Crosstrek Test Drive

After lunch Kai & I went for a test drive in a Crosstrek hybrid with Reid from Servco Subaru. Overall I liked it; though it is missing a couple of the features that I liked in the Outback. The Outback had adjustable lumbar support; the Crosstrek hybrid does not. The Outback had dual temperature controls for heating/cooling; the Crosstrek hybrid does not. The Crosstrek hybrid also has a lot less cargo space, maybe half the amount of the Outback; that's due to the battery in the back. I left a $500 down payment and I can put up to $5000 on my credit card and get more Hawaiian air miles! I am now working on financing and getting insurance to cover it. Plus making sure the solar panels at the house are up and running in January!

Crosstrek plug-in hybrid. (Photo by Kai)

I tried to do my sunrise walk this morning, but the weather was uncooperative. It was very lightly drizzling when I left the house but got heavier as I approached the parking lot; I saw absolutely no one walking up on my way there. I sat in the car waiting for the rain to subside; it would sort of slow down but in less than a minute it would be heavier again. I left after waiting for about 30 minutes ; it rained more as I drove home.

Drizzling twenty-three minutes before sunrise.

Downpour eleven minutes before sunrise.

Still raining sixteen minutes after sunrise.

I decided I had better start packing now since what I really needed to do was unpack my suitcase first; when I go to Kohala I have to bring the bedding & towels back to wash them. I put them back in the suitcase as soon as they are folded. So in order to use the suitcase for a non-Kohala trip I need to unpack first. That's what I did this morning after I returned from my non-walk.

This is the half unpacked suitcase.

I also opened up my Christmas presents. I had them in my possession on Christmas day but just didn't have the time or energy after we returned from dinner to open them then. So I did it this morning. The Roommates gave me a really nice, heavy-duty OXO 4" Pizza Wheel; I had been using a knife with less than stellar results! Lori gave me a fancy t-shirt; I like how she finds unusual things. Jenny gave me a reusable shopping bag that has an attached pouch that it folds up in to. She also gave me a carrier for Wet Wipes that also has a pocket for band-aids and another pouch fro pencils and a small note pad. Elaine (the daughter of Dad's former roommate Mr. Pires) gave us an arare omiyage pack; it's just what we need for pre-New Year's dinner snacks!





I steam cleaned the dining room floor under the windows again before I moved things back. I also reorganized things in preparation for the New Year dinner. I still have more work to do but it is now possible to get around the table!

Before I started cleaning up.

I skipped the mind-morning walk; I was busy at City Mill getting the hardware to build a support for Dad's fishing poles. In order to protect them as well as have them out of the way, I put 2 shelf brackets above the closet in the family room; I padded them with pipe insulation. Kai helped me put the poles up on the rack.

The materials for the rack.

The space over the closet & garage door was the longest space available.

The longest pole is over 12 feet long.

While I was at City Mill, The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes texted, "Sorry really quick question. Do you know what these are called? They're embedded in the wall and I'm testing to find out how to take them out." I replied, "I don't know its real name but it looks like one of the fasteners put in a sheet rock wall to support a nail for hanging stuff. I am at City Mill now and will ask about it." Gary was very helpful with both projects; I got him on the phone with The Roommate. It did sound like a hollow wall anchor, which would mean it needs to get dug out. The Roommate's supervisor decided to let the business owner make the decision on who should be taking them out, The Roommate who has very little experience with things like this or the professional painters that will be coming to repaint the room and who do minor repairs to walls before repainting them.

The photo sent to me by The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes.

Gary thought it was #4 highlighted in red in the lower left.

When I returned with the hardware I still needed to find the left over pipe insulation I had used to pad the shelving in the garage so that my car doors would not get dinged when they were opened. While doing that I got side-tracked when I found a bunch of reusable bags that were self-destructing! I have never had that happen before! But I guess Mom had these a long time.


Before we went to test drive the Crosstrek we stopped at No Name BBQ Sandwich for lunch; it is across the street from the Subaru dealership. Because he had not had enough to eat when he took one of his meds Kai's stomach was a little upset so he actually decided not to eat lunch. I ended up eating the whole BBQ Beef Sandwich. After lunch we went a couple doors down to Rainbow Country Grocery for the special $2 single scoop Dave's Hawaiian Ice Cream bonus available via the Fivestar app on my phone.

(Photo by Kai)

Interestingly, there is a vegan place called Juicy Brew right next door to the barbecue place. I have been meaning to try it since I first ran across it in January 2018 during the Point in Time Count but have never stopped in. Kai was not feeling like vegan food today so I'll have to try it another time ... when I am not limiting my carbs; a lot of things on their menu appeared to be carb-rich. Or perhaps I should just do a carb day when I pick up the Crosstrek and have lunch at Juicy Brew!

Kai had wanted to see the Home of the Brave Museum before it closed; we had seen a TV news piece about it closing at the end of the year if they were not able to get funding to keep it open. They have limited days and hours that they are open and today (the last day if they don't get funding) fit with our schedule. We decided to arrive as soon as they opened this evening; other people had the same idea and there was a long line. There is also no dedicated parking lot for the museum; you have to use street parking. Of which there was none! Everything was private parking for a couple blocks or it was a main thoroughfare with no street parking. In the end we skipped going to the museum.

Since we couldn't go to the museum we decided to go to Chun Wah Kam for dinner instead. Or at least to pick up dinner. Kai wanted to try their many varieties of manapua. but since it was just an hour or so before closing they were out of almost everything except the baked char siu so that's what he got. We also got mini-plate dinners. Kai got Portuguese Sausage Fried Rice with Garlic Chicken and Shoyu Pork; I got Udon Noodles with Char Siu Pork and "pork" (that's what the lady serving told me it was, it looked good). We also got a bag of Almond Cookies and a piece of Rice Cake. We took it to go.






Yes, that is a lot of carbs. I had already blown my carb budget with lunch so I decided I did not need to be as picky about it at dinner so I did a bunch of carbs. We shall see if I can walk and get things at least back to trace amounts of ketone bodies being excreted tomorrow!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Rosalinda & Evan!