IASA #3-38

Uncle Jeff did a Talk Story from his book Outhouse Mentality about life in Kohala in sugar plantation days.

 

Jachnun

The Friday night email from Motek Bakery said, "Aloha Bread Lovers – This Sunday Motek will be serving Jachnun! You remember Jachnun…right? It originated in northern Yemen and consists of a dough that takes a bath over night in oil. It is then spread out thinly, slathered with butter and rolled up into tight rolls that are then placed in a pot with eggs, covered with date syrup (silan) and slow-cooked overnight. It tastes…amazing. It is served with one of the eggs from the pot and a spicy “zchug” hot sauce (a Yemenite hot sauce that we make).  It is a real treat. AND, we will again have our favorite Uke Jammers on Motek’s lanai making music and keeping things fun." I was looking forward to the breakfast as well as the Uke Jammers, several of them were at Uncle Jeff's book signing event at the Kohala Heritage Center last night. In particular, I was hoping to see Kim & Marcie, whom I had never met before Uncle Jeff's event. But only Kim was there playing long with Kije, Gordon, & Carlos; I left before Marcie arrived.

When I woke up there was a light drizzle; it was gray all morning as I started my day. It sprinkled on & off throughout the morning; it was a little drier than yesterday. In the afternoon it started to rain a little more but still not as much as yesterday. It is drizzling tonight as I write this. I have included the graph of the power generation by the solar panels; normally it is a fairly bell-shaped curve when the sun is shining. Not today.

Eight minutes after sunrise.

At 7:02 am.

At 1:22 pm.

Lots of gaps when it was raining. Blue is power sent to house, green is to battery storage.

 

On the way to Motek this morning, I made a quick stop on the side of the road to take a photo of one of the few Halloween decorations along the main road. I've seen a couple of smaller displays along Kynnersley. Don't know whatever else there might be around since I don't go looking for these types of things.

Around 4 pm on Sundays I try to check on my status on Duolingo. If I am close, I work to keep my self out of the Demotion Zone. If I am high enough on the leaderboard, I try to get in to the Promotion Zone. If I am really up there with my points, I try to finish in the top 3. Today I started at #4 with about 450 XP, I decided to go for the top spot since it was less than 100 XP away. About 14 minutes later I was in the top spot! I had not seen any of the 4 other people doing anything so I decided I could just wait them out for the last 12 minutes.

With 26 minutes left, I decided to add more XP to stay ahead.

Since I saw no others gaining XP, I figured 70 XP lead would hold.

When I checked later in the evening, I saw that my strategy worked, no one else tried to bump me out of the top spot. I earned 100 gems for it! And I got promoted to the next level up, I am now in the Amethyst League. I now have to work on my strategy as to when to join the leaderboard so that I can stay in the Promotion Zone.

Today Realtor.com sent me 3 emails. To be fair to them, perhaps these were before the 24 hour cut-off. I can't remember exactly when I submitted the 'Unsubscribe' request.

Nope. Not what I told them I was looking for.

The window for the start of the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has narrowed. It is now most probable that it will begin some time between the 6th & the 9th. Hopefully it will erupt while Barb & her family are here so they can witness this amazing natural phenomenon. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Christian, Chris, & Kai! 

Outhouse Mentality

This evening Uncle Jeff had a book reading at the Kohala Heritage Center; it was jointly sponsored along with the Kohala Culture & History Advisory Group. Uncle Jeff's book, Outhouse Mentality: Kohala, Rural Lifestyle, is his recounting of the moʻolelo of Kohala told to him by Kohala kūpuna as well as experiences he had. I had heard some of the moʻolelo he shares in his book from my grandparents. The title of Uncle Jeff's book is taken from an epithet directed at the Kohala community for not backing a plan to designate Kohala as a historical district in order to develop the area for tourists; the speaker suggesting the community members were, "stuck in the uneducated past of plantation life with houses without indoor toilets." For Uncle Jeff, he sees it as, "being grounded in what truly matters: your relationship with the land, with each other, and with God." A copy of his book can be purchased on Amazon.

 A decent size audience in spite of continuing rain showers & World Series game.

Uncle Mark (L) & Uncle Jeff share manaʻo.

One of the drier moments of the evening.

At sunrise it was gray & drizzly. About a half hour later it began to rain in earnest; showers such as this continued throughout the day. I saw the chickens heroically searching for food in Jessie's back yard in spite of the rain; the roosters' tail feathers were soaked & limply dragging behind them.

Six minutes after sunrise.

About half hour after sunrise.

Sugar & Spice doing their best on this wet day.

There were rain showers all day, with intermittent drizzles in between. It has now rained every night except one over the last week; the wet season is here! Hūlō! 

