My Summer Vacation: Navy to Defuel Red Hill Tanks

... sort of. They said they would comply with the defueling order after fighting it for weeks. But they won't say that they aren't going to file for any future legal battles to fill them up again. Auē! That is not the way to regain the trust of the lāhui.

I was too tired this morning to walk at sunrise. I think having insomnia & also being unable to sleep through the night is the problem. I have considered getting a weighted blanket; it seemed to help Kai get over his insomnia. I am concerned, though, about it adding to the amount of things I would be taking on my final trip to Hawaiʻi Island. I also think the kakebuton that I have on Hawaiʻi Island might provide the same tactile pressure as a weighted blanket. I seem to recall sleeping better when I used it in Washington; though at the time I thought it was because it kept me warmer. In the meanwhile I will have to use the crossword puzzles to make me sleepy again!

Marjorie was still looking for more Medical Reserve Corps volunteers to help with the outreach & education event this week. I got bck to her & said I would help with it.

I got an email invitation to the ʻŌhiʻa Seed Conservation Workshop event this weekend. I signed up since I would like to learn how to harvest seeds & grow ʻōhiʻa; eventually I would like to have ʻōhiʻa replacing the croton growing along the fence line by the macadamia tree.

I made a Caesar Salad Proothie for lunch today; I used some leftover salad from the Vegan City dinner. It was not sweet, but it was also not savory.

Iʻve never had carrots in a Caesar Salad before.

Croutons in my proothie.

For dinner I had some of the leftover Portuguese bean soup from dinner at Curtis & Lori's this weekend. she had made a huge pot & gave us a big portion of it. Two of the Roommates do not like beans so that leaves more for the 2 of us that don't mind beans!

As part of the restructuring of the public transportation in Hawaiʻi County, Hele-on bus passengers can now access the bikeshare program; the Hele-on passenger just needs to ask the driver for the passcode to access a bike at the bikeshare station. At the present time it will not be helpful to me since the Hele-on bus in the Kohala area is geared towards commuters working in the Kohala coast & Kona resort areas & only runs once to the resorts & once back from the resorts during the commute time.

Todayʻs Volcano Awareness Month video is about earthquakes on Hawaiʻi Island. Geophysicist Dr. Ninfa Bennington discusses the seismic activity during 2021, what it tells scientists, & some future work they will be doing to gather more information. Kīlauea volcano is still plugging along with its smaller daily emissions; today it seemed to be more active just after mid-day but it was only noticeable in the west vent web cam. Mauna Kea still has a good amount of snow on it but there are signs that it is slowly melting off.

At 10:05 a.m.

At 2:08 p.m.

At 4:20 p.m.

At 10:05 a.m.

At 2:08 p.m.

At 4:20 p.m.

At 10:05 a.m.

At 2:08 p.m.

At 4:20 p.m.

Mauna Kea.

The rains in December made up for the drier November that we had last year. Apparently we had one of the wettest Decembers in over 50 years!

The Aix weather app forecast partly cloudy skies all day for Honolulu & that turned out to be true. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast partly cloudy skies until about mid-afternoon when it would begin raining; Big Island Now forecast mostly sunny with isolated showers in the morning becoming partly sunny with scattered showers in the afternoon & a 30% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station did not record any precipitation today. For Marysville, Aix forecast lots of rain all day; the traffic cam supported that during the daylight hours but after dark it appeared to be drier.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 10:01 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 10:02 a.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 10:03 a.m. HST.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 10:04 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 4:11 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:11 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 4:13 p.m. HST.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 4:17 p.m.

Yesterday I shared information about staying away from the beach when there is a High Surf Warning. This video is of one of the many rescues that occurred in the past few days. Don't be like this guy who intentionally jumped in to the ocean for a swim & got in to trouble. Watch carefully & make sure you have the sound on, you can hear the crowd anticipating a potential disaster as they watch the set wave coming in. Chopper 2 got him just before the wave would have washed him back in! The pilot was probably a surfer & knew how to read the waves. Prior to the set wave you can see how the guy might have been lulled in to thinking the water was fine.

The surf along the north & west facing shorelines is for experts only; there is a High Surf Warning for Hawaiʻi Island. Since we are in Hawaiʻi, I think the wave heights shown below are using the Hawaiian scale, not the National Weather Service face scale used in other parts of the world.

Oʻahu surf conditions.

Hawaiʻi Island surf conditions.

I was unable to get the Laniakea (N) web cam to work in the morning.

Hilo Bay (E) at 10:03 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 10:04 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 10:05 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 4:14 p.m.; I did not change any setting between the morning & this photo.

Hilo Bay (E) at 4:15 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:17 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 4:19 p.m.

There were several earthquakes in the Aleutian Islands early this morning, ranging in magnitude from 5.3 to 6.7. They were between 21 to 83 miles deep; none of them generated a tsunami.

The Omicron variant is believed to be in decline. Scientists believe it has peaked in Britain & is on its way down in the US. The US peak is predicted to occur by the end of the 3rd week or about a week from now; we shall see.

There were 2929 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 150,028; this number is artificially low since it is from Sunday when there is less testing available. There were no new deaths reported so the death toll remains at 1105; currently there are 43,722 cases that are considered active. As of today there have been 2,609,409 doses of vaccine administered providing 74.9% of the State population with full vaccination & 80.6% with at least one dose; 28.4% have received a 3rd dose. Currently 324 cases are hospitalized with 31 in the ICU & 14 on ventilators. The 7-day new case average for the State is 3648 with a test positivity rate of 20.1%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 2622 with a test positivity rate of 20.2%.