Virus... Again!!!! Arrrghhhh!

Our son, Jon is  in South America right now traveling and learning.  We'd gotten a text message from him a little earlier saying he'd been out of contact because he was ill for three days.  I was terribly worried.  Communication has been sporadic.

Then last night... there was his name in my Email Inbox and I was so excited that my brain temporarily stopped working.  When I clicked on his e-mail, all I saw was a link.  No message.  I was confused, but I thought it might be something he wanted me to read.  The link took me to a Fox News site.  As I scanned down to see what was going on my cellphone rang.

"Mom!  Did you get an e-mail from Jon?  Don't open that link!" said my daughter.

"Oh... no, Tif.  I already did," I gasped.  I couldn't believe I did it AGAIN!  Doggone it!  Just to be sure it didn't get passed on to everybody on my address book, I wrote to a friend who assured me she didn't get that link from me.  So hopefully it didn't infect my address book.  The last time I got something like that, it didn't seem to get passed on so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Tif had me change my password and my son-in-law told me to use the Microsoft Security Essentials to scan my computer.  I did and got this after 8 hours.

There was some kind of Blacole virus.  I removed it and I'm hoping things are OK. 

I don't know if this is the virus that came from poor Jon's computer, but at least it may have been successfully removed.  I say maybe because I've read that sometimes this virus is quite tenacious.



I think I'd better put up a sign in front of me that  says,  
"DO NOT OPEN ANY LINK FROM ANYBODY WHO DOES NOT PROVE WHO THEY ARE WITH A PERSONAL MESSAGE!!!"

Would this work?  I don't know.  I think my fingers are sometimes faster than my brain and my eyes.

Arrrgghhhhhh!!!!!

POSTSCRIPT:  Weird thing!  I just got another of these spam e-mails from a blogger friend.  However, I was smarter this time and didn't open the link.   Then I just read this post on Sherri's Jubilee:  Email Frustrations!   What the heck is going on?

Be careful.  Be very careful. 

Sunetrics Recommendation Retraction

Solar Panels are popping up all over in our area.  It's very nice to see.  Sunetrics put up our panels about a year and a half ago and it's been working as expected and we're very happy about that.  They said they would put up panels that would be sure not exceed what our needs were.  We were advised not to overproduce power because it would be given to HECO (Hawaiian Electric Company) to keep without reimbursement.   And it's true.  The panels did definitely give us less than what we needed, too much less.  For some reason our usage must have also gone up a bit so we thought we'd put up a few more panels.

We sent our Sunetrics salesperson an e-mail.  No response.  We called their office and left a message.  No response.

When we were deciding how many panels we should put up, Sunetrics said we shouldn't worry because we could just call them and they'd put more up.

We recommended them to our friend, Ed this past year who got a quote from them.  The Sunetrics estimate came up much, much higher than the others.  When Ed called to ask for an explanation he got no response.

We were at a Senior Fair and talked to a HECO person there and mentioned Sunetrics to them.  He mentioned how he'd gotten the same sort of higher than everybody else quote for his own home.  He was also told that Sunetrics is now moving toward bigger fish.  They do things for larger companies now so they prefer not working for smaller home owners.

This has me worried.  If anything goes wrong, I suppose we won't be able to count on them.  What a sad thing.  I'm sorry I recommended them to people. 

I suppose this is what happens when a  company is too successful. 

KC's Photo Album

We sent KC a 58 page digital photo album of their Trip to Hawaii which we printed for her (as she requested) and mailed in a flat rate box.  It arrived in Illinois in 3 days. 

Tiffany called to say KC loved it and that her mom and dad both had to read all the captions and speech bubbles for her.

We're suspecting she'll probably have it all memorized soon.

I asked KC what her favorite page was and she said it was the one where she and grandpa planted the papaya seedling.

I thought she might say the Disney breakfast at Aulani or Discovery Center or Trip Around the Island or the Waikiki Aquarium or the beach.

But no... it was that special time where she planted that papaya tree with grandpa.  I wonder if she remembers planting that first papaya tree with Art when she was about a year and a half.

Well, she won't forget this one since she'll always have this hard copy.  When you think about it, perhaps she'll look at this more because it's printed rather than on the computer.  Sometimes old fashioned is best.

