Wow! That Was Fast!

About an hour after I went to bed an email arrived in my inbox. It was Kaiser, my test results were back! It took about 14 hours for them to return the results. Amazing!

It's good to know that the process was so easy & the results are returned so quickly. Two days ago we got a message from Maunalani explaining their new visitation policy which will begin on November 16th; as long as the new case rate stays low. Visitors will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of their visit. 

I made another kale & parsley stem proothie this morning; I also added some beet greens but not enough to change the color. Since the stems aren't adding any off flavor I think I will continue using the stems in my proothies and look at using other vegetable parts that are usually discarded. Blenderizing things will help reduce food waste. 

This is Day 25 of the Unicorn Challenge (Week 4 Day 4); it is a Regular Calorie, AMRAP day. Today called for 2 different sets of AMRAP; these are the same ones I was supposed to have done on Tuesday but I skipped them to watch the election returns. AMRAP #1 of the AMRAP was 15 swings, 5 reverse lunges, 4 kick outs, & 4 step bear crawls; I was able to do 4 rounds each of swings, reverse lunges,  kick outs and 3 rounds of bear crawls in 6 minutes. AMRAP #2 was 5 chest presses, 10 toe tap planks, 5 push ups, & 1 where are my keys?; I was able to do 3 rounds of chest presses and 2 rounds each of toe tap planks, push ups, and where are my keys in 6 minutes. I think the most difficult one is the kick out; the bear crawl is just a matter of coordination.

After I finished my workout I went to City Mill to get chicken wire to repair the cat run; Luna made another hole in the plastic bird netting at the west end of the cat run. It looks like it is in about the same place as the other one she found. I actually ended up picking up 1/2" hardware cloth; it was either 10 feet of the hardware cloth at $15 or 25 feet of chicken wire at $20. The hardware cloth is just the right length for the area I want to cover; I decided I should reinforce the lowest 2 feet of the bird netting at the ends of the cat run so it is more secure just in case any loose dogs come around.

On the way to City Mill I was going to pick up lunch at Juicy Brew; it is a vegan food place. I first ran across Juicy Brew back in January 2018 when I was with a team of volunteers doing the Point-in-Time Homeless Count in the Kaimukī area. We all thought it sounded like an interesting place to try. In the There Goddess Kettlebell Training program they stress the importance of good nutrition and prefer to see people eating more plant-based meals. Juicy Brew has a huge sign out front pointing out that they serve plant-based meals. I couldn't find any parking nearby so I ended up at Zippy's and got a mini Loco Moco with brown rice.

Before I went in the house I did a quick check on the plants; I especially wanted to see how the sweet potato plants were doing. I read that sweet potato leaves are edible raw; I might try adding them to my proothies if I run out of greens from the CSA box. 

I also took a closer look at the papayas. The middle one is definitely dead above the ground; I did not see any sprouts coming up but I will leave it a while longer just in case. The northerly one has 2 sprouts growing; one is going to break off soon because the trunk is rooting out around it. The tall southerly one had no fruit on it and no flowers; I will have John top that one the next time he is here.

The 3 papayas.

This one is still alive.

But the upper part is rotting; this shoot wil probably break off soonl

The middle one is dead.

I took another look at the ʻalula; the flowers are looking a little more yellow than before but not as yellow as the photos online. I still need to figure out how to pollinate them. The nanea is doing really well; I need to figure out whether I can make cuttings so I can propagate more plants so I can use them for a ground cover. And I need to find a good place for the maʻo hau hele. 

ʻAlula (Cabbage-on-a-Baseball-Bat, Brighamia insignis)

Nanea (Beach pea, Vigna marina)

Maʻo hau hele (Native yellow hibiscus, Hibiscus brackenridgei)

The Neoregelia carolinae, Blushing Bromeliads, in the back yard are doing well. I think it is because they get regular watering there.

I texted Alexis this morning to find out when she was arriving for the Oʻahu Seabird Aid program. Iʻll be picking her up on Monday and most likely running her around on Tuesday in order to pick up the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center van. Interestingly, there was a short blurb on the news about the OSA on the news tonight! And a photo of Alexis and some of the birds last year!

I delayed my lunch because I knew The Potential Most Favorite Roommate was going to make spaghetti with Italian sausage tonight. Since it is a Regular Calorie day I was able to have both the brown rice at lunch & spaghetti at dinner! We discovered that The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes has been using waxed paper instead of parchment paper for his baking; he has been wondering why everything was sticking!

Looks like it was clear & sunny for most of the day in Kapaʻau. The Tesla app showed 19.8 kWh being produced today; on a totally sunny day it is usually around 23.0 kWh.

There are still 5 outstanding states in the middle of counting ballots. Arizona had about 285,000 remaining ballots; on election night Biden was ahead but his lead has been diminishing & is now down to about 50,000. Georgia has about 16,000 ballots left; Trump is still ahead but his lead is now down to about 1700. Nevada has about 190,000 ballots; Trump is also still ahead but now he is down by about 11,000. In North Carolina they are waiting to see how many of the outstanding 116,000 absentee ballots will be returned by November 12th; Trump is leading by about 75,000 votes. And in Pennsylvania about 250,000 votes remain to be counted; Trump is ahead by about 18,000. By the time I went to bed it was Biden 264, Trump 214. According to CNN; they called Arizona for Biden. CBS has not, so they are showing Biden 253, Trump 214.

The electoral map.

How many people feel about the electoral map.

On the news they showed a cloud flashing a shaka!

And now for some humor. I'll start with one from Halloween.

Is this for real?

An article today noted that COVID-19 antibodies appear to wane over time. This would affect the concept of herd immunity.

There were 100 new COVID-19 cases reported today, bringing the total up to 15,572. There were no new deaths reported for a death toll of 210. There were 1244 active cases. The 7-day average for Oʻahu was 71 with a positivity rate of 2.9%. Today is the start of the 2-week period to determine whether we can move to Tier 3; the 7-day average needs to remain under 50 with a positivity rate under 2.5%. We did not do that today. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jackie & DanVoʻnique! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo Makahiki ʻEiwa e Jessica & Kent!