Saint Louis Winter Concert

Tonight was The Saint Louis Band Winter Concert. This concert highlighted the work that DT has done helping this group of seniors .become better musicians. It also showed his ability to attract students to the band program; he had around 60 brand new students as opposed to the 30 or so advanced students that he had to work with when he was hired in January. The concert was great; there were also a lot more people waiting for their student musician after the program than the spring concert that also included orchestra students.

DT leading the beginning band.

DT leading the advanced band.

Walking from the parking garage up to the theater we saw one of the many cats on campus; they have a "no feeding any animals" policy. Later I saw remains of a bird one of the cats had caught on its own. Not feeding the cats helps control the non-native bird population on campus; I don't think that's what the intent was, but it works.

Leʻahi from the parking garage.

L to R: Curtis, Lori and Brent on their way to the theater.

Bird remains; probably a Zebra Dove.

I didn't walk today; in fact, I didn't go to Maunalani at all today. I overdid it with the steam cleaning yesterday. I got out of bed when my alarm went off, but very slowly. As I started to move around it became apparent that I had done too much the day before; I went back to sleep. Sleeping is always a good thing for me; that is one of the ways for me to avoid a full-blown fibromyalgia attack. I got up around 12:30 and slowly did a bunch of stuff around the house; including steam cleaning though not nearly as much as yesterday. I have found that going over the floor multiple times with a short break in between tends to loosen things up for the next cleaning session.

This was from a small portion of my bedroom and the study. They still need more work.

One of the things I did was clean out the top shelf of the closet in the bedroom I am in; on Sunday DT was clearing things out of the closet of the bedroom he is in (my former bedroom). I had some empty boxes for the appliances that I will be taking to Kohala with me. I am now keeping them in the bedroom I am in so he can move more things in to his closet.

East end of closet shelf, before.

West end of closet shelf, before.

East end, all cleared.

East end with empty boxes. I like the Hoka boxes for storing small things.

West end, I left the foam pad in place.

I found the old shark bed that moved here with Xander 5 years ago; Mom had put it away without cleaning it. I hope steam cleaning will get rid of the cat pee odor; apparently there was a territorial dispute, most likely between Xander & Momo. I also found a roaster with a rack that was a small bit too large for it. And found some things from a hospital stay, as well as an empty box for the WiiFit balance board. This is for the old one that was ruined by leaving the batteries in the unit when it was stored; it was in a plastic bag and not in this box. I still have more work to do in that closet; a lot more work!

The tongue pillow is removable, the body unzips to fold flat.

The rack is sitting in the lid; but even in the bottom it is slightly too large to fit.

Not sure whose hospital visit this was from.

Cleaning for another day.

With the old windows there were wooden jalousies below the picture window in the living room; we would occasionally open them so the cats could look out. We called it Cat TV; they loved it. With the new windows they can look out any time they want to! Luna took advantage of that today.


I also started the paperwork for the split air conditioning units. I used DocuSign to sign the papers, then John from RevoluSun came by to pick up the down payment. It looks like the solar PV will go live at about the same time that the AC units can be installed. Winner!

When I tested my urine this morning it looked like I had been in ketogenesis overnight. Yay! That's probably because since December 1st I have had 25, 15, and 10 g carbs; so closer to the 20 g/day end of the ketogenic diet. It definitely made a difference; I have never before had a high morning ketone level upon waking, it was either negative or trace. And without my 1.6 mile walk I have also never been able to get out of the trace level; but I did today with only puttering around the house. After the minor bit of walking to get to and from DT's concert it went up to the highest level I have ever reached before; and I only had that happen one time before. I guess I will have to get better about keeping my carb intake at or below the 20 g level to see the most benefit from being on the ketogenic diet. (I really don't know how people do a diet like this without testing to see where they are at.)

6:05 am, upon waking. I really should have held it between trace and small.

11:13 am, still in sleep mode.

4:14 pm; after being awake for 4 hours & not doing much.

8:31 pm, after returning from the concert. Wow!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jen!