Kono's in Kapahulu

We went to breakfast at Kono's; there are 3 locations, we went to the one in Kapahulu. (Insider Info>> Parking is on Kaimuki Avenue, the signs say parking is for Futago from 5pm to 2:30 am, but it is also Kono's parking lot even though it doesn't say that.) Curtis had the Local Bomber; I had the Chuns Bomber. The theme of Kono's is surfing, their mascot is a surfing pig. They just opened a bistro in Kaimuki called The Surfing Pig; I checked out the menu, The Roommates and I will have to try it for dinner.

Merchandise.

Bumper stickers.

Outdoor seating.

Look! A surfer!

The Local Bomber (Portuguese sausage).

The Chuns Bomber (kalua pig & bacon).

On the way to Kono's we saw a Lotus with the Hawai'i Volcanoes license plate. I hope more people get the plates to help out the park; they haven't been able to open due to the increased volcanic activity.


We had a Care Conference with the heads of the various divisions at Maunalani. During the care conference things discussed included Dad's medications (he has very few), progress with physical or other therapy (he has none because he refuses to cooperate), nutrition (he's refusing to eat solids but does well with the liquid supplements), toileting (he's become regular again, yay!), weight (he's about 10 pounds lighter than when he arrived in March but has been stable since June), activities (he likes the massage, ukulele, & watching videos about fishing), and more. Overall we are pleased with how he is doing here; we do know that there will be issues with his weight if he continues to refuse solids. We'll deal with it when the time comes.

Maunalani is going green! I'm not sure when all this is scheduled to start; CNA Jodi implied that it already has started, though I haven't seen any sign of it. I asked her if they were planning on tackling the plastic straw issue like Seattle is doing, she said probably not. But I think I will make a suggestion about it.

Because of the Care Conference, Curtis came in and did the morning shift; I ran errands, including mailing off 5 boxes of omiyage from Kai to his friends. I included a box for him, too. Since Curtis did the morning shift and I was running errands, I only did one walk today. I had hoped to do another walk after dinner with The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes.

But since Coldfyyre Ice Cream is closing their Kapiolani store and moving to Kailua, we went to take advantage of their 40% off moving sale; tonight is their last night. We talked to Coldfyyre's owner, Gary. He said he was made an offer too good to pass up to move to Kailua; he hopes to be back up and running by September. He will be sending out texts on their renovation progress as well as information about their grand opening. The Roommate That Likes to Do Dishes had the lilikoi and I tried the pistachio; both excellent! I also bought a pint each of lilikoi, matcha, and what I thought was haupia but it might really be pistachio; all for a little over $13 since it was 40% off.

The ice creams are lilikoi (top) & pistachio (bottom). We played Do, which is like Uno/

Here's the answer to the fish question yesterday. Examine the photo in quadrants. There is a Piliko'a or arc-eye hawkfish (Paracirrhites arcatus) in the upper half near the center of the tank on the white coral head. In the upper right quadrant there are 3 fish; the one closest to the top surface of the water is an Umaumalei or orangespine unicornfish (Naso lituratus). Just below the umaumalei is a Lau'ipala or yellow Manini or yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens). Below the lau'ipala is a regal blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus); it is not found in Hawai'i. In the lower right quadrant, to the far right of the tank, is a clownfish; I think it is Barber's clownfish (Amphiprion barberi). Sorry Nemo lovers, there are no clownfish or anemonefish in Hawai'i. The last fish is in the lower left quadrant; it is a Potter's angelfish (Centropyge potteri). Although it has no Hawaiian name it is an endemic species.

Happy Birthday to Jim!

New! Improved! Fillings

Last month I had a check-up with Dr. Azuma, the new dentist that took over all my previous dentist's patients when he retired; he's the one with all the new toys. He found that I needed 6 fillings replaced; that's what happened today. He replaced 2 of the old silver amalgam fillings, which contain mercury, with polymer fillings. The whole process took about 2&1/2 hours, some of his electronics were not working properly. I was out of there around 6:30 pm; I'm glad we didn't try to do all 6 today! I have to go back 2 more times to get the rest of them done.

