When I got to the Alamo counter Susu, the agent I was working with, called Dan over; apparently there was a note on my reservation from John, the island manager for Alamo. Back on May 11th, about 4 hours after I had made the reservation in the morning for this car, I got an email from Alamo telling me about their "commitment to cleanliness" and how well they were cleaning the cars out. Since I had just had an experience when I rented the car on March 26th that was less than clean, I just had to respond. John called me back within about 15 minutes of me clicking "send". I told him about the popsicle stick and other debris that had been left in the driver side door pocket and especially how the agent that checked the car in dismissed my concerns of possible COVID-19 contamination from a tourist. John was very apologetic and said he would make sure the cleaners were more thorough. I thanked him for that. (I'm not sure why I didn't include this in the blog for March 26th because I clearly had the photo. Here it is now.)
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| The email I got from Alamo headquarters on May 11th. |
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| The debris in the car rented in March. |
The note from John was for them to make sure I got a car that was specially detailed to make sure it was clean! And it was; Dan walked me around the car, opened all the doors and trunk, and checked everything out. I also looked under the seat and told him last summer I was the one who had the car with the mold in it. I had told John about that, too. Along with making sure I had a really clean car, John also had them take off $100 from this rental! Which will come in handy since I had to extend the rental for another week to get the hāpuʻu and anthurium projects done.
I wanted to do a load of laundry before I left. I knew Laurel & Bill were picking me up at 9 so I decided to get the laundry started as soon as I woke up. As usual, the Saffron Finch tried to get me up really early; but I knew getting up at 6 would still give me enough time to take care of the laundry.
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| The Saffron Finch wakes up at twenty-six minutes before sunrise. |
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| I wake up at seventeen minutes after sunrise. |
After I started the laundry I moved the wheelbarrow out of the way so I could park the car easily when I returned. As I was moving things to the side, something under the steps caught my eye. It was a small table similar to the one that the mailing supplies are on. I will see how it looks after I clean it up.
I took a bunch of photos as we were headed to Kona; since I am usually driving I don't get a chance to concentrate on looking for good photo sites.
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| Part of Pu'u Kohola Heiau. |
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| Hualalai. |
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| Maui. |
Since I have a lot more time on this trip now, I decided to see if I could find the towel bars for the bathroom. And also a toilet paper holder and hand towel holder. My plan was to go to the building supply places in Kona, starting with Home Depot since it was closest to the airport, then working my way to HPM Building Supply and ending with Lowes, which was the farthest south of the airport. It turns out, Home Depot had what I needed!
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| This is the hardware I need to match. |
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| Not exactly the same, but close enough. |
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| I got 3 double towel bars; they will all be used when everyone is here for Obon. |
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| I did not get this; I do not want to encourage people to take their phones to the bathroom with them. |
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| The 6-foot markers at Home Depot. |
While I was on my way to Home Depot, I passed Tradewind Hawaii; this is the place Chris suggested for impact resistant windows. I called from the Home Depot parking lot to see if I needed an appointment or if I could just walk in. It turns out I could stop by but the person I needed to talk to had stepped out to run an errand. I asked if it was okay to wait in their parking lot until he returned. She said yes, but did not want me to have to wait unnecessarily. I told her I was at Home Depot and I lived an hour away so waiting even 30 minutes was not a problem. It turns out John was also at Home Depot! I headed to the parking lot and settled in to do Duolingo while I waited; John showed up before I could finish my 20 minute lesson! Aue! I got some great information from him. Chris will have to take the measurements for the windows, any window they care can be made impact resistant, they have 3 strengths of materials for the impact resistant windows, manufacturing the windows will take about 16 weeks, and if I want the windows in white it will be an additional set-up cost for the painting portion of the order. (The standard is anodize aluminum, which would be okay if I wasn't trying to keep the look of an old style plantation workers house.)
Since I got the towel bars at Home Depot I didn't need to go further south in to Kona, which has been the COVID-19 hotspot on this island. I headed north to Waimea and stopped at Healthways II to grab a carton of unsweetened almond milk. I had asked Laurel & Bill to pick up a case for me at Costco if they could find it, but I wanted to get at least 1 if they couldn't. I also got a little basmati rice from their bulk section. Since I'm not doing carbs I did not want to have a bunch around, but I need some for the Butter Chicken I will be making for dinner when Kamaka is here. I still haven't found the food processor so I did not want to try to make the cauliflower rice by hand!
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| It took a while to read all of this sign. |
The next stop after Healthways was KTA; I needed to pick up a bunch of seasonings for the Butter Chicken as well as for the coleslaw. I am slowly getting the seasonings I need to make my favorite keto-friendly recipes. They have a very large section of seasonings with selections from 5 or 6 different brands. It took me a while but I discovered they did not have the garam masala I need for the Butter Chicken. Aue! They were my best chance of finding it! (Healthways' tiny section did not have it but did have ground chipotle which I can use in the mole recipe in place of the single chipotle in adobo sauce that it calls for.) I did find some disinfecting wipes to replenish my dwindling supply; I usually have 2 containers on hand since I clean a lot of gecko poop off of things when I first arrive. I skipped the microwave pork rinds; I will get that from Arakaki so I can give them some of my business since they get less customers than KTA.
I then headed to Takata Store to do the bulk of my shopping. And I found garam masala there! I did not expect that since they have a much smaller section than KTA and limited things. Here's what I ended up with today. I like the artsy label on the cumin but that brand does not have much of a selection.
My almost last stop was to pick up eggs from Toto. I took a couple of egg cartons that I had saved from previous store purchases. Toto showed me his collection of skulls from pigs he had hunted; there were a lot of them but I forgot to take a photo of them. As I was leaving he gave me 2 more huge eggs; he also raises geese!
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| Even though it says Big Island, these are all from the mainland. |
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| I asked for a dozen, this is what he gave me! |
My final stop before heading home was the post office. My box was stuffed with mail! But part of that was because the new phone book had arrived. I also had 2 issues of the Kohala Mountain News monthly. And mail for 2 people who have not put in a change of address. Forever. I have had this box for about 6 years now!
When I pulled in to the garage I went right up to the laundry; I wanted to see if I was right about whether a lot of the car would be sticking out or not. The single line is at about the center of where the regular clotheslines would be hung. In that location, the back of this car is still inside the garage.
I checked to see if Sir Purr came out while I was gone. Apparently not, both food and litter were untouched. I put some food out for Mom Cat & Wiley, when I returned the 2nd time it was gone.
I had an appointment at 4 with the Hawaiʻi Community Federal Credit Union. I pulled in to the parking lot with a few minutes to walk up to the door but realized I had forgotten my mask so I had to run back up to the house. I was about 10 minutes late but it was okay; people have gotten used to making appointments so there was no line waiting. I am having checks made for the Trust account so that I can switch the automatic payment for the gas, water, and electricity over to this account and close the other account that has Mom & Aunty Judy on it. The water & gas company need a voided check in order to do that.
I headed to Minnie's when I was done. I had ordered a prime rib dinner earlier in the day. They have changed their set up; you no longer go inside to order. It's now all done outside; they altered the kitchen door so it has a sliding screen panel as well as a shelf. These types of things are becoming the new normal.
After dinner I heard a cat meowing outside my bedroom window again. It was the tabby again; it seemed to be calling for Mom Cat & Wiley. So I put food out for them but it would not come to the food. Later I saw Mom Cat eating; the tabby had disappeared,
There were 3 new COVID-19 cases reported today; all on O'ahu. Because another case was reclassified the total number of known cases is 649. There were no new deaths or hospitalizations. A little over 93% of people have been released from isolation.
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| Cases within the last 28 days. |
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