Happy Halloween!

I went to Curtis & Lori's for Halloween tonight. I only brought a mango pie for the potluck; I didn't have time to make the deviled chicks or screaming bread. They said they had less kids come by this year than in the past; only 97 as opposed to over 120. There was lots of food, some which made me go over my carb limit a bit; it was those culturally significant carbs! It will be a good test to see what it's doing to my ketogenesis tomorrow.

Unbaked Hawaiian Pie Co. Mango Pie.

The salad end of the table.

Salmon & sushi.

Somewhat dessert end of the table: chips & dip. butter mochi, and mango pie.

Lots of mango filling in this pie!

There were more Halloween decorations and costumes at Maunalani today. Curtis' fellow Steelers fan RN Fred came wearing his Polamalu jersey, complete with helmet & water bottle! 

At the main reception desk.

RN Fred.

Activities Director Czarina.

On the drive up this morning I saw Calvin the Recycler starting up Sierra and later I saw The Runner on Lurline. During my sunrise walk I saw Lynnette & June twice but didn't see any other regulars. During my cool down stretches I saw Mike & Laure and The Dog Pack. It was a little cooler but also a little muggy since there was very little breeze this morning.

Fifteen minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Four minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad was in the Orchid Dining Room having breakfast at a table with Mr. Pires. He ate 1/4 of his fried egg sandwich and all of his papaya and banana. He drank 120 ml cranberry juice but no water.


There was a strategically placed cloud during most of my mid-morning walk which made it a little cooler. I think I am getting more comfortable with the short bit of jogging that I am doing but I think I will hold it at this level for a little longer. I did not see any regulars today.


We had lunch on the lanaʻi again; one of the aides brought Dad down & set him up outside while I was changing my clothes. Lunch today was Salmon croquette, Steamed rice, Malibu blend veggies, Garden salad, Brownie, and Egg drop soup. Dad ate all of his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 1 brownie. He only drank 120 ml cranberry juice.



I skipped the afternoon walk; I left early to bake the pie and give myself enough time to get through rush hour traffic. I also needed a nap or I would be a zombie for Halloween! I was up at 1:30 and 2:30 am to call Kai so he could get to an important appointment on time. As it turned out, even though he allowed for 2 hours of drive time, he was late. He had to do a 1 hour drive during the morning rush hour; it took him 2&1/4 hours! But since the 1st part was filling out paperwork, he was there on time for the substantive part of the appointment.

I checked the Wireless Whiskers when I got home and found that yesterday S'mores ate for 23 minutes! That's even more than Xander ate! Luna only ate for 14 minutes. The Roommates will definitely have to adjust S'mores' time & cut her off sooner!

The "G" is for the color of the tag.

My plan to give myself a little more time to get through rush hour traffic didn't quite work out well. But that was because of the volume of rush hour traffic; according to the radio traffic lady Danielle Tucker there is always a big traffic mess on Halloween. Today was no exception; a drive that normally takes me about 30 minutes took me 1 hour & 27 minutes; except for the 1st 1 minute or so on the freeway I never got over 25 mph (and that was only for the last mile or so). Coming back about 8:30 pm it took only 24 minutes. Aue!

The exit I want is 2 miles past the exit noted on the reader board.

Lots of cars in both directions!

I skipped the cranberry juice this morning; my urine reading after my sunrise walk was 5 mg/dL (i.e., trace). So it appears it does not make a difference for my ketone levels whether I drink the cranberry juice in the morning or not; it just significantly affects my carb load for the day. The rest of my day was pretty much the same as it has been for the last couple of days; ketone bodies at trace levels until a couple hours after the sunrise walk, then slowly increasing with a peak a couple hours after lunch, then decreasing.

1:33 am, 5 mg.dL; after the call to Kai.

5:41 am, 5 mg/dL; upon waking.

7:37 am, 5 mg/dL; after the sunrise walk.

10:03 am, 15 mg/dL; before the mid-morning walk.

11:19 am, 15 mg/dL; after the mid-morning walk.

1:41 pm, 40 mg/dL! After lunch & returning home.

4:20 pm, 15 mg/dL; before going to Halloween potluck.

9:17 pm, 15 mg/dL; after Halloween dinner.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Dean, Cheech, & Geoffrey! And Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo to Judith & Keith!

