 13 years we've had the system.  That's only about 1/4 of our daily usage, Sheesh.

 

Now for a bit of Geezer Gazette news.  Yesterday I had my second echo cardiogram. This was in preparation for my video consultation with an electrocardiologist next week.  There are two types of this test -- the one I had is fairly quick and non-invasive. A technician rubs an ultrasound device on your chest to examine blood flow and structural abnormalities in your heart's chambers, valves, and arteries.  It's one way of assessing the chances you'll drop dead from clogged arteries. I had one of these a year ago September when I finally got an appointment with a cardiologist after being referred by my regular doctor.  It showed some enlargement of one chamber and slightly reduced flow but the overall conclusion was that clogging isn't my problem -- the odds of dropping dead from that cause are very low.  Hopefully the exam I had yesterday will show the same thing. I should get the results in a couple of days. The other form of this test is more sensitive but much more invasive -- the ultrasound device is shoved down your throat. Fortunately they sedate you while this is going on so the experience isn't as bad as it sounds.  Mine was the first type, and I'm glad. I don't want the second kind because (a) I'm a wimp and (b) it means there's some dire reason the cardiologist needs a closer and more detailed look at your heart before the ablation procedure. Next week the Geezer Gazette will include my reports of the test and the consultation.  Stay tuned -- after all, if it hasn't already, this could happen to you some day.

 

By Thursday Christmas at our house was pau (done, finished).  All the decorations inside and outside were back in their storage places until next year.  We managed to wrestle the artificial tree back into its box that we keep in the garage.  This was the hardest task physically.  We learned the first year we had the tree that the three pieces had to go back into the carton in a certain order and a specific orientation.  Plus, each layer of branches had to be flattened and then tied tightly against the trunk or the pieces wouldn't fit into the box.  The second time we put it up I learned that the strings of lights plugged together in a very non-obvious way -- detailed in the instructions which I had thrown away, of course.  Figuring out how to get the whole tree lit again turned out to be a major hassle.  I solved this by labeling each plug and its proper receptacle before I took them apart again.  Karen made a diagram of how the pieces fit into the box, and now it's just a matter of squishing everything tightly enough.  The tree is still in pretty good shape for its age, and hopefully it will last several more years.

Ok, that's it for now. Stay warm, keep shoveling. Another couple of months ought to do it... 

Muted Fireworks, Locksmithing, Yearning for Photons

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

1/3/26

 

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year)!

 

Except for the order of the words, the Hawaiian phrase for Happy New Year is a word-by-word translation:  hau'oli (happy) makahiki (year, or season), hou (new).  However, "makahiki" has a deeper and more philosophical meaning than just a 365-day unit of time  First, it actually refers to a social/religious season that emphasizes peace, rest, and renewal.  Further, it is tied to ideas of reflection, balance, and welcoming what’s next (see Word Spotlight). Sounds like we could all use some makahiki right now.........

 

The usual firework mayhem here in Hawai'i was somewhat muted this year.  Even Pele decided to sleep through New Year's Eve and didn't participate in the festivities. Part of the reason for humans to be subdued is

that there has been a statewide crackdown on illegal fireworks after a tragic explosion last year on Oahu killed 6 people and wiped out a good chunk of a Honolulu neighborhood.  On our island another reason was the seizure of 18 TONS of illegal fireworks last August in Hilo.  The Hilo operation had been going on for years, headed by a couple of guys who were smuggling them in from outlets in Wisconsin.  We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and a very organized setup. Eighteen tons of fireworks is a lot of noise that didn't occur!  There were, of course, a fair number of legal displays and the resorts along the coast had big aerial shows, so it wasn't totally quiet.  Karen and I set off a bunch of leftover sparklers from previous years, but other than that I restrained my usual pyromania.

 

My big house maintenance project this week was replacing a couple of our electronic door locks.  These are battery operated deadbolts with keypads that you enter a code instead of using a physical key (each comes with a key as a backup, though).  I really like not having to carry keys or retrieve them from hiding places that most burglars would locate in minutes.  I installed my first ones about 20 years ago and they have been surprisingly durable, except of course for the batteries which last about a year in the locks we use the most.  Finally, though, two crapped out at the same time.  I ordered replacements online because I couldn't find what I wanted locally.  The first two were inoperable and I had to order again.  The two bad locks were ones I found on Ebay that were supposed to be new but were in open boxes --- one had missing parts and the other was defective.  I ordered again, this time from the manufacturer through Amazon.  After a bit of fiddling I have them working well for now. Except for being shinier, this is the kind of project that requires effort and is a definite improvement, but isn't noticeable on the surface.  I have to be content with self-praise for a job well done.

