Plan Still Needs Tweaking

We visited Uncle Kazu again today; initially it sounded like he was lucid & awake enough for us to have a productive visit. But by the time we arrived just after noon, he needed the sublingual morphine for break through pain. They gave him the normal dose; he again slept for most of the visit. Since I was wearing gloves I was allowed to hold his hand; which I did when he was kind of gesturing with it at one point. He took my hand and held it for a while, occasionally squeezing it during a dream. He never really roused like he did yesterday. We discussed using a half dose for the break through pain to see if that could control the pain but also allow him to be awake to interact with everyone; they'll try that tomorrow.

The security guy was somewhere else, he did not ask us these questions.

The morning was looking nice today; it was a little rosy as I woke up.

Sixteen minutes before sunrise.

Ten minutes after sunrise. I'm glad I rearranged the bed so I could look out the window without getting out of bed.

I had a somewhat lazy start to my day. While in bed I started looking for laundromats in Waimea but the Waimea Laundry Express had no phone number listed so I could not call and check. I then checked for laundromats in Kona although I prefer not to go to Kona since it is one of the COVID-19 hotspots here. I checked which one was closer, the one in Honokaʻa or the one in Kona. Honokaʻa won by 15 minutes! Besides, since I need to pass through Waimea to get to Honokaʻa, I could check if the Waimea laundromat was open. I would think they would be since washing your clothes with hot soapy water kills SARS-CoV-2 a laundromat would be considered "essential work."

One of my goals today was to purchase a front loading washing machine. I was going to check it out while I was in Kona doing laundry. So I Googled to find out what appliance stores were in Kona area; then I called to find out who was open. I started with Hakoda's Builders Appliances because the little blurb said they were a family-owned business; I want to help out small businesses during these uncertain times. I got dad on the phone. He said they were only open by appointment during the COVID-19 work-from-home order. So I started asking questions to see if it was worth my time to make an appointment. He handed me over to his son Ryan who knew about what washers they had on hand; since I wanted a front loading machine there were only 2 choices available. It is a good brand (Whirlpool) so I said I would take it if they delivered and could get it to me before the 16th. Ryan said he would send me an e-mail with the cost estimate as well as information on potential delivery date. I now have a front loading washer arriving on the 14th!


I then called Sunshine True Value to see if I could buy the ladder & the 10 bags of red lava rock that were delivered today and have them delivered to the house; I did not think I could get the ladder in the car. But Kawika said they did not deliver; I would need to talk to Jake the owner to see if he would make an exception. But Jake was out running errands and was due back in about an hour.

Because of my lazy start, I was not quite ready when Leslie from Cullins Plumbing & Fire Protection showed up to fix the leaky outside shower; I had changed my clothes but had not yet brushed my hair. She was impressed by the changes she saw since the last time she was here! I told Leslie I spotted where the leak was at but I thought it might be better to change the whole system since it looked like someone put it together from spare parts they were able to find. She said it was worse than that; the whole thing was leaning a little so it was putting pressure on the pieces and that's what probably caused the piece to crack and leak. She said it has not been leaking a really long time since there is no algae growing in the wet spot. We discussed what I would like to see changed there; she will look for the parts then get back to me with an estimate and a date she could do the work.

While it was still relatively cool I decided to see how many mountain apples I could reach from the ground; I did not like propping the old ladder against the tree like Grey did, too unstable. I also picked up the ones that dropped last night that were still in decent shape. I was able to pick 15 and got 11 nice looking mountain apples that had fallen off the tree.


Today's Things To Do items included visiting Uncle Kazu in the morning; then doing my laundry.  Laurel was supposed to get a call from the hospital to let her know what was going on. Then she would call me. When I still had not heard from her when Leslie left around 10, I texted to see what was happening and whether I should leave to do my laundry. She said she had not heard, so go ahead and do the laundry. I try to bunch trips up so the initial plan was to go to Sunshine True Value, then the transfer station, then head to Honokaʻa via Waimea. While passing through Waimea I would stop at the KTA, HPM Building Supply, and an appliance store. I would also see if the Waimea Laundry Express was open. If they were open I would do laundry there, if not I would continue on to Honokaʻa. I set my phone alarm to go off at 1 pm to remind me that I had ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Papa at 3 pm; giving me an hour to wrap up whatever I was doing and an hour to drive back home.

Since I now had a washer coming from Hakoda's, I did not need to go to Kona so that simplified my day. I packed up my laundry, the detergent, the kitchen garbage bag, and my backpack with laptop, hot spot, and charging cords, and headed to Sunshine True Value to talk to Jake. It turns out the seats in the rental car can fold down flat and the ladder can fit! Jake said he could load it for me right then; but I told him I was headed to Honokaʻa to do laundry so I would get it on my way back. As for the red lava rock, he said he wasn't sure where it was on the truck so he would rather wait for it to be unloaded before taking my money.

The white bag is garbage to be dropped off at the transfer station.

Just as I was getting ready to leave my phone dinged to let me know I got a text; it was Laurel. It said Uncle Kazu was lucid and we could see him! I called her & told her I had not left so I could come & pick her up right now; but we needed to give them at least an hour to get him ready so I told her I would pick her up at noon.

