Leaving Moku o Keawe

On my last day I start by turning the lights on in each room that has an unfinished item in it; once all tasks in that room are completed I turn the light off. It gives me a good visual reminder that I still need to do something in that room. When all the lights are out, I have completed everything I needed to do. This morning the only lights that were not on were in the sewing room & hall; I needed to do things in every other room. Here's what my reminder system looked like in my bedroom.

There was no moonrise this morning that I could see. The cloud cover was so heavy I could only see a hint of shadow on Jessie's lawn and a faint reflection off of her roof. (If your monitor is good enough you will be able to see these also. Though they are still not as amazing as what the human eye can distinguish in low light. Which is measly when compared to what cats can see in low light.)

Shadow on the lawn at 4:34 a.m.

Faint moonlight on the roof at 4:34 a.m.

Birdrise felt a little later this morning. But when sunrise came along, I slept in a little. I was tired from not sleeping well the previous evening because of my back.

Birdrise, 18 minutes before sunrise at 5:47 a.m.

I had a light breakfast; I finished off the last piece of bread I found in the opened bag of bread that was in the freezer. 

Besides the normal clean up that I do when I am leaving, like empty the compost; I also had to pack up things in the areas where Ken will be working. In the kitchen that meant unloading all the drawers. For the back bedroom I moved everything out from under the butsudan as well as packed up the items in the butsudan. In the bathroom I marked the medicine chest & the location on the wall where it will need to be mounted when it is done. Another usual chore is wash the last of the dishes & put them away. Today I covered the table with an old fitted twin sheet; it worked well.

Reference photo to help when I reload the drawer.

The ihai were the last items to be packed as I closed the butsudan doors.

I think the twin-sized fitted sheet will work well here.

I also cleaned out the refrigerator more thoroughly than I did when we left in July. Actually, in July, I just gave away the excess food that Sarah had bought; this time I went through & threw things out.

Before.

After.

My bedroom needed the most work. I needed to unload the old dresser & also move the stack of boxes closest to the dresser. I also had to move things away from the front of the built in shelves as well as move things out of the shelves. And while doing this I was trying to think ahead & still make it easy for me when I arrive on my next trip.

While I was unloading the dresser I found a DVD with a note on it to "return to CJ". Ooops! I texted her. Neither she nor Ern Dog could remember loaning it to me. I guess we will have to watch it when they come to visit to see if it jogs their memory!   

In the front bedroom, I had the light on to remind me to put the blanket & bedspread back on the bed. It had gotten washed during this trip because I was not able to do it in July. I also covered the bed with an old sheet.

In the living room I needed to retrieve the drip watering kit; I forgot it the last time & needed pieces out of it. I also needed to reposition the cardboard boxes that we had been using to protect the floors when there was a lot of furniture moving being done. They had slid off of their previous location.

I had the porch light on to remind me to bring in the porch broom. And to put the new lock on the gate; the 2-year old Master lock has been getting harder to unlock. It had given Kai trouble in July so he asked his friend Ben for recommendations on corrosion-resistant locks. I ordered the Abus lock Ben recommended & had it sent to Honolulu. Good thing, too; I almost wasn't able to get the lock open when I arrived! While I was here I just made it look like the old lock was locked but never did lock it. I hope the new Abus lock lives up to the recommendation.

The garage also needed some clean up. I put away all the garden tools I had used as well as the now-empty plastic pots that I had the bare root anthuriums standing in over the last month. The other task in the garage was retracting the retractable clothesline so that the mud daubers don't build nests on it like they did on the old clothesline; that's why I got a retractable one instead of going with a cheaper fixed system. I need both a ladder at one end & a chair at the other end to do that. 

I was just changing in to my travel clothes when Arlene arrived. I had completed almost all my tasks before leaving. The last 2 were to say Good Bye to Jessie & give her a bag of catfood and to drop off a bag of garbage on my way to Glenn's house. It was a much more relaxed final day than in July.

At the airport it must have been slow; the Hawaiian Airlines agent at the kiosks helped me enter my confirmation number, print my bag tag & boarding pass, attach the bag tag, & walk my bag to the bag drop. Since there is no scale at the house I had estimated my bag to be a couple pounds under the 50 pound limit. I was correct! It was under by a few pounds. Though if it wasn't I had a lot of room in my carry-on; there was only a hand of maiʻa, 2 avocados, & a couple of things from the refrigerator that Sarah bought that need to be eaten soon that were in it. 