Watching the Olympics

I admit it.  I'm not a sports fan. I don't understand football except that I know you're supposed to get the ball to the goal area on the other side except when they change sides.  I don't understand soccer.  Everybody is kicking the ball all over the field until they get it passed that person who is trying not to get hurt but has to use his/her body to stop the puck, I mean ball from getting into that big basket.  I know basketball is getting the ball in the basket, but they change sides too which confuses me.

I do actually understand baseball a bit more because my son, Jon played baseball for several summers and Art coached the team for a couple of them.  I know what it takes to get a point, I mean goal, I mean hit, I mean run. And there was something about flies in the infield.

I do however, understand swimming because both Tif and Jon were very good swimmers in middle and high school.

Jon was even a co-captain for his water polo team.  I take it back.  I don't understand water polo at all.

With the summer Olympics underway, it brings back those memories of watching Tif and Jon swim back and forth, back and forth, back and forth across the pool.  Then there would be a break and they'd swim back and forth, back and forth, back and forth again.

And you know what?  We loved it!  I loved watching every minute of the back and forthing.  (Aquettes was more fun though.)  Therefore, I'll be watching the Olympic swimming with Art and holding my breath too!

Pineapple

I toiled at Dole Pineapple Cannery for three high school summers as a trimmer.  It's amazing how good I got with a knife.  That's when I decided that I really wanted to go to college and not have to stay there.  I also never wanted to see or eat another fresh pineapple.  Just smelling a fresh pineapple puts a line of sweat at my forehead hairline.

Lately however we've noticed that pineapples have gotten really sweet in Hawaii and non-acidic.  I could even eat a few without a problem.  Art's cousin is retired from Dole so he's able to get a discount and brings pineapples for us every so often.

Now we've started planting the crowns.  When KC came to Hawaii she couldn't wait to harvest one.  It was a little hard to pick so KC had to push and pull at it to get it off the mother crown.

When I cut it and had our son-in-law try it, he was really surprised at how sweet it was.  The ones we harvest ourselves are even sweeter because we let it fully ripen.  Farmers can't let it ripen all the way because they're supposed to be more fragile and could easily rot.

Once picked, pineapples will not ripen further.  You should cut it within a couple of days.  If you refrigerate it, it could probably last a week.

Perhaps it's because we've let our fruit fully ripen, but I found some seeds inside.  What a surprise.

Of course, now Art wants to try planting the seeds to see what happens.  We'll also plant that crown we've got rooting in water.

We had the fresh pineapple over some vanilla ice cream last night and I swear the fruit was as sweet as the ice cream.

I didn't sweat at all!

Are You Alright or All Right?

While we were working on our digital photo album, Art commented that I'd used the word alright incorrectly.  He thought that it should be all right.  I looked it up and found this Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tricks for Better Writing.

Very interesting:

Alright vs. All right
It seems that alright is not even a correct word according to grammarians.  It's a very informal word according to my World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary published when I was a kid.  However, it is gaining acceptance.  Informally alright means satisfactory or OK.  Are you feeling alright?  All right means accurate. The bookkeeping figures are all right.

All together and Altogether
All together means collectively.  They went to the prom all together.  Altogether means entirely.  We are altogether too tired.

All Ready and Already
All ready is supposed to mean being prepared. I am all ready for the next tsunami alert. Already is concerned with time as in I made the cookies already.  So... could I then say, "I'm all ready already for the next tsunami alert"?

All right already... so Art was right.  I am seriously altogether tired.  I'm sure glad we're done with the Trip Albums.  Do you see why it was so stressful?

Always Prettier on the Other Side of the Fence

When we were in Japan we gushed over all the incredibly beautiful cherry blossom trees.  We must have taken at least 5 GB of photos of the briefly blooming, delicate blossoms.

We were driving home from tai-chi the other day and suddenly noticed the beautiful flowering trees around us.  We realized that we were taking so much of this beauty for granted.

It must be the season for the Rainbow Shower tree because we see them in bloom everywhere.

My mother calls this the Moonlight shower tree.  It's in bloom too, but I don't know if it's the correct name.

For a little variety, there's this Royal Poinciana.  I think that's what it is.

I don't see a whole lot of these Golden Shower trees, but against the blue sky, they really pop out at you.  I wish I could have found a better photo to post today.  Unfortunately I think it's the tail end of the Golden Shower season.  I think the scientific name for this tree is Tabebuia.

I love these purple flower trees.  I thought they were Jacaranda, but I don't know for sure.  I just know I love the color.