Halloween at Maunalani

Maunalani held their Halloween celebration today; staff, children of staff, residents, grandchildren & great grandchildren of residents, & visitors were all invited to come in costume for the Halloween parade in the morning. I skipped my mid-morning walk in order to watch the parade. But it didn't happen in the morning; I got to see part of Thriller & listen to Halloween trivia instead. (It got cancelled about 30 minutes after it was supposed to start because the parade marshal wasn't there.)

Jody as Maleficent.

Marissa as Winnie-the-Pooh.

During the drive up this morning I saw Ona & Rio just starting up Lurline; further up I saw The Runner. Ona & Rio walk really fast; I saw them on the circle, then again at the top of Sierra as they finished the circle. We walked together for a short while. I also saw Lynnette & June as they walked through the park, then later as they were heading down Lurline. As I reached the top of Lurline I saw LaVie finishing the circle; we stopped & talked at the top of Sierra where our paths diverged.

Three minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

I think this is the Japanese Parasol, Coprinus plicatilis.

While I was talking to LaVie, Kai called. He thought I had some questions about what transpired earlier, but that was from an IM from last week. But we did have a great conversation. Earlier, while I was driving up, he had IMed me 3 times! It started with, "Whee...today's interruption in consciousness brought to me by my favorite medical implement: needles." And ended with, "Sending this from a cot on the floor. May be slightly discombobulated." He added, "Worst part? They didn't get a tube. I'm about to go have a rematch in five." Then, "They called in the X-Ray tech, because he's magic. I didn't even feel the draw." I wondered why the x-ray tech was better than the phlebotomist and was told, "I guess he sticks people a lot for tracers. But ... he can patter, so he's good at distraction."

Before they started, he did tell the phlebotomist that he passed out during blood draws but they didn't believe him until he started slumping over towards the floor! Apparently most people who say that are just afraid of needles and don't pass out. He was told to tell future phlebotomists, "4 out of the last 5 times I passed out," then they'll take him seriously! His PCP also decided she will coordinate with his prescriber so they do all their blood draws at the same time.

Dad was eating breakfast in the Orchid Dining Room; he was sharing a table with Mr. Miyahira. I the meanwhile Thelma from Housekeeping was sanitizing his room including his bed so that he would not reinfect his eye again. Dad did not eat any of his fried egg sandwich today but he finished all of his papaya & banana. He drank 120 ml orange juice but no water.

He really is happy to be out of his room.

Since he was in his wheelchair I was able to convince Dad to go to the Castle Living Room to see what was going on this morning. He started out with exercises with CNAs Gloria & Jay; then stayed waiting for the Halloween parade. While there, Czar took some photos of Dad for the upcoming Veterans Day celebration.


We ate lunch on the lanaʻi today; lunch was Honey ginger glazed chicken, Steamed rice, Pacific blend vegetables, Tossed salad, Layer cake, and French onion soup. Dad ate all of  his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 1 piece of chocolate cake. He drank 120 ml cranberry juice, 120 ml orange juice but no water.

Watching airplanes fly by on their way to the airport.

I slept through my afternoon walk again. I am wondering if the fatigue I am feeling is from getting used to being in ketogenesis. I am hoping as I drop the extra weight I will also get rid of the fatigue.

While checking my ketone levels this morning I realized I need to have at least one day where I skip the cranberry juice in the morning to get a real baseline for what my body is doing. I'll try that tomorrow. In the meanwhile, when I checked 1st thing this morning I was at about 15 mg/dL which is higher than yesterday. Then it seemed to drop after my sunrise walk. Even though I skipped my mid-morning walk, my level was 40 mg/dL, the same as yesterday at midday. (I had just finished lunch when I checked it today.)

5:42 am, 15 mg/dL.

7:50 am, between 5 and 15 mg/dL.

12:19 pm, 40 mg/dL.

5:59 pm, between 15 & 40 mg/dL.

Last night I cleaned up the Wireless Whiskers, corrected the date & time, reset the tags for Luna & S'mores, and put the tags on their collars. The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes filled up the feeder and I set it to the AutoDiet Wizard. It will stay on that setting for the next 3 days, recording how many minutes each of them spends eating during the 24-hour period. At the end of 3 days it will set the average amount of time as the "Allowed" limit for eating. The Roommates can then determine whether they want to put them on a reducing diet (by decreasing the allowed eating time) or let them eat that amount of food. When they reach their "Allowed" limit the feeder closes so they can't eat any more until the start of the next 24-hour period which starts at midnight. Here's how long they had been eating by around 4 pm this afternoon.



