I'm Confused

It's kind of a bad habit, but when I get up in the middle of the night to pee, when I get back to bed I check my phone. When I did that this morning around 1 am, I found I had an email saying, "Cohort 1+1.2: PUBA 368- Mahalo for joining class tonight and see you tomorrow!" To be fair, I actually had 3 emails from the sender; a short one at 11:29 pm with an attached email saying to disregard it, then a much longer email with links and attachments at 11:30 pm. Since I had received the email on Sunday saying I did not make the cut for Cohort 1.2 and was now on a wait list, I was confused.


But I went ahead and read the whole email, which had an assignment catch-up checklist with 8 items. I tried to check out all the links but found the passwords for the actual Zoom class sessions would not work. I did get to watch the You Tube video, COVID-19 Public Health Action Webinar: Impact on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities. It was interesting to see them talking about the health inequities that the Communities of Color Coalition (C3) had been holding community education forums on since 2009 and now moving towards policies and action.







There was also a link to a training website. But I was unable to get in to it.



Since it was almost 3 when I finished the video, I ended up skipping the sunrise walk since I had to get up at 4:54 for that. I was way too tired to get out of bed. In fact, I only got up a little before 7 to move my car so DT could go to work.

When it was closer to office hours, I contacted Nicole, program director for 'Ike Mauli Ola; she is the one who has been contacting people about sending in information for the cohorts. She wasn't in, so I left a message. Nicole got back to me just before I left the house; she said there was a mix up. I'm not in Cohort 1.2 but my name is on the list of potential candidates for Cohort #2.

The plan for the MRC support services for today was for me to meet Casey at Foodland Ala Moana and be the lead for the shopping and delivery to the case that I have been assigned to. Casey said if we did not receive their shopping list by 9 this morning, the shopping and delivery would be postponed to Wednesday. We decided to still meet at 9:30 in order to shop & deliver for 2 of his cases; if mine replied in time we would include it. We ended up only shopping & delivering for his 2 cases. The MRC tries to send 2 volunteers out to each delivery for safety reasons, so until I get added to the list of volunteers approved to sign the shopping paperwork, I will probably be helping Casey. After I got home, I called my case and left another message; hopefully they will text me their list by 9 tomorrow morning.

Foodland had to do a little adjustment to their plexiglass shield.

July is World Watercolor Month; I learned that in an email from Angela Fehr. She is one of this year's WWM Artist Ambassadors and was asked to provide painting prompts for each day. And there will be a paint-along video lesson each Friday; I signed up to get reminders about the video. I also signed up for Angela Fehr's Heart-led Landscapes course.

The Potential Most Favorite Roommate had bought some keto treats when he was at Sam's Club. I picked up snack bags so I could portion the bag out into the 18 servings. I put a 1/4 cup into each bag and came up with 16 & 1/2 bags. I think if I used a scant 1/4 cup it would have made 18 bags.




There was another spike in COVID-19 cases today; 18, which brings the total known cases up to 917. The number of deaths has remained the same but hospitalizations have gone up.





Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Cathy!

Back to Normal

During my sunrise walk Fred was the only one I saw while I was walking. After walking, I decided to do my cool down stretches at the covered viewpoint; I havenʻt done that since the pandemic started. While there I saw more regulars. Lynette was the first one that walked by followed by June & Mary; later Gerry walked by. As I was leaving I saw Ken with Toto & Chico.

Twenty minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Nine minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Eight minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

I had to drop off the madelienes for Dad this morning; it gave me a better opportunity to check out the roof replacement. I think they have added sprinklers to the roof of the wing that the kitchen is in.

Looks like they have installed sprinklers on the roof of the kitchen wing.

It looks like they have had to remove the sheathing on part of the roof over the Castle Wing.

I usually leave my water bottle in the refrigerator to keep it cooler; this last time I had put it in on Saturday after my sunrise walk and didn't take it out until this morning. When I went to take a drink after my walk this morning I discovered it was frozen solid! I'm not sure if it was because there were still some ice cubes in it when I put it in the refrigerator or if there is a problem with the refrigerator. I'll have to watch that.


When I got home from my walk I discovered that someone, probably Luna, had dragged the Wireless Whiskers quite a ways trying to get it open. They succeeded in unplugging it, which means it won't open at all!


The Roomba is still having problems. Even with the new bag it still would not suck things out. I cleaned it out again, checked the evacuation tube, checked that the bag was seated properly in the tower, cleaned the sensors on both the Roomba and the base, everything I could think of. It still wouldn't suck. I even looked online and followed their troubleshooting directions; I think I need to find a Roomba dealer. Āue!