Getting through TSA was a breeze; there was no one in line when I got there. It took me longer to walk through the maze to get to the agent than it did for any thing else. When I sat down to tie my shoes back on I got another good look at the mural outside the TSA area; it's still not done but is coming along.

Once I got through, I headed to the restaurant for a light lunch. It appears they no longer carry coconut water so I ended up with some lemonade. Further down the line I saw they had real orange juice & real cranberry juice; I will have to remember that for next time. I also picked up a Sabra hummus & pretzel snack.

Not feeling good about this.

Success!

At the gate I was sitting a couple seats away from a couple who were actually left on the flight before mine. The guy was making a bunch of phone calls because of some sort of problem with their hotel reservation in Honolulu. Apparently they were so involved with that they forgot a backpack! I only knew about it when a gate agent came up & asked me if that was my backpack. I think the agent was able to get it to them because the plane had not pulled away from the gate yet. It would have been really sad to not have a hotel & be missing your backpack, too.

On the plane it was almost as shown on yesterday's chart when I checked in. I chose well again, this flight was about half full. I was in Row 22 there was a woman in seat A; I was in F & no one behind us. The woman in seat A had a little dog in a carrier under the seat in front of her. I think the plane was probably only half full at the very most.

Almost no one in front of me.

Only the flight attendant behind me.

This is at the end of the flight, before the doors opened.

I had never noticed before that the Hana Hou magazine was printed on paper that had technology incorporated in to it to reduce surface contaminants. I will have to check the issue I picked up during my May flight to see if it has the same notice. I wonder if Biomaster uses the same type of antimicrobial product that Microban uses?

The notice is actually printed on the cover.

One thing I have to say about my suitcase, you can spot it from a distance! I never have questions about whether I am grabbing someone else's bag by accident.

In case you are wondering, no, he did not pinch his fingers. Dad turned around & got him away.

I had dinner at Curtis' house; it's his birthday today! So there was a cake, but we did not eat it tonight; Lori wants to wait until the weekend when the boys can come over for dinner.

Today is Day 4 since the maiʻa was harvested. I will continue daily photos in Honolulu.

I brought home the hand of maiʻa that the reference maiʻa is from; that way I can see if it is ripening as fast as the rest of the hand or if removing it had an effect on its ripening. I also brought home both of the avocados from the church; they are both looking ripe now. 

Keala did it again! She peed on my chair before I walked in the door. She had not done it while I was gone. How did she know I was coming home today? 

The Roommates even put the stool on it to stop her.

The Aix weather app forecast rain all day in Kapaʻau; it started out looking like it might be but it cleared up & became only partly cloudy skies. The Honomū weather station recorded 0.02 inches by around 4 p.m. For  Honolulu, Aix forecast partly cloudy skies all day; that appeared to be true. For Marysville, Aix also forecast partly cloudy skies all day; that also appeared to be true. 

Drizzle in Kapaʻau at 8:25 a.m., looking southerly.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 8:36 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 8:36 a.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 8:37 a.m. HST.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 3:54 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 3:56 p.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 3:56 p.m. HST.

Kona Airport looking easterly at Hualalai at 4:15 p.m.

Honolulu Airport looking northerly at 4:59 p.m.

 

The surf on the east facing shores looks like it was good today; unfortunately I was too busy to take a look out at Keokea to see if it was actually doing something there. Hilo Bay is an east facing shoreline & it showed some good waves, so Keokea probably was, too. The south facing shores had smaller waves today.

Hilo Bay (E) at 8:39 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 8:38 a.m.

As of last week 87.6% of state workers were fully vaccinated; though this number does not include department of education or University of Hawaiʻi staff. The number having at least one shot is 92.4%; both of these are significantly higher than the statewide average. 

There were 625 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 57,747. There were 8 new deaths reported, increasing the death toll to 573; currently there are 9633 cases considered active. As of yesterday there were 1,939,603 doses of vaccine administered, giving 62.3% of the population full vaccination; 70.6% have had at least 1 dose. Currently 421 patients are hospitalized with 87 in the ICU and 69 on ventilators. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 445 with a positivity rate of 9.6% 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Penny, Curtis, & Corinna!