SliceOMatic, Not

I checked the tangerine slices first thing this morning, a few of the thinner ones were dry enough to try. The skins were really intense! I turned the rest of the slices, redistributed them since they did shrink, and put them back in for a total of 24 hours. In the meanwhile, Grey & I decide to try a batch without skins. "Slicing should be easier!", I thought. "I can use the Slice-O-Matic that Vivian gave me just before I left Washington!" Unfortunately, when used with citrus you end up with juice rather than slices. Of all the sliced things pictured on the box there was no citrus; there is only a whole lemon hiding amongst the platters of sliced veggies on one end of the box. I guess I should have figured out from that photos that it couldn't do citrus. Aue!

It looked promising.

But it was a big disappointment.

Juice, anyone?

Cutting with a knife didn't work much better.

I ended up just slicing the segments in half. I am also drying the peels for cooking.

I put about half of these from yesterday back in for another day of drying.

FYI Running the dehydrator all night drew the Tesla battery down to about 35% before the sun came up and started providing the power to run the dehydrator and charge up the battery. I like being able to provide all the power to run the household!

I got up really early this morning, but went back to sleep because it was a little wet. When I got up later it was drier.

Thirty-three minutes before sunrise.

Nine minutes before sunrise.

Grey asked me if I could dehydrate the pineapple he bought when he first got here; it was getting overripe. When I peeled it the flesh looked okay. But then, I sliced it in half and found it was rotting from the center outward. Aue!


Grey took off about mid-morning; he's heading back to Hilo to pick up the parts and equipment that he ordered earlier. He is also going to see if he can do a short day hike around Mauna Kea. He'll be back on Tuesday night.

As I went out to start on the weed cloth work, I noticed a small pig in the back yard. It might be the same one I chased the other night because it started to run as soon as it saw me. I wasn't able to get close to it so I threw my trowel at it just as it streaked through the break in the fence. As I turned back to see what damage it had done, I saw another small pig! It was standing kind of still since I was between it and the break. It started to run up towards the front so I went after it trying to cut it off, it got by me and looked like it was going through another break in the fence by the bathtub but it bounced off the fence! It tried a little further up and bounced off again! It finally ran straight for the gap by the gate and escaped. No photos of the pigs since I was busy chasing them but here is what they were after; they pulled things out of the compost bin. Aue!

In the meanwhile, because it was a little drizzly, between showers I finished covering most of the area we weeded on Saturday. I have one small section right around the gas tank that needs to have weed cloth installed. I have been moving the rocks my siblings, cousins, and I had brought home from various beaches and fishing spots for Grandma to help her keep weeds down around the gas tank. I will still be spreading red cinders in the area.






I checked out the ferns at the edge of the house. I think one might be a maidenhair fern though I don't know if it is the native one.

I think this is a type of Maidenhair Fern.

Not sure what type of fern this is.

I went to Sunshine True Value to pick up a surge protector for the dehydrator. It was originally plugged directly in to the outlet. With the surge protector there are more outlets that are now more accessible; I zip tied it to the side of the shelving unit next to dehydrator.


I also went to the post office to check my mail, send off a package to friends, and get the smallest Priority mailing boxes for the salted limes. I also made a trip to the credit union to deposit some checks. At the credit union entry was only through the mauka door where there was a staff member opening & closing the door, like there was at H & R Block.

On my way back up the hill, I noticed that there was no precipitation at the top of the hill. This is what it usually looks like.


Lunch today was from Mi Ranchito Mexican Cuisine, it is the place Jim suggested when I met him at King's View Cafe a couple days ago. They had a limited menu for their take-out so I had the Chile Colorado rather than my usual Pollo en Mole which is how I judge the quality of any new Mexican restaurant that I try. (I also found out they only serve Pollo en Mole on Cinco de Mayo.)

Order window for take out.

Chile Colorado without rice.

There was a cat at Mi Ranchito; it was out back lying on the railing in the sun. Siesta!


In the afternoon I worked on putting some temporary obstacles to keep the pigs out of the yard until Grey & I can add hog wire patches to the breaks in the fence. For the next couple of days these things will have to do.