I headed to Minnieʻs to get lunch; their catch of the day wasn't in yet so I had their Roast Pork Plate. mini-sized. With the mini size you only get 1 scoop rice and a little less main protein; but I asked for mine to be all salad. I also told Charmaine what was going on with Uncle Kazu & that I had extended my trip; everybody knows him around here.


Because of the road side vegetation clearing that was causing one lane traffic, I did not want to go back to the house to eat since I would have to interrupt the workers twice. So I went to the Ohaka for lunch. It was very peaceful and I did not need to worry about social distancing!

No social distancing required.

We left Uncle Kazu about an hour before my ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Papa; I would have plenty of time to stop by Sunshine to pick up the ladder & clock and also stop at the transfer station to drop off the bag of garbage that had attracted a large roach this morning. (I got it with the fly swatter, so it was also going with the garbage!) I also stopped at Nakahara Store which is right across the street from Sunshine. They have an interesting set-up to keep the cashiers socially distanced from the customers; it's a small store so they can't do the more commonly seen strategy of being 6 feet away.

They even have hand sanitizer for customers to use.

This is just like the one that died.

When I got home I unloaded everything; the dirty laundry, my backpack and laptop, and the ladder. I was very excited to get the new ladder! That meant I could get up to where the apples were and pick them; I could skip sorting through the fallen ones to see how good they were! I picked as many as I could reach from where I placed the ladder; I got 32, including some very large ones!



I also raked up a bunch of leaves to put in the compost bin; I had thrown the kitchen waste that the birds had dragged out back in to the bin, then added the mountain apples that had fallen since the morning. I added a nice layer of leaves so the birds couldn't drag things out again. I also moved a bunch of rocks from around the mountain apple tree away; I spread them around the mango tree to keep weeds away from near the trunk. I got so hot & sweaty I took a shower & washed my hair before I did anything else.

OH, NO! 😱  I forgot my about my ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi class today! I remembered when I was getting ready to go to Honokaʻa earlier this morning; I set an alarm for 2 hours before class so I would be back in time. It went off at the hospital and I told Laurel I could stay another hour with no problems; so we did. On the way back I knew I had enough time to stop at Sunshine and Nakahara and the transfer station. Somewhere between the transfer station and home, I forgot! I guess I was too excited by the new ladder! I remembered at 3:55. After I got out of the shower. Since class went over the hour I actually got to see the last 15 minutes live. I will have to go over the entire lesson at a later date.

Yes, there is an error in the very last example.

The subject and the verb remain the same.

The subject and the object remain the same.

Slides for each lesson are here.

Our amazing kumu!

After the Papa ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was over, I washed up all the mountain apples. In all there were 58 mountain apples; 47 picked and 11 scavenged. I decided now that I have a ladder I don't need to sort through fallen mountain apples. Because I foresee having a bunch of mountain apples now that I have a ladder, I have decided to see how well they dehydrate. I also decided to give the Slice-O-Matic another chance to prove its worth. Also, I have not found my food processor yet. Since their consistency is like pears, I am drying the mountain apples for 8 to 16 hours which is what they recommend for pears. I did 3 trays each of plain, cinnamon, and li hing. My li hing powder, however, was pasty, someone had put it in the refrigerator; I diluted it in water and made a spray out of it. Those pieces will be wetter than the others. Even after loading up 9 trays I had about 2 dozen fruit left!

Row 7 is fallen fruit; the rest were picked. Rows 1 & 2 in a.m., Rows 3 thru 6 with ladder.

This is what the inside looks like.

The Slice-O-Matic does a decent job on them.

Two trays sprinkled with cinnamon.

Fully loaded dehydrator ready to go.

My friend Alan sent me a really good video from Yale University called, "COVID-19: An Illustrated Scientific Summary" by "a bored scientist 'working' from home ..."  It explains what viruses are, how they replicate, how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects people, how it spreads, why hand washing works, and why social distancing is so important. It's a little over 8 minutes but worth the time, you could watch it during your 15-minute break while "working" at home.

What a virus is.

How the virus hijacks you cell in to making more of itself.

What you do when enough of your cells are affected.

How the virus causes you to spew it out.

Why you have trouble breathing & get a fever.

Why you need to use social distancing.

How long you could be spreading it before you show symptoms.

Why hand washing works (for all types of soap).

But it takes 20 seconds for the action to work.

How a test sample is collected.

What happens if someone is really sick.

The problem when too many people are really sick.

How social distancing keeps people alive.

The COVID-19 transmission rate compared to the annual flu and the 1918 flu pandemic. (Hint: its worse.)

How social distancing can affect transmission.

There were 25 new cases reported today for a total of 435 known COVID-19 cases; it still lists 5 deaths, however another was reported after the reporting period. Currently about 26% of the people who were confirmed to have COVID-19 have recovered. Hawaiʻi County has increased to 26 cases, most are still in Kona & Hilo area. The epidemiological curve is still looking good; the curve plots cases by date of symptoms so is more accurate in showing what might be happening with the spread rather than the daily numbers which are based on when the test results come back from the lab.






Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Steve!