My New Life

Sunrise is about 9 minutes earlier here in Kapaʻau than it is in Kaimukī. And I can look out the window while I am lying in bed & watch the trees light up! As I move in to the kitchen, if it is not too cloudy, the sunlight streams in.

Kapaʻau sunrise at 6:54 a.m.

Honolulu sunrise at 7:03 a.m.

From bed looking southeasterly 14 minutes before sunrise.

From bed looking southeasterly at sunrise.

From kitchen looking northeasterly at 1 minute after sunrise.

From bed looking southeasterly 21 minutes after sunrise; yes, I lay down again.

From kitchen looking northeasterly 22 minutes after sunrise; but I got back up quickly!

From kitchen looking easterly 22 minutes after sunrise.

I did not walk this morning. I have been skipping the walk on the weekends but beginning next week I will start walking on Saturday & Sunday as well. Today I had a lot of things to fill in the time I did not use for walking.

If I know I will be out in the garage or working on the lanai during the day, the morning task is to light the mosquito repellent punk & set it out in the outside toilet stall. The smoke from the punk will slowly waft through the garage & lanai area, keeping the mosquitos away. Or at least, it seems to work that way. 

Before.

After.

Next, I brew a cup of tea. The temperature here is generally cooler than in Kaimukī by about 5 degrees. In the early morning right now it is around 67 degrees F. And because the house is more open, light breezes come through & it feels cooler. A hot cup of tea helps keep me warm in the early morning.

Because this is my 1st day back after an extended absence, I spent part of the morning making a list of things that need to be done. I also usually have a list of Things To Do for the day; you might remember seeing that when Kaia was visiting last year & helping me get things done before we went out to play. There are always more things on the list than I can finish in a day.

When I need to do laundry, like today, I wait for at least 15 minutes after I light the mosquito punk before I go back down again to start the laundry. How could I have dirty laundry when I just arrived? I cover the beds, tables, etc., with either sheets or towels. I used to use plastic sheeting but I found it easier to use the sheets & towels because they can just be thrown in to the washing machine to clean them up. With the plastic sheeting, even after being shaken out, there were still big things that stuck to it that I had to pick off by hand & not much of the dirt would shake off the plastic anyway. I did 2 loads of laundry today, one was my dirty clothes from the last day of packing & the travel day. The other was sheets & towels that had been covering the things I am now using, like my bed & the kitchen table.

There is more than 1 load here.

The laundry set up; yes, there is no dryer.

I cover the washer with towels also; they get washed, too.

The washer has an automatic detergent dispenser.

I am using it now that I am here permanently.

The main compartment is lighted!

This load will be done in 57 minutes. It also dings to let me know it is pau.

As I was finishing loading the washer I got a better look at the fruit on the persimmon tree. This is the 1st time I have seen it with ripe fruit! I had wondered whether it actually set any fruit at all; now I saw about a dozen on the tree. About 4 of them would be in reach if I use the step ladder. But I will need to work on the stepping stones under that part of the tree since the path there is very soft & muddy.

While outside I checked out some tasks I need to do outdoors. It looks like either Masa or Sam sprayed the weeds along the south side of the house as well as along the fence line. They also sprayed other areas around the yard; I think some of it was a little too aggressive but will have to live with it since I was not here to take care of it myself.

The weeds have obviously been sprayed along south side of house

I will now have to remove the dead weeds. And replant the mondo grass that was also killed.

The fence line was also sprayed.

As I walked up the driveway to open the gate for hoa hānau Laurel & Bill, I noticed there is a Cook Pine across the street! I never really paid much attention to it before. It is leaning to the south like a good Cook Pine should!

Laurel & Bill came over for a visit; they also had ulterior motives. They dropped off some avocados since their trees are giving them a lot more than they can handle. And they have already given them to neighbors & other friends; I was expecting 2 or 3, they gave me 8! They have 2 varieties, one is round, the other is oblong; both turn purple when ripe. 

I was too eager; it wasn't ready. Great color though.

They gave me some tips on living here now. The best fried chicken is at the Minit Stop gas station in Hāwī. The best place for baked goods is Convenience Plus LLC gas station at the outskirts of Honokaʻa; they serve breakfast & have manapua, mochi, & a variety of other things. Call before going to L & L Barbecue in Kapaʻau because if they are doing a big catering order it might be a while for your order. When making my online appointment to update the Crosstrek registration check both Customer Service Rep 1 and Customer Service Rep 2 calendars; they are sometimes months apart on the next available appointment!

