My Summer Vacation: Fennel Proothie

I used up all the kohlrabi greens yesterday and started on the fennel greens this morning. It's awesome! The proothie has a slight but noticeable and pleasant anise-like flavor. Reminds me of a good Indian meal! (Fennel seeds are frequently offered at the end of an Indian meal as a breath freshener.)

Today was the first day of the pre-travel testing program; early information from the Department of Transportation said statewide about 8,300 travelers came in today. The ones coming in to Honolulu will be given an opportunity to be tested again on Monday to see what percent, if any, are now positive. A team of independent epidemiologists are subsampling about 10% of those that arrived today. However, the Mayor is skeptical of the process.

I enjoyed reading this article by a journalist writing about his adventures in traveling under the pre-arrival testing program.

On Hawai'i Island all 1,100 people who arrived today were tested before they were allowed to leave the airport. Since Hawai'i Island's medical facilities are close to capacity they want to catch anyone that might be positive before they can spread it within the community. It will be interesting to see how many come up positive, especially among those that had the pre-test within 72 hours of travel.

Some residents are conflicted over re-opening of travel. Some are supportive of the pre-travel testing program in order to get the economy running again. Others are fearful that incoming tourists will bring a lot more COVID-19.

On Monday Nurse Kaylee called, Dad had broken a tooth; they weren't sure because they found the piece of tooth on his table and he couldn't remember anything about it. I told her that he had an appointment for November 6th; she said I would need to have a negative COVID-19 test within 7 days of when I come to pick Dad up for his appointment. The transport driver doesn't need to be tested and the folks at the dentist office needs to be tested. I called Kaiser Permanente today and was easily able to get a COVID-19 appointment; its for November 3rd.

This is Day 4 of the Unicorn Challenge; I did my second official kettlebell training today. And I could already see improvement! Two days ago when I did the As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) for the 10 kettlebell swings, 10 goblet squats, and 5 halos each side, I was only able to do 4 sets of the swings & squats and 3 sets plus 3 rep of the halos. Today I was able to do 4 full sets of all 3 movements. A big part was in becoming more proficient with the halos so I could do them faster without fear of whacking myself in the head with the 10# kettlebell!

For lunch I made the gluten-free Against the Grain Gourmet Pizza I got at Kokua Market. The variety was called Nut-Free Pesto; it was also quite flavor-free. I will have to add more toppings when I warm it up for my next meal. And why is the serving size 1/5 pizza? How am I supposed to easily cut it in to 5 equal pieces? I opted for 6 pieces, but I ended up eating 2 because 1 wasn't enough. So I got 57g fat, 53g carbs, 22 g protein, and 817 calories. I also had a serving of Sonoma Brinery's Mild Smokey Chipotle Raw Sauerkraut (0g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein, 5 calories).

The sauerkraut macros.

Shortly after lunch The Roommate Who Likes To Wash Dishes sent a text asking, "Anyone expecting a heavy package? Since it doesn't have a name on it, I don't want to touch it until I can confirm it's legit" Turns out it was my 20# kettlebell. It was apparently dragged across something which put a bunch of black marks over the name portion of the label. At least the box was still together.

Today I joined the Cohort 3 Talk Story Zoom; about half of Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 (my group) were there. It was a very interesting conversation; we got to hear from people who were actually working as contact tracers, people helping in other areas of the COVID-19 response, and a lot of people who were just waiting to be called. One thing we heard was that the National Guard that are currently working as contact tracers, are scheduled to be deactivated at the end of the year; which may open the door for the community contact tracers to step in. We did hear also that we are very well trained compared to almost all the National Guard and some of the others currently hired. Very enlightening.

DT texted about 3 this afternoon, "Just a heads up I'm being asked to stay home for 2 weeks cause positive case from student on campus. Not in direct contact but to be safe until tracing is completed lot of faculty asked to stay home." He called about an hour later to ask questions; he said the faculty meeting was very chaotic and the school was talking with the Department of Health. In the meanwhile, he wanted some better information than he got from the meeting so we talked. After asking him some questions it looks like he is at very low risk of having been exposed. Here's what we know: The student's father was notified on the weekend that he was a close contact of someone at work and he went in to get tested. Monday was a holiday. The student was in school on Tuesday when the father's test came back positive; the parents immediately took the student out of school and took him to be tested. The school was notified this afternoon that the student's test came back positive. The student is not in any of DT's classes. He had no contact with the student outside of class. About 4 hours later he got a call from the administration saying he was cleared to go back to school tomorrow.

For dinner I sauteed a Smoked Apple Chicken Sausage with baby pac choi and more sauerkraut. The sausage had 4.5g fat, 7g carbs, 21g protein, and 160 calories. I really don't know if I ate 170g of baby pac choi, but if I did, I got 0.3g fat, 3.1g carbs, 2.7g protein, and 20.4 calories. Since I was a little light on carbs I also had a bowl of Heritage Flakes which has 15g fat, 31g carbs, 5g protein, and 160 calories.

The bowl is about 4" in diameter; the plat is 7&1/2".

I got an email in the evening from Almond Cow; my order is on its way! It is supposed to arrive on Monday by 8 pm. Looking forward to it! I will pick up some soybeans from Kokua Market this weekend.

I have commissioned my friend Doe to make me a wall hanging of RBG. I want a portrait of her sitting in a chair in her black robe and the white jabot given to her by the UH School of Law; it has some rare shells from Niʻihau that were sewn in to it. Doe's wall hanging and table coverings are multi-media and she has asked me if I had any shells that she could incorporate in to the wall hanging; I am going to see if I can find the paper shell bracelet that I used to have. Doe rents out her table coverings for events; if you're in the Pacific Northwest, go to her website at Deer Creek Studio to find out more about them.

This table covering has a 3-D raised center.

The first flower dropped off the orchid this evening. Fortunately, none of the others look like they will be dropping soon.

I love this!

Hmmm? They could be on to something here.

There were 91 new COVID-19 cases today, for a total of 13,764 known COVID-19 cases. There was 1 death reported, bringing the death toll up to 184. The 7-day average for Oʻahu was 67 with a positivity rate of 3.3%; now we wait to see how much impact the opening up for trans-pacific travel will have on our numbers. But if most people wear a mask, keep minimum 6 feet apart, practice proper hand hygiene, refrain from gathering in groups larger than 5 people, and opt for outdoor rather than indoor events; we should be able to keep this under control even with an influx of people.