Hurricane Fausto

In case you have not heard, there is a hurricane heading our way. It is still a long ways off, about 4 or 5 days before it is close enough to make landfall. But I wanted to update those of you who have heard about it & might be wondering whether there will be a problem here. Right now it is about 1385 miles easterly of Hilo & traveling westerly at about 14 mph; it is expected to enter the Central Pacific region, where Hawai'i is located, in about 2 days. Once it crosses in to the Central Pacific region, there is usually about 2 or 3 days before it reaches the closest island, i. e., Hawai'i Island where I live. But don't start worrying yet. A lot of things can happen in the next couple of days; the most significant being that Hurricane Fausto will be crossing over a mass of cooler ocean water that is also drier. This will remove some of the energy that fuels hurricanes, lessening their intensity & frequently reducing them to tropical storms. Currently Fausto, which has sustained winds of 105 mph, is classified as a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. We just have to wait & see what happens. Stay tuned! 

The Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense sent out alerts today about Hurricane Fausto. They are getting prepared for Fausto's possible arrival. Even though I am not at my house & I won't be until the day Fausto potentially arrives, I am comfortable with my preparations. Over the years I have cleaned up a lot of the various loose things around the yard that could become projectiles. And I have changed all the windows to be impact-resistant. I have a minimum 14-day supply of food that does not need cooking to be edible. And I also have an MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe camp stove & fuel canister in case I need to heat up food or water. I only have about 7 days worth of water but that is because the 14 days that they say you should have includes for washing dishes & flushing toilets. I can set out 5 gallon buckets under the drip line of the roof & fill those quickly to supply water for those needs. 

This afternoon Kai helped Jackie fix a problem she was having with her Gmail account. He was able to give her a couple of work arounds to get past the issue, but this kind of software is not his main focus working on computers. He's more of a hardware guy. 

For dinner I had leftover Hawaiian food. With a salad.

Kai & I watched Episode 7 of Chief of War called "Day of Spilled Brains". The American ship fires upon a peaceful village since they were not allowed to land & begin stealing sandalwood. We also watched several episodes of The Apothecary Diaries & Judge Dee's Mystery. I am watching way too many videos since there is not much for me to do here. (I have put watching Fights Break Sphere on hold since I can easily get that at home. The series I am watching here are on Apple TV+ which I do not have & Netflix which is sometimes not too cooperative when I try to watch it on my laptop in Kohala.)

There were no clips of ʻŌhuna on the security cameras early this morning or during the day. But I would not bet against her showing up sometime after I stop checking the cameras this evening. 

I finished Section 2, Unit 1 in the Mandarin lessons on Duolingo today! I did the Unit 1 Review lesson.

These flash cards are still my weak point.

Tomorrow I will start Section 2, Unit2, which is called "Explore Beijing". 

I am now using a Beginners level video in Lingopie called, Institute of Traditional Chinese Cuisine. It is not as delicious-looking as Good Morning, Breakfast, which is at the intermediate level. But the beginner videos are shorter, each of the 8 episodes is about 2 minutes long. Though I still can't listen to too much of the video without being overwhelmed by new words added to my deck of flash cards; I have been trying to add about 10 per session & review them using the spaced repetition before I move on to the next set of 10 or so. 

The next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has been narrowed to be between the 26th & the 30th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Shirley!

IASA #4-24

Pineapple bun (bō luó bāo, 波萝包) on front plate.

IASA #4-23

Kai finally got to see Kīlauea eruption on his 3rd trip.

 

Leeward Planning Commission

Today Kai got a break from me; I spent most of the day in Kona at the Leeward Planning Commission meeting. I got a lot of compliments on my blue hair! If you want to watch the 5-hour long meeting, click here.

Can't really see the blue in this screen shot; it's more visible in some other views.

After the meeting I ran my usual errands in Kona. Today I also stopped at Sally Beauty where I bought another hair dye. Since I want a darker shade of blue, I looked at several options. I will be trying Blue Smoke next month to see if it will be darker blue. Also met May; besides working at Sally Beauty, she is also a hula practitioner & fluent in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi!

The options.

On the drive back I talked to hoa hānau Laurel. She & Bill came over for dinner when she got back from work. We had a great visit catching up with what's been happening for each of us since our last visit in November. Laurel also told us about Pono Pastries which has filled malasadas with lots of filing! If we have time tomorrow, Kai wants to go there for breakfast. Another blow to the weight loss plan. 🙄

Duo the Duolingo mascot is so easy to please! I didn't do any thing significant this morning, but Duo was sooooo happy!

I am hoping to create a long streak in Lingopie just like I have done in Duolingo. I think consistent daily work is the best way for me to learn a new language. Lingopie is a lot slower since I watch the video, then create the flash card deck which is then presented to me using spaced repetition where I am seeing the most learning results. I think I have only watched about 5 minutes of Good Morning, Breakfast so far. It is really slow but I seem to be learning new words more easily.

Kīlauea is back in the re-inflation phase after yesterday's Episode 51 eruption. There is no prediction yet of when the next episode is likely to begin; they need more data.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e hoa hānau Leilani! 

