Telling Trump to Keep His "Hands Off!"

My Kauai cousins and I have been texting each other regularly through the years. They are as upset as my friends and I here on Oahu about Trump and Musk's many drastic cuts since coming into office.

They told me last night that they had gotten their posters ready for another protest rally that was happening called "Hands Off!" 

The last big march Art and I participated in was in 2017 when we marched for Science. 

I hadn't even heard about this one, but I'm so excited and wish I could join them.

They texted me photos of their posters. I was so impressed by their art and creativity that I asked their permission to share them with you.

My cousins tell me their friends will also be participating in the rally.

This is reminding me of the protests we experienced in the 60's. 

Maybe that's why Trump is making sure protests are banned on college campuses.

I need to start thinking about making a poster soon.

POSTSCRIPT:

I wasn't planning on posting this today, but I think I will while we're on the topic.

This was from the editorial page of our Sunday Star Advertiser yesterday.

All my Canadian blogger buddies know how I feel about their beautiful country and their super nice citizens. They know how terrible we feel about all that's happening.

Elsbeth and Reacher?

I retired from teaching 1st grade in an Illinois public school in 2004. There was a group of teachers that I became very good friends with. I don't remember when we started going out regularly to lunch or dinner to just relax, talk about school things and our lives.

When I left Illinois to return to Hawaii, we formed a chat group on our cellphones so we could keep "talking" to each other.

There was one interesting thing that came up in one of the chats recently. Someone said they enjoyed watching Elsbeth although her husband didn't like it, but really loved Reacher.

According to AI, Elsbeth is autistic. I thought she was just quirky. The only thing I didn't always care for is that you know pretty much from the start "who done it." But then, that's OK. I enjoy watching her figure it out. Art doesn't care for that structure.

Maybe we teachers identify working with children who have different needs. 

Anyway... 

I remember the Jack Reacher movies when Tom Cruise played the title character. However, when I read one of the Reacher books by Lee Child, I realized that Alan Ritchson is more in keeping with Reacher's physique. 

I only read one of the Reacher books because it made me too tense to fall asleep. I usually read books before going to sleep. 

Anyway, the other teachers in our group texted that they also loved Elsbeth but didn't care for Reacher (on Prime) although their husbands loved it. I didn't even know Season 3 of Reacher was being aired.

And then my son-in-law texted us that he was loving Reacher and we should check it out. Soooo.... we've been tuning in. My daughter? Nope.

Art really enjoys it and I'm actually OK with it. But I distract myself by texting friends on my iPad because the story line with the tense music stresses me out if I don't have a distraction.

Have you seen either shows? What do you think?

Dogs Who Can't Read!

When we visited our friend, Terry and her husband we noticed that they had put up a cute dog poop prevention sign on their front lawn. 

She told me that they haven't had a problem since then with people walking their dogs and leaving poop on their lawn.

This all sounded like a fun idea so I bought one just like theirs and installed it on our front yard.

It seemed to work and we were happy.

My brother laughed when he saw it and said, "You know dogs can't read, right?"

I guess he's right because when we went for our evening walk a few days ago, this is what we found!  😖

Sigh... I guess the dogs in Terry's neighborhood are a lot smarter than ours.

POSTSCRIPT 1:

Noooooo! Would you believe a few day's later... 😣 more poop? This time it was a little father down on the sidewalk where we walk.

And no... I didn't throw the poop in our garbage bin. I left it out there on the sidewalk (in a plastic bag) for the owners to maybe get a hint. 

I'll leave it there and throw it away on garbage day so it doesn't stink up our bin. 

POSTSCRIPT 2:

OK...

We've had a lot of windy weather lately and it kept blowing the poop out of the pot and into the street which I kept picking up and putting back into the pot.

It was aggravating. But garbage day came. I tossed the poop away and hoped that would be the end of it.

Nope! More poop a week or so later!!! 😝

So I got a much bigger concrete planter pot and put the poop in it with a rock to hold it down just in case.

POSTSCRIPT 3:

NO, NO, NO!

