Hey! I Ordered a Cheeseburger!

For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about the Gary Larson cartoon on the 4 personality types. When it came out, I circulated a copy in our grading section asking people on our team to identify which personality type they were. Interestingly, all 4 of us grading inspectors chose the cheeseburger one! And even more interestingly, none of the other staff did. I guess that's why we became grading inspectors; we wanted results! (FYI He is now on the web!)

I was awakened last night by some really bad nocturnal cramps! It started in my left leg but then my right leg started to cramp as well. I think it was because I did not hydrate during class as well as I normally do. I even came home & drank some of my home-made Meyer lemonade & Pedialyte sports drink; but apparently not enough to make up for missing out on the electrolytes earlier in the day. It resolved itself after about 10 minutes, but it was a rather harsh 10 minutes! 😫

The sauerkraut spewed out some fermentation gases last night. And blew some of it far enough it did not land in the plastic tub it is sitting in! Fortunately the other plastic tray caught it. I have repositioned the jar so the vent now points towards the center of the tray & not towards an edge. The kim chee just showed a tiny dribble down the side; perhaps it is the capsaicin in the crunchy garlic with chili oil affecting the fermentation bacteria.

I am making progress in my pronunciation of the Mandarin words. Mainly because I am listening closely to the inflections & just repeating as closely as possible to what I hear. They give you 3 tries to get it right or close to right. I think I am using the bird call ID part of my brain for this. But it would still be helpful to work with a Mandarin speaker to really know what I am supposed to do & why rather than just trying to imitate a speech pattern. Especially when I can't figure out how to say it right. Although imitation is the main way children learn to speak whatever language it is that they speak; it would still be nice to have someone point out to me how to say it right.

Could use some help on this one.

Another part of the learning is to "complete the chat" or "complete the sentence," aka fill in the blank in the spoken conversation. I can understand some of the words being spoken & I can recognize some of the Hanzi. How I have been completing the sentences is figuring out what might be an appropriate response to the comment, then searching for the Hanzi or Pinyin in the 2 phrases that are presented that will give me a clue as to which might be the proper response. So it takes a long time; it would not be appropriate for a conversation.

I was able to identify the Hanzi for "basketball".

Other options were words I knew & did not fit the sentence.

For the "select the correct translation" exercise, an English word is shown; you must choose from the 3 Hanzi/Pinyin options offered. I can usually get this fairly easily; its like I see flash cards in my brain for the different words. I just need to be able to find them faster so that they become more automatic like about 400 or so of the 950 words that Duolingo says I "know" in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi; sometimes I am trying so hard to think of the word that I have to force myself to relax & when I do the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi word just pops into my brain! I also need to remember both the Hanzi & Pinyin; right now I am relying heavily on the Pinyin.

Recognizing radical for "water" made this easier.

For the "tap what you hear" exercises, a phrase is spoken, then you must choose from the 6 to 8 Hanzi/Pinyin options offered at the bottom. This is fairly easy since the Pinyin gives a clue as to what the correct ones are.

The "translate this sentence" exercises are like the "select the correct translation" exercises but includes making a sentence out of the word options given. Something that I have noticed is that I can fairly easily recognize the radical for "water" (shuǐ, 水) which I have now seen in "ice" (bīng, 冰) & "swimming" (yóu yǒng, 游泳). That has been helpful; now if I can only do that for more nouns!

I also learned that "hái shi" means "or".

And finally there are the ones that are flashcards in English, that you must say in Mandarin! This is the most difficult for me since I have not yet gotten to that same level as I am in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi where those 400 or so words just pop in to my brain. I would say there are perhaps 10 or so words that I can remember the Hanzi &/or Pinyin for & that I can correctly pronounce to pass this part of the lesson. I have never gotten more than 2 out of the 5 correct.

Because I start my day by doing Duolingo while I lie in bed after my alarm goes off, I frequently get an attaboy for extending my practice streak so early! Although I am a little curious, I am in the 2nd to the last time zone of the day. Are they only comparing me to people in my time zone? Or are they looking at the relative times that Duolingo users around the world are extending their streaks?

Episode 50 of the eruption of Kīlauea started this morning at 10:10 & ended at 5:10 p, after about 7 hours of activity.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Anne! 

Last ʻOno Food Hui Class for the Year

Today was the last food preservation class that the Kohala ʻOno Food Hui is holding for the year. Sandra has now spent all the grant money for supplies. Michelle & I came on part way through the year to assist with the classes; we had both been in earlier classes. Today Sandra told us, when she writes the grants for next year, she will include a small stipend for each of us along with the amount she requests for supplies. She said if the supplies end up costing less than what was expected, they use the rest of the money to continue buying supplies but there are no stipends for the instructors. Next year she hopes to be able to do a couple classes in Honokaʻa as well as a freeze drying class at the Kohala Food Hub. Today was another Fermentation & Pickling class; these have been so popular we did 3 of them.