Because the avocados are not ripe enough for lunch today I ended up having Parma Crisps with almond butter & a glass of unsweetened almond milk.

I put the silverware & kitchen utensils back in the brand new drawers today. I really like how well they work. I am especially pleased that I no longer have to worry about someone pulling a drawer all the way out & having it land on their foot! Mahalo e Ken!

I lost a little width & depth.

But the safety factor makes up for those losses.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had way more I wanted to pack than I had room for. I wanted to bring 2 or 3 cookbooks with me but could not fit them in so I packed them in a box with some other cookbooks, addressed it, & left $20 for one of The Roommates to send it to me. They did that today. I am surprised that the tracking slip says it will arrive on Monday; usually it takes a month or so for book rate mail.

I took a nap to rest my back & recuperate from the packing & traveling over the last couple of days. Wrestling with a 67.8 pound suitcase while wearing a backpack that was at least 20 pounds & pulling a carry-on that was at least another 25 pounds was more than I was expecting. When I got up the weather had changed; clouds had moved in but it did not rain or even drizzle.

As I went out to hang the last load of laundry, I heard a commotion in the giant yucca plant thing by the garage. (I don't really know what it is but that's what it looks like to me.) I saw some leaves getting knocked off the plant & could hear something going on in the top portion that I could not see from the top of the stairs. I slowly moved down & out towards the giant yucca thing; I did not see anything once I had a clear view of the top. But all of a sudden I heard wings flapping & an ʻIo flew off towards the gulch! It is probably one of the pair that I think is nesting in or near the gulch; I frequently see them playing in the thermals over the house.

What's going on out there?

Dead leaves are falling after being knocked off.

Even though my phone was ready, this is the best photo I got. It's already behind the tangerine tree.

I think ʻIo was going after this ʻEhakō which flew out of giant yucca as I got closer to yucca.

While in the garage I also noticed a cat resting by Jessie's gas tank. It looks like a new cat, I don't think I have seen this one before. It is mainly white with orange tabby blotches. This is the 1st cat I have seen since I returned.

When I got back in the house, I set up the window fan in the front bedroom; I think that is the hottest bedroom in the house since it is on the southwest corner. The fan has a thermostat so can be set to go on when the room reaches a certain temperature. It can either pull air in from the outside or blow air from inside the room to the outside. Tomorrow I will figure out which is better to keep that room cooler & also when I should have it begin to turn on.

Front bedroom needs work before Catie arrives!

I hope this window fan keeps the room cooler than the oscillating fan that is currently in there.

There are some chicken breasts in the freezer but I had no tomato sauce to make a Moroccan-style chicken dish with the salted limes. So for dinner I ended up with tuna on Parm Crisps. It won't be gourmet, but Iʻm not going to starve here with the supplies I have.

After dinner I heard someone watering next door so I went to see if it was Delphine; it was not. It was their daughter Malia & her husband Dwayne washing their truck; Delphine & Dena are in Honolulu for Dena's annual cancer check-up. On the way out I had spotted Mom Cat and a tortoiseshell kitten scampering away to hiding places in Jessie's yard. When I returned, I put out some canned cat food that I had bought back in July to bait the live trap with; I did not have any dry kibble. It took about 5 minutes for Mom Cat to come up to the food bowl, a few minutes later a white kitten with orange patches came running up; the tortoiseshell did not come up to eat. I was unable to get photos tonight since my phone was charging, I will get some in the coming days. I have not yet seen Wiley, Wiley's tuxedo kitten, Mack, Meyer Lemon Kitty, or Rasputin II. Wiley &/or her tuxedo kitten might be gone, Jessie had seen a black & white cat when I spoke with her in August last year but was not more specific than that; I did not see Wiley or the kitten on that visit. I saw Meyer Lemon Kitty last August. The last time I saw Mack was last July. The last time I saw Rasputin II was in May 2020; I am pretty sure he is no longer around.

By the way, when you come to visit me, don't worry about bringing sunscreen or mosquito repellent; I've got lots you can use while here. The 4 on the left are mosquito repellent; the 4 on the right are sunscreen. That's right, the one in the middle is both mosquito repellent & sunscreen!

They reside on the windowsill above the kitchen sink.

