Originally a blog about caring for aging parents with dementia; now about life in general.
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
That Was Tough!
Today I made my first walk up at Maunalani in maybe a year? I only walked the circle which is a little over 1/2 mile; I got winded so easily I thought it was prudent to start by doing only part of my usual 1.6 mile route. I think I might just do only the circle for a week or so.
One hour after sunrise on Maunalani.
When I was done I checked on the hāpuʻu; it's doing great! But the hedges look like they will soon overtake it. Two of the 4 sprayers were not working; since the lines were not broken it is the sprayer heads that need replacing. I will do that on my next trip up there; which I intend to do tomorrow. While there I also played with Abby for a little while; she still remembers me!
I had gotten up & out of the house early enough in order to give The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes a ride to work. So my approach to Maunalani was a little different than my usual route; on my way up there I passed by the old Goodwill building location & saw that they had finished taking down the building.
While I was walking I got a text from Mary Ellen. She asked me to make sure Kai got the message she had sent him; she knows how he sometimes ignores messages. They have made it a tradition to take him out on his birthday since I am not there to do it.
After I got back home I called Kai & relayed the message about the birthday get together; he texted a reply to Mary Ellen while we were talking. Then we talked for a while. He had the follow-up appointment with his doctor regarding the results of his endoscopy. The doctor said the blood in his stool was the result of minor irritations in his intestines; they think it is stress-related. But they also discovered that he has prostatitis; he is being treated for it now. In the mean time, they have decreased his hours driving since prolonged sitting is uncomfortable; he told his boss if they are having trouble getting someone to cover a route he will fill in for a day or 2 per week during the holiday rush. He said they have already started seeing an increase in the volume of mail; it started at the end of October & will only increase.
While we were talking, I could hear Bear dancing around on the wooden floor. At one point Kai let Bear out in the back yard; then I heard him calling Bear to come back! Apparently the gate has been deteriorating & Bear pushed at it once again & it finally failed this time. Fortunately for Kai, Bear really likes human company when he goes outside; he came back fairly quickly when Kai called him.
Bear, prior to the escape attempt. (Photo by Kai)
The gate, after the escape attempt. (Photo by Kai)
Kai also told me about the concert he went to as his early birthday present. It was The HU, a "band from Mongolia that blends heavy metal and traditional Mongolian throat singing." Here's a videos that showcases their music. On their You Tube channel they also have a series on cooking called "HU's in the Kitchen?" I watched lead singer Jaya & his mom cooking the Mongolian dish Tsuliin Shul.
As I was getting ready for the call with Kai The Potential Most Favorite Roommate said he was going to use the garlic Take-and-Bake loaf to make grilled cheese sandwiches & asked if I wanted some. I gave him my vegan cheese & he made "some" for me; I think it was probably half the loaf! So I had grilled "cheese" for lunch!
Today the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi released Okage Sama De "Chapter 3: Pre-WWII Hawaiʻi." Like me, the docent highlighted in this chapter is a sansei or 3rd generation Japanese-American. Her grandparents also worked on the sugar plantation & lived in a plantation camp; although her grandparents were in a segregated camp & my grandparents were in a mixed camp. I know my mother went to Japanese language school but I do not think my father did. I remember playing Hanafuda with family during the time we spent at my grandparents home; I now have a modern set of Hanafuda cards but hope to find my Grandmother's old set of cards.
Later in the afternoon Marjorie sent out an email for another vaccine outreach & education event on Friday. This one will be at Puʻuwai Momi again. She also noted that there was a tentative request for MRC assistance at an HFD drive-through vaccination clinic on the weekend.
Just before dinner Heidi from Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center called. She is trying to arrange for a 3rd transport for tomorrow; there are 2 earlier in the morning that someone else is doing. Later she texted with the information for a 10:30 a.m. drop off.
The Kaimukī Rain Garden team met to discuss the proposal from Hapa Landscaping. A lot of good questions were raised that will be asked of Hapa; I think a couple of the questions need to be addressed to the City & County. My biggest question is: What is the purpose of the rain garden? Since Hapa is a landscape design company the plan they presented is for an aesthetically pleasing site from the very beginning; they put in about twice as many plants as we normally would for a mitigation site. They show nice curvy lines, creating color & textural swaths through the planting area. Personally, I think the design & contract that goes with it needs to emphasize functionality over being pretty; it also needs to leave room for species to be replaced with other species if those initially planted are not able to handle the actual conditions. I also think there needs to be flexibility in the contract that if one species "invades" an area initially designed for another species, that needs to be allowed rather than having the maintenance part of the contract specifying that the invading plants be removed. To me that species that is encroaching over the line is the more suitable species for the area & should be allowed. I also advocated for signage explaining what the area is & what activities could harm it; I also advocated for a very public dedication including invitations to public officials to attend the dedication where media would also be invited. (The photos below are from the project file.)
Planting area B at the bottom of the photo is where the rain garden will be located.
For dinner I took the 2 pieces of leftover lunch & enhanced them for dinner. I added another slice of vegan cheese & some tempeh bacon to the leftovers. I also had some kimchee with my open faced grilled "cheese" sandwich.
Kīlauea is still erupting.
At 78:52 p.m.
At 7:52 p.m.
The Aix weather app forecast partly cloudy skies all day for Honolulu. I had to change traffic cameras for the screen shots for Kaimukī; the one I have been using is still stuck on 11/04. It was more sunny thatn cloudy today. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast drizzle for most of the day except rain from the mid-afternoon in to the evening; I forgot to get a screen shot of the Big Island Now forecast. The Honomū weather station had 0.01 inches at 6:50 a.m. & it stayed at that level through the daylight hours. For Marysville, Aix forecast drizzle until the evening when it would become rain; I have still not been able to figure out the new I-5 traffic cams, so I can neither support nor refute what actually happened.
Kaimukī looking easterly at 6:49 a.m.
Honomū looking northerly at 6:50 a.m.
Kaimukī looking easterly at 6:54 a.m.
Kaimukī looking easterly at 6:54 a.m., without dew.
Kaimukī looking easterly at 4:59 p.m.
Honomū looking northerly at 6:59 p.m.
Most shores looked relatively small except for the surf along the north facing shores which were decent for fun sized swells. The Hilo Bay camera is out again.
Laniakea (N) at 9:25 a.m.
Waikīkī (S) at 9:26 a.m.
Banyans (W) at 9:35 a.m.
There was a magnitude 6.6 earthquake south east of the Ryuklyu Islands this morning; it did not generate a tsunami.
There were 142 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 85,360. There were also 6 new deaths reported, increasing the number of fatalities to 968; currently there are 1465 cases considered active. As of today there were 2,256,606 doses of vaccine administered providing 72% of the State population with full vaccination & 82.9% with one dose. Currently 59 cases are hospitalized with 15 in the ICU & 14 on ventilators. The State's 7-day new case average is 99 with a positivity rate of 1.8%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 48 with a positivity rate of 1.4%.
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