Department of Water Supply

The main task for today was going to the Department of Water Supply office in Waimea to remove Mom's name from the account and put my name on it and switch the automatic payment to the credit union account; I actually had the Trust name put on the account. I had a great chat with the security guard at the front door while we were waiting for the staffer inside to buzz me in; she was on the phone. They have really strict protocols to limit the COVID-19 spread. First off, there is a one-way flow as you approach the building from the parking area. Then the security guard asks you a bunch of questions; though they do not take your temperature. Before you enter you are required to sanitize your hands and, of course, you must be wearing a mask. I'm not sure if appointments are required, but the security guard said I was the only appointment for today. Once inside there is a plexiglass window with a slot for you to do your transactions at; the staffer also has a mask. As you leave, you follow the arrows for the one-way flow back to the parking area. I had a great time talking to both of them.

At the security check point.

I woke up early; I was going to spread the red lava rock that I had picked up yesterday before it got to hot. Every morning, as I sit at the kitchen table sipping my tea, I look over my hard copy notes of things to do for the day. I don't actually have all those things in my phone calendar, just the most important ones that I want to set an alarm for; like the appointment at the DWS. I was surprised to see that the DWS appointment was this morning! My phone calendar said it was tomorrow morning! Auē!

Seven minutes before sunrise.

Fortunately I had gotten up early enough that I could unload the red lava rock since I knew I needed to pick up capstones while I was in Waimea. I had just enough time to get to my appointment, if I pushed the speed limit on the mountain road a little.

Four bags to start the pile.

The last 6 bags in the car.

All 15 bags waiting to be spread.

After the DWS appointment I went to HPM Building Supply to pick up a few more capstones. The ultimate goal with those is to create a plant holding area on the side of the garage where the sprayers are. But for today, I unloaded them and used them to flatten the grass under the weed cloth around the kalo.


Since I was already half way there, I then headed to Kona to the Home Depot. I wanted to get a few of the lava rock pavers to see how they looked in the anthurium garden and whether using them would work there. I also wanted to get a hula hoe; there are a lot of little weeds coming up in the mulch that Aikane filled the anthurium beds with and Sunshine does not stock hula hoes; turns out neither does Home Depot. The little weeds look like kiawe seedlings; definitely don't want them getting a toehold in the garden! Or anywhere on the property for that matter! Right now the pavers are just sitting on the weed cloth under the persimmon tree. Waiting for me. I hope to get them in place before I leave again.

I still need to get the old fronds out of here.

On the way back home I took the Akoni Pule Highway instead of the Kohala Mountain Road; they were doing more weed cutting on the Kawaihae Road and I did not want to sit around waiting again since I had 2 more errands to run before I got home.

During the morning trip down Kawaihae Road.

In Hāwī I stopped at the Kohala Grown Market; it's the first time I have been there since they moved to the front of the building. In their previous space it was a very tiny store with a limited amount of produce and other products. This time I found a lot of things, including some omiyage. But I did not find any lychee for Lori & Jenny; it will be easier getting that from them instead of Kona. They said they would know more by the late afternoon whether they would have any in next week. I called back around 4:30 but they still had not heard from their supplier; they said to call back tomorrow around the same time.

It's in the Kohala Trade Center.

Some local produce.

More local produce.

They also have local meat and as well as not local salmon.

The omiyage I picked up.

I also stopped at the post office; the supplements I ordered in early May had finally arrived! The first text I got using the package tracking service was on June 2nd; the 1st text said, "In Transit, Arriving Late 05/25/2020". I knew that wasn't true because nothing was waiting for me when I arrived. The 2nd text on that message said, "Expected Delivery by Tuesday, June 2, 2020 by 8:00 pm." Cool, it would arrive before I left. I checked Tuesday afternoon just in case it arrived early. Nothing. I checked the next day. Nothing. I checked every day until the day I left. Nothing. Until 06/22 when the message said, "In Transit to Next Facility 06/17/2020." And nothing since then. I presented the 3 yellow cards that had been left in my mail box; the mail clerk couldn't find it. The senior mail clerk told her it was sent back since it was there for more than 14 days. Apparently the 1st yellow card is placed in the mail box when the item arrives, the 2nd one 1 week later, and the 3rd one the following week. If the package is not claimed, it gets sent back to the sender. They could not tell me why I never got notification of when it was really delivered or why the notices came 5 to 8 days after the package was supposed to arrive at a facility. I now have to call the vendor and find out what's going to happen next.


When I got home I immediately unloaded the 2 palapalai that I bought; I put them in a location where they can get well watered. Then I had a late lunch; I did more sauerkraut. I had not had any bouts of diarrhea since yesterday after lunch but I decided to play it safe. I think it is more because the sauerkraut has 0g fat, 0g protein, and only 1g carbs per 1/4 cup serving; I usually eat about 1/2 cup per sitting. My previous lunches of egg salad, cheese crisps, and guacamole had lots of fat and protein! I even moved the capstones & pavers after lunch & did a lot of bending and had no issues.

The things I needed to get out of the trunk.

While I was out there, I checked on the white ginger. Bract #5 was in full bloom and Bract #4 was drying up. I found a hard, round, green growth on Bract #1; I think it might be a seed. I will be watching to see what develops.