Would you believe someone came and took the poop away WITH my planter pot?!? 😲

OK, that's it!

No more sublety. 

Since the dogs can't read, we put up a sign for the owners.

Sigh.....

Keeping the Roses Alive

A week or so after Valentine's Day my cousin dropped off a couple of dozen roses for us. The deep red color was beautiful and dramatic.

It was actually Art's idea to share the flowers with my sister-in-law. I asked my brother if they would like to have some and he said they'd enjoy it too.

So I gave half the flowers to Dennis and Nancy.

The stems were soooo long that I had to find a good vase for it. I used this rather tall vase to spread the flowers out and mom loved it. 

The following day, I had to cut the stems a bit.

And the day after that, I found a shorter vase and cut more of the stems off.  

The day after that found the stems getting even shorter.

I was adding flower fertilizer to the water in an even shorter vase each day. You can see all the vases I used. Mom never noticed the stems getting shorter. I also removed the petals that were looking old.

And this was the last vase I used. The roses gave us much joy for several days but it was time to say goodbye.

Oops! I thought it was the last vase, but I had one more.

My daughter, Tif had told me that she'd run out of vases and had to use spaghetti sauce jars for all the flowers that granddaughter KC received dancing at the performing arts center as well as the high school dance show. I told Tiffany she needed to cut the stems every day so they could enjoy them longer.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said.

POSTSCRIPT:

And then... in March, Mom brought home flowers that were given to the women. It may have been for Girls Day which is on March 3rd in Japan.

Anyway, I did the same thing for mom again and cut the stems everyday. It lasted about a week and a half. 😁

Mama Mourning Dove Needs to Find a Tree

 Art and I share watering the gardening duties every morning.

One morning, I was watering the bushes and Art looked at the electrical box in front of me and said, "Haven't you looked up and seen that dove nesting up there?"

He's been so exasperated with the mourning doves building a nest and making a mess there that he even put rocks to keep them off. 

Uuumm... I guess it didn't work.

He was going to shoo it off when he saw the little baby dove there. He took a photo of it.

Sigh... I guess we'll have to wait till the baby fledges and flies off.

Uh oh.... I went out later and saw this.

So there's 2 of them? Or is it 3? How are they fitting in that tiny space?

Ah well... I guess Nature finds a way.

POSTSCRIPT:

OK, the baby birds have left so Art decided to add bird spikes to prevent them from coming back and using the space as a nursery and toilet.

You know this is Hawaii. We have lots of trees. LOTS of trees. They don't need to build a nest on an electrical box.

Well... We'll see if this does the trick.

Handi-Van Report Card

When we first suggested mom going to a day care, she was not exactly thrilled, but was willing to try it for a day or two since my uncle was also there. She quickly found friends and began going 3 days a week. Then her geriatric doctor advised that we send her for the 5 weekdays since mom told her how much she liked going. (The doctor was also concerned about caregiver burn-out.) Mom says she loves to go so she can talk to her friends, and participate in all the activities (exercise, art projects, music) they provide.

Art is 80 years old and very fit. He started out driving her all the time to and from the day care and then began sharing a couple of the pick ups with my brother. But with her going more often, I decided to look into Handi-Van services last year which mom certainly qualified for.

So now I was worried about how mom would handle going on a bus everyday. I went with her the first time as a caregiver, but discovered that she didn't need me. She was content to ride the bus on her own. I'm thinking it's because she remembers going to work and returning home from the Japanese newspaper company in Honolulu when she was working there.

I was gratified to see how friendly, caring, cheerful 99.9% of the drivers were. The digital survey that Handi-Van sends out asks for opinions of people who actually ride the bus. I can't answer that because I'm not on the bus so I began writing to the person in charge by email about the lovely drivers who were picking her up.

I do love how careful the drivers are to make sure mom gets on the bus safely and to secure her with the seatbelt. That morning smile and cheerful, "Have a nice day," always comforts me.

I then stand out there to wave at mom because she invariably looks to see where I am so she can wave goodbye.

