Medicare Scam Call

I'm not back to blogging yet, but I needed to get this out to warn you of a scam that is apparently not just in Hawaii, but around the country.

I got a phone call yesterday on our landline from a woman purporting to be from the Government Medicare Services. I'm sorry but she had a thick Indian accent which immediately put me on guard. She asked me if I'd received my new Medicare card and wanted to verify my address. I told her they already had the correct address and I was busy so... "No thank you."

Today, Art picked up the call and it was a man this time. Again, he had a very thick Indian accent and said his name was Oliver Brown (Art asked him for his name). The fellow asked Art if he'd gotten his Medicare card and told him he just wanted to verify some information they had.

He asked for our address. Art told him they already had our address and it was correct. They have our phone number so that's correct too.

Art then interjected and asked where this Oliver Brown was calling from. The fellow slowly, very haltingly gave Art his phone number which later proved to be non-existent. Art checked. Oliver Brown said he was calling from Washington and that Medicare was going to send a plastic card to replace the paper ones we were issued.

At that point, Art told him he was very busy and hung up.

Please be careful everyone. There are even more scammers out there proliferating along with COVID-19.

Please wear your masks, keep your social distances and stay healthy. Our COVID-19 numbers in Hawaii are now exploding with each day because... yes... we also have people who are not wearing masks and are having social gathering everywhere. It's spooky!

Very spooky.

Sigh of Relief!

Huuuge sigh of relief!

Thank you everyone for your well wishes.

I was really nervous this time, but Art was quite calm. He told me in the afternoon that he thought it would veer north. I told him he would be sorry to be proven wrong.

OK...

So he was right this time.

And even though I have to endure a bit of gloating, I am extremely relieved.

Extremely.

And now I've got to water the plants with all the water I've saved in plastic bottles. Or we could use it to do the laundry like we did the last time a hurricane passed by.

We were lucky this time, but it's only the start of the hurricane season.

My cousins on Kauai have told me what it was like with category 4 Hurricane Iniki. I am really hoping we don't have to experience what they did.

Fingers crossed.

Targeted By Hurricane Douglas

No, I'm not back to blogging yet. I'm still working on our family photo books and even making a few more masks. I think I'm addicted to making them.

HOWEVER.... I did want to let you know that we are taking Hurricane Douglas seriously. I know we're really serious because Art isn't saying, "Don't worry about it. It will probably change course." I'm usually the one saying we need to get our hurricane kit ready. We need to get some canned goods.

I saw this on the Washington Post website which is really, really scary looking.

This time, Art made sure to get his super charger charged. It's supposed to be a super battery that can recharge your car battery or anything else apparently. And we're getting all our plastic bottles ready to store water. We also have a tub liner to save even more water for the toilet. I've got our flashlights and we have batteries. We have a small camp stove.

And yet, this morning our skies were quite reassuring.

Is this what they mean by the calm before the storm?

Last year, we went to an AARP presentation about hurricanes. They suggested getting a contractor to create hurricane barriers for windows and doors. Some people install plywood sheets, but they're really too heavy for us to handle.

These polycarbonate sheets are supposed to be good. They're light and hopefully strong enough.

Unfortunately we don't have a storage area for super big panels so we settled for these astroguard fabric barriers. I HOPE they're good.

It took us a couple of days to get these up (about an hour and a half each day). We have a few more to put up, but we'll wait till tomorrow to do the rest. It's definitely a two man job.

Douglas is supposed to hit Oahu tomorrow.

We're keeping our fingers and toes crossed.

Blog Hiatus

I shall be taking a bit of a break for a couple of weeks or so. I’ve started working on a genealogy photobook of Art’s family for our children.

Actually, Art’s author aunt (his dad’s youngest sister) who has had several books published, did a family history book a couple decades ago.

However, I’m planning to compile some of what she wrote and add it to Art’s mom’s side of the family.  Then I'll add in our children and their families to pass down to our grandchildren.

I’m quite energized by this project, but it’s taking up all of my concentration so I’ll have to stop blogging for a while.

Until I see you again, please stay safe.

Relief

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about an elderly lady feeding a bagful of bread crumbs for pigeons on our street. We were very reluctant to do so, but we finally brought up the courage to ask her caregiver who was waiting alongside to not feed the pigeons on our street because it attracted and drew more birds to roost on our roofs and possibly drop bird mites into our homes.

They were very understanding and stopped feeding them the next day which caused the pigeons to follow us in droves when we went past the following morning. It was rather disconcerting.

We then noticed that we no longer saw the two women on our walks the following week and felt very bad. Did they feel they were no longer welcome? Did we devastate her so much that she no longer wanted to go out and exercise? Did we embarrass her so much that she was now homebound and not wanting to go out at all? Did we take away all her joy?

Was it only me that wondered about this? But no, Art mentioned that he was wondering the same thing.

Sigh...

Well, guess what? We saw them this morning when we went for our walk. They must have gotten up before us and were walking far ahead of us. We caught up to them and wished them a good morning and thanked them for their understanding. There were lots of smiles and good feelings.

As we climbed further up the hill away from them, Art chuckled and asked, "Did you see her bag of crumbs?"

Snail Mail in Corona Virus Times

My cousin "Ricky" in Tokyo keeps in contact with me by a texting app called Line. Line works best for sending photos and texts, etc. while overseas as well as at home. In fact, I use a different texting app for different groups of people. I do Line with Japan and family here on Oahu. With my children in Maryland and Illinois, I use Google Hangouts. My tai-chi sewing group and I as well as my teacher friends in Illinois use regular texting.