I guess the cherry blossoms in Japan are appreciated so much because they last for just a couple of weeks.  The flowering Hawaiian trees stick around for quite a while so that we start to take them for granted.

And speaking of taking things for granted, I just looked out my window and saw our neighbor's huge plumeria tree.  (Sorry about the window blinds reflection in the photo.)  I can smell its fragrance when the wind blows our way.

Starting tomorrow, I'll turn over a new leaf and pay attention to all the flowers around me.  Maybe I'll find a spectacular Golden Shower tree that I can take a photo of.  If I do, I'll be sure to post it.

Old Guy

L. from W. made a comment a couple of days ago that had me remembering some occasions that made us raise our eyebrows.

Recently, we were going for our evening walk and a child about my granddaughter's age came running along the sidewalk, smiled and said hello.  She appeared to be interested in the walking sticks I was using.

She then ran to her mother and I overheard her saying, "Mommy, why is the grandma using those sticks?"

Grandma?  Did she call me a Grandma?  When had I made the jump to Grandma from Auntie?  Most of the vendors at the Farmers Market still call me Auntie.  But here was a child giving the honest truth.

Art had one of those moments a few years ago when we were in the emergency room of Tripler Army Hospital.  He'd cut his finger to the bone badly on a grinder.   While we waited behind a curtain of a triage unit a trio of doctors arrived.  We couldn't see them, but we could hear them.

"OK... We've got a full night here.  We'll work on the young lady with the broken leg first, then you can take the little girl with the laceration on the arm.  Then we'll work on the old guy's finger."

Art and I looked  at each other.  Old guy?  Who could they be talking about?  Then we could hardly contain our laughter.

Good gracious!  We're now the old people.

When the doctors finally got around to injecting Art's finger a thousand times to numb it, then scrubbing out every germ from his wound, and sewing him up, we had a truly rollicking time with the three doctors.  They did a fabulous job and we really enjoyed being with those young men, but the thing that makes us laugh the most is when we remember that moment of Art being called the "Old Guy."

Preserving Our Memories

It has been crazily busy for us since March.  First we had our son visit for three wonderful weeks.  Less than two weeks later we left for Japan in April for almost three weeks. 

As soon as we returned we tried to work on our trip album for Japan, but with four cameras worth of photos (28 GB) to go through, it was a monumental job!  Once we got our photos chosen I formatted them onto pages.  Then we did a lot of research to enhance our understanding of what we had seen and added them to the photos.  Next came speech bubbles to add humor and trigger our memories of what we were thinking at the time. 

Not even half the work was done on the Japan album when our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter arrived in May.  We had a glorious two week visit. 

We then once again began our push to finish the Japan album.  We completed it a couple of weeks ago.  192 pages!!!  We printed it for mom whose eye healed just in time to be able to use her glasses (after her tear duct surgery) and relive our incredible journey through Japan.

Then we started work on a trip album for our granddaughter.  She'd seen parts of the Trip to Japan album and was captivated by the speech bubbles.  We promised to make her one also. 

I planned to just send her a digital copy that she could view on her computer screen, but her softy grandfather, Art felt we should print her one just like the Japan album we printed for my mom.

I didn't think she'd need or want one, but I got a phone call from KC saying, "Grandma, could you print the speech bubble album for me please?"

Sigh...

Somehow printing the album put more pressure on me because I felt like it was now a permanent copy that would be shown and needed to be as error free as possible.

The album was only 58 pages since I was the principal photographer and Art and Tif didn't take as many photos.

Now I'm working on Jon and Sarah's album.  They were the first to come and visit, but I knew they wouldn't mind our working on KC's album, especially since they're some place in Peru right now.

Why do we do this?  It's a WHOLE LOT of painstaking, often tedious, stressful, totally consuming, often agonizing, occasionally argumentative, creative, exhausting work!  We end up stuck to the computer concentrating day and night on the project. 

So why do we do this? 
To remember!  We tend to forget so much.  Looking at photos with no explanation can't jog our memories very easily.  We need the notes and stories written to re-ignite our memories and bring back the pleasure.  Mom forgets even more.  When we mention things to her about a trip, she'll say she can't remember it at all.  Then she'll look at the album and the notes she made as well which we also include and most of her memories will return.  We spend so much money on the trips.  It's a shame to lose a penny of the memories we bought.

