Fixing the Dresser

There was an old dresser in Curtis' old room (the middle bedroom at the Kaimukī house) that was sitting around empty; no one had any plans for it. I thought it looked just like the ones at the Kohala house but I was wrong; I still plan on using it in the future enlarged sewing room. They all have 5 drawers but in this last dresser they are all the same depth; for the others the top 2 drawers are not as deep as the bottom 3 drawers. Also, the last dresser has 2 separate pulls for opening whereas the others have one continuous pull that runs across the front of the drawer. They are very similar in color. As I was moving the last one out of the front bedroom & getting ready to put it in its temporary holding area, I noticed that the bottom decorative piece was starting to come off. I tried to hammer it back in place but discovered that one brad on each side was no longer there; I ended up using wood glue to stick it back in place. But I am letting it dry overnight for a really firm bond since the 30 minute time suggested for the initial bond did nothing at all. But that was my fault, I did not have the weights putting pressure on the proper area while the glue was drying.

My first attempt at securing the bottom piece.

The successful attempt; I needed pressure on the bottom edge only.

I love the mornings here! I can lie in bed and watch the sunlight warm things up. This morning I did not hear the Saffron Finch; I think it has left since the heliconias are gone.

Twenty-nine minutes after sunrise.

Half an hour later the full sun starts warming things up.

I started uncovering things in the rooms that we will be using. Sarah & Kaia will be in the front bedroom so I started setting that up for them. No one will be using the back bedroom for sleeping but that is where the butsudan is so I will be cleaning the floors in that room. And of course, the kitchen will be well used and a pathway through the living room is also needed.

Front bedroom, looking in from the doorway.

Front bedroom, looking over the top of the filing cabinet at what I have to clear out.

Back bedroom, looking in from the doorway.

Back bedroom, looking across from the far corner.

Kitchen, looking in from back door towards southerly wall.

Kitchen, looking in from back door towards westerly wall.

Kitchen, uncovered.

I am covering some things with towels which can easily be washed for clean up.

Mosquito repellent & sunscreen collection on window sill above sink.

Pathway to the front door & front bedroom.

I also changed the HEPA filter on the Smart Air filter in the kitchen. I run it near the window, so it can filter some of the air coming through. Normally the Smart Air is run in a closed room & the filter is changed every quarter, but I have been gone for a year. I got the Smart Air DIY 1.1 last year in an effort to lower the amount of incoming particulates. The premise of the DIY 1.1 is to provide a functional HEPA filter with a much lower cost since you are not paying for the fancy cabinet to hide the working parts; which are basically a filter & a fan to push the air through the filter.

Front of DIY 1.1 with old filter.

Back of DIY 1.1. That's it! No other parts.

L to R: old HEPA filter, new HEPA filter.

I went to Rainbow Café for breakfast this morning. And to check in to see how Lem is doing; he was there with most of his old cronies, sitting in the outdoor eating area like they usually do. Lem has had both of his shots like most of his buddies; a couple are going to get their 2nd COVID-19 shots by the end of this week. Sadly, his friend Nathan, whom I met there, passed away a couple days ago from cancer.

The Rainbow Café used to be CSC Café. It is now run by new people & has a different menu. I have heard from several people that it is good. I tried the Loco Moco Breakfast; I think Big City Diner's Really Loco, Loco Moco with Grandma's Incredible Kim Chee Fried Rice is better, but I like Big City Diner's loco moco more than any other that I have had. I will have to try some other things from their menu and see how they compare.

Mediocre loco moco.

After breakfast, I went to the Hawai'i Wildlife Center to thank them for letting me send some things back with them & let them know when I am going to be back to pick up carriers. While there I bought several wildlife themed coloring books for when Kaia comes in a couple of days. I also bought a couple wildlife-themed short story books for kids. Then Rae printed the Manu-o-Kū and Booby finger puppets for Kaia; I think we'll have fun with that!

Rae cuts out the Manu-o-Kū finger puppet.

The booby & Manu-o-Kū finger puppets.