 

I've complained a fair amount about the unusual cloudy weather we had in 2025, though our weather woes hardly compare in seriousness to the weather upheavals on the mainland.  Still, for us it is a big deal, since it really contrasts to the conditions we've experienced during most of the 25 years we've lived in Hawai'i.  The recording system of my solar pv system gives clear and objective evidence of how weird 2025was.  The data indicate there were only 4 months when we generated more power than we used.  In the roughly 15 years we've had the system, all of them showed the reverse pattern -- at most there were only 4 months each year when we didn't generate a surplus.  I'm not sure what has caused this, probably it is a complex combination of climate change factors, volcanic activity, temporary shifts in the jet stream, cosmic rays from black hole collisions, alien spacecraft contrails, etc., etc.  No matter what, though, we could really use some photons!  Our mornings almost always start off clear and promising, but by noon the sun takes a nap.  We're getting enough sun to heat our hot water supply, but the pool heating system is struggling to keep the temperature up to geezer and geezerette acceptability levels.  I know none of you are feeling much sympathy, but it's all relative, right?  

 

Absolutely no Geezer Gazette news this week. A welcome break for you and for me both.

 

Ok, that's it.  Remember, Spring is just around the corner....Maybe. It might be canceled or renamed by the next Executive Order.  

Pele Pops a Present, Pigging Out With Santa

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/27/25

Ho, Ho, Holoha!

 

I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas!  Ours was livened up by a present from Pele -- at about 8:30

p.m.Tuesday night the 39th episode of fountaining began, a real treat for any visitors staying near the volcano.  It lasted only about 6 hours, but it was quite vigorous, shooting lava as high as 1400 feet from one vent and shorter distances from two others that are close by. This happened on December 23, exactly one year from the first episode.  The volcanologists' prediction was for the episode to begin sometime from the 23rd to the 27th, and they clearly nailed it. All indications are that

the episodic pattern will continue, with #40 coming in a couple of weeks.  It would be a great way to end this year if #40 occurred a bit early and joined the fireworks on New Year's Eve!  I find the whole thing fascinating.

 

Our Christmas was very nice, centering more around food than gifts.  Early in the week we shared a prime rib dinner at our house with some very close friends.  They used to live in Ohio but now are in Wisconsin.  They wisely escape the winters there and spend a few months here each year visiting their daughter, who is a teacher at a highly regarded private school in Waimea. By the way, we cooked the prime rib using a somewhat unusual method that we've employed several times with great success.  We baked it in a hot oven for just 25 minutes, then turned off the oven and left it for exactly 2 hours.  Perfect!  On Christmas Day we went to a pot-luck dinner at a neighbor's house, getting together with about 20 other people.  We've done this the last few years, and we really enjoy the congenial atmosphere and good food. Her house has a beautiful open lanai that overlooks the bay, a perfect setting for a Kona Christmas dinner.

 

As I said, gifts weren't the focus this year, but I was pleased with mine from Karen -- a couple of

gift cards for Taco Bell (!), a new shop vacuum cleaner, and a sweatshirt with a personally very appropriate logo on the front that says, "Yes, I'm Cold!"  As I've mentioned before, I've become so acclimated to our warm weather here that anything less than 70d is chilly for me -- my eyes start to water and my nose drips constantly.  This sweatshirt will come in handy on our frosty 64d mornings and when we travel to destinations with less agreeable climates in their cooler seasons.

 

I have just one bit of Geezer Gazette news this week.  Yesterday I saw my retina specialist. My right eye didn't need a shot, and my left has improved a couple of lines in acuity.  The improvement was largely due to the injection last time, and maybe just a smidge from the YAG procedure that punched a hole in the capsule holding my new lens. Yesterday the doctor did the YAG laser treatment on my right eye, so now I've been completely YAGed.  I wish I could say it made a miraculous difference, but there has been barely a discernible improvement in either eye.  However, I can now rule out cloudiness of the tissue over my new lenses as a cause of my continuing downturn.  I guess that's good news?