This morning, the driver stepped out with a big smile and jokingly said, "You have $46,000.00 on your HOLO card. I mean $46.00." 

He then thanked me for the commendation I'd sent to Handi-Van about the last time he drove mom to the daycare. He said he'd gone to work and saw his name on the board so he got a little worried and went into the office and learned about the commendation he got. He was thrilled and told them he remembered us. 

I did sort of detail what I liked about how he handled mom. I'm a retired teacher. I know how to write anecdotals. 😂 

I'm really happy this driver was praised. I have written several of these commendation emails to Handi-Van. They have so many different drivers. I've also written suggestions to improve how some of the Cabs (taxis) that come occasionally could take better care of seniors.

It's hard to stop being an educator. 😏

POSTSCRIPT:

There was a downpour on this day and the driver was so careful with mom that it just really made me feel good. She even rode on the lift with mom to make sure she stayed dry.

It's lovely that the drivers are so loving with their "kupuna" passengers. Kupuna is Hawaiian for grandparent, honored elder or ancestor. 💖

Toll Evasion Notice? In Hawaii?

Oh good grief! 

I just got this text message. How are they getting our cellphone numbers? 

My daughter works for a financial institution and told me about a seminar she attended about scams attacking seniors. It's mind boggling how many seniors have lost their savings to scams.

One of the important things she mentioned is that if we get a message or call that appears legitimate, tell them you will call them up later. You can then look up the number yourself and talk to a person you can trust.

She also reminded me to stop answering the home phone if it's an unfamiliar number. Let them leave a message.

OK... OK...

Anyway, I got a 2nd notice about my having an unpaid toll bill, even after I reported it as JUNK to Apple.

Tsk!

Important thing to note: We don't have toll roads in Hawaii and I don't drive anymore.

I reported this to the FTC fraud line too. 

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

I also learned that if you get a message purporting to be from the U.S. government, make sure you see the .gov at the ending. 

Stay safe, everyone.

POSTSCRIPT 1:

Oh no! Another one!

POSTCRIPT 2:

Good grief! I got another one supposedly this time from the Illinois Tollway. We haven't been to Illinois since last summer.

Soooo... anyway, I looked that phone number up online and got this NBC news website from Chicago.

The Chicago news also mentioned reporting it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. That web address is ic3.gov

So I did.

Ides of Trump and What? Gutting Funding to Voice of America?

I don't normally write on Saturdays, but I needed to show you that yes, Art went for his early morning jog and mailed my postcards at the post office. 

This will be on its way to the White House for the Ides of Trump protest.

And then this morning... more bad news. 

How much more damage can he and Musk do? This is from NBC news with the title: Trump signs order to gut Voice of America, other agencies. (This is the link to the story.)

"President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday aimed at gutting the parent of U.S. government-funded media outlet Voice of America and six other federal agencies, his administration’s latest step to shrink bureaucracy.

The order instructs the agencies — largely little-known entities including one that provides funding for museums and libraries and one tackling homelessness — to reduce their operations to the bare minimum mandated by the law."

This is scary. 

Blood Moon at Eclipse

We'd heard in the news that there would be a Total Lunar Eclipse last night. It's also called the Blood Moon. It was pretty overcast as the sun went down, but Art was determined to see the eclipse at the scheduled 8:58 PM projected time. 

So yes, we did go outside and dang... the clouds parted for him. When I looked at the image on my Canon camera screen, the moon was really clear, but when I clicked the shutter button, the image I got was not as good.

Art could not resist taking a photo of me taking a photo of the Blood Moon... just before it disappeared behind the clouds again.

But yes, it was definitely a blood red color as it neared totality and yes, it was fun.

I'm sure Art is wanting to say, "I told you so."

Did you stay up to see the lunar eclipse?

A Crown or Not a Crown flower

My brother texted this photo of a fruit on a crown flower bush. He was surprised because we've never seen a fruit like that on a crown flower before. Crown flower bushes were everywhere in the plantation camp where we grew up. All the leaves had holes in them with monarch butterfly eggs, crawling caterpillars and cocoons hanging from all the leaves. Nowadays, I see very little monarchs around which is sad. 

