Dodo Mortuary

Laurel & I went to Hilo today to meet with Gavin at Dodo Mortuary for Uncle Kazu's funeral arrangements. But there wasn't much for us to do since he had already planned most of it; even the urn had already been selected! I think the biggest piece was for Laurel to help write the obituary that will be given to the Hilo, Kona, & Honolulu newspapers. One thing that was different than what Hosoi did for Mom was that Laurel has to fill out all the paperwork for the death certificate and send it in to the State; Hosoi did all of that for us.

As usual, the Saffron Finch awakened me this morning. Although I needed to get up early so that we could go to Hilo, I did not have to get up that early!

Thirty-two minutes before sunrise.

Seventeen minutes after sunrise and cloudy.

That bird got me up so early I had time to watch a video while I was drinking my morning tea and getting ready for my day. I'm not sure how I got to it, but I was watching a video by a woman named Jamerrill Stewart called, "Quarantine Kitchen - How to Freeze Bread, Eggs, Flour, Milk, Rice, Oatmeal, Cheese, Butter - Lots!" I've done bread, flour, rice, and butter before; but I was intrigued by the eggs. I've never considered freezing eggs and I had a dozen in the refrigerator so I decided to try it. But I did not have any silicone muffin pans like she was using; I did the best I could with an old metal ice cube tray and paper muffin liners. I did 6 before we left for Hilo. I will have to see if I can get a silicone muffin pan while I am on O'ahu.

Her she is adding the eggs to the muffin pan.

Here she is taking the frozen eggs out of the muffin pan and putting them into plastic bags.

My not so neat looking array of paper muffin cups.

Doesn't look quite as nice as hers

And they are kinda stuck to the tray. Good thing I am using them in a casserole so I can partially thaw them to get them out.

This muffin tray with the liners looks better and they come out easier.

I found evidence this morning that the pigs are coming in under the gate; the leaves I placed there last night were moved all over the place! And the Ramik rat bait that I had put around the macadamia tree was gone except for one piece that was up on the trunk of the tree. But because I picked up all the mountain apples and chucked them over the fence there was nothing else for them to eat last night.



After we finished at Dodo Mortuary, Laurel & I were going to find somewhere to pick up lunch but Grey had texted and invited us to the Arka Kinari for lunch; they were anchored at Reed's Bay. Grey paddled to shore in an inflatable kayak to pick us up and we paddled back to the sailboat. The Arka Kinari is a floating performance stage, powered by solar- and wind-generated electricity. Wherever they travel they purchase locally grown produce and Pedro cooks excellent meals using what is available. We also met other crew members Claire, Jan, and Captain Ben. Sarah, final crew member for this leg of the journey was off doing a bunch of work so we did not meet her.

The Arka Kinari is the boat with the white hull farther in the background.

Grey paddles to shore to pick us up.

The coconuts from the house!

Grey stands on one of the decks used for the musical performances.

The equipment used for coordinating the music and lights for the performances.

Below deck in the engine room.

The Arka Kinari has solar and wind-generated electricity.

Some of the staples and fresh produce they purchased here.

Dishes are washed with seawater then given a quick rinse of freshwater.

One of the gear lockers.

The excellent lunch prepared by Pedro.

It's about 2 hours each way to and from Hilo. Today it took a little longer due to road work in several areas along the Mamalahoa Highway.

There was a brush cutter clearing vegetation along the edge of the highway.

When I got back I picked about half a bucket of mountain apples for The Roommates. I also have some dehydrated mountain apples for them.

I'm hoping these plastic jars will keep them from getting too squashed in my suitcase.

After dinner at about 7 pm, I was looking out the window and I could see the shadowy shapes of 2 large pigs and a smaller pig; I decided to go out and see how they were coming in to the back yard. As I quietly approached the back yard I saw 2 even smaller pigs come through the fence where Grey had patched up the holes and (we thought) blocking their access. Not! They seemed to easily come in. I ran towards them and they squealed and quickly ran back through the fence. I don't know how they managed to get through those small openings so quickly! I will have to try to put something up before I leave tomorrow morning to deter them. Those 2 smallest ones can definitely also sneak under the gate. I am hoping keeping the fallen mountain apples out of the yard but available in the pasture and also harassing them when I see them in the backyard will make them decide this is not a nice place to visit. I wonder if I can get a bb gun and shoot them in the butt to make it even more discouraging for them? It reminds me of the battles I had with raccoons in Washington; they learned the sound of my car and the back door opening and would quickly leave the yard when they heard those. For any wild animal learning to fear humans is a way to keep them safer from injury due to cars or dogs.

Here's one of the other staple items I eat on my ketogenic diet,sauerkraut. I especially like the raw sauerkraut which supposedly contains more beneficial digestive bacteria. I like this brand and flavor.


This morning Tomiko posted a few photos in tribute to Uncle Kazu. She said, "April 13, made a cyanotype paper boat for Uncle Kazu, for safe passage to the other side, with a letter from us all. The wind was icy and the cold waves splashed on my face and hands, a chill at “feels like 28*”. I remember you asked me how was my new life in Wisconsin and I said, cold! I was happy to find this mossy pool, even though it is not the sea, it felt good to be on a shore. Kinuko made a nice memorial post for you and included these two photos of the “camera shy” you, fishing, of course! We think Uncle Pologee took these. Left: Keokea, 1961, right: Kapa’a, 1960 (both Hawai’i). As I type this I remember one time at Black Point it was so windy and my line kept blowing all over the place, plus I was really bad at casting. I only really went for the company, the sun, waves and the musubi. When I hooked Uncle Lem’s shirt, I laugh remembering you say in your gruff manner, you gotta trow da hook in da water, or da only ting you go catch is your uncle.😊 Thank you for making me laugh today. #memorial"


There were 13 new cases reported today for a total of 530 known COVID-19 cases. The total number needing hospitalization as well as deaths remains the same. More people have been released from isolation, it is now up to almost 68%, an increase from 64% yesterday. The epidemiological curve now accounts for about 82% of the known cases. About 1.5% of the population has now been tested.






Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jim, RuthAlice, David, & Linda!