Saltwater aquarium in the lobby. There are 6 fish in the tank, can you spot them? Answers in tomorrow's post.

The not-so-colorful view from the exam chair.

The big picture is of my lower molar after the old filling was removed; the photo in the upper left is with the old filling intact. The tooth is cracked right down the middle.

The tooth has been cleaned up & filled with a new polymer filling.

Lunch today was Chicken fettuccine alfredo, Key West bend vegetables, Tossed salad, Orange pound cake, & Minestrone soup. The tossed salad had cucumbers, shredded red cabbage, & shredded carrots along with the lettuce. Dad didn't even want to try the dessert today.


This morning I could not believe I forgot to fill up my water bottles, which I put in the freezer to freeze overnight. I had to make do by filling my insulated water bottle with ice cubes & pouring water over them to get some cool water.


On my morning walk I saw a bunch of Java sparrows at a feeder hanging at a house across from the Maunalani entrance. It drizzled on me when I got to the park, as I walked back up to Maunalani it changed to a light mist and the sun was  out. I also walked when Dad was at the Namaste session; it was warm & sunny then. I did the late afternoon walk a little early since I needed to go to the dentist this afternoon; Curtis passed me as I was on my way back up the hill.

How many Java sparrows can you spot?

I was pretty tired today. I wonder if it was that extra 1 mile of walking that I did yesterday? I will have to pay attention to my tiredness as I begin to increase the amount of walking that I do to get ready for the Great Aloha Run which is 8 miles; currently I do 3 to 4 miles a day. When I overdo things, the first thing I notice is that the fibromyalgia makes me tired. If I don't pay attention and I keep overdoing it, I crash and sleep for a couple of days. I haven't had one of those episodes in a long while; I think the last one was in 2016, a couple months after I moved back & was trying to get things in balance. Finalizing things in Washington, getting re-established in Honolulu, & renovating a very old house on the Big Island to make it livable again was kind of a lot all at once. How do I know its the fibromyalgia & not just lack of sleep? The tiredness I feel is so intense I sleep through any alarms & 80+ degree heat feels cold.

Happy Birthday to Jim!

Lazy Sunday

I felt lazy today after all that work yesterday, even though I did all 3 of my walks. I took a photo of Wilhemina Rise from the top so you can get an idea of how steep a walk it is for Rhonda and Kavita and why I call them Wonder Woman. Now I feel really lazy!

From the intersection with Sierra Drive, looking downhill towards Leahi. The park is off to the right.

Dad was still in bed when I got to Maunalani, CNA Sharmayne doesn't seem to like to get him out of bed. Lunch today was Beef stir fry, Brown rice, Tossed salad, Lemon meringue pie, & Split pea soup.


The Roommate Who Likes to Do Dishes provided the meal today. He forgot he said he would "cook" so he ended up going to Popeyes to pick up dinner; he walked there & back to get some exercise. Then after dinner, he and I walked to the freeway & back to get in another mile of walking for the day. I now feel like I am pleasantly exercised! The Fitbit says I did 11,712 steps or 4.42 miles, 50 floors, and burned 1,469 calories. My activity was not spread evenly throughout the day, I have only completed a minium of 250 steps per hour for 9 of the 14 hours. The Health app on my phone says I did 11,616 steps (less than 1% difference) or 5.32 miles; the Walking app says 2.99 miles were walking specifically for exercise for a total of 67 minutes, which burned 360 calories. The Fitbit is probably the most accurate of the three; however, the bottom line is whether the amount of walking I am doing is helping me get in shape and feel better. I don't need any apps to tell me that.

The Roommate Who Likes to Do Dishes received a disturbing text today; Coldfyyre is closing on July 31st! They are moving to Kailua so if we want to make an after dinner ice cream run it will no longer be just a few minutes away, it will be about 30 minutes away. I guess we will have to search out Lucy's Lab Creamery to see if their ice cream is good enough to take its place.