We pass a few bushes on our walks now and don't see many crown flowers around. The bushes we see don't have holes or caterpillars on them which is sad.

One thing we never saw on the crown flower plants were fruits like this. Dennis said it was the size of an orange.

So I looked it up using the Lens option on Googles Photos. Google felt it was a Calotropis procera.

When I mentioned that, my sister-in-law said the flower of the procera was not the same as the crown flower we're familiar with which is actually Calotropis gigantea.  

And she's right.

Here's a comparison.

They're both in the same groupings. They're both giant milkweeds actually. However, the flower of the C.gigantea is indeed what we grew up with.

We used to make leis using the crownflowers.

Here's a bush we saw recently on our walk. We saw a few holes on the leaves but no caterpillars and most of the flowers hadn't bloomed yet. 

I looked up crown flowers and was shocked to see the price.

Here's a little bit of history I found on the Kakou Collective website.

"Queen Liliuokalani, known for her deep love of culture and her contributions to music and art, found a special connection with the crown flower. It's said that she favored these blossoms not just for their beauty, but for their symbolic resemblance to the royal crown. This appreciation by the Queen played a role in elevating the status of the crown flower in lei-making traditions of Hawaii.

However, it's important to note that while the Queen's fondness for the flower is a notable part of its history in Hawaii, the pua kalaunu's significance extends beyond this royal connection. It has become cherished by many across the islands for its beauty and the skill required to craft it into lei."

I saw on another website that the Calotropis procera is sold on Maui so I have no idea what fruit my brother saw. I've told Dennis to be sure to take a photo of the flower next time they're out walking so we can know for sure. 

Meanwhile, friends and relatives in Hawaii...please keep a look out for crown flower bushes (and their fruits or seed pods) and let's get this mystery solved.

POSTSCRIPT:

I just got a photo from my friend, Kay (yup, another Kay) here on Oahu.

It IS a Calotropis procera. 😁 She sent me photos of this other variety of crown flower that is in the same family, but the flowers are tinier. 

I wonder why they planted that one instead since it doesn't look like you can make leis with it. 

Aggravation! Apple Watch Series 4 Suddenly Draining TOO FAST!

I have the Apple Watch Series 4 that I bought sometime in 2018. Can you believe it's now considered vintage? Seriously? It apparently no longer has updates.

Is Apple Watch Series 4 out of date?  With the release of watchOS 11 this year, Apple has officially ended software support for the Apple Watch Series 4, which got watchOS 10 as its last major update. Jan 2, 2025

However, the Apple watch app says my watch is updated to 10.6.1. When I looked online, it said this was the latest Apple watch update. So I guess I won't get anymore updates after this one.

And now comes the problem.  All of a sudden, my watch started dying on me. What the heck!?!  I pressed the side button to turn it off and then turned it on again. And I got this red lightning thing.

So I put it back on the charger and charged it to 100% and it did the same screwy thing. I also saw this weird thing, but I don't know what it means. Maybe that I'm supposed to charge an already charged watch?

Aaaarghhh!

Art felt my watch was too old. Seriously? He offered to buy me a new updated watch since his watch which was a Series 3 also couldn't hold a charge and kept dying on him. 

I was so aggravated, I searched online and saw LOTS of people complaining about this problem. They said it was with the latest update that caused it. Arrrghhh!  It also said I need to unpair and then pair my watch again to my iPhone.

I then had to look up how the heck I UNPAIR and then Re-PAIR my watch to my phone.

I found ZDET website: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-pair-and-unpair-apple-watch/

I won't write about it here, but if you have this same problem, you can just click on this website link. 

Voila! Would you believe my watch is keeping its charge again? 😄

Oh wait... You mean I don't get to have a new watch? 

POSTSCRIPT: I tried the same thing with Art's Apple watch Series 3 but it did not work. Ah well... I guess his watch really was just too old. It might be foretelling my needing a new watch soon though. 

