A Sometimes Rainy Day

I started this post sitting in the car in the upper parking lot. It looked promising as I left the house. As I drove up I could see it was somewhat foggy, no problem; I wore my safety vest to be more visible. I forgot to get a photo while I was wearing my safety vest so you'll just have to be satisfied with one of it hanging in the car.

Seventeen minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

It was barely drizzling when I arrived.

I wore my safety vest so I would be more visible.

Three minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Usually I can see Maunalani from here, but not today!

On the news last night they said there would be thunderstorms today; I heard one thunderclap at about 3:30 this morning, then nothing. (Okay, so maybe there may have been more but I may have slept through them.) As I walked around the circle the thunder started up again. Just as I was completing the circle and approaching the top of Lurline it began to rain; I headed for the bus shelter as it started to pour! A short while later TheBus arrived, the door opened and there was LaVie! She & the driver asked if I wanted to get on; she was headed down to the bottom of the hill to start walking up in the rain! During my short walk I only saw one other walker, I had never seen her before but like LaVie, she is more hard core than me; she was dressed for the weather so even rain wouldn't stop her!

The downpour started about 10 minutes after my walk began.

The hard core walker!

The total duration was 40 minutes but only 12 of it was actually walking.

As I waited for the rain to slow down so I could make it to the building without getting too wet, I was sitting in the car texting with Suzanne who had been reading yesterday's post. She was getting the "post" in real time! (I guess this is my version of Twitter?)

Shortly after I got back to the car it started raining again.

Even Popokilani sought shelter from the rain.

Dad was still asleep when I got to his room so I didn't go in; I sat on the bench at the computer station across from his door. This is also where the residents rest when they are walking down the hallway for their physical therapy sessions. The night shift CNAs were surprised to see me so early at Dad's room; usually they see me in the parking lot doing my cool down stretches as they leave work. When CNA Sharmaine came to get him ready for breakfast we convinced him to eat in the dining room. Dad ate half of his fried egg sandwich and all of his papaya and banana; he drank 120 ml cranberry juice but no water.

They're still asleep.

At 9:15 it was raining; I needed to figure out an indoor route for my walks for days like today. I decided the 3rd floor was probably the best because it has the most linear feet of hallway due to the Castle wing. And if it should be somewhat dry for a portion of the time I am walking I could also make a circuit around the Wellness Center Courtyard. But as I got ready to start my mid-morning walk it cleared up & got sunny! Aue! I decided to keep to the indoor plan. That was short-lived, it was too boring! I headed out to the upper parking lot; but it started to get sunny and it was so muggy and I was wearing my regular clothes. I did not want my regular clothes to get all sweaty so I ended up just going back to Dad's room.

Raining at 9:15.

Wait! Now its clearing up at 9:59!

Sunny at 10:14.

My feeble attempt at an indoor route, later supplemented with a walk through the parking lot.

Here's the new plan: No matter what the weather looks like, I will put on my sunscreen & change in to my walking clothes. Then I will walk out the 3rd floor entry. If it is somewhat dry I will walk around the circle. If it clears up even more as I approach the bus shelter, I will continue on my regular walk; on the other hand, if it gets wetter, I will head back. If as I am leaving the building, it is wetter but not pouring, I will only walk down to the lower parking lot and come in at the 1st floor entry and call that good for that walking period. If its pouring, I will just head back to Dad's room. If I'm really bored & want to move around, I could walk in circles around the 2nd floor lanaʻi.

Good walking weather at 10:50 when I got back to Dad's room.

If you're wondering why I don't just go up and down the stairs of this 3-story facility for exercise its because I have bad knees. Due to some uninformed choices I made many years ago I have some damage to my knees; specifically to the cartilage cushioning my knee caps as they move over the end of the femur and the head of the tibia. Every evening I ice my knees, 15 minutes per side; I've been doing this for years. I started when I was doing Aikido 5 or 6 nights a week and noticed that they were throbbing after training. I've been doing it so long I can actually fall asleep while I am icing my knees; the localized cold no longer bothers me. I would even do it in the winter in Washington. And I do it even if I am not feeling any pain; I want to keep the inflammation from becoming so bad that it causes pain. Taking 30 minutes out of my day to ice is preferable to me than long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, that will eventually have negative affects on my body.

Lunch today was Sweet and sour pork, Steamed rice, Garden salad, Brown sugar coffeecake, and Egg drop soup. My tray also included peas & carrots. Dad ate all of his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and both desserts; he drank 60 ml apple juice but no water.

Raining during lunch at 11:24.

At first it looked like it was drizzling when I looked out the window to check on the weather for my afternoon walk; I went out to the 2nd floor landing to get a better idea of how much precipitation there really was. I'm glad I did! It was actually fog rather than drizzle; I would wear my safety vest to be more visible. By the time I changed & walked out to the front door the fog had lifted. Fickle weather! There never was any precipitation but it was muggy; I did not see any regulars during my walk. While I was doing my cool down stretches on the 3rd floor landing I saw a bird fly by down by the park; it was the White Cockatoo! They have a very distinctive body shape, its very stout with a short tail. And the wings are broad and rounded rather than slender and pointy like the Manu-o-Kū and the White-tailed Tropicbird. And there are no long legs trailing behind like they do for the Cattle Egret.

Fog at 1:57.

At 2:10, it was cloudy but dry.

Another mango deposition zone.

And a flattened mango.

Debris deposited by the heavy rain earlier in the morning.

Dinner today was Chinese style steamed fish, Steamed rice, Seasoned broccoli cuts, Almond float, and Hot and sour soup. Dad ate all of his 1/2 tuna sandwich and 2 desserts. He drank 120 ml cranberry juice but no water.

Rain during dinner at 4:43.

Drizzle after dinner at 6:02.

The downspout for the roof is right outside Dad's window. Right after dinner there was water coming out from the drizzle. Then it began to rain harder; about 10 minutes later water was shooting out!

Discharge at 6:03.

Discharge at 6:12.

On my way out I passed the Castle Living Room. Sam & Nicole were leading an art class for the residents.


A couple minutes after I took the downspout photo I got an emergency alert about flash floods on the island. Although neither Maunalani nor Kaimuki has any flash flooding I left shortly after that. It wasn't raining very hard when I left but they were predicting rates up to 3" to 4" per hour. Later in the evening we started getting more rain; some parts of the freeway were closed due to flooding of low lying portions. I made plans to leave early for the airport.


The Roommates did a great job cleaning up the middle room last night. Calvin, the latest Manu-o-Kū intern with the Hawai'i Wildlife Center and Honolulu Zoo, will arrive this evening. He'll be staying with us for a week.


I got a text from Michael asking what this was. It is the Perennial Pea (Lathyrus latifolius), but has also been called everlasting pea, broad-leaved everlasting pea, everlasting sweet pea, and more. It is not edible; in fact, it can be toxic to humans and animals. Which is too bad, since it is kind of weedy and grows in a lot of places with very little care.

Sad news; early last week I had noticed that Mr. Inouye's name tag was no longer on the door of the room he was in. This had happened previously when he went to the hospital. I asked yesterday and found that this time it was because he had passed. (They can't give me HIPAA-protected info but by their demeanor they can convey information such as his passing.)

I don't get it. I paid for only 4 days of paper delivery. And now we got 2 papers today when we are supposed to get no paper!


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Felipe & Susan!