As I was starting mt sunrise walk, Popokilani went running by on the road. I think she had been hunting in the neighbor's yard. Later I saw the Lion Cat, its hair has grown out a bit so it doesn't quite have the same look as it did earlier.

Popokilani heading down the driveway to Maunalani.

Lion Cat.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to David, Owana, & Kai 2!

Ketogenesis Tracking

Yesterday when I said I would check my ketone levels I had forgotten that today was Tuesday so my  activity level & eating schedule are different. I was on my way home to get ready to go to Curtis' house for our Tuesday morning breakfast when he called. There was an accident on the freeway involving a semi and traffic was backed up all over the place; we cancelled breakfast. I could sort of have a normal day! When I got home I tested my urine; it was about 5 mg/dL, the same as when I woke up. So it appears that my body must be burning the carbs from the cranberry juice for fuel 1st thing in the morning.

5:38 am, about 5 mg/dL.

7:41 am, 5 mg/dL.

I tested my urine after my mid-morning walk. It was about 15 mg/dL. So it appears that my body switches to burning fat to fuel my activities after the carbs from the cranberry juice are depleted.

10:55 am, 15 mg/dL.

In the afternoon I tested my urine even though I did not do my afternoon walk. It was about 40 mg/dL, higher than right after my mid-morning walk. It appears that my body is remaining in ketogenesis at least through the afternoon. I will repeat this level of testing for a couple of days to see if this is my body's usual process.

3:53 pm, 40 mg/dL.

I was awakened at about 4:45 this morning by a downpour. By the time I got out of bed 45 minutes later it had slowed down to a light rain. I got ready to walk anyway; you can never tell what it will be like an hour later. When I left the house it was just a light drizzle.


As I drove up the drizzle got even lighter; I saw The Runner making her way up Sierra in the drizzle. There was hardly anything when I started my walk. The only one I saw during my walk was Paul & Bodhi ahead of me on Sierra. During my cool down stretches I saw Kavita shortly after I began; later Tina walked by with Massimo, Ink, & Chloe Bacon. I think the early morning downpour scared a lot of people off.

Twenty-nine minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Nineteen minutes before sunrise at the parking lot.

Fourteen minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Two minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Thirty-seven minutes after sunrise; this is how much precip came down after I started walking.

There were no cars parked in the front yard of the Lanipoko house. I was able to get a better photo of the construction activity that has happened so far.


By the time I arrived back at Maunalani Dad was asleep with his breakfast in front of him. He had only finished 1/4 of his fried egg sandwich and all his papaya but had not touched his banana. He drank 60 ml cranberry juice but no water.

During my mid-morning walk I saw LaVie in the distance coming up Wilhelmina with Tazzie & Kila. Later on Lurline I met Sarah who was walking Massimo, Ink, & Chloe Bacon, she is Tina's pet sitter.


Lunch today was Pork adobo, Steamed rice, Stir fry vegetable blend, Garden salad, Chilled diced pears, and Garden vegetable soup. The vegetables were actually the succotash mix, which has 5 g net carbs so I skipped those for today to lower my carb count; I only ate the salad and the adobo. Dad ate all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and half of a bowl of pears, he doesn't like them even though they are easy for him to eat. He drank 120 ml cranberry juice but no water.


After lunch Dad took a short nap, then stayed up for the rest of the time. I skipped my afternoon walk even though there was a good cloud cover that was cooling things down. There were no activities on Tuesdays that Dad liked so I skipped the walk to keep him company since he was awake. He ate 2 madeleines and his banana from breakfast. He dozed off when it was time for me to leave.


RN Supervisor Remy came in after lunch. She said Dad's eye infection was cleared. They are removing the enhanced contact procedures. Tomorrow housekeeping will sanitize the bed, floor, and dividers.

For dinner I limited myself to 2 slices of Fat Head Pizza tonight. I felt better, less stuffed than I did last night! And my food log also looked a better! Yesterday Carb Manager said I had 50 g net carbs, 109 g fat (the goal is 82 g, so I'm 33% over), 74 g protein (of 73 g, +1%), and 1492 calories (of 1168, +28%); those are the amounts after I add my exercise info. Tonight, after adding my exercise info, it said 34 g carbs (-32%), 66 g fat (-19%), 54 g protein (-26%), and 955 calories (-18%).

This afternoon when I got home I was greeted by Luna who was lounging on the couch in the family room; this is the first time I have ever seen her doing that. Later S'mores discovered the paper bag on the sofa; this was also the first time I had seen her doing that, too!


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to John & cousin Aimee!