 

Ok, that's it.  The season of brotherly love and good will toward all is now over, and we can get back to the vitriol, incivility, and exploitation that seem to be the main qualities of the U.S. under our current "leadership."  I'd love to be more positive about the coming year, but I'm having a tough time finding a reason for optimism. The best approach is perhaps to stay committed to your own values, and don't fall into the trap of extremism.

 

Keep warm and fuzzy.  Don't forget to feed the reindeer!

Travel to Panombia, Healing a Heart

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/20/25

Aloha All!

 

Well, I see that you mainlanders may be getting a break from your deep-freeze weather, a nice warmup for Christmas.  We're pretty much the same for the rest of the month -- highs around 80 at our house, lows in the upper sixties, sunny mornings with a chance of afternoon showers.  The current volcano forecast is for the next fountaining episode to occur between December 22nd and 27th so there's still a chance for a lava Christmas present from Pele.

 

This week we finalized our plans for our trip to Panama and Colombia ("Panombia") next spring.  The Panama portion will be a custom tour we put together with a local company, and we will make a deposit soon.  This took some back-and-forth to tune the itinerary to our liking, and we're pretty happy with it.  It will be a total of 12 days in Panama, spread between Panama City, the Caribbean Coast, and the mountain area in the northwest.  Our activities will include touring the canal, guided wildlife walks (particularly birding), exploring historical sites, and perhaps doing some snorkeling.  To the extent we could arrange it, the itinerary will provide for the things we like when traveling -- nature, architecture, history, culture, interactions with locals, food.  Following the Panama portion we'll fly to Colombia for our cruise on the Magdelana River, starting in a coastal city named Baranquilla and ending in Cartegena. At the beginning and end of the cruise we'll spend time on our own to flesh out the itinerary a little.  We spent a good deal of time in Colombia on a previous trip several years ago, visiting a fairly large portion of the country, so we don't feel the need to make this an extensive trip.  Anyway, we made the final payment for the river cruise and all we have left is to make some hotel reservations and book the international flights.  We're getting pretty excited about this trip, our first foreign excursion since last year.

 

 In Geezer Gazette news, I'm progressing on my ablation consultation.  I have a virtual session scheduled for January with a cardiac electrophysiologist on Oahu.  If I have the ablation procedure it will be at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu as an outpatient.  Prior to the consultation, I have a second echo-cardiogram scheduled also in January.  This should provide an up-to-date assessment of how my heart is functioning, along with the data from my recent heart monitor.  Should be a fun month. 

 

What a Float!

Finally, we had our annual Kona Christmas Parade this week.  This has a uniquely local quality, as the photo here shows. I've got all the house decorations up that I'm going to this year, and the place looks quite festive.  Karen finished decorating our living room tree, and we have been enjoying the lights during dinner and then as we watch t.v.. We are behind on mailing Christmas cards, but this seems to be a disappearing tradition.  We're very likely to send our yearly letter by email rather than by snail-mail the way we have in the past.

 

Ok, that's it for the week.  Have a great Christmas, and treat Santa with extra kindness. He deserves it more than ever......... 

36-Foot Noodle, Laser Eye Hole, Ablation Blues

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/13/25

Aloha Folks!

 

Life lurches on here. My big house project this week was getting our new pool cover installed.  It wasn't particularly hard, but it was awkward trying to wrestle the thing into place, like dealing with a 36-foot piece of giant linguini (or a 600 square foot piece of bubble wrap). The pool measures 36 x 16, but the cover is pre-made as 36x18.   I laid it out in our driveway and carefully cut off the excess 2 feet on the side.  Then, with Karen's help,

Santa on R&R

we folded it into a more manageable size and carried it to the back of the house where the pool is, negotiating tight corners and some stairs to do so.  We stretched it over the pool in the late afternoon and I attached it to the cover reel with less difficulty than I had expected. Earlier I had cut off the old cover from the reel in easy to manage strips, and my neighbor helped me transport them to the dump in his pickup truck.  Job done!! As I was cutting off the old cover, I got a close look at how much it had deteriorated. It was definitely time to replace it, making the project even more satisfying.

