Hakamairi

I cut a bunch of heliconia this morning to take to the cemetery. Usually it is one of the first things I do, but with the quarantine things got a little messed up. When I went to Baban, Jichan, & Aunty Chiyono's grave I found the poinsettia that Leilani had brought last December had been knocked over and the plastic pot it was in had blown away. But it was hanging in there, growing on its side without a pot for a while; the new growth was about an inch long and very full & healthy! I set it upright and watered it; I will be getting a new, heavier pot for it.

The portulaca on Grandma & Grandpa's grave is doing well.

So is the one on Baban, Jichan, & Chiyono-san's grave.

This is an amazing poinsettia!

Can you tell which direction the prevailing wind is coming from?

The PVC inserts keep the flowers in place better.

I woke up at birdrise as usual. And went back to sleep as usual. I woke up again when my alarm went off. But unlike usual, I went back to sleep; I needed to recover from yesterday! Driving long distances does a number on my back, which affects my sleep. And is also why the red lava rock is still in the back of the car.

Birdrise, thirty-one minutes before sunrise.

Thirty-three minutes after sunrise; I hit snooze a couple of times.

Sixty-two minutes after sunrise; I finally get out of bed. Still kinda looks the same. Overcast.

Here's my list for yesterday. Red "X'" means I finished it. I always put more on the list than I can do.

The weather got a little nicer as I got out to cut the heliconia for the Ohaka. I harvested the stalks with flowers and also removed them from the center of the heavenly bamboo clump; I cut them down at the ground level. I chose the right time to start my outdoor errands, as I was finishing up and got back to the house it started to drizzle; another reason the red lava rock stayed in the car.

Looking out the back porch at 10:31 am.

The same view at 4:23 pm.

After the cemetery, I went to the transfer station. In the rural areas of this island they don't drop off your mail or pick up your rubbish; you are responsible for taking care of both of those things. But they make it easy, the transfer station is open from 6 am to 6 pm every day, including most holidays. And so is the area of the post office where you pick up your mail.

Here are people throwing their rubbish down the chute.

There are some limitations at the more rural transfer stations.

Here is where you take the recyclables that the county won't take.

I frequently pair my dump run with a visit to Sunshine True Value since its just down the hill. Today I needed a round point shovel and a bunch of other things. Including the red lava rock. In anticipation of me, Jake ordered more than his usual 10 bags. Today there were 15 bags; I was a little concerned about the weight. It turns out each bag is 18 pounds, so that's 270 pounds; about the same as one big friend or two scrawny ones.

The shovel selection; I got a D-handle one so the temptation to use it as a pry bar is gone.

Jake helps load the red lava rock; the cart has the rest of my purchases.

Jake loaded my box of other purchases in to the back seat of the car. He commented on how clean it was for a rental car! I told him the story about what happened the last time I was here and how the island manager found out and made sure the car was super clean for me this time!

Yesterday I saw a recipe for Cookie Dough Bread, which is apparently going viral. I think part of it is because it is made without flour which is apparently being hoarded by some people. I'm not sure why people are getting in to a baking frenzy while they are confined. May be they are baking comfort foods? At any rate, I decided to try it since it is low carb and I had all the ingredients: eggs, baking soda, nut butter, & chocolate chips. My chocolate chips are no-sugar added so they are very low carb.

Here's the recipe. My review follows.

They said to beat with whisk until peaks form. I don't think you can do that by hand with whole eggs.

After nut butter is incorporated, add chocolate chips; then bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

What happened to my chocolate chips?

They sank to the bottom since I could not get the eggs to form peaks.

I think this Cookie Dough Bread was a flop! It is definitely not decadent! I can whip egg whites with a whisk until they form peaks but the "contamination" by the yolks makes it impossible to do here. Maybe if you use a hand mixer you could do it; which is why my chocolate chips sank to the bottom. Also, since both my nut butter and chocolate chips are no sugar added, it was very not "decadent". (But I suppose they could be using a definition of decadent that I am unfamiliar with.) Next time I will add some no carb sweetener when I make this. With a hand mixer.

After dinner I decided to see how the Command hook worked. They advertise their products as damage-free. Its a very interesting product. The adhesive pad looks like a thick high quality double stick tape, which I guess it is technically. But to remove it you pull the special tab straight down the wall about 15 inches and it supposedly releases without damaging the wall. I place the hook on the frame of the window by the bathroom sink; the towel to dry your hands will be hung there.