We especially love seeing how an album of a past trip will be on Mom's family room table showing us that she'd been reliving a travel we'd done.  It makes all the agony of a month's work worthwhile.  Mom also loves sharing the albums with her family and friends  who enjoy reading what she's experienced.   Yes, it's worth it. 

So now we're almooooost done with Jon and Sarah's album.  I'll actually have more time at the computer that doesn't involve formatting photos.  Another day or two, I think...

Then I can catch up and see what you've all been doing.  Yahoo!

Like Grandfather, Like Granddaughter

On Father's Day, Art got an excited phone call from our 5 year old granddaughter, KC. 

"I finished the race, Grandpa!" KC exclaimed loudly enough for me to hear. She then spoke to Art for half an hour telling him all about what she got in her race goodie bag and how she walked the first half and ran the 2nd part of the 1 mile Ricky Byrdsong Youth Mile Race to honor the life of the man who was gunned down in a random hate motivated shooting in 1999.

Art has run that race a couple of times too.  The adult version is 5K. He wore his Ricky Byrdsong race t-shirt for the Hawaii Hapalua  (Half Marathon) race in March of this year with our son, Jon.

Later KC got on Skype to show us her ribbon, her racing bib, her race goodie bag and her orange race t-shirt.

I had to laugh because it seems a lot of her motivation is knowing that Grandpa does all these races too and she wanted him to know she was doing them as well.  Art coached her before the race saying to walk first and keep her energy for finishing.

Our daughter, Tiffany said she did have to remind KC to slow down at the beginning.  At the end, KC was going to walk over the finish line, but Tif told her that was the time to run through it in exultation... which she did!

Great Aloha Run Photo by Dave Au

Now I just have to show her how to do the fists pumping the air pose for crossing the finish line.

KC says there's supposed to be another race when we get to Chicago in fall and how she wants me to do that one.  Ummmm...  Well, I guess I could show her how to do the finish.  But I think I should be on the side lines to take photos.

Auntie Kay

I've always written "Auntie Kay" when I've signed a card or written an e-mail to a relative or younger friend in Hawaii.  However, I've increasingly found that I'm in the minority.  Most cards, e-mails, letters to me come to Aunty Kay. 

I'm stubborn enough that I have kept that "Auntie".  I don't know why I like it better.  You'd think I'd prefer Aunty since there is a y in Kay and Aunty and it might look pretty as a closing signature.

This evening I thought I'd look it up and googled Auntie or Aunty.  What a surprise to find out quite a few other people have also asked that same question.

This is what wiki answers wrote:

If you are addressing a middle age female, and you do not know her name, in South East Asia, Singapore or Malaysia, the spelling is Auntie. In some North American Native cultures the use of the name "Auntie" for any woman older than you (usually between the ages 20 to 50) is a sign of respect and affection.

If you are addressing the sister of your parent, then it is a slang term. The proper word to use would be aunt. If you choose to use the slang, both spellings are listed in the Encarta World English Dictionary.

Then I checked Yahoo Answers and got this:

Aunty or Auntie: Which is the correct spelling?

Both these spellings are correct, but the correct one is auntie in English.  (Hunh?)

What I found surprising was how many people had asked the same question.  Seems like a silly little thing to wonder about, but since I have nothing else to post about tonight, this is it.

Therefore, I'm still going to be "Auntie".  I don't care what anybody thinks.  At least there's no question about Uncle.

Ergonomic Keyboard

A couple of years ago, our son-in-law and daughter found a wonderful sale on a wireless ergonomic keyboard and mouse at Best Buy and got Art to buy it for me when they were in Hawaii.  At first, the odd wavy shape of the keyboard turned me off and I didn't want to use it with my computer.  I felt what I had was fine.  Then I tried it... and I was  hooked!

Our new Dell computer has a flat keyboard and I just don't like it.  The mouse is also sort of sticky when it's moving the cursor around.  It just doesn't feel as easily maneuverable.

We decided to get another Logitech wireless ergonomic keyboard and mouse.  It was selling for about $63.00 with free Super Saver shipping on Amazon a few evenings ago.  It was too good to pass up.  The next morning Art was ready to buy and found to his surprise that it had gone down to $53.99!  Good grief!  Woo hoo!

Oh wait.  I saw that it's on sale at Best Buy now for $63.00!  Wow!  But it's still cheaper on Amazon.

No Paper Towels in Japanese Public Bathrooms

We noticed a lot of interesting things about Japan during our recent trip in April.