Early Birthday Pie

When I went to drop off a plate of dinner from the Kohala Jodo Mission potluck with my friend Libby, she gave me an early b-day pie! Specifically chocolate ganache pie with raspberry drizzle! A wonderful addition to my acceptable sources of lipids for the anything-but-boiled-vegetables meal plan! (She knows I like dark chocolate.)

There were too many things going on today! The Kohala Jodo Mission's Obon observance started this morning with the blessing of the graves at 10 am. It was then followed by a veterans memorial, then the Hatsubon service for people who have passed away since last year's Hatsubon service. At nearly the same time there was a service for hoa hānau Lem's buddy Clifford & also a service for Marcia, the wife of Joe, one of the very active kūpuna leaders I have come to know in the community. Joe was also a classmate of my Aunty Judy. Fran & I stuck around for the lunch after Clifford's service; he had specifically told Fran he wanted her to be there. I strategically chose my carbs & proteins. With the blessings of Clifford's wife Cynthia & half-sister Lehua, I made a plate to take home for Kai.

Top row - carbs including culturally significant ones; Bottom row - proteins.

In the evening we had a choice between going to the ʻOhana Kilo Hōkū stargazing at Moʻokini Heiau or the dinner potluck at the Kohala Jodo Mission. We ended up deciding on the potluck since the weather was turning & a bunch of clouds were moving in that would make stargazing less than ideal. In the end, Kai did not go to either; he was too burned out from the morning activities at KJM where he was representing the family. It was a little too much for him & he was out of spoons.  

I went to the dinner potluck, & like the lunch, tried to be selective with my protein & carb choices for dinner. I made plates to take home for Kai & Libby who had also been invited to this potluck but was too busy preparing for a trip to Oʻahu.

I did the bare minimum in Mandarin in Duolingo to keep up my streak. But Lingopie takes more time & effort, I was unable do anything so I ended up losing my 4 day streak. I will have to avoid starting so late in the evening with Lingopie so that I can finish a decent amount of Mandarin to keep the streak going.

The next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea is likely between now & the 13th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kasimir! 

Automated Traffic

Kai has explained to me what is happening with the number of views on the Stats pages. Apparently what I am experiencing is re-indexing by search engines. And since I am posting almost daily it needs to "see" what I am posting so that it "knows" what's there if anyone happens to be searching for that particular bit of information that I posted. So its just machines looking at stuff for future reference that is causing the number of views I am seeing rather than real people. I will not longer pay any attention to the stats. 

Kai likes to go to breakfast at Hawaiian Style Cafe in Waimea when he is here, so that's where we went this morning. He had the Chorizo & Lup Cheong Omelet & I had the Pūlehu Short Ribs. (Pūlehu as used in the name of this dish is not quite accurate, it would be more correct to use "koala" which means grilling. We would pulehu whole nenue (rudderfish, Kyphosus sandvicensis) directly on the coals; that's true pūlehu.) 

Chorizo & Lup Cheong Omelette.

Pulehu Short Ribs.

After that we ran errands, stopping at Longs Drugs, HPM Building Supply, Mauna Kea Feed Supply, KTA Grocery Store, & The Waimea Butcher Shop. Waimea is a 45-minute drive away; so like going to Kona, when I am there I go to the places that have things I can't find in Kohala & pick them up if I need them. 

Found these interesting containers of oat milk at KTA.

It was still raining when we got back home. In fact, it was raining harder than when we left. Usually on Friday afternoons Marian & I get together with our dogs Poppy & Moʻo for a puppy play date; it was too wet today to do that. We'll try again next week.

Kai opening the gate in the rain.

Instead, we went to Motek to pick up some pastries for the potluck tomorrow night. We also went to the church to put up the chochin at the gravesites.

My pronunciation in the Duolingo exercises is sometimes hit or miss. And I am not quite sure why. To me it sounds like I am saying it properly. But I guess its not quite right. 

In the evening, when I went through the emails I had neglected throughout the day, I found I had an email from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Team eBird. They have updated how they present ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi on their birding app! Since I started using the eBird app, I have used their option that provides the names of birds in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, which was originally listed as "English (Hawaiʻi)". It is now listed as "ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi". Hūlō!

SPOILER ALERT - This evening during Episode 4 of Fights Break Sphere, Xiao Zhan's character Lin Xiuya appears as a 1st year student along with the other 1st years heading to the Jianan Fight Academy. Somewhat like the train full of 1st years on their way to Hogwarts, except that here the senior students ambush them & steal their energy talismans. It is after all a fight academy so might as well start fighting as early as possible, I guess. At one point the 1st years trick the seniors by making a savory soup with fish & morels!

The 1st years.

The 5 at right are main characters in 1st years

Morchella is another name for morels.

Earlier in the episode Xiao Yan's father also tells him that he has grown up so he needs to change his hairstyle. Like I said earlier, the hairstyle makes a difference in how age is perceived. Leo Wu now looks like his 19-year old self. And Xiao Zhan looks like a late teens guy though he was 27 when this was filmed. They both have what I call K-Pop Boy Band hair! Which I don't think was really a thing during this particular historical time period. 

Xiao Yan's new hairstyle.

Wise advice from Dad that I have heard in a couple other series.

The window for the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has been narrowed to between the 11th & the 13th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Anders! 

IASA #4-22

Weapons rack now installed !