When I got back, I saw Wiley at the end of the driveway. Wiley is becoming less afraid of me now & appears to know I am the giver of food. I loudly poured food in to the bowl & Wiley came up to investigate. I started out with the door closed but was able to later open it & leave it ajar & stick the phone out to take photos. 

Wiley under gardenia at end of driveway.

Looking at Wiley from window.

Door is now ajar.

He can only see phone & my fingers.

Later in the afternoon I went to drop off omiyage with Jessie; she had her 2nd vaccine shot & is now fully vaccinated along with her brother Ray who lives across the road from us. She said she has been feeding the cats since I left last year. She also told me that Mom Cat has 2 new kittens, a black & white one like Wiley and an orange one with a little white on it. That last one sounds like the kitten Kai saw with Mom Cat a couple years ago when Mom Cat was a kitten!

I took a closer look at the heliconia patch or rather, the former heliconia patch. The feral pigs have done a really good job rooting out the heliconia tubers. I don't think they left any. I guess that's good since I was planning on removing the heliconia & planting something else there; I was thinking red or torch or pink ginger or all 3 since they make good cut flowers for the Ohaka. It's just too early right now and I will just have to cover it with weed block so nothing grows there while I am gone. I also need to weed the other areas where I used weed block and red cinders; weeds have come up on top of the weed cloth & red cinders.

I also walked around the yard, checking out whether any fruit was ripe or near ripe. The niu always has something ready for harvest. The guavas are almost ripe. The ʻōhiʻa ʻai are just forming. I also checked out areas that needed weeding.

ʻŌhiʻa ʻai (mountain apple, Eugenia malaccensis).

Close up of immature ʻōhiʻa ʻai.

Guavas (Psidium guajava).

Niu (coconut, Cocos nucifera).

Weeds in the red cinders.

I also checked out some of the invertebrate life. There is a big garden spider in the corner of the garage opening. And a large moth hanging around on the wall.

Garden spider (Argiope aurantica).

Moth (unknown species).

Laurel & Bill dropped by on their way home from Kona; they got their 2nd COVID-19 shots today. They also stopped by Costco to do their shopping & picked up a case of soymilk for me. When I was here last year they loaned me an indoor cat during the time I was in quarantine. This time I asked them if I could borrow one of their dogs so that the yard would smell like dog and keep the pigs away! Bill said he would come by with his service dog Aliʻi tomorrow; he will also bring Maggie to see how we get along. He will have Aliʻi walk around the yard and mark along the fence line. Then Maggie will stay with me a few days; I will let her out a couple times at night so the pigs can see that there is a dog here.

Wiley also showed up around 4:30 for dinner. This time I kept the door wide open so Wiley could see me; it did not keep him away from the food.

Wiley sees me but keeps on coming closer.

Wiley ate without hesitation.

I opened the gift Alicia gave me; it is a Seven Year Pen by Seltzer, some unique page flags by Sugar Paper, and a notebook by Designworks Ink. She knows what a person who likes to keep track of things would like!

The Aix weather app forecast rain all day here; it was very wrong! There were some patchy clouds but no precip at all until late in the evening.

Apparently the counts have gone up enough that Omnitrak is being asked to do contact tracing again. I got an email from Dave this afternoon asking about availability; I told him I was off-island and would contact him when I got back if I was available.

Kīlauea is still putting on a show, though it's not as active as it was a month ago or so.

Some Las Vegas casinos are opening up; apparently their health department said if at least 80% of their employees are vaccinated they can open up at 100% capacity. So 3 of them will be doing that soon. The companies running those casinos gave their employees cash incentives to get vaccinated & also made vaccinations available at the casino for both the worker as well as their family members. Sounds like a smart thing to do. I'll bet (pun intended) that Curtis is hoping his favorite casinos are also nearing the 80% mark.

There were 80 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total up to 32,732 known cases. There were no new deaths reported so the death toll remains at 484; currently 1204 cases are considered to be active. Dave from Omnitrak sent out a call for people to return to contact tracing since the cases have been rising; I am assuming they got another contract from the City to do so. The 7-day new case average on Oʻahu is 67 with a 2.2% positivity rate; tomorrow the City will be evaluating what happens next. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Mary!