• Everyone was so polite, kind and friendly.  If you needed help, they went out of their way to help you.  I've talked to other people and they've said the same thing.  It makes traveling to Japan such a pleasure.
• The super efficient trains are on time to the minute!
• We saw few garbage cans, but nobody threw things on the ground and most places were as clean as Disneyland.
• Japanese people wear masks to prevent catching/passing on germs when they are sick.  They also wear them if they have hay fever.  
• Many places have slippers to wear in the house and special toilet slippers to wear when you go to the bathrooms.
• Very few graffiti.  
• Crosswalks and traffic lights are designed to help the blind.
• Most people drink tea rather than sweetened soft drinks.
• No paper towels in the bathrooms

This last interesting thing stuck in my head and had me thinking.  The public bathrooms in Japan usually don't have paper towels.

They sell cute little terry cloth type hand wipes at all the stores for you to carry.

Men probably carry handkerchiefs or something like that.  Then again, they may not need it as much as women do?

At first it was an inconvenience, but the Japanese don't worry about it or complain.  They accept it and work around it.


If you think about it, they don't have to worry about having to dispose of so many paper towels.  Think how much paper we use for paper towels.  I've seen some people take as many as 4 sheets to wipe their hands and throw them in the garbage bin without a thought.

Think about the expense of having to provide so many paper towels.  Think about the trees that have to be cut down to make those paper towels.  It starts to make a lot of sense.  I always use the electric hand dryers wherever they provide them.  But then again, that uses a lot of energy.

Then again, my nephew just made a laughing comment.  He said people might then not wash their hands.

Hmmm...  I'm thinking about this.

Happy Father's Day!

Laurie of  In My Dreams I See.. was kind enough to read some posts from a couple of years ago and told me she especially liked this one about Art that I wrote for Father's Day.

I thought I'd post it again for Art. He really is one in a million.

Father's Day 2010

 

1979

Art says he doesn't want anything for Father's Day from me. Instead, we'll be going out for lunch with my mother on Monday to avoid the crowds.

He's always been that way. He never really wants anything for himself, but wants to get something for everybody else dear to him. During our travels, his eyes are always open for something that Tiffany might smile at or Jon might get a chuckle from.

In the old Asian way, he doesn't say the words, "I love you," easily. It's just not the way we were raised. However, our children know. How can they not?

Hmmm... but just in case they don't, let me tell them that they have always been their dad's greatest joy and brightest wonder. To Tif and Jon: Your Dad loves you more than words can possibly express.

From the time the kids were born, Art immediately set up a savings plan to automatically take money out from every paycheck for their college education. He made sure he was home for every doctor's appointment, every teacher's meeting, every sports meet. When he came home from work, he left work at work and spent the time listening to Tif and Jon. If they needed him for anything, he would break his neck trying to be there.

2002

I think they've come to expect that their father will always be there to bargain with the Fates to make sure his children are making the right choices, are happy, and being good people. He has detoured from his path a million times to smooth their way through every bump they've suffered. He's given them the gift of appreciating the delight and discovery they enjoy from travel and their sense of confidence that they can do what they want to do. I've always been fearful of leaving home. Art takes all our hands and shows us how to do it.

I still can't do it without Art, but the kids can. He's made sure of that from the time they were born, and knowing that they can take care of themselves and are two of the kindest, most generous, capable children we could ever have hoped for is probably the greatest gift he receives every Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful dads out there!

Home Is Where Your Heart Is

When Gigi wrote a post a while ago about Hawaii being the best place for her to live I thought to myself that Hawaii is fine, but it is not necessarily paradise.  I was born and raised in Hawaii, but then my husband and I moved to Chicago in 1974 where we raised our two children.  We moved back to Hawaii a few years ago to live with my mother when my father passed away.

Tif and Jon on our homemade skating rink when our yard flooded and froze

We loved living in the Midwest.  We loved winter too, but wish we only had 2 weeks of it rather than the 4 months Illinois is usually blessed with.

Jon, blueberry picking in Indiana

 
Hawaii has lots of things going for it, but it also has some drawbacks.