The gap under the fence is now their only access. I think.

I found an ant nest when I went to move the pallet to use it to temporarily block off the gap by the gate. The ants keep making nests around the yard. I am trying to discourage them from nesting so that I have an easier time checking for Little Fire Ants which have come in to some areas nearby.


I also installed the chain and lock. I think may be I should have gotten a slightly longer length of chain.


For dinner I made another Pizza Topping Casserole. I used pepperoni since Grey is not here; I also added sun-dried tomatoes that I had brought with me and dried garlic flakes that I picked up at Takata Store. They did not have any Italian Seasoning.

While I was eating lunch I was watching the live press conference headed by Governor Ige. I think we have a really good pair of leaders for this COVID-19 pandemic. Lt. Governor Green is a practicing emergency room doctor so he has a good understanding of the pandemic, how critical it is to act fast, and what needs to be done to get the State through this with less mortalities. With the aggressive testing program of up to 1500 people a day Hawaiʻi is now 3rd in the country with percent of testing done per capita and is aiming to become the leading state with the highest level of testing. He showed a graph & went through numbers showing why social distancing is so important at this time. On March 26th, when the shelter-in-place and mandatory 14-day quarantine for all out-of-state arrivals went in to effect, there were 95 positive cases; on the 27th it was 120, on the 28th 151, on the 29th 175, and today 204 with 6 of them in the ICU and 2 on ventilators. Lt. Gov. Green said if people ignore social distancing in the next 2 days the number would increase by 8% (then there would be 220 cases on April 1st), 2 days after that it would increase to 15% (or 253 cases on April 3rd) and 2 days after that it would increase 43% (or 456 cases on April 5th). At that point we run the risk of not being able to properly care for everyone who needs hospitalization for COVID-19. I will be keeping an eye on these numbers.


The Lt. Governor indicated that there are only 534 ventilators in the State, so flattening the curve is essential to have enough resources available to help the most critical people especially on the outer islands. Like Curtis, our Governor is an electrical engineer; he has convened a group at the University of Hawaiʻi which is collaborating with others around the world, to look at how existing ventilators can be re-engineered to support more than 1 person, and its looking like each could possibly aid up to 4 people. The group is also looking at what other technologies are available.

The Governor did say that a 14-day mandatory quarantine for inter-island travelers will go in to effect on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. So when I return on 04/09, I will have to go in to quarantine. They did say, you could go walking for exercise; I will have to find out exactly what that means.

Currently there are 204 COVID-19 cases in the state with 139 on O'ahu, 25 on Maui, 12 on Kaua'i, and 15 on Hawai'i Island.; 55 people are considered to have recovered. One of the O'ahu cases is a TSA screener who has tested positive; fortunately for me the last day the screener worked was about 10 days before I went through the airport. I viewed several other live videos of Q&A sessions with the Honolulu Mayor as well as the speaker of the Hawaii State House of Representatives; all the speakers as well as media were participating from home or an office if they are an essential service (like the food bank).



I also watched a video several friends sent me via Facebook. It is a video by Dr. David Price from Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He is a pulmonary specialist and his days are now spent working only with COVID-19 patients that have severe breathing problems. He gives very practical advice about what each of us needs to do to keep yourself and your family safe. It is about an hour long but it is worth listening to.

"Wash your hands."

I talked with The Potential Most Favorite Roommate today; he was actually calling about coffee and not cats but the conversation turned to cats. It appears that Keala is settling in nicely, there have been no fights of any size and no aggression on her part. Even when Luna hissed at her and S'mores came up an grabbed her by the neck; she just walked away from both of them. But she'll still go up and be friendly with them. The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes said he did see Keala and S'mores playing for a short while the other night. Or at least, he thinks they were playing.

The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes texted me a photo of some artwork he found while cleaning out the closet in the middle bedroom. It is one of Dad's drawings that Curtis & I have been wondering about. He said there was more artwork hidden in that closet and he will wait until I return to do any further work in that closet.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Bob, Marisa. & Delaney!