Sandra (center) demonstrates how to cut cabbage for sauerkraut.

My team watches demonstration; (L to R) Sandra, Cindy, Marian, Matt, & Candice.

I got a surprise today as class was starting; cousin Candice from Waimea was in the class! She & her husband Matt were the last ones to sign up. Apparently Matt has been wanting to learn how to make kim chee & other fermented foods; this class was her birthday present to him. They ended up on my team. FYI Candice is Leilani's daughter.

Matt & Candice (center) prepare to salt won bok for kim chee, while Cindy (L) & Marian watch.

I was supposed to meet up with Chris after class to talk about turning the closet at the top of the back stairs in to a canned good storage area. But I was too tired. Hopefully, we can set up another time to do it so the storage area can be finished before the canning classes start up again next year. 

I had originally thought that these numbers were for cumulative views over the previous 7 days. However, that might not be the case. The US has gone down by about 700 & Brazil has gone up by about 200, with Singapore dropping about 600 & Bangladesh remaining about the same. Oh well, more confusion for me. I think I will stop looking at these.

The next episode  of the eruption at Kīlauea is imminent! There was precursory spattering today & they thought fountaining would start today. Since it has not yet started, it makes tomorrow the more likely day for it to start.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Erin, Val, & Mariah! 

IASA #4-20

It was hiding in Fran's garage.

 

Breakfast with Nā Hoa Hānau

Fran texted this morning; she invited me to have breakfast with her & Leilani at Kohala Rainbow Cafe. Leilani had brought her dog Cavalier to Hāwī for a grooming appointment. Since she brings him in regularly, we decided to get together on those mornings for breakfast; it will be about every 6 or 7 weeks.

Fran & Leilani.

Fran also let me know that she had found the kitten's owner! It is the woman that lives next door to her who was not home yesterday when we 1st caught the kitten & took it around the neighborhood looking for its owner.

I have been seeing nicer sunrises lately. Though it looked overcast this morning, it cleared up nicely after the sun had been up for a couple of hours.

At sunrise.

I saw the feral hen again this morning. She was closer so I got a better look at her chicks; there are definitely 4 chicks. We shall see how many she can raise to pullethood. I know there is 1 hen that is a terrible mother; she has never been able to raise even a single chick!  

The views for the 23rd went up about 500 over night. The order of most views has mainly been the same.

The prediction for the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea is likely to be today or tomorrow.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Felipe!

You Wanna Kitten?

Hoa Hānau Fran called just before lunch today. She had an emergency she needed help with. Turns out there was a kitten hiding in her garage & she needed help to catch it. Since I have caught a number of wild animals while volunteering with the Sarvey Wildlife Center, I knew what to do. I have also caught feral kittens before. It took us about 15 minutes to put up barriers (it is an open garage with no door) & clear out enough things from the corner it was hiding in, for us to be able to catch it. And it turns out this is not a feral kitten; after I slow blinked, it relaxed around me. I had a can of catfood in the car, it ate that so quickly! Fran will keep it until she has a chance to talk to the neighbors that might have the kitten's mom.

If Fran can't find its home by tomorrow, I will take it to my veterinarian to have it checked out & start its shots. After that, I will work on getting it better habituated to people so that it is more likely to be adopted by someone at a shelter. The danger is I will become habituated to it as well & end up with 5 cats! 🙄 On the plus side, 5 is a luckier number than 4 in both Japanese & Chinese culture...   

This morning I saw 1 of the feral hens walking around Jessie's yard with a new batch of chicks. I think there are 4 of them. There are so many feral chickens in her yard now, I don't know if Jessie has named all of them. Hopefully, this mother hen will not bring them over to our yard; Moʻo is not gentle enough with them. 

 

While checking out the new brood, I also looked at the ʻuala & shiso in the planter box. They are doing well.

 

One thing I have noticed on the blog stats is that sometimes it looks like the views have dropped significantly, like today, but when I check the next day I am surprised to see a high number again. I am thinking they count the views based on the date of the viewer rather than the location of the blogger. Just my guess, have not yet figured out where to find that type of information. Not sure about how the individual posts are being counted; some of those are really old. Are people really going back that much & reading those old posts?

 

The next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea continues to be expected between the 25th & 27th with the 26th being the most likely date.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Marnie! 

Fermented Avocados?

I borrowed the Fermented Vegetables book that Sandra had at the event last night. That was a mistake! I took it to Lapahaki today & was thumbing through it when there were no visitors at the park. Did you know you can ferment avocados? And that you can add turmeric to the cabbage in your sauerkraut? They have recipes for 72 different vegetables, fruits, & herbs! I will have to get a copy & start experimenting with the recipes. This just might be what I need to keep up with all the fruits that the plants that Grandma & Grandpa planted here on the ʻohana property produce.  