• Shipping things to Hawaii costs an arm and a leg.  I'm really grateful for Super Saver Shipping when you qualify for it.
• Housing is extremely expensive.
• Termites, cockroaches, mongoose, rats, giant spiders...
• Traffic congestion!  I think we were considered to have the worst in the nation.
• Not a whole lot of museums, zoos, etc.
• I think we have the highest electricity costs too.
• And GAS!  Maybe California beat us, but we're not far behind.
• If you want to travel to another state, you have to swim over two thousand miles.  And don't try using the Interstate highway either even though we do have three of them.
• We have very few fabulous libraries.
• We're the last ones to vote in any election, the last one to celebrate New Years.
• RUST!!!  
• Plastic falls apart!  Why is that?  
• We don't get to have the euphoria of spring fever.
• We don't get to enjoy the fall colors.
• No white Christmas
• No Trader Joes or Ikea
• Visiting our children, grandchild and dear friends is expensive.

 And yet we do love Hawaii for the obvious reasons.

• No black ice, summer all year long
• Shave ice
• Saimin
• Tai chi, Zumba and jogging outside, all year long
• Friendly people everywhere... Please excuse the knuckle heads and grouches because we do have a few of them, but very few.
• Trade winds
• Flowers all year long, not to mention seasonal fruits like mangoes
• Beautiful beaches, gorgeous scenery
• Lots of family and friends

Art has lived in New Hampshire, California, Illinois and Hawaii.  He says he's loved all those places. I've lived in Hawaii and Illinois. There's pros and cons everywhere.  You have to make your happiness wherever you are.  What do you love about where you live?

What to Do With Left-Over Chili

I made some chili the other night.  I can't seem to make a small pot.  There's always left-over chili for several nights.  I ended up freezing some, but here's what we did tonight.

I made a huge salad and cornbread.  Mom stir fried some choi sum which reminds me of spinach and prepared some cucumber namasu.  She also made some miso soup and Auntie Grace had given us a jar of cabbage kim chee.

I put a whole lot of the salad (without dressing) in a soup bowl and poured the chili on top of it.

When I've served this dish to guests before, I've sprinkled it with grated cheddar cheese and added more calories by framing it with Tostitos chips.

I didn't do it tonight, but I'm thinking some sour cream on top would really make it wonderful too.  OK... never mind the sour cream.

And then...well... you could stick on some avocado cubes maybe?  Sliced mushrooms and fresh tomatoes would also make it amazing...

Anyway, this is what dinner looked like.  When mom saw me taking this photo she laughed and said this will seem like a weird dinner.  I suppose so.  However, the next time somebody gives us an avocado, I might just thaw out our left-over chili and try this out.

Cockroach Wasp

A couple of days ago this huge, florescent bug was climbing up my office wall.  What the heck?  Where could it have come from?  I didn't think we had holes in the house. 

Art Googled it under florescent green wasp and discovered that it is an Emerald Cockroach Wasp.

Got this from Wikipedia:

"The emerald cockroach wasp or jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is a solitary wasp of the family Ampulicidae. It is known for its unusual reproductive behavior, which involves stinging a cockroach and using it as a host for its larvae. It thus belongs to the entomophagous parasites."

"A. compressa was introduced to Hawaii by F.X. Williams in 1941 as a method of biocontrol. This has been unsuccessful because of the territorial tendencies of the wasp, and the small scale on which they hunt."

Art tried to smack it with his slipper but he missed and it went flying around my office and landed behind the bed and promptly disappeared.  We hunted all over for it and finally gave up.  Art closed all the doors to make sure it didn't go into any of the other rooms and we went to bed.

I'd closed most of my office windows the night before because it often rains at night and I don't want my computer to get wet.  When I got up in the morning I saw that the wasp was between the sliding glass window and outside screen.  How did it get there?  Did it go through the glass?  I called Art to look and he was shocked.  We should call this the Houdini wasp.

Whatever the case, it died  because we didn't want to let it back into the room.  It does have a stinger and I have enough welts from bug bites on me.

Now we see that this is a wasp who kills American (Periplaneta americana) cockroaches.  Those are the GIANT cockroaches that local writer, Lisa Matsumoto  wrote a children's book about called "How the B52 Cockroach Learned to Fly."   Now Art is very sorry he had to kill that bug because it was probably keeping the American cockroach population under control in our area.  Sigh...

Hopefully Houdini Wasp has some friends who are still around.  And hopefully they are outside of the house.

Retiring a Back Pack

I think I may have bought my Hedgren Urban backpack around 8-10 years ago.  I have these photos of me in New Zealand/Australia in spring of 2005 carrying the bag everywhere.  I'd bought it in Wisconsin's Outlet Mall in Kenosha at a Samsonite store.  They were selling it for $20.00 + $1.00 for a second bag.  I just couldn't pass it up.  Two bags for $21.00?  Wow!  Since then I took it with me everywhere.  It's very light, durable and sits comfortably on my back.