Yesterday I picked up some poke; I had that for lunch today. Along with some Parmesan crisps.


Casey texted me this morning, 2 out of 3 of his cases had responded earlier. The 3rd got back to him this morning; he wanted to know if I could partner with him on it after lunch. I said yes; Casey led me through the whole process including the paperwork. 

On the way back I stopped at Petco to pick up cat food; I also got cat litter for Sʻmores, she wonʻt use the Cat Genie. I also saw a cat-shaped cat bed.



I also stopped by Foodland to pick up another mashed cauliflower with cheddar & bacon to take to Curtis' house; I also wanted to check out the other cauliflower based dishes. I picked up some to try them out. I also picked up more cauliflower rice; I plan on keeping at least one bag in the freezer.

Have you tried any of these?

After dinner Casey texted again; he was given 5 new cases today. He asked me if I felt comfortable being the lead on a case; I said if it was a smaller, simpler one. He gave me one where it is only a couple and they are located about 10 minutes away. I called and left a message; Casey said to call back in an hour and if I got no answer to let him know. The case point of contact is someone who is supposed to be in isolation or quarantine, not running around outside of their house. When I called the 2nd time and did not get an answer, I texted Casey but also told him perhaps they did not answer because I had an out of state area code. He called and they answered! I am now waiting for a shopping list from them.

I got an email last night about Arka Kinari. Grey was reporting to supporters about updates on their progress across the Pacific. He started out saying, "There are a lot more beans and rice on the menu now." and "The engine definitely has problems which can't be resolved DIY." Since Arka Kinari is a sailing vessel, the motor is not critical but will be needed eventually; they are headed to Guam for an emergency stop to repair the motor & resupply. The previous day they crossed paths with a Chinese vessel, the Shen Lian Cheng 760, after not seeing another vessel for nearly 2 months. The crew of both ships gathered on deck to greet each other. "At this point we are getting very close, so we run out on to the deck to shout and wave. We can see them, only fifty meters away, gathered on deck just as we are, a half dozen fishermen backlit by blinding halogen fishing lights they are easily the loudest, brightest, and most crowded scene weʻve seen in months." Later, "We watch their stern light shrink over the horizon, still high on the euphoria of seeing fellow humans. Later, during dinner Ben interrupts the silence at the table with 'I miss the fishermen', we all nod our agreement. ... It remains a mystery how they could know that most of us speak Spanish."


There was an earthquake this morning around sunrise; it was in Mexico so I didn't feel it. But apparently there was a concern about it producing a tsunami. However, the Tsunami Warning Center studied the data and determined it would not generate one.



I found out late last night that I was not one of the 20 people selected to join Cohort #1 for the Community Contact Tracer Training. But I am still on the wait list for future Track 2 trainings; they will start the selection process for Cohort #2 in a couple of weeks. That cohort will start training on July 27th.


There were only 2 COVID-19 cases reported today, bringing the total up to 900. The number of deaths remains the same but hospitalizations have gone up. About 80% of people have been released from isolation.






Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Tony!

Laying Low

I skipped walking today; I didn't want to be "that" person who is spreading the disease if I think I have a higher likelihood of having it. Although I am very conscious of physically distancing myself when I walk; most of the walkers I see are over 60 and there is even one that is over 90! And several have comorbidities. Like Wendy; when I was talking to her on Friday I stood downwind so if I was asymptomatic I would be less likely to pass it on to her. I do not want to be responsible for spreading anything to any of them.

Fifty-six minutes before sunrise.

The Potential Most Favorite Roommate had left a message for his boss, letting her know he might have been exposed. She asked him to get tested, if possible. He contacted his PCP's hotline and found they are not testing unless people are symptomatic. The latest information says about 60% of people are asymptomatic so it seems like people who have had a close contact should be tested to make sure they are not unknowingly spreading it. If anything, a mutation where the vector is asymptomatic but able to still infect others is a very good improvement for the virus! A Silent Killer, if you will.

Fortunately for me, The Roommates did a grocery run on Thursday so a lot of their favorite prepared food is still available. For breakfast this morning they requested Chobani yogurt, a chocolate chip muffin, and an eggwich.


While The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes was putting the used breakfast paper goods in to the rubbish can, I also had him begin to load it up with things to go out for tomorrow's rubbish pick up. Since the door was open for longer than they had seen it yesterday & last night, Keala and Luna tried to get in!