Here is the calendar showing our cases of COVID-19 for the month of May (almost). I had quickly looked at the March page earlier searching for some other information; it looks quite different than this. Not only in the number of cases but in how I was tracking things then. I will have to go back and fill in all the days like I have been doing. I will also go back and complete April. When they're done I will show you what has happened over time.


There were another 3 new cases of COVID-19 reported today; but again due to a data correction, the total known cases is now 651. Two of the new cases are on O'ahu, 1 is on Maui. The number of deaths and hospitalizations remains the same. The number of people released from isolation also still remains the same at a little over 93%.

Area of residence for cases occurring in the past 28 days.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e George!

Busy Day

Today was my first day out of quarantine; Bill & Laurel drove me to the Alamo car rental lot on their way to Costco to pick up things for Uncle Kazu's service on Tuesday. As we got closer to the airport we could see the rental lots; they were full of cars!



When I got to the Alamo counter Susu, the agent I was working with, called Dan over; apparently there was a note on my reservation from John, the island manager for Alamo. Back on May 11th, about 4 hours after I had made the reservation in the morning for this car, I got an email from Alamo telling me about their "commitment to cleanliness" and  how well they were cleaning the cars out. Since I had just had an experience when I rented the car on March 26th that was less than clean, I just had to respond. John called me back within about 15 minutes of me clicking "send". I told him about the popsicle stick and other debris that had been left in the driver side door pocket and especially how the agent that checked the car in dismissed my concerns of possible COVID-19 contamination from a tourist. John was very apologetic and said he would make sure the cleaners were more thorough. I thanked him for that. (I'm not sure why I didn't include this in the blog for March 26th because I clearly had the photo. Here it is now.)

The email I got from Alamo headquarters on May 11th.

The debris in the car rented in March.

The note from John was for them to make sure I got a car that was specially detailed to make sure it was clean! And it was; Dan walked me around the car, opened all the doors and trunk, and checked everything out. I also looked under the seat and told him last summer I was the one who had the car with the mold in it. I had told John about that, too. Along with making sure I had a really clean car, John also had them take off $100 from this rental! Which will come in handy since I had to extend the rental for another week to get the hāpuʻu and anthurium projects done.

I wanted to do a load of laundry before I left. I knew Laurel & Bill were picking me up at 9 so I decided to get the laundry started as soon as I woke up. As usual, the Saffron Finch tried to get me up really early; but I knew getting up at 6 would still give me enough time to take care of the laundry.

The Saffron Finch wakes up at twenty-six minutes before sunrise.

I wake up at seventeen minutes after sunrise.

After I started the laundry I moved the wheelbarrow out of the way so I could park the car easily when I returned. As I was moving things to the side, something under the steps caught my eye. It was a small table similar to the one that the mailing supplies are on. I will see how it looks after I clean it up.


I took a bunch of photos as we were headed to Kona; since I am usually driving I don't get a chance to concentrate on looking for good photo sites.

Part of Pu'u Kohola Heiau.

Hualalai.

Maui.

Since I have a lot more time on this trip now, I decided to see if I could find the towel bars for the bathroom. And also a toilet paper holder and hand towel holder. My plan was to go to the building supply places in Kona, starting with Home Depot since it was closest to the airport, then working my way to HPM Building Supply and ending with Lowes, which was the farthest south of the airport. It turns out, Home Depot had what I needed!

This is the hardware I need to match.

Not exactly the same, but close enough.

I got 3 double towel bars; they will all be used when everyone is here for Obon.

I did not get this; I do not want to encourage people to take their phones to the bathroom with them.

The 6-foot markers at Home Depot.

While I was on my way to Home Depot, I passed Tradewind Hawaii; this is the place Chris suggested for impact resistant windows. I called from the Home Depot parking lot to see if I needed an appointment or if I could just walk in. It turns out I could stop by but the person I needed to talk to had stepped out to run an errand. I asked if it was okay to wait in their parking lot until he returned. She said yes, but did not want me to have to wait unnecessarily. I told her I was at Home Depot and I lived an hour away so waiting even 30 minutes was not a problem. It turns out John was also at Home Depot! I headed to the parking lot and settled in to do Duolingo while I waited; John showed up before I could finish my 20 minute lesson! Aue! I got some great information from him. Chris will have to take the measurements for the windows, any window they care can be made impact resistant, they have 3 strengths of materials for the impact resistant windows, manufacturing the windows will take about 16 weeks, and if I want the windows in white it will be an additional set-up cost for the painting portion of the order. (The standard is anodize aluminum, which would be okay if I wasn't trying to keep the look of an old style plantation workers house.)


