Happy Halloween!

Curtis & Lori hosted a Halloween gathering this evening, almost like in pre-pandemic times. They set up tables in their garage for the food along with plastic gloves for people to use while serving themselves. Tables for eating & socializing were set out on the front lawn; the candy distribution crew sat along the sidewalk & in the driveway at least 6 feet apart. Four households get together so kids coming by get a big haul from just one stop. There was just so much going on I forgot to get photos of the potluck & the people.

Today was a Fast Day so I drank a lot of water while I was doing things before dinner.

I started the screaming snails shortly after lunch. Iʻm glad I made these before so I had some idea how to put them together. A couple things I need to remember, though. Buy candy eyes early; they sell out quickly. Roll the dough out evenly thin for its entire length even if it was cut into a triangle for crescent rolls. Grease cream horn mold well so dough releases easily. Spiral dough around cream horn mold until 2/3 of mold is covered so opening is large enough for Lil Smokie; put end of spiral-side down & draw end out a little to make floor of mouth. Carefully twist dough shell off cream horn mold, pay attention to seams on molds.

Ingredients & supplies.

Need to be more even & longer.

Right mold is higher quality & it shows!

Shells before baking.

Shells after baking.

Shells with as many eyes as I had this year.

The finished product. I hid the eyeless ones on the bottom.

While I was just getting started on making the screaming snails, The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes texted me. He forgot a bag of Halloween favors & asked me to bring it tonight. The bag was hanging on the door knob of his room.

The Department of Educationʻs Office of Hawaiian Education just started its Hawaiian distance learning program. A little late. Understandable but not excusable. DOE apparently has always had difficulty finding & retaining certified teachers of Hawaiian language; shifting to online learning made it even more difficult to have enough qualified staff. But its up & running now; I hope they can sustain it at a level that is necessary to provide students with a good education.

Because of all the preparation for tonightʻs potluck I did not pay attention to my ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi reminders; I have been demoted in the Duolingo leader boards. Iʻll have to work harder this coming week to get myself back up again.

 

The local newspaper has a great column called Skywatch about the upcoming astronomical events. I will try to catch the lunar eclipse, though that is a couple weeks away & I might forget. There is too much light here to make watching for meteor showers a viable activity. On Hawaiʻi Island there is more opportunity for astronomical observation as well as local groups that hold weekly viewing sessions where they set up telescopes & allow others to view things. This sounds cool: AstroDay in Kona. Next year I will be able to take advantage of these opportunities.

Here is the last part of the Kīlauea volcano virtual walk throughs. Heʻs kinda nerdy but I really enjoyed the videos, I hope you did, too.

At 7:20 a.m.

At 9:18 p.m.

At 7:20 a.m.

At 9:18 p.m.

The Aix weather app forecast partly cloudy skies for Honolulu throughout the day; that appeared to be correct. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast partly cloudy skies until about mid-afternoon when drizzles would begin until the evening; Big Island Now forecast a sunny morning then becoming mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. That appeared to be accurate with the Honomū weather station recorded no precipitation for today. For Marysville, Aix forecast sunny skies in the morning becoming partly cloudy in the evening; at least for the morning it appeared to be accurate.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:13 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:13 a.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 7:13 a.m. HST.

CFHT looking northwesterly at 7:22 a.m. at Kohala Mountain with Haleakala in background.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 3:30 p.m.

The surf remained similar to yesterday's conditions but is expected to increase to near advisory levels.

Laniakea (N) at 7:15 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 7:15 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:18 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 7:19 a.m.

There was a magnitude 5.2 earthquake 80 miles southeast of Sand Point, Alaska. The 26 mile deep temblor did not create a tsunami.

*The wi-fi was glitchy today so I was not able to get screen shots of the data so there are no graphics on COVID-19 statistics. I had difficulty getting on the internet to do the screen shots; I also had difficulty composing text for the blog & having it save properly. It was a mess all around.

There were 152 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, increasing the total known cases to 84,295. There were also 10 new deaths reported, increasing the number of fatalities to 916; currently there are 1704 cases considered to be active. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 60 with a positivity rate of 1.7%.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dean, Cheech, Geoffrey, & Sho! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo makahiki ʻumi kumamālua e Judy & Keith!