 

There are three big items in the Geezer Gazette this week.  I'll start with the most angst-producing and move to the neutral and then to the downright positive news.  My appointment with my cardiologist on Wednesday went very badly because the results of my 2-week heart monitor showed a new problem that will likely lead to an ablation -- the treatment where some of your heart tissue is destroyed in order to get the rest of it to function properly.  Maybe.  The overall success rate of the procedure is only about 60%, but increases to 80% for patients in my particular situation.  My cardiologist is strongly recommending I have it done.  I have a referral now to consult with an Electrophysiologist to get an assessment. Isn't this fun!!??

 

In more neutral news, I had my YAG laser procedure yesterday on my left eye (not to be confused with the new experimental light treatment, which is still iffy as to when it will be available).  Absolutely painless, even without any numbing drops.  It took a total of maybe one minute. I'm still assessing if it did any good, but even if it didn't, this was certainly worth a try.  I have another appointment at the end of the month for a shot in the right eye, then we'll do the YAG procedure on it, too.  Needless to say, I'm getting very familiar to the eye clinic staff......

 

Finally, some good news. The results of my bone density scan showed very little change from 2 years ago, meaning I'm still mildly osteopenic but not getting worse. In fact, the risk assessments for breaking something got a teense better -- 10-year risk of %7.6 overall, and 3.3% specifically for a hip fracture.  Whoopee!

 

Ok, that's it.  Watch out for frostbite.  Oh, and let's all hope that Santa doesn't get shot down by some authoritarian country's demented and deranged supreme leader. I wonder who that could be......

Surf Santa, Bones & Eyes, Big Chill

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

12/6/25

Aloha Fellow Elves!

 

December arrived this week and so did a post-Thanksgiving pulse of snow birds and tourists.  The town is looking very Christmasy, with colored lights in the palm trees and bell-ringing Santa's helpers in board-shorts and Aloha shirts outside Walmart. The weather has turned seasonally cool, too -- I recorded an overnight low this week of a mere 63 degrees!  I even had to use my heating pad and extra blanket to stay warm (remember, we have no central heating).  Also seasonal is the high surf we've had a couple of times on our side of the island this week, to the dislike of tourists but to the delight of the local surfers.  Even with the frigid nighttime temps our new pool system has kept the water temp tolerable.  I didn't install my new pool cover yet, but I hope to get to it this weekend.  That should help even more, because the old one is pretty shot and probably has lost a significant amount of its insulating ability.  I also got more decorations up outside, including some strings of lights and a cute new pair of snowmen that were a Black Friday special at Lowe's (I was vetoed on the 8-foot tall Grinch that was available, too). 

 

We managed to get our nearly 20-year old artificial tree up, though it still needs to be decorated.  It's

Driveway Greeters

pre-lit, so at least it adds to the seasonal house-vibes at night.  We opted not to expend the considerable effort of assembling the tree last year, because as I've mentioned before, we were in Cambodia until the second week of December.  It is a fair amount of work to extract the heavy box from its storage spot in the garage, carry the 4 tree sections into the house, then join them together.  In our youth we used to carry the whole box into the house, but those days are gone.  Real trees are available here at the big box stores, shipped in refrigerated containers from the mainland. I love the pine smell from the unboxed trees as I drive by.

 

In Geezer Mortality news this week, I had three encounters with the medical establishment. On Wednesday I had a bone density scan to check on the progression of my osteopenia.  One of the many clues that your body has an expiration date is that your bones get brittle at the same time that your sense of balance goes kerflooey, making a fall in which you break something more and more likely. I'll get the results of the scan next week and go over them with my internist.

 

I also had an appointment this week with my optometrist. The exam verified my current prescription is the best I can do, and also revealed significant edema buildup in both eyes.  I saw my retina doctor yesterday and got an injection in my left eye, and Ill return in a couple of weeks for my right. 

