Dad Goes to the Dentist

Dad's appointment with Dr. Azuma was on Tuesday afternoon. Ron from Wheelcare Oahu picked us up around 2:15 for Dad's 3 pm appointment; I skipped my afternoon walk. Ron transferred Dad from the wheelchair to the dental exam chair and Michelle proceeded to clean the few teeth he has left.Dr. Azuma recommended a fluoride treatment that would kill the bacteria causing the decay in Dad's teeth to stop the process; the down side is that it darkens the teeth. I approved its use in spite of this because it will slow down loss of his few remaining teeth.

Ron gets ready to transfer Dad to the dental chair while Michelle watches.

Michelle explains to Dad what she will be doing.

Dr. Azuma gets ready to examine Dad's teeth.

There was only 1 fish in the bathroom the last time I was here!

On Monday night there was a lot of lightning; on the late evening news the weather radar showed it out over the ocean but heading towards us. It arrived that night & brought rain, a lot of lightning & wind, and a little thunder with it. On Tuesday morning it was lightly drizzling as I got ready to leave; by the time I was driving the drizzle had stopped but there was still a lot of lightning. Since I was a little early I spent some time at the covered viewpoint taking photos of the lightning out over the ocean.

This is lightning not the sun rising!

Lightning brightens up the clouds as the rain moves in.

During the drive up I saw Calvin the Recycler and The Runner already headed downhill towards home. As I started my walk it was dry though I could see a little drizzle moving in near Lēʻahi. It stayed dry through my walk around the circle but near the bus shelter on the circle between the upper end of Sierra & Lurline, a very light drizzle started. I kept walking because it was so light. A few minutes later it got heavier; I took shelter under the eaves of the garage near the top of Sierra, so did LaVie. We waited about 5 minutes and decided that it was not going to stop. I told her I would give her a ride back home since I needed to leave to meet The Terminix Guy; I jogged back to the car to get in a little bit more of a work out. According to the Samsung Health app, my actual walking time was only 12 minutes. Aue!

Twenty-nine minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Nine minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Shy Cat, unaware of the downpour to come.

This was in front of Wilts' house; not sure what they're doing.

What it looked like when I got back to the car.

The rain from the short time the door was open as I jumped in.

As I was leaving I saw a lot of water on the roadways; it was slowing traffic down. I also watched the garbage pick-up guys hanging on to the back of the truck in the rain; I just can't believe that OSHA still allows them to do that!

11th Avenue, headed towards the freeway.

Rain? What rain?

Only the crown of the road was not covered by water.

While I waited at home for The Terminix Guy to arrive, I worked on reorganizing my bedroom to get things away from the windows. Unlike the family room and the dining room which each have 1 wall with windows, mine has 2 window walls so I have more things I need to clear away from the windows and less space to store things in the room. Consequently, I have to resort to going up with some of my reorganization! I am also temporarily putting some things in the hallway; good thing my bedroom & bathroom are the only spaces down this end of the hallway!

The west wall, as I started to pile things up along it.

I think this is as high as I'm going to go.

I found these signs I made for Mom as I was organizing.

I put this up; I got it when we went to visit Vivian & Margaret in the Upper Peninsula.

The next area I need to organize so I can move the bed against the closet.

The Terminix Guy arrived about 8:45; it turns out he did not need access to the inside of the house. I'm not sure if they just tell everyone that or if the scheduler just got confused with which contract this was. About 30 minutes after he arrived, I noticed that The Terminix Guy's truck was gone; I'm not really sure what time he left.

Since the Terminix Guy left so early, I had enough time to do my mid-morning walk. Winner! I was glad I could do it since I would not be able to do my afternoon walk and I had a very short sunrise walk. I saw The Other Wendy as she was on her way up Sierra, then later as she was headed home down Lurline. I also saw Eugene and Rocko down at the park. Later on Lurline, Matthew and I arrived near Bo Derek's house at the same time; he was driving, I was walking.

This is what's behind the trackhoe.

Evaporative cooling as I stretch my hamstrings.

On my way in, I heard one of the other visitors commenting on Marissa's promise ring. Her boyfriend gave it to her about 1&1/2 years ago.


Lunch today was Fish nitsuke, Brown rice, Asian vegetables, Garden salad, Pineapple upside-down cake, and Chicken noodle soup. There are 2 salads on my tray, one was from Dad's tray. The fish nitsuke had more carbs than I thought it would, 10 g; I think it is the mirin and sugar in the sauce. Dad ate all of his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 2 pieces of cake. He drank 120 ml cranberry juice and 120 ml water.


After a long day in the wheelchair Dad went back to bed. I left shortly after that since I was meeting up with the Hawai'i Wildlife Center team that was here to get the O'ahu Seabird Aid Program going this year. I saw Popokilani on my way out; but since I didn't have any treats she wanted nothing to do with me!


I checked my ketone level when I got home and found it to be a bit higher than it usually is. I'm glad I was able to keep burning fat even with less activity than normal & eating more carbs than I wanted to.


Patrick came in about 6:30 in the evening; he was supposed to be here earlier but his flight from Kona was delayed by the weather. He, Sam, Alexis, & I got together at Simple Joy Vegetarian Restaurant for dinner. Alexis had the Pumpkin Soup and Mushroom Linguine, Patrick had the Pad Thai, Sam had the Philly Sandwich, and I had the Eggplant Parmigiana. Everyone else liked their food; I was disappointed in the Eggplant Parmigiana. In regular Eggplant Parmigiana there are no noodles and no meat; all they had to do was change out the cheese for vegan cheese but that's not what they did. Instead of using rounds of the large oval eggplant they used the long skinny eggplant. And they served it over pasta. And there was hardly any cheese! FYI - I ate about half the pasta, I'll have to be very good with the carbs tomorrow!

L to R: Alexis, Patrick, & Sam.

Pumpkin Soup.

Mushroom Linguine.

Patrick with his Pad Thai, extra spicy.

Philly Sandwich.

Eggplant Parmigiana. The others were also surprised by this dish.

As we walked to our cars we got a big surprise, the parking garage was closed! Aue! There were no signs saying what time it closed or that it was limited to parking for the adjacent restaurant. Our cars and a van for Bakery & Table were the only vehicles in there. Alexis called the restaurant but got no answer even though she was calling 6 minutes after their sign said they were closed; it was all dark inside. Ubers were called for rides home; we'll be back tomorrow to retrieve our cars. This is why I was home late and why I ended up not posting last night!


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Barbara, Dwayne, Naseem, and Eric!