I made an appointment to change the registration on the Crosstrek. The earliest I can get in is on March 30th! Auē! And it looks like Customer Service Rep #2 is no longer available.

I guess I will have lunch in Waimea when I go to register the Crosstrek.

Nothing for the rest of the month.

And nothing in March.

Nothing all the way out for a year; looks like Customer Service Rep 2 is no longer available.

The toughest part for me on the 1st few days back has always been vacuuming the house. Since I keep the windows open about 2 inches for air circulation to keep the mildew down, dust drifts in & leaves drift under the front door. And there are droppings from geckos, cockroaches, & centipedes & piles of dead flying insect bodies courtesy of the spiders. Due to a herniated disc that I got from a work accident years ago I can only vacuum for about 15 minutes before my back starts going in to spasms. So vacuuming takes a long time or I can ignore the spasms & then spend the entire evening & next day lying on my back trying to get it to unwind. Now that I have no time limit I could vacuum only 15 minutes a day & eventually get all the vacuuming done. And, like the Golden Gate Bridge, I would have to start all over again! My solution is the purchase of an i3+ Roomba with dirt disposal tower. I bought the similar i7+ for Mom & Dad's house; the difference is that you can program the i7+ to vacuum or not vacuum certain parts of the house on certain days. Since I want the whole house vacuumed every day that was an unnecessary feature; not having it makes the i3+ about $300 cheaper. I ordered through Amazon, it is expected to be here by February 22nd; in the meanwhile I will have to do my own vacuuming.

If I ordered from iRobot it would be about $50 more. Go figure.

While on Amazon I also ordered more protein powder; I only had a couple servings in the very large container I was using so I left it behind. My protein powder is expected to arrive on Tuesday, which is also when I will have the Nutribullet available in the morning to make my proothies again! Hulō!

I will look in to auto-delivery on my next order.

And I ordered a nut raker. It is expected to arrive on February 22nd. I will be using it to quickly pick up macadamia nuts. It also means I do not need to be constantly bending over & straining my back. The plan is to rake up the nuts every morning so that the rats do not have a food source. Hopefully they will then go elsewhere. But that also means I need to pick up other dropped fruit, too. That is also on my daily Things To Do list. I also plan on clearing things out around the compost bins so the Barn Owls & cats have a clear view of the surrounding area & can pick off any rats trying to get in the compost bins. I have heard the Barn Owls screeching on many nights & saw one fly overhead last July when we were out by the garage talking in the early evening.

Here is a great video of the activity at & around Kīlauea volcano. It also shows the proposal for the removal of the old visitor center & reconstruction of a new visitor center. It looks like it will be an improvement to the previous features. There is a video meeting on February 24th to show more details on the proposal. The lava lake activity slowed down during the course of the day. There is still some snow on Mauna Kea.

At 8:15 a.m.

At 5:39 p.m.

At 8:15 a.m.

At 5:40 p.m.

At 8:15 a.m.

At 5:40 p.m.

At 8:06 a.m.

The Aix weather app sort of showed that it was drizzling in Honolulu today. The traffic cams, on the other hand, showed it was pretty dry today. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast drizzle all day also; Big Island Now forecast sunny in the morning, then partly sunny with a 40% chance of showers in the afternoon. It turned out to be pretty dry. For Washington, Aix forecast partly sunny all day; it looked to be mainly sunny all day.

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope looking northerly at 8:10 a.m.; Kohala Mountain & Haleakala indicated.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 8:13 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 8:35 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 8:35 a.m.

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

Kapaʻau looking southeasterly at 3:26 p.m.

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope looking northerly at 4:46 p.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 5:38 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 5:39 p.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 5:39 p.m. HST.

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope looking northerly at 5:43 p.m.; clouding up.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 6:36 p.m.

The north & west facing shorelines look like they will have the best surf today; the shouth shore is pretty flat.

Laniākea (N) at 8:12 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 8:11 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 8:13 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 8:14 a.m.

Laniākea (N) at 5:36 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 5:37 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 5:37 p.m.

There were 740 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 230,978. There were 11 new deaths reported increasing the death toll to 740; currently there are 14,613 cases that are considered active. The 7-day new case average for the State is 711 with a test positivity rate of 7.4%. The 7-day new case average for Hawaiʻi County is 101 with a 9.8% test positivity rate.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dan!