 

My ophthalmologist also confirmed an issue with my eyes that may be contributing to the dimness/brightness problem (separate from the edema build-up).  My cataract surgery earlier this year has led to a slight haze in my eye tissue where the lenses were implanted.  This is  something that occurs in about 50% of cataract patients  It isn't the new lens that gets hazy, but the eye capsule that holds it in place.  It can be easily fixed with a quick laser procedure in which a small hole is punched in the capsule allowing light to pass directly through the lens into the eyeball.  I'm scheduled for this treatment next Friday on my left eye. I'll keep you posted. By the way. a hopeful a new treatment that might also help my non-edema dimness/brightness condition has recently received FDA approval.  It's a non-invasive procedure called photomodulatiom retina therapy. It was developed to treat dry macular degeneration. I don't have that problem, but the underlying mechanism of my non-edema vision loss (dimness, lack of edge distinction, sensitivity to bright light) might be similar.  The new treatment definitely seems worth a try if it becomes available here, though it probably won't be covered by insurance.  I'm desperate for any improvement I can get, so I don't care -- I'll pay for it myself if I have to....

 

Ok,  that's my news for the week.  Hope you are surviving your early winter weather ok.  And despite the ugliness all around, try to tap into the holiday spirit.....

Flood Recovery, Big Bird, Big Burp

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

11/29/25

Aloha Folks!

 

My pool man and I spent last weekend euthanizing my old pool pump and installing the new replacement unit.  We ran into a few unanticipated problems, as happens with all home repair projects, including a stuck fitting that called for some specialized tools -- "hammer," "drill," "saw", and "chisel." Another issue was that the 30-something year-old valves that were part of the overall system wouldn't shut off completely, leading to dripping pipe ends where we needed to glue new fittings.  This was a problem because pvc cement doesn't work well on wet surfaces.  A highly pressurized system like this one would likely cause leaky joints or even joints that would fail completely.  After considering several ways to keep the pipe ends dry enough, we finally settled on one that used the theory of hydraulic homeostasis equalatum -- i.e., we lowered the water level in the pool to a point just lower than the pipe ends. Voila! No more drips.  Lowering the water level isn't just a matter of pulling the plug at the bottom of the pool, however.  It is usually done by using a pump that sucks out the water and dumps it outside.  We didn't have a pump handy, so we resorted to a method that took me back to my teenage delinquency skill set -- we siphoned it out with a hose. (Back in my wild youth we used this technique to steal gasoline from other people's cars.)  After that problem was solved things went pretty smoothly, though I still had to make about 4 trips to the hardware store for various pieces and parts. We finished on Sunday afternoon but waited until Monday to turn on the system  This was to give the new joints time to set completely before we put them under pressure.  Also, I needed time to refill the pool. On Monday the moment of truth came and -- IT WORKED!  No drips, pump jumped into life and did its job perfectly for the rest of the day.  The only problem I've encountered since then was in programming the pump start and stop time -- something that was solved by re-reading the manual and this time paying attention.

 

To This

From This 

Our Thanksgiving was very pleasant.  We invited some close friends to share a turkey dinner.  It's been years since we cooked a turkey, but it turned out great, thanks in part to a lot of garlic, garlic salt, and butter.  We also had a tasty carrot curry soup that Karen made, plus a balsamic kale salad with purple sweet potatoes, green beans in cream sauce, and of course fresh cranberry relish.  Our friends brought a dessert that was a perfect ending, an apple tart. The weather cooperated, and we were able to have appetizers out by the pool.  All in all, it brought home how fortunate we are and how much we have to be thankful for.....

 

Pele decided to join the holiday festivities with a nine-hour fountain of lava earlier in the week.  The timing of this episode (#37) means that the next one will likely be very close to the date a year ago when the first fountaining episode occurred.  Maybe we can re-write the classic Bing Crosby song to: "I'm dreaming of a red hot Christmas, with lots of lava fountains all-a-glow...."

 

Just a few more tidbits.  My new eyeglasses finally arrived after a total of  12 days in transit. They help a nano-smidge.  Also delivered was a new solar pool cover that I ordered, which I'll try to wrestle into place this coming week.  I got my first Christmas decorations up yesterday, with more to come as I have time.  This is much earlier than last year, because we were traveling in Cambodia until early December.  I'm determined to enjoy the holiday season this year, partly as an act of defiance of the current dark times and our amoral autocratic leaders.....

 

Ok, enough,  Take care and keep watching for those reindeer.