Remember the days when you could use your watch just to tell time and it lasted decades?

Who Do Kids Take After?

I've wondered what traits the kids might have gotten from me and Art. Were any of their abilities inherited from us? 

Well... The more I think about it, I think they take after Art. Both kids are athletic. They were very, very good swimmers in high school and won a lot of ribbons and trophies. (I still can’t swim.)

Yup. 

This is Art doing a Half Marathon in Hawaii. He's done a couple of Marathons as well.

I do not run. Art often has to force, I mean encourage me to get my daily walks in.

The kids?

Yes, Tiffany and Keola have both participated in a lot of half marathons as well. Keola was also a cross country runner in high school.

Art loves math. I've NEVER been good at it. 

Tif is in finance. Keola works with medical data.

Hmmm...

Then there's travel.

I actually suffer from a bit of agoraphobia. I had to force myself to drive farther than a few blocks. I also have to force myself to leave the house if I'm alone. 

Art loves to travel everywhere.

The kids are just like him. They go everywhere, and I mean everywhere. They've been known to drive cross country and beyond.

Granted, Keola might have inherited a bit of my directional dyslexia. He still manages to travel around the world on his own though. I never know which way is east, west, north or south. If I'm in a building, Tif knows I might never know which way to go in order to get out. 

On the other hand, I love music. I think mom instilled that in me. Art could take it or leave it. I listen to music when we walk. He listens to podcasts. Both kids love music.

I don't pay attention to sports or know anything except the rudimentary rules of baseball and very little about football. Both kids love sports and will watch and talk about it with Art.

On the other hand, Art does NOT like to write. He says he married me so I could do all the writing for him. Keola is an excellent writer. Tif says she doesn’t like to write. However, Tif is a fabulous editor and sometimes edits my work. Art is also an excellent editor (though not the best of spellers).

In the end... I guess I'm glad, proud and relieved that they take after their dad more than me.

The Ides of Trump

My Kauai cousins sent me a text telling me about a movement called the Ides of Trump. It's another way to protest (more or less) respectfully all the damage that Trump is doing.

I found this on CBS News:

BERKELEY (KCBS) – A protest by postcard inspired by a Berkeley man could be the next grassroots campaign that captures the nation's attention, as well as President Donald Trump's.

Letting President Trump know what you think is as easy as walking to a mailbox, said Zack of Berkeley, who came up with the idea for "The Ides of Trump." Zack asked KCBS not to use his name for fear of reprisal.

"This is a simple, cheap and easy way that people can show up and be heard. All that you need is a 4x6 piece of card stock and a stamp," Zack said.

His goal? A million or more postcards, all mailed to the White House on March 15th, the Ides of March.

And this is how you need to address your postcard to be mailed on March 15th. 

Zack also asks people not to follow Trump’s example of threatening or name calling and says to write “Ides of Trump” somewhere in your postcard text before listing your concerns.

It's also mentioned that you can just put your message on an index card and send it. I decided to use some firmer tagboard and cut it into the the maximum 4" x 6" size so I can mail it with a 56 cent postage stamp.

A friend asked me what grievance I would write about. Good grief! I have too many! I'm going to need several postcards. Hey! Maybe this will get the United States Postal Service out of the red.

I'm pessimistic that anything can move Trump, Musk and Vance from ruining our country, but I know doing nothing can do nothing.

Backyard Skating Rink

My daughter, Tiffany sent me a photo of their backyard a couple of weeks ago. 

There was a downpour that flooded their basement and their backyard when the temperatures suddenly went above freezing for a couple of days. It's been a very cold winter season in Illinois and the ground is frozen which doesn't allow the water to soak in. She's also been worried about black ice on the roads as she drives to and from work.

I sent her this photo of she and her brother, Keola in 1983 in that same backyard. Their friends loved it because they had a fabulous time sliding all over it.

We have very fond memories of our life in Chicago, BUT I think right now she wishes they could be in Hawaii. 😄