While out on the lanai I also saw a Manu-o-ku (white tern, Gygis alba) fly by; it headed up Palolo Valley. I couldn't see well enough to see if it had any fish in its bill but if it is flying inland it must be going to feed a chick. I checked the Hui Manu-o-ku website and found that there are no nests known in Palolo Valley or Maunalani Heights, the nearest nest site is at the easterly edge of the University of Hawai'i campus. The bird did not seem to be going in that direction, it clearly looked like it was flying up the valley. I'll have to pay more attention and see where it goes if I see it come by again.
Before Dad came down with pneumonia, the CNAs had been getting him up and in to the wheelchair after giving him his morning bed bath. He seemed to be OK with that, cooperating with them unless the bed bath water was lukewarm, then he'd complain; we decided to get back to that routine so Dad does not lie around in bed all day. Today when I arrived at 8 am he was sitting in the 2nd floor dining room, having breakfast with Mrs. Ho. (More on her later.) He ate about half his papaya along with 240 ml Breeze and 300 ml Plus. He had a little difficulty with his pills so I asked him if he wanted them crushed, he said Yes, so I passed that info on to RN Ellie; she'll put that note in his chart along with a request for cups & straws whenever he is given anything to drink. Ellie also told me that it takes a few days for the dronabinol (Marinol) to start working.
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| Dad looks out at St. Louis Heights while at breakfast. |
After breakfast I wheeled Dad over to the nurses station to watch whatever was on. I immediately recognized it as the white savior movie with the blue humanoids. Truthfully, I had to Google "movie with blue people" to come up with Avatar. I have not seen the movie, I have only heard discussions about it specific to the social justice aspects. (I'm sure that's because of the people I used to hang out with & that I have 'friended' on Facebook. I believe the phenomenon is called the "echo chamber".) I came in on the part where the male-human-in-avatar gets put in his place by the indigenous female on how he is upsetting the balance of the forest and is like a child causing problems. She also saves him from the hyena x insect forest carnivores. (Interestingly, the male-human-in-avatar holds his knife Japanese-style while he is fighting the hyena insects off.) That's all I got in the 5 minutes or so that we were there.
My Avatar-watching experience is very much like trying to look for endangered species. You get only a relatively small amount of time to observe for the presence of the target species; like the 5 minutes of watching Avatar. You then have to base your project mitigation decisions on those minimal observations. That's why there are protocols for the number of observations over a pre-determined amount of time at established times of the year to give you the best chance of seeing signs of the target species during breeding and rearing seasons as well as things such as night roosts and other areas they congregate in if that is appropriate for the species. But you still might not see them because of the quality of the environment. So if the habitat of the right quality is present, it is assumed the species is present, or has a high likelihood of becoming established in the area when it finds it. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." It's difficult to definitively prove that something is not there.
When I grow up I want to be like Mrs. Ho. She is 100 years old and very feisty! She has thick dark hair sprinkled with gray and although she is in a wheelchair, she gets around fairly well. Actually, she would get around a lot better if they took the brakes off her chair; they keep them on to slow her down! Even with the brakes on she pulls herself around quite vigorously, so the staff has to always keep an eye on her so she doesn't get too far out of their sight. In a way she reminds me of Uncle Kazu, sneaking out at age 92 so that he can wheel around in the parking lot! Yeah, I want to be like them when I am their age; still active and getting in to trouble!
I had to have a walk today; Curtis called about lunch time and said the crew was there to start grinding the concrete slab in preparation for the new flooring. So he wasn't going to be able to come to relieve me; I would be staying through physical therapy and dinner. There were kids on the basketball court which was nice to see. And someone from the Board of Water Supply; looks like they are doing something to the facility. I met a dog on the walk back up, she was all by herself; no human in view though she did keep looking back over her shoulder. No cool birds either.
Dr. Gries was the one who let me in after I finished my cool down stretches. He examined Dad and said his lungs sounded better. Then he said Dad had a "sushi infection", at least that's what I thought he said. He actually said, "shishi". Then he said Dad had a urinary tract infection; why didn't he say so in the first place? I'm beginning to wonder what category Dr. Gries has put me in to in terms of how technical he can be in keeping me informed of Dad's condition and care options. I shall have to discuss this with him at his next visit.
After finding out Curtis wouldn't be here this afternoon, I texted The Roommates since I was originally going to cook tonight. The Potential Most Favorite Roommate volunteered to cook since he got off at 3 today. He made a corned beef brisket with cabbage, potatoes, & carrots. He has made this same dish in a crock pot, but today he was using the electric pressure cooker; it was ready really, really early. It was good, but the potatoes melted. We decided if The Potential Most Favorite Roommate uses this as one of his 4 meals for the month, he can perfect it over the next few months.
When I got home The Roommates had the TLC channel on; The Roommate Who Is Learning to Give Xander His Meds likes to watch 90-Day Fiance'. Huh? Apparently it is a reality show about K-1 visa holders and what happens after the non-citizen arrives in the US during the 90-day period that is allowed for the marriage to occur before the visa expires. There's a lot of weird stuff on television. There was also a show about buying wedding dresses. Huh? I can honestly say that I don't feel like I have missed out on television all these years.
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| (Screen shot from TLC) |
By the way, at my weigh-in this morning I found that I had lost 1.8 pounds over the last week. Yay! My regimen is working! Most days I start with 8 oz cranberry juice with 1 tsp psyllium fiber, followed by 8 oz of either Ultrasoy (10 g protein) or Ripple peamilk (8 g protein). For lunch I have a plain hard boiled egg about 2 hours before I walk. At dinner I try really hard to limit myself to good quality protein eaten to satiety, as few refined carbs as possible, unlimited vegetables & lipids. I tend to skip dessert or take a really small amount. I usually have about 1/4 c of pistachios (measured with shells on) as an after dinner snack, eaten slowly and savored. I think adding more protein to my diet has helped with building muscle, which helps me to burn more calories as I move around, leading to greater weight loss. I have not yet experienced the clothes-getting-tighter phase of muscle mass gain yet, but know to expect it later. Fat allows you to squeeze into things, muscle does not. (In high school my sister Susan liked this, there were more hand-me-down clothes she could wear that I could not squeeze in to.)
I took photos of the outdoor temperatures this morning. It was 78 degrees F at the house and 75 F at Maunalani. But that was early in the morning when it is still cooler. I'll have to try this again on a day when I go up in the afternoon.
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| Temperature at 7:48 am. |
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| Temperature at 7:58 am. (The clock in the car is slow; I don't pay any attention to it anyway.) |
Happy Birthday to Dwight, Marvin, Stan, & Maria!
P. S. For dessert tonight I finished of my chocolate gelato from Via Gelato.
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