Tonight The Roommate Who Likes to Do Dishes said he signed up for the Great Aloha Run for February 18, 2019; it's at the cheapest registration rate right now. Last year he walked it & I told him I would go with him if he walked it again. (I don't run, its too much work!) So I am now registered for the Great Aloha Run; we might continue the nightly after dinner walk to get in shape for the 8 mile Great Aloha Run!

I've been listening to the Harry Dresden audiobook, "Grave Peril"; I'm on chapter 24. Harry is in trouble again, but like any good hero he manages to come out of it alive ... except for that Game of Thrones show, I hear they kill off the heroes all the time.

(From the audiobooks digital file)

Happy Birthday to Jim & Jennifer!

I Can See Again!

It wasn't that bad, but it needed to be done. Since DT is leaving this evening, he brought the RAV4 back today; Curtis picked DT up when he left Maunalani & had to take him to the airport this evening. So we switched places; I had the morning off so I did laundry & yardwork in the early morning. I still need to train the yellow and red 'ohai ali'i, so I did some work on those. I also need to remove the Mickey Mouse plant near the mock orange, so I worked on that, too. The mock orange also needs some training, but the green waste bin was getting full so I will leave that for another time.

Before.

After.

I also spent time cleaning up my bedroom, reorganizing it, & doing repairs. One of the big tasks was reattaching the fabric on the bottom of the box spring; unbeknownst to me there was a small piece that had been ripped and was hanging down to the floor. The first time I ran the Deebot robot vacuum in that room it grabbed that piece and tore off more & became entangled in it. I repaired that today and discovered that the wooden frame is very termite eaten; Curtis might want to replace this in the future. In the meanwhile, I zip-tied the metal bed frame to the wooden headboard to keep them from coming apart again; things look much better now. And now I can let the Deebot loose in the room again so it can clean under the beds where I can't reach with the Shark vacuum cleaner.



The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes had a shirt that needed a home. I now have it; we are considering it my birthday present from him. It is a t-shirt with a statement on it; sometimes I have problems with those because most of the time I don't fill shirts out as much as they need to be filled out. I don't have too many t-shirts that have statements on them, even short ones. When I went to graduate school I returned with a University of Washington t-shirt that said,
Huskies
Huskies
Huskies
When I wore it, most of the time it said,
skies
skies
skies
People wondered what that meant.

What's not fatal?

After much pulling in the back, you can now read all of the shirt.

I only did 1 walk today; it was in the mid-afternoon just before I relieved Curtis at Maunalani. Even though I had a lot of other exercise today with all the yardwork and flipping the box springs & mattress, and the Fitbit says I did a lot, I missed doing my other walks today. I think it's the sustained output of energy that I get from the walks that I need to make me feel like I did something.

Happy Birthday to Mona & cousin Mark! And Happy 30th Anniversary to Mimi & Peggy!

Cooke Street Diner

We did Tuesday breakfast on Friday this week. Originally we weren't going to do breakfast this week since Curtis had a commitment on Tuesday morning (& I went out to eat dinner a LOT last week) but a friend needed help early this morning so we did breakfast this morning. One problem though, we were starting an hour earlier than usual so there were fewer options; I turned to my Phone That Is Smarter Than Me. I Googled "breakfast places that are open now" and one of the options was the Cooke Street Diner. It's a little hole-in-the-wall place with 5 tables inside & 1 outside that was occupied by construction workers in their safety yellow shirts. Curtis had the Kim Chee Portuguese Sausage Breakfast and I had the CSD Loco Moco. It's very 'ohana-oriented & was constantly busy while we were there; we were the only ones who were new to the place. Ken talked with everyone while his aunty took orders; he said she's 89 years old & working at the diner keeps her sharper than when they leave her at home. We'll have to come back and try their lunches; but I'm sure it will be very busy so we'll have to come early.

In front of the diner with Ken.

Menu.

Kim Chee Portuguese Sausage Breakfast. (Photo by Curtis)

CSD Loco Moco.