Around 9:45.

All the cats chose to sleep indoors today.

 

There was a break in the rain around mid-morning so I headed to the transfer station to dump my rubbish. A lot of other people had the same idea so there was a short line but it went by fairly quickly.

Silver truck backs in while red truck unloads; 2 vehicles are usually at drop off area.

Today was Josie & Camillo's grandson Gaige's 1st birthday. So in the local tradition there was a 1st birthday paʻina with lots of ʻono food! FYI Gaige's nickname is ʻOpihi.

My pupu plate.

My lunch plate; I ate too much pupu! I forgot to take photo before I started.

My dessert plate; I ate too much! But it was all so ʻono it was hard to stop.

 

There was a flyer at the post office about a plant giveaway at the upcoming Kohala Night Market. I was unable to get the QR code to open so I am not sure what is available for the giveaway. I am assuming it is food plants.

Duo says that I am doing well. But Duo also says that I have so much more to learn on Duolingo! I am finding some parts easier, like trying to figure out what the new words mean. But other parts are more difficult, like how to construct a more complex sentence in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi! It would be really nice to have a fluent speaker to practice on. 

 

While looking at places for Kai, I made the mistake of trying to get in to the Realtor.com page. I am now getting a ton of emails from them that do not fit the criteria I entered to access the page. Today I got 6 different emails before 5 am! Unacceptable. I unsubscribed but they say it will take 24 hours for my request to be processed. We shall see.

 

Because of the Red Flag warning & high wind alert, the Powerall system is in standby mode. During this period the Powerwall battery is held at 100% even in the evening & power to run the house is drawn from the grid. This way, if the grid goes down, I still have power available.

Here is the official Red Flag warning from the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense. The Powerwall system uses the warnings issued by the National Weather Service. (I think the NWS cancelled the Red Flag Warning because of all the rain. Red Flag means the winds are hot & dry.)

 

The start of Episode 36 of the eruption at Kīlauea remains likely some time between the 6th & the 12th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Diane & Rei! 

IASA #3-37

Two aunties died this past week. Daisy (2nd from L) & Judy (2nd from R). (07/01/1989 photo)

 

Bird Ubering

As I was on my way to Kona Airport to drop off several carriers that Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center was sending to Honolulu, Kyle from HWC called. They had just received a call from the Pride of America cruise ship that had just docked in Kona; there was an injured seabird onboard. He was fortunate that I was just passing through Hāwī so I still had cell reception. We were able to work out a time after my appointment at Kaiser so I said I could pick it up so no one else had to make an extra trip in to transport it; it was only about 15 minutes down the road from where I would be. I met Troy, the Environmental Officer onboard the ship, under the banyan tree at the pier & picked up the bird. I think it is an ʻUaʻu (Hawaiian petrel, Pterodroma sandwichensis); I've never seen this endangered species before.

ʻUaʻu.

Environmental Officer Troy at the Kailua-Kona pier.

Chain of Custody paperwork.

I was in Kona for my annual mammogram. Today was the 1st time I was able to schedule it to be on Hawaiʻi Island; previously it was in Honolulu. I am in the process of changing all my annual diagnostics to Kaiser on Hawaiʻi Island when possible. Later in the year I will have my dermatology check-up here as well. 

Gold Dust Day Gecko admiring the artwork.

They landscape with native plants.

I finished my mammogram earlier than expected, so I went to check out the Kona Seafood Market to kill some time; it is on the way to the pier. While there I got a small poke bowl for lunch & some grilling rubs. As I was getting in to the car, Troy called to say he was now ashore; it takes the launch about 20 minutes to get from the cruise ship to the pier.

The sunrise this morning hinted at a mix of weather. It started to drizzle shortly after I woke up. Then it slowed down & was somewhat clear by the time I headed down to the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center. The drive along the leeward coast was hot & sunny.

Three minutes after sunrise.

The State highway work crew was trimming the sausage trees (Kigelia africana) just outside of Hāwī. They appear to be cutting them back from the travel lane so the ripe fruit does not fall on the roadway or any vehicles passing by. They were still working on the trees when I returned.

On the way to the airport, I had enough time to stop at Kohala Divers. I had originally intended to stop there on the way back to get some sunscreen since I was out of my usual supply, but because I was picking up an injured bird I needed to get it back to HWC as soon as possible & would not be able to stop. I have decided to change to Stream2Sea Every Day Mineral Sunscreen. It is a reef-safe mineral sunscreen that I don't have to have mailed to me which should reduce my carbon footprint. While there I decided to also try their leave-in conditioner that is supposed to help hair that is exposed to saltwater & lots of sun.

The window for the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea remains at between the 2nd & the 10th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Roblin!