I got a text this morning saying my ballot had been received & accepted. Hūlō! I went to BallotTrax & found the verification as well as the "I voted" digital "sticker", which was quite disappointing. I was expecting something more Hawaiʻi-themed. And also a lot more colorful.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dean, Cheech, & Geoffrey! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanao Makahiki 15 e Judy & Keith!
Did you? Hawai'i is an all mail-in ballot state. Ballots must be received at the Office of the County Clerk by 7 pm on November 5th, so they tell you to put it in the mail by the 1st. Or drop it in a ballot drop box by 7 pm on the 5th. Rather than trust the mail, I opted to put it in the drop box; for the North Kohala district the box is located at the Kapaʻau police station.
Since the drop box is located right outside the main door of the police station, & the opening is very narrow (about half an inch), I don't think there will be any problems with people trying to start a fire in the drop box like in Oregon & Washington. I thought that was pretty cool that the Oregon election officials had planned for a potential fire in the box & had a fire suppression system inside the drop box. Apparently only 3 ballots were so damaged that the voter needed another ballot. The 2 boxes in Washington also had fire suppression systems but one malfunctioned & several hundred ballots were lost.
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| (HNN screen shot) |
I also signed up for BallotTrax so I can make sure my ballot is received at the County Clerk's office. Right now it only shows that I have received my ballot. I don't know how often they unload the box & take the ballots to Hilo.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Manu & Aimee!
The first maiʻa that I planted has sent out 2 new leaves! So at least one of my maiʻa plants is doing well. I planted it about a month ago; which was about 3 weeks earlier than I planted most of the others. I hope at least one of the others hang in there. If they don't I might think about getting another variety that looks & tastes different so I can tell them apart easily. The ones I planted are Apple Bananas.
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| Two new leaves! |
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| Planting day, September 26, 2024. |
On my way home from the airport last night there were several firetrucks near Milepost 12. There was also one police officer. I saw no other cars so I think it might have been a small fire by the side of the road.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Diane & Rei!
Yesterday I planted the last of the 5 mai'a keiki that Travis & Co. set aside for me from the fence clearing. I think it is the least likely of the 4 that started out with intact stalks to continue to grow from the apical tip; it kinda rotted while it was in the holding bundle & I had to cut it off. It does have a fairly energetic looking keiki sprout at the base that is about the size of a golf ball so if the main part rots off completely perhaps a keiki will pop up from the base.
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| Last maiʻa is surrounded by laʻi sprouting from roots of large old clump. |
All the plants were able to withstand the 15 to 20 mph winds we had yesterday. And that's in spite of the oldest one being in the ground only about 3 weeks & the others only a couple of days. I think the ironwoods along the old road on the other edge of the pasture are still providing an adequate windbreak. The maiʻa that was planted 1st also has a new leaf sprouting!
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| All looking fine after yesterday's high winds. |
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| New leaf on the 1st plant. |
I looked at the Hawaiian moon calendar after the fact to see whether I had planted on good days. I did not consult it earlier since my time was constrained more by when I had time to do the plantings as well as not trying to plant them all in one day & mess up my back. The 1st one was planted on Kāloakūlua & may not do well. The 2nd one was planted on Kāloapau which was a good day but I don't think it will do much since it was only part of a root clump with 2 keiki. The 3rd one was planted on Akua which is supposed to be a good day; it is the largest of the plants. And the last 2 were planted on Hoku which also looks like a good day. We shall see what happens with them.
I last filled the propane tank up in January 2023 or about 20 months ago so I checked it today & was pleasantly surprised by how much gas there was. But I probably shouldn't be so surprised; I had a demand water heater installed before I moved in so that water would only be heated when it was being used. Unlike the old heater which heated water for the 50 weeks of the year that no one was here as well as the 2 weeks when we would come for Obon. Both the heater & the stove also have piezoelectric starters so there are no pilot lights constantly burning gas while waiting for either one to be turned on.
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| On December 23, 2022. |
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| Getting ready for a refill on January 28, 2023. |
Today the 200-gallon tank was at about 45%. At the current rate, I could probably go for nearly another year before I need to refill the tank! I think I will check at the change of each season to see where its at. I'm calling this one the Fall Equinox check.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kathy & Griffin!
I was tired when I got back from Lapakahi today. I had stopped at Aloha Burger for a keiki burger & also got a keiki size ice cream from Our Founding Farmers for lunch. When I got home I spent some time on my laptop replying to a bunch of emails from today that needed responses; that doesn't usually happen. It was like being back at work again! Auē! I nodded off towards the end I was so tired. I think part of it was being in the heat at Lapakahi; it really drains my energy.
At any rate, for whatever reason, I decided to watch a ridiculous movie after my impromptu nap. And Under Paris popped up as a number one pick on Netflix. The blurb said, "Hitting the Top 10 in 93 countries in its first week, this horror about a shark in the Seine is 'worthy of swimming in the wake of 'Jaws'" raves Variety." I assumed it would be about some very intelligent Great White like many of the other shark villain movies since Jaws so I was surprised to see a Mako when the shark finally appeared on screen; I thought it was just inaccurate shark footage until later in the movie when the protagonist identified it as a Mako. My bad for assuming it was going to be a Great White.
Besides the shark developing very sophisticated organs in one generation, as well as extreme growth, parthenogenetic reproduction, & changing its reproductive strategy, it is also very intelligent & revenge-oriented. In the finale, as the military is trying to shoot the shark as it races down the Seine towards the ocean, they inadvertently hit some old World War II ordnance that is in the river, it explodes, setting off a chain reaction of explosions down the Seine, & a large wave comes racing upstream. Earlier in the movie they had alluded to locks on the Seine at the mouth, so I think they were implying the explosions blew the locks so now the sea is rushing in to Paris! At least the end of the movie shows Paris flooded so I assume that is what they were trying to convey.
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| The shark's "nest". |
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| The sharks surrounding the protagonists in flooded Paris. |
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| The Eiffel Tower standing in the flood. |
One problem though; rivers flow down gradient. So locks at the mouth of a river would be to retain water in the river not prevent the ocean from rushing in. If the locks really had blown out, in the final scene the protagonists would have been high & dry & the multitude of sharks circling them would have been flopping around on a damp river bed.
I did some fact checking later. Here is what I discovered. There are a series of 4 locks on the Seine before it reaches Paris which is about 277 miles from the mouth & about 79 feet above sea level. So, yeah, sharks definitely would have been flopping around on a damp riverbed. The movie did get it right that there are a lot of bridges in Paris crossing the Seine, 37 according to Wikipedia.
As for the shark itself, Makos are pelagic sharks that do not live in freshwater or make 'nests' as suggested in the movie. They also do not reproduce parthenogenetically. What can I say, Hollywood biology & ocean science! My bad for watching a ridiculous movie & expecting it to adhere to reality.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Keith & Sumit! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo Makahiki ʻumi e Kai & Percy!