Bract #5.

Bract #4.

Bract #1 with something that might be a seed.

I had to take a shower after moving the capstones & pavers; I was so hot & sweaty. I realized last night that I did not have to try to remember to take my towel and washcloth with me whenever I used the outside shower; I could leave a 2nd towel & washcloth in the outside shower now since I had a working washing machine and did not have to haul everything back to Honolulu with me to wash it! Hulō!



After my shower I heard a leaf blower next door and saw Delphine; I went to talk to him about the kalo. The patch was already there at his house so he did not know anything about growing them. We talked a bit more and he invited me to pick mountain apples from his tree which still had a bunch of fruit that he said would drop off and be wasted because his kids, who lived next door, did not eat mountain apples. He also invited me to pick the lychee because they didn't want to go through the trouble of picking them. He told me to come over right then; he picked 3 bunches of lychee for me to take back for Lori & Jennie! I put them in the refrigerator; I hope they last until I can deliver them next week.

Delphine sets up the ladder at the lychee tree.

Picking lychee.

On my way pack to the house, a woman across the road was just leaving her driveway; she called out to me. It turns out Jessica had been hoping to run in to me to let me know that she & her partner Jim were having some noisy work done tomorrow starting at 8 in the morning; they are having hedges trimmed and tree branches chipped. I had a great time talking with her; turns out they have some land down by the old Kohala Sugar Company mill where they raise sheep & some cattle. Today is their 2nd anniversary of purchasing the house across the road from me. There's a 3rd owner of the house, Perry, who lived in Seattle but was on a sabbatical in Italy when the COVID-19 broke out there. He has since returned to Seattle. Now I know the neighbors on both sides of me as well as across the street.

This is view of Jessica's driveway from front window; white float in center is house address sign.

For dinner I had ... you guessed it! Sauerkraut! I decided to go more than 24 hours with very little in my GI tract to starve those pesky little diarrhea-causing viruses out. When I originally had viral diarrhea over 30 years ago, I kept eating and it got really bad. Things would run right through me, including water. I was at risk for dehydration when I went to the doctor after a week of diarrhea. He told me to fast for 24 hours to starve the virus out and slowly reintroduce foods starting with white bread. During my 24-hour fast he said I could have any clear liquids, besides water that included tea, coffee, and things like apple juice that you could see through. So I did water, tea, and apple juice; I found the apple juice did not sit well with me so I ended up just doing water. After 24 hours I tried a slice of white bread without the crust; it went right through me. I called the doctor, he said I probably eroded my gut lining with all the diarrhea; I would need to wait for it to regrow in a couple of days before I could handle anything. So I fasted for another 2 days and tried the white bread again; this time it stayed put. In all I had diarrhea for 8 days but fasted for 10 days before my system got back to normal. Now whenever I have diarrhea, the first thing I do is switch to drinking only water for 24 hours! And it has worked well for me.

After dinner I found an email about the contact tracing class had come in while I was busy moving capstones & pavers around. I was asked to choose 3 times for an interview on either Tuesday or Wednesday! Hulo! I sent them my 3 choices; they said they were all taken and gave me 3 other openings. I told them any of the 3 would work. I now have an interview for tomorrow morning at 9 via Zoom. If I get in, classes will start on July 27th and be on Monday & Tuesday from 10 am to 1 pm each day and on Thursday & Friday from 9 to 10:30 am and 1 to 2:30 pm each day; so 12 hours of training each week for 6 weeks.


Marjorie from MRC also sent an email. It was about the revised procedures for the purchase & delivery of groceries. If I get in to the contact tracing class I will have to cut back my hours that I can help with the MRC Support Services.

I did not see the cats today; mainly because I was gone a lot of the day. When I returned at about 1:30 I put food out for them. It was gone by about 3:30. I didn't see them when I put the food out at dinner around 6 but the food was gone by 8.

At about 1:30.

At about 3:30.

Tropical Storm Cristina died out last night and is no longer being tracked. But another system, Six-E has formed in the Eastern Pacific region. It is so far east it might never get close to the Central Pacific. It is several hundred mile south-southeast of the south tip of Baja California.


There were 23 new cases of COVID-19 reported today bringing the total up to 1243 known cases. Sadly, there were 3 new deaths today and a few more hospitalizations. It has been determined that the 2 gyms where 20 people have tested positive, as well as the Hawaiian Airlines training where 24 people tested positive, were all from exposure to 1 individual. Based on the continued double digit new case load, as well as the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases in several states that we get a lot of visitors from, the Governor with support from the mayors has pushed the new pre-travel test protocol back to September 1st. LG Green stressed that the trans-pacific travel has remained open throughout the pandemic, arriving passengers just needed to comply with the 14-day quarantine once they got here. Or, he said, lie about their intention of complying with the quarantine. He said because of that latter outcome, we need to be vigilant and have plans in place to keep track of the people that need to be in quarantine once the new test protocol is instituted. He also said that 30 contact tracers are needed for each 100,000 people; currently I have heard that DOH has about 100 contact tracers. Fifty more people are now being trained, with 30 more coming on every 6 weeks for 5 more cohorts, or 150 new tracers; this will be a total of about 300 contact tracers by about mid-February next year.