Feeling Better Today

It was much easier to get out of bed this morning. And the walk went a little faster today. I saw LaVie at the bus stop; she was headed to the bottom of the hill so she could walk back up. I also saw Ona & Rio along with her sister-in-law Carol; tomorrow Ona leaves for a trip to China! During my cool-down stretches I saw Ken and Steph walk by.

Nine minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad was just getting up when I got to his room; he did not want to get in to the wheelchair today. He ate half of his fried egg sandwich, half of the papaya, and all of the banana. He drank all of his apple juice and most of the water.

I skipped the mid-morning walk; Dad needed his diaper changed and I had pressed the call button. I don't like to leave without first talking to an aide about what he needs; he can't remember what he needs so he tells them to go away! They were a little busy today so no one came until about 15 minutes after I should have started my walk. No matter, I had a lot of things to take care of since I was gone last week.

One of the things I needed to do was call Terminix, the technician never showed up yesterday to do the inspection. I got a call center which was not helpful; they had no record of the initial appointment on 04/18 or the rescheduled one yesterday. The service rep asked me if I had made the appointment via their website or over the phone; I told her neither. I was called on the 18th & told the technician would be there in half an hour & he needed access to the inside of the house; I said, No, I'm not home. I asked the rep if maybe someone was using Terminix as a scam to get in to people's houses; she referred me to the local office to see what records they had. I called the local office, their phone tree kicked me out saying they were having technical difficulties and my call could not be completed! Aue!

Lunch today was Korean BBQ chicken, Brown rice, Sesame broccoli salad, Garden salad, Carmel cheesecake, and New England clam chowder. Dad ate all of his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and all of his dessert; then he ate half of my dessert also! He drank 120 ml of apple juice and 120 ml of water.


Dad was giving LPN Chivas a difficult time with his medications, so I stuck around to smooth things over. Then CNA Thalita & Chris came in with his therapy dog Polly, a beautiful collie; Dad pet her for a while. He was not as difficult after that. But by then the window of opportunity for my afternoon walk had closed.

Dinner today was Beef lasagna, Garlic bread, Italian mix vegetables, Peach shortcake, and Ham & bean soup. Even though the lasagna has carbs in it I ate it since my carb intake at breakfast & lunch were minimal; I passed on the garlic bread and cake and picked the bits of ham out of the soup. Dad ate half of his 1/2 tuna sandwich and 2 desserts. He drank 120 ml of apple juice but no water.


I had briefly considered walking after Dad went to sleep for the evening but decided I needed to take the carriers to Feather & Fur sooner rather than later, so skipped the walk. But when I got home I found out The Potential Most Favorite was making larb for dinner so I had a second dinner before heading off to Feather & Fur. Fortunately they are open 24/7 so I could drop by there any time. All the roommates decided they would go with me to see where Feather & Fur was. We ended up also going to 8&1/2 Desserts in Windward Mall for ice cream.

This is the larb; sorry no photos of ice cream.

As I noted after a previous trip, when I return I look to see if all the residents that I know are still around. Today I saw Uncle Larry, Mr. Watanabe, Mr. & Mrs. Omiya, Lori, Mrs. Tanji, Mrs. Shibuya, Mrs. Keliikipi, Mrs. Toyama, Mrs. Onoye, Mr. Miyahira, Mr. Crews, Mrs. Honjo, Mrs. Pang, Mr. Shiraki, Mr. Kam, Mrs. Higa, Mrs. Kim, Mrs. Okawa, Mr. Shinagawa, Mrs. Tanaka, and of course Dad's roommate Mr. Yamada. I noticed the name tags on the doors were still present for Mr. Kajihara, Mr. Kalaukoa, Mr. Izon, Mr. Kunisaki, and Mr. Ikuma. I still haven't seen Mrs. Akiyama, Mr.Asato, Mrs. Chong, Mr. Ikeda, Miss Kasahara, Mrs. Kusunoki, or Uncle Tony yet.

Must Keep Moving

It was a little rough this morning, but I kept my self moving to overcome the stiffness. All joints have synovial fluid which is like a lubricant for your joints, which includes your spine. When I started my walk this morning it was a chore to keep moving. But by the time I was completing the circle, about 0.4 mile, I was moving much better. I had less pain & stiffness, my stride was also longer. The only down side was that the Kōlea are gone; there was not a single one on my walk this morning. I saw Suzette, Caroline & Olive, and Lorraine while I was walking; Kelly drove by, I am assuming he was on his way to work since there was no surfboard in back of his truck. I saw Ken and his dogs, The Dog Pack, and Rosie & Daisy as I was doing my cool down stretches. As I was leaving I saw Matthew & Bo Derek.

