What's Going On???

I usually check the Tesla app about once a day to see how the solar panels are doing; sometimes more if it looks like it is cloudy. Today when I checked I saw that there was a Backup occurring; this happens when there is a grid-supplied power outage. When I checked the HELCo website I found out there was a planned 2 hour outage to do emergency repairs; it began at around 9 am. But they finished earlier than anticipated; my app says it was only out for 52 minutes. It looked like the panels weren't working during the outage and that the battery provided power for the house. I was concerned that the solar panels did not appear to be able to power the house when the grid-supplied power was out.

This from June; I haven't figured out how to get 'live' info. (Photo by Patrick)

I was so engrossed with monitoring the solar panels I forgot about the time and ended up missing the start window for my mid-morning walk. So I used that time productively and called ProVision to find out what was going on. Keaka was very helpful. He said that when the grid is down the system is set up to get power from the solar panels only if the battery is less than 85% charged; then it will power the house & recharge the battery. Once the battery is back at 100%, the panels shut off and the house is then powered only by the battery. But if the battery is more than 85% charged when the grid goes down, the panels do not come on until the battery is below 85% charged. The system is set up to cycle that way while the grid is out. Keaka said the next time I am on-island they can set up a test to make sure my system is working as it should be; they will temporarily turn off the solar panels to draw the battery down to 50%, then see what the system does. Keaka sent a message to Elmar (who did the initial design for my system) documenting our conversation & noting that I will call to set up so they can do a test the next time I am there.

I really like ProVision's customer service; I have had a great response from them whenever I have needed help. So I asked if they did installations on Oʻahu; unfortunately they do not. But they did give me a recommendation for RevoluSun; I called and now have an appointment for John to check out Dad's house this Friday at 8 am; tonight I sent John a photo of the most recent electric bill so that he can get an estimate on the size of system we will need.


I also discovered that I may want to set up a Twitter account. Apparently HELCo sends out information about outages via Twitter. I will have to think about this; first Instagram, now Twitter! What is my life coming to?


There was a little more of a breeze during my morning walk today. I saw Mary & Noe when they were coming up Sierra, then again as they were on their way down Lurline. I met Romeo's wife Melissa, she was walking Karpo & their new dog, Lily, who is a rescue from The Humane Society. Lily is still skeptical of new people. Later I saw Calvin the Recycler by the park entrance. During my cool down stretches I saw Ken with both the early-rising and late-rising dogs; I also saw Mike & Lori & their Dog Pack.

Twenty minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Six minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Twelve minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

And I saw another Kōlea this morning! I think there are 4 pairs of Kōlea that have territories along various parts of my walking route; I think I have seen at least one bird from 3 pairs so far. Na Kōlea return to their same winter territories; this allowed biologists to put very small instruments on birds which helped them discover where they went, when they went, and how long it took them.

Dad was in the Orchid Dining Room, at a table with Mr. Pires and Mr. Watanabe, eating breakfast when I arrived. He ate 1/4 of his fried egg sandwich, half of his papaya, and half of his banana. He drank 120 m of orange juice and about 30 ml water. It's good to see him out of bed!

This is his smile!

After breakfast, Dad wanted to go out to look for the resident cat, Popokilani. We couldn't find her so we went to the view point. During the half hour we were out there Dad enjoyed watching the 3 propeller planes and a helicopter that flew by; he also liked watching the brown anole that was crawling along the wall in front of him, as well as the birds flying by. I saw the 2 Manu-o-Kū from Palolo Valley flying out to sea.

Did you notice that Dad's hair is getting darker?

On our way back in I had to stop & use the bathroom; so I set Dad up in the Castle Living Room where Marissa was leading the residents in exercises. When I got back Dad looked like he was enjoying doing the exercises so I decided to let him stay upstairs. He did very well. Later Kiʻini led the residents in singing; Dad stayed & did activities for about 30 minutes.

Lunch today was Oriental shoyu chicken, Steamed rice, Malibu blend veggies, Garden salad, Peanut butter bar, and Tomato red pepper bisque soup. Dad ate all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 2 peanut butter bars. He drank 120 ml orange juice and 60 ml water.


I tried to start my afternoon walk a little early so I would be done with the walk as well as the cool down stretches by the time the shift change came around. But Dad was awake longer than I anticipated so I left about 15 minutes later than planned and had an "Aha!" moment. I realized that I did not need to do the entire 1.6 mile walk around the circle, down Sierra, and back up Lurline; I could change the route! I decided the next time I didn't have at least 60 minutes to do the walk & stretches I would just do a variation of laps around the circle, which is 0.5 miles. So for the afternoon walk I did one lap walking all the way; on the 2nd lap I jogged between each set of light posts on the level & downhill portions of the walk. (I could have done the same for the mid-morning walk, too!) That was a total of 4 short jogs. I read somewhere that varying the routine makes your body work a little harder because it wasn't anticipating the extra output. What I found interesting was that even though I jogged, when I stopped I was not winded. Of course, it would probably be a different story if I jogged uphill. Once I am comfortable with the downhill jogging I will start adding uphill segments. But only when I am doing laps around the circle.


I stayed later than usual so that I would be around to take Dad to the ukulele jam session with Lynn & Gloria. Curtis usually takes him so I have to set reminders for myself so that I remember! CNA Angie got Dad in to his wheelchair, I took him upstairs, & left; Angie will take him back downstairs for dinner. As I walked to the car it was drizzling! And it was kinda warm. I thought it was the first sign of Flossie, but the evening weather report said it wasn't.



Good news! Mr. Shinagawa is back! I saw him at the nurses station at lunch. I am glad it was not something too serious.

Aunty Florence took a great photo of Tomiko while they were on the Big Island last month; she's been getting lessons from Tomiko on composition, etc. Today Tomiko posted the photo on her Instagram & Facebook accounts; I really like it! Way to go, Aunty Florence!

I especially like including the fern in the foreground. (Photo by Aunty Florence)

Tropical Depression Flossie is no more; it has degenerated to a remnant low. Sustained winds are at 35 mph; it is about 85 miles easterly of Hilo. Flossie is moving west-northwesterly at around 12 mph and has created heavy rain on the Big Island and Maui. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center will be issuing no further advisories or graphics, so I won't have anything new to report to you and this will also be my last note on Flossie.


The forecast on winds now shows that none of the islands will have a chance of getting winds of 39 mph or greater.


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Ina, Kathy, Barbara, & Jackie!