We finished breakfast early enough for me to also do my morning walk; I pondered not doing it because I had just eaten. But it was too early for Dad & I only ate half my breakfast (portion control!), so I decided to try it; thinking if I started to feel any discomfort I would turn around even if I hadn't made it to the park. I was able to do the entire walk with no problems! And along the way I discovered the person driving by who waved at me a few weeks ago was Kelly & Abby; they were just leaving the parking lot when I got there so this time I was able to really see who was driving. When I returned to Maunalani, I also got to see one of the local chickens that wander through the grounds.


On most Fridays, Lynn comes to play ukulele with Gloria. Lynn is Dad's 442 buddy Walter's daughter; Walter was at Maunalani until he passed away a couple years ago. Lynn also comes on Monday evenings with her friend Myra; sometimes they stay for dinner. Dad will make an extra effort to get out of bed to go and see Lynn; she is one of his last connections to his old friends from the 442.

L to R: Gloria & Lynn.

Lunch today was Pork fried rice, Pacific vegetable mix, Tossed salad, Fresh strawberries, & Egg drop soup. Dad tried a piece of strawberry but that was it for solid food at lunch.


My friends sent me some old photos. Darla sent me some photos of when Kai & I went on a hike with her; I think that was to Lake 22. Carole sent a photo of me in my chest waders, checking out the dead animal in the lake they live on; it was a river otter.

Kai was about 5; I think this was on our way to Lake Twenty-two. (Photos by Darla)

Looking for the dead animal. (Photo by Carole)

Happy Birthday to Rachel! And Happy 5th Anniversary to Eleta & Trish!

Ass One Beeg Buggah!

I did the sheets from the Kohala house last night. When I went to hang them out this morning I found a humongous caterpillar! The pen it is next to in the photo below is 5-1/2" long, the barrel is 3/8" diameter, and the cap is 7/16" diameter. I think it is the larval form of the Pink-spotted Hawkmoth (Agrius cingulata), whose caterpillar is described as, "large and stout and have a horn at the end of the abdomen". They also feed on sweet potato leaves, which I have in the garden nearby where it was found.

The horn at the end of the abdomen.

The poor sweet potato plant that has been severely munched on.

Lunch today was Beef stew, Steamed rice, Garden salad, & Tapioca pudding; there was no Cream of broccoli soup on my tray although it was listed on the menu. But that doesn't matter, usually I do not eat the soup since it is so bland.


I forgot to mention yesterday that Uncle Larry returned! I  visited him today, he is staying in his bed right now. He seemed to be a bit melancholy; looking at his picture wall & talking about old friends he missed. He asked me to talk to his wife and handed me the TV remote instead of the phone that was nearby. I picked up the handset & found that there was only a dial tone; I made believe I was talking to his wife. (She came by a couple hours later.) I hope Uncle Larry cheers up again.

It drizzled lightly during my morning walk; I saw 2 guys down at the park by their work trucks. They later showed up at Maunalani; the one I spoke to said they were there to work on the roof. It was dry at the mid-morning walk but spritzing at the shift change walk in the afternoon. At first Curtis sounded surprised that I walked in the afternoon, then he remembered that I used to live in an area that had always rained every time he visited & realized the amount of precipitation that was coming down today was nothing compared to what he experienced when he visited Washington. I told him the big difference was the temperature; when you get rained on here you are not likely to get hypothermia, unlike in Washington. 

The Zumba classes for the staff at Maunalani are now on Mondays & Thursdays at 4 pm. RN Ramona was peeking at the class (she works at that time) as I left today; I joined her to watch them. The Zumba instructor & RN Remy, who is in charge of the 2nd floor, invited me to join them. For tonight I was not prepared, I will try it on Monday. I did tell them that I was uncoordinated so would probably do poorly. I also need to see if my other Skechers will work without hurting my knees because I certainly can't do Zumba in hiking boots!

This is what I have to put up with when I allow Shiro in the bathroom when I take a shower. Xander liked to also sleep on the bathmat, but since he was about twice as heavy as Shiro he covered much more of the bathmat.

Let's Go Fishing!