I brought it with me to see the Punakaiki pancake rocks in New Zealand in spring of 2005.

And here I am near Christchurch where we'd gone to see the Moeraki Boulders (giant geodes).  However, I took photos of the flowers too.  You can see my bag more clearly.

In 2007 I took my bag to Alexandria, Egypt.

In spring of 2009, mom carried my back up backpack to the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver.  Here we are at Skagit Valley's awesome tulip fields.  We're both carrying the Hedgren backpacks.

And here is my bag now in 2012 looking very sad and worse for wear.  The bags are not indestructible.  It lasted only 8+ years of constant use.  I just hate parting with it.  I tried to repair it by sewing it together, but it just ripped on the repair seam.  Actually there are rips all over.  It's like a tired old friend and very frail.

My daughter, Tif bought me a beautiful Baggalini back-pack a year ago which I also use, but the Hedgren has been my friend of long standing.

I'm using the back up backpack now and someday I'll work up the courage to throw the old one away.  I've also bought another Hedgren online because it was on sale for $49.98.  Sigh...  Quite a bit more than the other two I bought 8+ years ago, but I like having a back up.  What kind of bag do you like to carry?

Neighborly Request

Well, it's done.

We've been aggravated by those pigeons who keep roosting on our roof, pooping in our gutters and over our solar panels.  We've also suspected them of leaving bird mites to bite me leaving horrendous welts that take several weeks to heal.

We were talking to another neighbor, Steve who didn't like the pigeons stalking his dogs, eating from their food dish and sitting on his roof also.  Before he retired, Steve's company had a problem with pigeon mites too.

Well... Art and Steve decided to take the difficult step to confront that pigeon feeding neighbor.  It was really, really hard.  You just HATE telling anybody not to feed birds or not to do something that might be giving them so much pleasure.

Art and Steve walking toward the pigeon feeding neighbor's house

Today Art and  Steve decided to go ahead and do it.  They planned out the most tactful way of stating their case, walked down the street and met Jim who turned out to be the nicest fellow.  Jim said that his wife fed birds as a child and still loved to do it, but he most certainly understood our concerns.  In fact, he said they were noticing bug bites on their children as well.

What a wonderful feeling!  After months... years... of being unhappy about the pigeons, the problem was remedied just by talking to our friendly neighbors in a non-confrontational, neighborly way.

Now then, I wonder how long it will take the pigeons to realize there are no more free hand-outs in this section of the neighborhood.

How Do You Break Your Fast?

Our breakfast is almost always, pretty much, sort of the same.  It depends also on what kind of fruit are available although we usually have papaya throughout the year.  My mother eats her breakfast at 5:00 and has the unenviable task of dividing the papaya into three parts.

Art and I eat later.  We don't enjoy waking up at 4:30 like she does on most mornings.  Whereas mom eats oatmeal every morning, Art and I alternate our breakfasts.

On one morning we eat cereal with our fruits (fresh and dried).  Art eats his fiber type cereal and I eat a cereal concoction of about four different types that I like at the moment.  I have coffee with a little chocolate milk mixed in.  Art drinks tea.  We add soy milk or yogurt to our cereal.


When we took this photo a friend had dropped off blackberries and strawberries so we had additional fruits on top of our usual papaya and apple banana.

On the alternate morning Art makes the breakfast with prunes, craisins, apple banana, cinnamon and Quaker oats.

He cooks them all together (except the bananas) and it may not look great, but is quite tasty.

Then he adds the banana on top of the oatmeal with a dash of soy milk.  It's really very good and is extremely filling.

It starts our day off very well.  What do you have?

An Almost Perfect Craigslist Buy

Since I blogged about standing while working on the computer and people mentioned how standing for too long a period might be a problem, I got to thinking I needed a chair, or maybe a bar stool.

Before

I also wanted something that would look better than our folding table to hold the keyboard.

I looked on Craigslist and found bar stool height table and chairs that could work beautifully.  We bought it for $75. from a fellow who'd just gotten his Ph.D.and was going to be moving to Texas.  It was more than I was going to pay.  However, it was so perfect for our needs that we paid his asking price despite the fact that we knew we'd have to do a lot of work on it.