After breakfast The Potential Most Favorite Roommate texted that he was, "...going out side too to smoke". I replied, "Bad idea. Smoking slows down cilia in lungs which help keep pathogens out of lungd (sic)." He never came out to smoke; instead he texted, "Would it be okay if I work on replacing water faucets", then , "Water valves*" This is part of the work they had started last Saturday; now that Lyle had fixed the main valve, we could turn off the water to the house so they could finish this part of the project. They waited until DT & I finished lunch and successfully changed the valves.

For lunch I had a chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter and cheese plus a handful of dry roasted macadamia nuts; DT had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich first. Then he made an interesting meal that he said he developed in graduate school so he wouldn't have to boil water. He took a package of ramen, split the dried noodles in half so he had 2 noodle wafers and lightly moistened them. He then sprinkled the flavoring packet over them, added sriracha sauce & a slice of cheese, and ate them like an open-faced sandwich or a large cracker.

My lunch today.

Lightly moisten the noodles.

Sprinkle with flavoring packet.

Add cheese and desired condiments.

DT and I compared our close contact experiences with The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes. His doorway is immediately opposite The Roommates' door so he passes them in the hallway. He also spent 30 minutes in the car with them when they went out to dinner last week; I was in quarantine for my inter-island flight so I did not join them. Then this past Tuesday we had a house dinner when I made the chili; he sat at the kitchen counter right next to The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes. I was about 8 feet away in the wicker chair. So he has had more close contact time than I have had, though still not for 10 minutes or more at a time on a daily basis. And yes, I know, it only takes one episode to transmit the virus, but the more frequent chances you give it, the more likely you are to have a positive outcome.

For dinner I made the keto-friendly Hearty Beef Stew with Cauliflower & Mushrooms and coleslaw that I have made before. I didn't have everything I needed for the stew but because I was minimizing my excursions, I made do with what we had available.

The stew; there were less chunks because I had no portobellos or cauliflower chunks.

Coleslaw & stew.

Casey sent me a text asking if I was available tomorrow to do an MRC support service shopping & delivery tomorrow; I texted and told him the situation with The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes. Then I went to take a shower. When I checked my phone later I saw that Susan had called. I called her back and had a very enlightening conversation with her. She is a retired public health nurse and had also talked with a COVID-19 contact tracer; she asked me a bunch of questions. Based on the most current guidance, she said close contacts that occurred within the 48 hours prior to the positive person becoming symptomatic are those that the health department is putting in to isolation. Since The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes had seen The Co-worker about 10 days prior to him becoming symptomatic The Roommate was well outside that 48 hour window. So we're in the clear!

Susan also told me they had not developed a protocol for what a volunteer should do if they found out they were potentially exposed to COVID-19. She said they are using this experience to develop a protocol to add to their volunteer training.

The Roomba was having a problem this evening; it was flashing red. When I pressed the button to get more info it told me to, "Empty the bin." When I did it was fairly empty, so I checked the dirt disposal bag; it was totally full! I put a new bag in; it should work a lot better tomorrow!

The very full dirt disposal bag.

Tropical Depression Boris is no more. It doesn't even show up on the radar as a remnant low.


A city bus driver tested positive last night; TheBus immediately notified other employees with close contact. Then notified all of their 1000 other employees & implemented their plan; they said this was not unexpected. They are still not sure how the driver was exposed since they had a lot of safeguards in place prior to this. And I think it shows; in 3&1/2 months this is the first in-service driver that has tested positive; they had one that came back sick from out-of-state who did not come in to work until after he tested negative. Roger Morten, president & general manager of O'ahu Transit Services, also showed the proper & improper way to wear a mask; I'm glad he did that to put wise asses on notice that they can't do that to get around the mask requirement. They have put more buses on the busiest lines so riders needing to use buses for essential trips can still maintain proper distancing. Impressively, they have about 1000 bus operators & about 330 para-transit drivers and this is the first in-service operator that has tested positive. He said prior to the pandemic, they had about 200,000 daily riders; at the start of the pandemic ridership dropped to about 58,000. Currently, ridership has increased to about 82,000 or about 42% of normal.

He said this was a chin guard and not acceptable.

He said this is the proper way to wear the face mask while on the bus.

There was a big spike in positive COVID-19 cases today; 23 people on Oʻahu, 2 on Kauaʻi, and 1 each on Maui & Hawaiʻi island tested positive, bringing the total known cases up to 899. A 17-person cluster on Oʻahu was associated with a funeral; another 6 cases on Oʻahu & the 2 on Kauaʻi were associated with known clusters. The 1 on Hawaiʻi island was from out-of-state travel. This probably means there will be more calls for support services from MRC. There was 1 new hospitalization but no new deaths.

The number of tests per day has been slowly increasing.