Dad got up this morning to go to the Namaste session. But because it was Wednesday they could not use the normal space; it is used for hair styling on Wednesdays. And since they were short-handed, Susie set them up in the Library to listen to music on the computers. I made a quick walk & returned in time to rescue Dad from "angelic" music; I found some videos of fishing programs he used to watch on television!


My morning walk was very refreshing; the sun was mainly behind clouds and there was a decent breeze. The mid-morning walk was a little warmer, but still way cooler than walking at home. During my midafternoon walk I met Mona & Noah. I've seen them before but usually Noah has behaved, today he decided he needed to figure out who I am. So I stopped to meet them.

I was finally able to get a lunch schedule; today's was Pork tofu, Steamed rice, Peas & carrots, Garden salad, Macaroon bar, & Chicken gumbo soup.


Tonight The Potential Most Favorite Roommate made a pot roast in the electronic pressure cooker. It was very good and we will have leftovers for at least 2 evenings. After dinner he gave me a birthday gift of 3 shirts he had been given but that were way too small for him. They are by the Hawaiian designer Manaola. These are the only designer clothes I have ever owned.


I finally got around to making lei with the pakalana flowers that I picked the other day. I was able to make 1 hat band lei and 2 strands of a regular lei; one for Barbara & one for Venus.


Happy Birthday to Jesus, Margie, & Darrin!

Little Visitor

This morning a little visitor came in to Dad's room; it was a medium-sized Cane Spider, Heteropoda venatoria. At first I thought it was just passing by the chair where I sit during the day. But later I found it decided to hang out near my backpack and water bottle. Cane spiders do not spin webs, they actively hunt their prey; I guess it was keeping my backpack & water bottle safe from any marauding roaches!

The visiting spider.

Here he is protecting my water bottle from marauders.

One of the things I discovered while trying to make sure everything I wanted was transferred over to the replacement phone, is that there is a Magnifier app that comes with the phone. I installed the widget this afternoon; I had a chance to use it when I went to get the mail when I returned home. As I got to the back door with the mail I noticed ants swarming all over my arm; I was wearing long sleeves so I didn't feel them. I'm not sure how long we left the mail uncollected but they had some ant larvae between 2 pieces of mail and were attacking me to defend the larvae. I also discovered I can use the Magnifier app to take a photo, like of the cane spider, and have it act somewhat like a telephoto lens; I didn't know about it when I took the photo of the spider otherwise there would have been a really detailed photo of it. Just imagine how good a photo I could have gotten of those ticks! I'll have to see how it works on birds in the field.

With the regular lens.

Using the Magnifier app; pretty cool!

Last night when I went to bed I seemed to be missing 18 people from my Contacts list whose information did not transfer over to the new phone. I knew who one of the people was because she texted me a couple days ago & her name was missing from the text, replaced by her phone number. This morning I noticed that her name and photo were now back in the text list; she was also present in Contacts. This afternoon I finally checked and found that I now have 28 more entries in Contacts on the new phone than are shown on the old phone. Auwe!

A sad discovery that I made is that all the data I had stored in Moving Planner has been lost. Somehow in the data transfer process Moving Planner was deleted. Even though I paid for the app, I have been unable to retrieve all the information on what was in the approximately 300 boxes at the Kohala house. Now I will have to randomly open boxes to find things. At least similar types of boxes are stacked together.

Lunch today was Korean broiled chicken, Sesame broccoli, Green salad, & New England clam chowder. Dad tried one bite of the chicken but said it was too hard for him to chew it.


I did 3 walks today and am feeling great! During the last walk I saw a sign at the bus stop that I never noticed before. Kai will have to be careful about bus stops here; I have picked him up when he had a bout of tetany and was lying down at the bus stop waiting for me. When I returned from the last walk of the day, RN Ryan said he liked my hiking boots. I told him I did, too! I do have to get a new pair though. Part of the sole on the left boot is beginning to delaminate; I need to take care of that before it trips me & I hurt myself.


Happy Birthday to Shirley! Shirley was the librarian at Kai's middle school; she was one of his favorite people there.