He'd bought it unfinished from City Mill and used it that way.   There were gouges and a lot of stains on the table and chairs.  Wooden screw covers were also missing.

It took a lot of elbow grease to sand the surfaces to remove as much of the stains as we had the strength and energy to do.  We bought wooden covers from Home Depot which fit perfectly to cover the screw holes, tack cloth to take off the dust and Polycrylic sealer to finish it.  We filled the gouges with wood filler and sanded that down also.

After the sanding was done, we brought the table and chairs up to my office and I gave it two coats of the sealer.

After

And there it is!

Now I can stand or sit. Since there are two chairs, Art and I can sit side by side to talk to our kids and grandkid on Skype.

Now... then, I think I'll look for little cushions for the chairs.  No, not on Craigslist, maybe Ross?












POSTSCRIPT:
Commenter Hilorain asked exactly how we did the refinishing.

Here are the supplies we used.  I forgot to include the wooden plugs.  The grade of sandpaper we used was 100 for the first sanding.  Then I used 230 and the final sanding was 400.  I did sand with the 400 (extra fine) between sealer coats.  The instructions say 2 hours between coats and 24 hours before using the furniture.  Art is making me wait 48 hours.  My brother just came and said 3 days!  Arggh!

Since you're doing your hand railing, we're thinking you'd want to use a polyurethane or oil based sealer instead since it's going to undergo heavier traffic. An oil based sealer or polyurethane would be much more durable, I would think.

Food and Fate

When my daughter, Tiffany, her husband, Ed and our granddaughter KC were here last month they took us to another wonderful restaurant that we would never have gone to if they hadn't introduced us to it.  It's called Marukame Udon and is on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki.  There are often LONG lines outside, but it seems to move pretty quickly.

When we went for lunch, the line wasn't too bad.

Tif took this photo when they passed by the restaurant one evening last month.

Edward Sugimoto did a thorough review on his blog, Around Hawaii.  Click on this link to find out more about this place if you're interested.



When we were in Japan we were introduced to something called Sanuki undon.  We really liked it.  I'm not a huge fan of the thicker noodles, but this was great.  It was silky and soft and just plain yummy.

Marukame Udon is sort of cafeteria style.  You order your udon, pick up whatever tempura or musubi you'd like, get a drink and pay at the end of the line in cash.

Only then do you search for a place to sit.

  

The food was excellent!  They cook it right in front of you so it's extremely fresh (and very reasonably priced).  We were grateful to Tif and Ed for introducing this place to us and decided that we would take mom there someday.

POSTSCRIPT:

The above was supposed to be my post for the day, but then some pretty extraordinary things happened.

We took my mom and her sister, Auntie Grace to Marukame Udon restaurant today.  They both pronounced the sanuki noodles excellent.  They especially liked the broth.  We all had the Kake Udon and different kinds of tempura.

We managed to avoid the long lines by going a little early.  Art thought it was going to take a long time so he put enough quarters in the meter for an hour and a half.  We were done in 35 minutes so we decided to walk around Waikiki's International Market Place to work off some of the carbs we'd had.

Mom at International Market Place

Mom says she has never been to the International Market Place.  That was a surprise!  She enjoyed walking under the huge shady branches of the gigantic banyan tree.

There's a lot of kiosks under the banyan selling tons of tourist trinkets.





We gave our 36 minutes left on the parking meter to a happy local person who drove up behind us and we headed back to Auntie Grace's home to drop her off before heading back to our house.

As we were waiting for the light to change there was a huge accident that happened before our eyes.  Art says he saw an SUV plow into a car, 4 cars up that crumpled like an accordian.  I saw another car who might have been trying to avoid the crash plow into the sidewalk and store.

Emergency vehicles arrived right away.  We were going to try to back up and head out but the person behind us said there really wasn't another way to get up to Auntie Grace's place from where we were.

Two ambulances carried away the injured.  We saw one woman on a gurney.  One person had to be treated on the sidewalk first.  A tow truck arrived to pull away the SUV.

Eventually the police came and told us that they were going to hold up traffic so we could get onto the highway to find another way to get where we all needed to go.

We were all counting our blessings that we weren't that first car at the intersection.

In the evening we were watching the news tonight and heard about a couple who were injured when a large branch from the banyan tree fell on them at the International Market Place in February.

I guess you never know when something bad might happen.  We were lucky this time, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

We can only hope for the best.