Since I got the towel bars at Home Depot I didn't need to go further south in to Kona, which has been the COVID-19 hotspot on this island. I headed north to Waimea and stopped at Healthways II to grab a carton of unsweetened almond milk. I had asked Laurel & Bill to pick up a case for me at Costco if they could find it, but I wanted to get at least 1 if they couldn't. I also got a little basmati rice from their bulk section. Since I'm not doing carbs I did not want to have a bunch around, but I need some for the Butter Chicken I will be making for dinner when Kamaka is here. I still haven't found the food processor so I did not want to try to make the cauliflower rice by hand!

It took a while to read all of this sign.

The next stop after Healthways was KTA; I needed to pick up a bunch of seasonings for the Butter Chicken as well as for the coleslaw. I am slowly getting the seasonings I need to make my favorite keto-friendly recipes. They have a very large section of seasonings with selections from 5 or 6 different brands. It took me a while but I discovered they did not have the garam masala I need for the Butter Chicken. Aue! They were my best chance of finding it! (Healthways' tiny section did not have it but did have ground chipotle which I can use in the mole recipe in place of the single chipotle in adobo sauce that it calls for.) I did find some disinfecting wipes to replenish my dwindling supply; I usually have 2 containers on hand since I clean a lot of gecko poop off of things when I first arrive. I skipped the microwave pork rinds; I will get that from Arakaki so I can give them some of my business since they get less customers than KTA.

I then headed to Takata Store to do the bulk of my shopping. And I found garam masala there! I did not expect that since they have a much smaller section than KTA and limited things. Here's what I ended up with today. I like the artsy label on the cumin but that brand does not have much of a selection.


My almost last stop was to pick up eggs from Toto. I took a couple of egg cartons that I had saved from previous store purchases. Toto showed me his collection of skulls from pigs he had hunted; there were a lot of them but I forgot to take a photo of them. As I was leaving he gave me 2 more huge eggs; he also raises geese!

Even though it says Big Island, these are all from the mainland.

I asked for a dozen, this is what he gave me!

My final stop before heading home was the post office. My box was stuffed with mail! But part of that was because the new phone book had arrived. I also had 2 issues of the Kohala Mountain News monthly. And mail for 2 people who have not put in a change of address. Forever. I have had this box for about 6 years now!

When I pulled in to the garage I went right up to the laundry; I wanted to see if I was right about whether a lot of the car would be sticking out or not. The single line is at about the center of where the regular clotheslines would be hung. In that location, the back of this car is still inside the garage.



I checked to see if Sir Purr came out while I was gone. Apparently not, both food and litter were untouched. I put some food out for Mom Cat & Wiley, when I returned the 2nd time it was gone.



I had an appointment at 4 with the Hawaiʻi Community Federal Credit Union. I pulled in to the parking lot with a few minutes to walk up to the door but realized I had forgotten my mask so I had to run back up to the house. I was about 10 minutes late but it was okay; people have gotten used to making appointments so there was no line waiting. I am having checks made for the Trust account so that I can switch the automatic payment for the gas, water, and electricity over to this account and close the other account that has Mom & Aunty Judy on it. The water & gas company need a voided check in order to do that.

I headed to Minnie's when I was done. I had ordered a prime rib dinner earlier in the day. They have changed their set up; you no longer go inside to order. It's now all done outside; they altered the kitchen door so it has a sliding screen panel as well as a shelf. These types of things are becoming the new normal.



After dinner I heard a cat meowing outside my bedroom window again. It was the tabby again; it seemed to be calling for Mom Cat & Wiley. So I put food out for them but it would not come to the food. Later I saw Mom Cat eating; the tabby had disappeared,



There were 3 new COVID-19  cases reported today; all on O'ahu. Because another case was reclassified the total number of known cases is 649. There were no new deaths or hospitalizations. A little over 93% of people have been released from isolation.

Cases within the last 28 days.