Wet ʻŌkole

I ordered the Wet ʻŌkole seat covers today. They are a little pricey but amortized over 30 years, that comes out to only about $22 per year. Or if we base it on how long I had the Loyale, it would be over 28 years, which would be about $24 per year. I look at it as an investment in keeping the car in good condition. Of course, I am assuming the seat covers will last as long as the car. The ones I got for the Outback have lasted 5 years already with no signs of wear & tear. I think they are worth it to protect the car; they will arrive in 6 to 8 weeks.

I started my morning with a fennel proothie. I am trying a trick I read about taping a desiccant packet to the lid to reduce the moisture in the container. It seems to be working.  

My first errand today was to go to Kaiser for a blood draw for my annual physical with Dr. Pham next week. I drove up and the parking garage was uncharacteristically empty for the time of day I arrived. Forgot to take a photo, but think of the Twilight Zone when weird things are going to happen and you are the only one there. That's the vibe! Well, it wasn't the Twilight Zone, today is the Kamehameha Day holiday. Half of my brain remembers it but that also means half of my brain does not. Auē! I wonder if the lab is open tomorrow?

I stopped by Kokua Market after leaving Wet ʻŌkole to pick up a few items. Besides eggs and non-sugar sweetener, I also found a half gallon bottle for $2! If I ordered another bottle through Almond Cow it would be $14.95 plus a $25 shipping fee. Winner!

I also found something called Luau Stew by Makana Provisions; these are the folks that make jerky out of invasive axis deer and feral cattle. I like to support them. And if the lū'au is good I will have to indulge in it every so often. They also carry something called Apache Stew (the founder is Kiowa Apache and Cherokee) and a chili. I would like to try all of them.

As I was leaving Kokua, a strange looking helicopter flew overhead. I was able to get a photo of it; I sent it to Kai. He said it is a, "V22 Osprey, Marine tilt-rotor transport. Kind of infamous due to several high profile crashes, including one in Hawaii."

For lunch I finished off the last pupusa from Juicy Brew. I also ate the salad that came with it and the chilled pears.

I got a call later in the evening, The Bronco Dude wanted to know if I wanted to join him & Curtis for  dinner at Zippy's; I said sure. The hostess said it would be 15 to 20 minutes to get a table; The Bronco Dude got the Korean Chicken Plate, Curtis got the Chili Burrito with a fried egg on top, & I got the Chicken Katsu Burger with onion rings. I forgot to get a photo of the chili burrito.

Temperature check station.

Restriction on number of occupants in the bathroom.

Chicken Katsu Burger with onion rings.

Korean Chicken Plate.

The Aix weather app forecast precipitation through the early afternoon in the 3 places I have on my phone. It wasn't quite accurate. There was only a sprinkle about noon in Honolulu. It looked to be cloudy but not rainy in the afternoon on Hawaiʻi Island.

Honolulu 9:14 a.m.

Honolulu 12:02 p.m.

Honolulu 12:07 p.m.

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope 3: 48 p.m.

The City & County of Honolulu (which is the island of Oʻahu) transitioned to Tier 4 today. This is based on an amendment to the tier system that was approved by the Governor. The new system is tied to the vaccination rate of residents and has 6 levels. 

There were 78 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 36,871. There was also 1 new death reported, increasing the death toll to 506; currently 736 cases are considered active. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 25 with a positivity rate of 1.0%; this is the last I will provide this statistic since it will no longer be used as a metric for adjusting restrictions.