My Summer Vacation: 2nd Round Clean-up Days #1 & #2

Much of Wednesday was spent getting things set up for Mom since I will be gone for a week. I met with Tiani from Safe Harbor to talk about what Mom's needs were and that Dad would need mainly meal prep help and assistance if he fell. Tiani was great! Although they were not able to get someone there for that evening, she was able to set up a caregiver for the following morning before I got on the plane!

Curtis was concerned about Mom taking a bath and leaving her alone while he took me to the airport. Aunty Judy had seen my post about getting caregivers via Safe Harbor and had called to offer help as she was able to. It turns out Wednesday evening was a day she could help, Curt was very relieved to have her at the house while we went to the airport. Aunty Judy & I also had Mom take a shower before we left for the airport; the shower is Curt's biggest worry.

The flight to Kona departed on time. Here is Waikiki from the air after dark. Look for the bunch of tall buildings near the shore.

Honolulu after dark, Waikiki just right of center along shoreline.

Here's a cool photo of Leahi after dark.

Leahi #22 from the air after dark

We arrived in Kona on time and I got to the Alamo car rental place fine. The agent working with me said I got a complimentary upgrade from the economy car I had reserved earlier but did not say what it was. When I walked out to the lot I found out the real story. One of the departing flights was delayed until midnight so all those people extended their rentals so there were no economy cars available! My choices: a van or an SUV. I chose the SUV because I did not need a van. Here's what I got. I suppose if I were the normal tourist I would be overjoyed to get an SUV for the cost of an economy car, but I'm not.

Jeep Cherokee with all the bells & whistles

One of the things I really like about the Big Island is how much open space there is. On the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway from the airport up to the junction with the Akoni Pule Highway there are street lights only at the intersections leading downslope to the resorts or upslope to the places where locals live. Other than that it is dark. It is similar driving the Akoni Pule from Kawaihae till about the Coast Guard station. (There are no lights on most of the Kohala Mountain Road either. When I am coming in late and want to get to the house quickly I take the coast road, especially at night. During the day the mountain road is much nicer and I drive it even though it takes more time.)

Queen K Highway in the dark

By the time I got to the house it was about 11 pm. I made use of the new ramp by dropping off my suitcase at the front door rather than hauling it up the stairs from the garage. And discovered a problem with the Jeep. When the tailgate goes up it is out of my reach. (The lot attendant closed it after helping me get my suitcase in back.) So I drove down to the garage so I could move a bench over so I could close the tailgate and discovered problem #2. When the tailgate is up it hits the edge of garage opening, good thing I have the collision coverage! (Only did cosmetic damage.) With all the issues I ran in to I didn't really do any clean up; I just quickly set up the couch, took a shower, and went to bed.

The reason for the timing of my trip was to attend the Fall Celebration Luncheon at the Kohala Hospital where Uncle Kazu now lives. The entertainment was provided by the Hawai'i County Nutrition Program's Kapa'au office workers. They have been practicing ukulele for several months on their lunch hour; 2 of them also do the hula. At one point they taught the residents how to do the hand motions for E Huli Makou and encouraged them to follow along to get a little exercise. They also sang some old favorites and closed with a couple of Christmas songs.

Kalani leading the residents in E Huli Makou.

The event is called the Fall Celebration. The decorations, although orange, had no Halloween overtones. There were also no turkeys or pilgrims so there was no Thanksgiving feeling either. It was just a celebration of the season. The Kohala Hospital staff prepared the lunch. There was local food and it was great! A whole lot better than the Omni Air coach class and Reeve Aleutian lunches!

Clockwise from top: mashed purple sweet potato, spinach cooked luau style in coconut milk, green beans, roast kalua style pork, lemon bar with haupia top layer, cole slaw with pineapple, & lomi salmon with won bok.

In spite of how I should be happy that I got a free upgrade, it really is a big problem for me beyond those I already noted. One of the things that I try to do on each trip is take Uncle Kazu out for lunch and ice cream. I had Uncle Kazu check it out and discovered the Jeep is too high for him to get in to easily. So no excursion for lunch and ice cream on this trip. But I will be bringing ice cream to him at the hospital on Monday. Next time I think I will take the van since it would be lower. It will be a pain to park and will probably use more gas, but at least Uncle Kazu can go out for lunch and ice cream.

I went to post office and picked up my mail after I left the luncheon and found the package that Suz had sent. She had read my post about the ants and roaches and rats. She used to have problems before but says after they installed these they haven't had any problems. (The Terro liquid ant baits have gotten rid of the ants. Not sure about the roaches or mice/rats since I am not up at night when they are most active.) I am not sure if I should trust their advertising that it is effective. They say it repels rodents, so it should not be used around pets such as, "gerbils, hamsters, and ferrets"; ferrets are weasels not rodents. It also says it repels insects, such as, "ants, roaches, and spiders"; spiders are arachnids not insects. But I installed them anyway, we will see what happens.

Also made a quick trip to Takata Store for supplies. I will also have to make a trip to Nakahara Store to see if they have the contact solution I use, Takata did not have it today though they usually do.

I managed to get some organizing done. Here is a photo of the last day of the first clean-up and the end of the day yesterday for the back bedroom and the sewing room. The sewing room is going to be used for storage until it is time to remodel and enlarge it. In the meanwhile, Phase 2 is in the planning stages.