Happy Birthday, Sue!

I took some flowers from home and a lei to Puowaina; today is Sue's birthday. Every year, on her birthday, Mom would take flowers to her niche. I decided to keep up the tradition, but will also add something of my own. So I put a few flowers at the niches for each of the relatives there, on their birthdays I will do more; I like to celebrate people's birthdays. I got a pikake and red hibiscus lei for Sue; pikake was her favorite flower, red was her favorite color. I texted a photo to Sarah, David, & John to share the moment with them.

Garlic chive flowers in the car; they smell like roses! The jar they're in fits perfectly in the cup holder.

Pikake & red hibiscus lei and garlic chive flowers from the house.

I spent another 15 minutes inflating the exercise ball after I got back from Puowaina. And guess how much larger it is today? Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch. There may be something wrong with the pump. Or the ball. Or both. There was definitely something wrong with the instructions that came with it about how to fill it. The instructions I found on-line say to inflate to no more than 80% of its final size, let it rest for 24 hours, then fill to the final size. I have definitely given it the 24 hour rest period! A video I found on-line says with the manual pump that came with the ball should take 5 to 10 minutes to get to the 80% size! So something is definitely wrong here.

Same diameter as on 09/04.

 
Xander went to the Cat Clinic this morning for his blood glucose test. His blood glucose level is still too high so they are increasing his insulin to 4 units twice a day. Dr. Wolverton said the prednisolone is likely what is making his blood glucose level so erratic. She said when his prednisolone level is tapered off we should see his blood glucose level drop to normal; the last day should be January 7th. In the meanwhile, we monitor him weekly and next week we also test his liver & kidney function. It's a good thing I have that HawaiianMiles card!

On Saturday I moved one of Mom's orchids; it's the last one left out of all the ones she grew. It was sitting under the pomelo tree; it wasn't getting much water from the rain, so I moved it to the back yard. I put it under one of the papayas so that it would be shaded, but it will still get watered every morning. It's already looking better!


Tonight I tried an interesting new item, Teriyaki Jackfruit from The Jackfruit Company; I saw it at Kokua Market. There was a big jackfruit tree across the road from Grandma & Grandpa's house in Halawa Camp. As a kid I remember the fruits as being about 2 feet long and about a foot in diameter and very spiky and fruity tasting. Not something I could ever imagine as a meat substitute, let alone a teriyaki flavored meat substitute. Most of the pieces had the muscle fiber look of meat but the texture was not as chewy as meat. The teriyaki flavor masked any fruity flavor, though I can't honestly say that I exactly remember what that flavor was like. I'll have to cook it with some vegetables and see how it does as a real dish.  

Happy Birthday also to Lem!

At 90 years old, he is the youngest of the 'ohana's old geezers! (Photo from July 2017.)