Duolingo still thinks I am doing a great job even though I got nearly all the pronunciations wrong!

Blue highlighted ones are correct.

The Sudoku app, however, uses real data to compare how I am doing against others.

Yesterday the views went over 5000! And that's not cumulative, that is for yesterday only! I am completely baffled by this. I can understand views increasing after the Lāhainā fire but I have posted nothing that I can think of to cause this recent increase in views.

I believe these are views for the previous 7 days.

I like the rain in the evening. That lets me know I may not need to water the new plants the next morning.  

The window for the next episode of the eruption of Kīlauea has narrowed slightly down to between the 25th & the 27th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jim & Kyle! 

Regional Agrifood Summit

This evening Sandra, Kathy, Michelle, & I staffed a Kohala ʻOno Food Hui information table at the Kohala Agrifood Summit. This County initiative is being held around the island; tonight was the 1st session. It was well attended & we signed up 11 new people who are interested in the food preservation classes that we will be holding again next year.

This is crazy! Once again overnight the views for this blog went up by almost 1500! Now there are over 1000 views each in the US, Singapore, & Brazil. Of the top 10 countries, I only know people in the US; though I have emailed with 1 person in Ukraine. Of countries 11 through 19, I know 3 people in Indonesia, 5 in Mexico, 1 in Spain, & 1 in Canada. Why the sudden interest from people I do not know? Dunno. But when I checked for the annual number of views, I found the highest month was in August 2023 which I am sure is because of the Lāhainā fire that occurred on 08/08 that year. 

Today is my last day feeding Ginger's cats. And the chickens were a big problem today! I warned Vicky about them; she will be taking over feeding tomorrow. 

Darn chickens! Kept circling around house & getting on to porch.

About mid-morning, Moʻo started barking in the back yard; it was not her cow bark or intruder bark. As I watched her on the security camera, she came to the garage to see if I was coming out to check what was happening; when I did not come out she went back out & barked more. As I was deciding whether to go out or not, I smelled smoke! That made the decision easier! Turns out it was Jeremiah & Kaiza; they were collecting bees that had swarmed & were on a papaya plant in Dena's back yard. The smoke was from the bee smoker that beekeepers use to keep the bees calm when they are moving them. Good for Moʻo recognizing that smoke is a possible bad thing & also not letting me ignore her barking!

Kaiza removes queen from swarm.

Jeremiah & Kaiza have moved bulk of swarm to empty hive.

I was doing some background research regarding my earlier weight loss journey to help me with this new attempt. It was interesting to read about the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic & how totally messed up things got. For Curtis & I, increasing our knowledge of COVID-19 came on 03/09/2020 with the announcement of the 2nd case here in Hawaiʻi; our friend The Bronco Dude had been on that same plane the patient had been on & we had lunch with him right after he got off the plane! The Maunalani Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, where Dad was, asked us to stay away until 04/10/2020; little did we know that would be the beginning of the New Normal. My last weigh in before that started was on 03/13/2020; I was at 110.0 pounds. (FYI The extra 10 pounds might have been mainly fat. When I was at 100 pounds, I was also measured at 12% body fat. Yes, my periods were irregular. And I had a 6-pack.😕 May be I should only go down to 110 pounds?)

(03/13/2020)

Because we would not be able to visit Dad for a month, I decided to go to Kohala & work on the house. Before I went, though, I checked in with The Doc, a fellow walker on Maunalani Heights who is an emergency room doctor; he gave me some good advice & also said going there would be safer due to the lower population in Kohala where there are less people in the entire 132 square mile district than there are in 1 square mile in Kaimukī! The pandemic had greatly reduced the fares for interisland travel so that part of the decision was easy. It was so nice to be there enjoying social distancing on Hawaiʻi Island! The only person I was in close proximity with was hoa hānau Tomiko's friend Grey who was sailing internationally when the World shut down. I also checked in with friends in other places to see how they were doing; long story short, most of my friends & family have survived COVID-19 with little or no serious problems. And I have gained new friends through volunteering with the Medical Reserve Corps on vaccine PODs & COVID-19 outreach & education & doing contact tracing. 

Social distancing Big Island style! (03/26/2020)

As I was writing this post it began to rain, a lot! Which means I don't really have to water anything tomorrow! But I did have to close some windows that had been left open to help keep things cool during the day; I will have to remember to open them up before I leave tomorrow morning. 

 

There was a small M 3.8 earthquake early this morning; I did not feel it. This one was near the area of the M 6.0 earthquake on 05/22 but is not believed to be related to that earlier earthquake. I hope Derek & his family did not suffer any more damage; they had some major damage from the earlier earthquake.

Episode 50 of the eruption of Kīlauea is still anticipated to occur some time between the 24th & the 27th.

 

Hauʻoli lā hoʻomanaʻo makahiki kanahākumamāhā e John & Ruth!