Three minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Twenty-seven minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

The hāpuʻu and palapalai were doing great! The 2nd & 3rd new fronds had opened up nicely and the 4th one was about 10" tall (I didn't measure it). One of the old fronds that I had noticed that was sunburnt was getting browner, it will need to be removed once it has died back completely. And even though I also need to trim the dead fronds out of the oldest palapalai, all 3 of them are growing well.

Hapuʻu with 2 newly unfurled fronds.

New frond beginning to unfurl.

Because the Terminix technician was supposed to be at the house between 8 and 10 I left right after doing my cool down stretches. While I waited I got a lot done; Luna dropped a bunch of Mom's papers so I restacked them and attached the bins to the table top with Quake Hold, I cleaned off the breakfast counter, and sorted through last week's mail and newspapers. Ten o'clock came and went and no Terminix technician. So I cleaned out my suitcase and put things away that I had left in it yesterday; it is now ready to be reloaded with things to go back to Kohala. With the help of The Potential Most Favorite Roommate I also picked 10 papayas. The Potential Most Favorite Roommate said he was not working today and could wait for the Terminix technician so I decided to eat lunch since I would miss it at Maunalani. I left a little after 12 noon, the Terminix technician still was not there. Obviously I had to skip my mid-morning walk.

Luna & Sʻmores check out the papers Luna dropped.

All picked up.

Ironically, I found this among Momʻs papers; it is dated 2016.

It started to drizzle as  was on my way up, then it poured; apparently there are flash flood warnings for the island. I saw Mrs. Iseri almost as soon as I got to Maunalani, she was just leaving the dining room. I also saw Mrs. Moody, she was with Ken out by the Wellness Center Courtyard.


There was a Code Red on the 2nd floor shortly after I got there. I'm not sure who it was because I didn't recognize the room number. I guess I'll find out later.

I skipped the afternoon walk also. I decided not to push my body since I also fell asleep shortly after getting to Maunalani, which told me I still needed to rest. And it also rained.


Dinner was Pork loin roast, Steamed rice, Succotash, Lemon meringue pie, and Chicken noodle soup. Dad ate all of his half tuna sandwich and half of his pie. He drank most of his orange juice but not any of his water at dinner; he had about 100 ml before dinner. One thing we discovered during the Care Conference last week is that we need to be letting the CNAs know when we give him water; they keep track of all his fluid intake not just at meals.


I saw Sʻmores using the Cat Genie this morning! So now we have proof that she knows what it is for, she has no excuse for peeing or pooping outside the box.

Sʻmores is using the Cat Genie. Yay!

Luna the Voyeur?

No! Luna the Ambusher!

Maunalani is looking for more CNAs and LPNs. They are giving a sign-on bonus. So if you know of anyone looking for a CNA or LPN job, give them the info below.

During my weigh-in this morning I found I had lost 1.5 pounds over the last 10 days. I think a lot of that is due to having less food options available so I eat healthier! We'll find out more on Friday morning when I do my next weigh-in. My goal has been to lose 1 pound over a 2 week period; theoretically I should have lost 34 pounds by now. I have only lost 10.9 pounds or about 1 pound every 6 weeks. I want to lose at least 13 pounds and see if I feel less sluggish than I have been. If I'm still sluggish, I will go down another 10 pounds.

By the way, the Terminix technician never showed up.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Diana!

Third Time Is Not the Charm

After 3 days of heavy lifting my body decided to go on strike. I was unable to get out of bed easily this morning; everything seemed like it hurt. And it was a real pain not a fibromyalgia pain. How do I know it was real? Because it was consistent with the parts of my body I used when working with the concrete blocks these last couple of days and my suitcase yesterday. I Googled and found that those concrete blocks weigh about 40 pounds each, or 35% of my body weight. And at the airport yesterday, my suitcase weighed in at 48 pounds (42%). Which means on Thursday I moved at least 560 pounds, on Friday 1,120 pounds, and on Saturday 384 pounds. I need to do some upper body weight training to get in to better shape.

Besides being very stiff and sore, I also slept a lot today. I woke up around 10 this morning, drank some water, then went back to sleep. It was past noon when I got up again, ate a Field Roast sausage, drank more water, then went back to sleep. In the afternoon I stayed up for about an hour, drank more water, ate some tamari sunflower seeds, then went back to sleep. My body felt less sore after each time I woke up; sleep is part of the healing process for me. I hope the fibromyalgia doesn't slow down my healing too much.

Luna might have been upset that I was not awake at my usual hour before sunrise. I found this when I woke up & went to the bathroom; it was not like that last night.


When I woke up about 5:30, I realized I had not birded for the day yet. I dragged myself out to the living room & watched through the window. I was doing pretty good for such an urban area. At one point I had 3 species in my field of view. Then it began to rain, like really rain. And they all left.

L to R: Spotted Dove, House Finch, & Red-vented Bulbul.

The kid with his dog across the street were the only ones who stuck around in the rain.

Tomorrow I will be able to sleep in a little longer, sunrise is later here than in Kohala. By about 5 minutes. Yay!

I gave The Roommates the automatic feeders; I have no use for them now. So they have been trying to get S'mores and Luna used to wearing collars. I found Luna's collar in the kitchen on one of my forays out of my room today. Then when I was birding I heard sounds of a different activity from S'mores; her lower jaw was caught on her collar and she was fighting to get it loose. I released the collar and she promptly turned around and swatted me. I think she was actually going after the collar because when I put it down she attacked it and fought with it for several minutes, until she was satisfied that it was no longer going to bother her.


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Karyn, Cynthia, Andrea, & Kektadose!

Leaving Moku o Keawe

I skipped the morning birding  because I needed to finish packing and close up the house. I also had a couple other tasks to do before leaving. Specifically, I needed to mark the anthurium beds and also mark the approximate location for the fence. For right now I am having Aikane work on re-establishing the 2 beds by the garage & kitchen. After the sewing room is enlarged I will have them work on whether there will be enough room for a bed along that side; it may be along the fence rather than next to the house.

Blue marks the 1st bed, yellow for #2, & pink (which looks white here) is corner of sewing room extension.

While I was going to mark the northerly end for the fence a reddish bird flew up and landed in the shrub near the neighbor's fence. I had never seen it before but I am pretty sure it was a Red Avadavat; they are uniquely marked. It flew off so quickly after that I did not have time to get a photo. I am going to set the fence up so that a vehicle can pull all the way off the road before it has to stop for the gate.


As I was marking the anthurium beds I noticed that one of the rat baits by the persimmon was gnawed on. After finishing marking the beds and the fence line I checked all the rat baits. I had put baits around the base of the persimmon and puakenikeni trees because these are the probable access point for the rats to get to the roof. And I put bait around the base of the macadamia nut tree since I can see fresh signs of them gnawing on the nuts that have dropped. The last place I put the bait was in the holes of the concrete hollow tile blocks that I set up yesterday, it looked like a place a rat might explore. Besides the gnawed bait at the persimmon tree I also found one at the blocks; I didn't find any at the macadamia because they were all gone! I am wondering if the feral pigs ate them? What does rat bait do to pigs?

Bait under persimmon tree was gnawed on.

Bait inside concrete block was removed and eaten.

No baits were seen anywhere around the macadamia.

But fresh pig poop was found near macadamia tree.

When the ProVision Solar guys were here I made a serendipitous discovery; burning a mosquito coil in the outside toilet stall keeps the mosquitoes away from the kitchen door better than burning one right by the door. When ProVision was here I would go out about 8 and light a mosquito coil; it would burn until about 4 pm. For those 3 days I did not get bitten when I went out the kitchen door or puttered around in the garage. I will have to remember this for when there are a lot of people here.


On the way out I dropped off a bag of Meyer lemons with Joy. I didn't want the ripe ones to sit on the tree until they fell off. There are a lot more of them there.



I grabbed a Garden Burger at the airport. I really shouldn't have, it was overpriced and full of carbs. But I had not had anything for breakfast so I figured I was doing okay for my daily carb amount. There's no photo of my lunch because it was not photogenic.

While waiting for my flight to leave I decided to bird. The main species were House Sparrows and Zebra Doves, both begging for food from people eating at the gate. Because Kona International is an open airport with no walls or air conditioning the birds can fly right through. I saw a lot more birds here than I have seen at any other airport.

House Sparrows begging for food.

Open air terminal. Yes, you walk down a ramp & across the tarmac to get to the terminal.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Evelyn & Da Kine Sistah!

My Body Is Sore!

I skipped my morning birding walk. It was raining when I got up, but that wasn't the reason. I needed to finish the platform under the electric meter and I didn't want to work under the hot sun like yesterday. So I decided I would do it in the cool of the early morning. It was cool alright, cool and wet! It alternated between a light drizzle and rain for much of the morning. Then near the end of the project, of course, it stopped precipitating. A couple hours later it actually got sunny.

Seven minutes after sunrise.

Two hours later & still raining.

Still raining; it's a good thing the house has wide eaves so I could be a little dryer.

Nice and sunny at 5 pm.

It took me about 4 hours to finish the platform and weed the adjacent area and put down the weed cloth. I started by removing the blocks I had placed the previous day. Then I dug down the high spots and used it to fill the low spots; its called a balanced cut & fill, one of the useful phrases I learned while working! I thought I had calculated the correct number of concrete hollow tile blocks to get out to the edge of the grass but I was incorrect. However, it looked like I planned it that way because the first step is now red brick before you get to the concrete block! I'm glad I did my own measurements for the meter; the center of the meter is 5'5" from the platform. If I had listened to Zachary, and only put one layer of concrete block, it would be 6'1"! It needs to be no more than 5'6".

Yesterday's not so level start.

Leveled and ready to start the walkway.

Had to level that out, too. And remove heliconia tubers.

Hmmm, one block short.

No problem, we'll use what's available, old red bricks.

Looks better in the sunshine!

I weeded the adjacent area and also removed heliconia tubers; I lined the edges with rocks and bricks to keep the weed cloth down. It would have taken longer but my back was giving out so for the last 5 feet or so I just mashed down the weeds & put the weed cloth down over them without digging them up; we'll see what it looks like on my next visit. On the next visit I will also figure out how much cinders I need to cover the weed cloth to protect it from the UV and being walked on.

Yesterday.

Got the rocks down, now need to do the brick side.

That last part with not much along the edges is where I just mashed the weeds.

Everything looks better in the sunshine.

I replanted all the mondo grass that I dug up to place the blocks. What I didn't use around the blocks I planted on the other side of the ramp to fill it in and keep weeds from moving in to that area. I had bought potting soil and a bunch of pots because I thought I would have lots of starts needing new homes but that wasn't so. I did find, however, that the mondo grass sends off suckers rather easily so I could make a bunch of starts for other projects.

Before.

After. I will be making more mondo grass starts to fill this area in.

Because I herniated a disc in my back about 20 years ago I'm a lot slower than other people when it comes to doing projects like this that involve heavy lifting and bending over. I stop every 15 minutes or so and stretch for a few minutes to give my back a rest. It still got stiff & sore but not like right after I herniated it. My hands are also sore from digging around and pulling out the heliconia tubers. I'm sure it will be worse tomorrow.

I got very muddy, wet, & dirty. I need to bring an old pair of Hokas next time and leave them here specifically for dirty work like this. I will be traveling in slippers tomorrow because my new Hokas are too wet to wear. I got so wet my shorts were leaving a little puddle after I took them off to take a shower.

The shirt looked cleaner later, after a couple hours of being rained on.

Shane Sato has great timing! I had been out of the shower about 15 minutes and was resting when he called. He had some questions about Dad for his new book on the 442nd vets. He said Dad will be included in the book along with some of his artwork. Shane will be having a show in Los Angeles in November featuring photos from the upcoming book.

When it got sunnier in the afternoon I went to visit Uncle Kazu. I ran up to King's View Café and got ice cream for us; he had Mint Chocolate Chip, I had Kona Coffee Mud Pie. They serve Roselani Ice Cream which is made in Maui.

The real food menu board.

The ice cream menu board.

The ice cream.

The ice cream eater.

After we were done with our ice cream Uncle Kazu started exercising, rolling himself around the circular parking lot. I turned on my walking and birding apps. Uncle Kazu did 0.51 mile of wheeling himself around! When I told CNA Robin she was pleasantly surprised that he did that much. I guess they have never figured out how much he does. I saw 7 species and 43 individuals in the 30 minutes that we walked around the parking lot; there were a lot of Saffron Finches and Yellow-billed Cardinals there.



Uncle Kazu also showed me the "new" emergency entrance. It has actually been there for a couple years, we just never walked over to that side of the hospital to see it. Previously the ambulances used to come in through the parking lot that he wheels himself around in so he had to always be listening for their siren.


I walked around the yard in the waning sunlight to check things out. The mountain apple has been dropping its anthers which are bright pink. The ground under the tree looks like it is covered in bright pink silk tassels! When we come at Obon the fruit is usually all fallen off the tree; I think I will try to get back for Uncle Kazu's birthday on June 2nd; maybe some fruit will still be on the tree.

Look at all that future fruit!

As for the other real reason I was here, to unpack all the kitchen boxes and get things back in to the cabinets, I did not make much progress there. When I started I realized I needed to wash almost every dish or mug or utensil before it got put back. For some its been years since it was last used, for others they were used a few months ago but because of all the dust and dirt flying around they needed at least a rinsing before going in to a cabinet where it would stay cleaner.

Friday evening, 04/19.

Tonight. Some things have changed but not enough.

Friday evening, 04/19.

Tonight. See my shoes & socks drying out in front of the fan?

I am considering coming back every other month even if there is no special project. I think that is the only way I will really be able to get boxes unpacked. With the special projects my focus is on something else so I neglect the tedium of unpacking boxes! It's April, every other month means June, I think I'll come back for Uncle Kazu's birthday!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to the cousins Karen, Daniel, and Kenley! They all have the same birthday!