OK.... There I go, getting distracted.

I was actually planning to write about the opposite thing. SNAIL MAIL

My mother and her sister in Sendai send regular letters to each other by snail mail. In fact, my mother was a little upset when she learned that you couldn't find aerograms here in the US anymore. Aerograms are very thin folded letters. I guess you can still get them in Japan because that's what mom is always waiting for from my aunt.

I suggested to Ricky that we could have our mothers write letters, scan and email them to each other. We could even send them on LINE.

But no. My aunt insisted that she wanted to get her letters in the mailbox. She wanted the anticipation and to feel my mother's pages and see the texture of her strokes, etc.

So... OK... I finally convinced mom that she could write as much as she liked up to about three 8.5 x 11 inch papers and it would cost the same as an aerogram these days.

Nope. She wanted us to find paper about the size of the aerograms. So we did. Sigh...

Well, Ricky told me in April that his mom had sent my mom a letter. Mom waited and waited and waited and it didn't come.

Last week we finally got Auntie's letter. And then! The following day we got another one!!! Apparently, the post office in Japan had told her that the coronavirus was impacting mail.

All right... You know where this is going, right?

I convinced them that at least until the virus is under control, we should try the email method.

I've learned long ago that the Japanese letter size is different from ours. I discovered that when I bought some plastic folders in Japan that wouldn't fit regular 8.5 X 11 inch papers.

So....

Despite the fact that my math brain is not great, I had to figure out what would be the correct ratio so that printing would be easier for my uncle to do in Sendai.

Ricky can't do this for them since he lives in Tokyo.

Anyway, my mom is on the program with us and really likes the idea of mail traveling faster although she says letters are meant to go in the mail.

I told her it's progress. This is why she can have a treadmill for exercise in her family room. This is why she has a big screen TV. This is why I can show her photos from her grandchildren and great grandchildren almost nightly.

Sigh...

"I guess so," she said.

Organic Weed/Grass Killer

Art has been bothered by grass poking through the sidewalk but didn't want to use Roundup weedkiller. I told him I'd heard that putting vinegar on the grass would do the job. Ummm... He tried it and it really didn't do the job.

He looked online for an organic formula to do the job and found something he thought he'd try. After all, that organic borax/sugar ant killer certainly worked.

And this is what he found.

1/2 gallon white vinegar
1/2 cup salt
1/2 Tablespoon liquid dish washer

Although he did need two applications, it appears to have sort of worked.

We'll see if it grows back in the coming days.

Stickers to the Heart

Now that we're home almost all the time, I guess we're noticing more things that make us smile. Art pointed out some stickers that the grandkids left after their visits to Hawaii. I guess we just couldn't bring ourselves to take them down.

I never knew that our granddaughter, KC had placed these stickers on Art's electric toothbrush. I thought that's how they came when he bought it.

This poster was given to Art by our son of the Chicago Transit map to remind him of the routes he took when he worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The stickers were put up by our grandsons, JD and RK.

I remember our kids having sticker albums when they were in elementary school. I wonder what the fascination is with stickers. But to be honest, I have a little sticker collection of my own now that I use to sometimes decorate cards that I mail out or to add to my calendar. I wonder if they stuck stickers anywhere else. I shall have to go and look. Afterall, I have the time.

Mom's Advice to Stay Healthy

There is a (pretty) tree next to our house that sheds different parts of itself throughout the year. There's the flower season, the stick season and leaf season. We're now in the leaf season. Mom complains about that tree and insists on staying out for perhaps an hour and a half each morning picking up another load of tree parts that fell on the road and sidewalk during the night.

I know many people in our town have actually cut down the trees that were planted decades ago on that road verge for that reason. And yet a lot of people will happily park their cars under this tree for the wonderful shade it provides.

By the way, I didn't know it was called a road verge. I thought it was called a parkway, but apparently it goes by different names in different regions. I got this from Wikipedia:

A road verge is a strip of grass or plants, and sometimes also trees, located between a roadway (carriageway) and a sidewalk (pavement). Verges are known by dozens of other names, often quite regional; see Terminology.

Anyway...

Mom has been doing this for perhaps 20 years, maybe more.

We keep telling her it's not necessary. Nobody does this. She's insisted it looks messy. Many neighbors have also put concrete over the verges so they don't have to take care of any ground cover.

Mom would be aghast.

This morning, Art went out to tell her again that it's not necessary and that she should come in and rest.

"No," said Mom. "I am 90 years old. This is my exercise. I also get Vitamin D."

As I watched from my office I could hear Art laugh. "If I live to be 90," he told her, "I will have to pick up leaves too."

Well, Mom has come in now to have her mid morning snack and I can see more leaves falling gently to the street.

Plans for the 4th?

Good grief!

Is it Friday already? Wasn't it just Monday a couple days ago?

Well...

This was Tuesday.

We were so glad to see that the Open (Farmers) Market was once more in operation.

Unfortunately several of the vendors were no longer there. Our favorite vendor told us that the others were not here because they could get more income through unemployment.

Sigh...

Hopefully, they'll be back once we are over the pandemic.

I gave our favorite vendor a couple of masks as a tip. I hope they like wearing them. I'm happy to say we got our usual papayas and other favorite vegetables.

Art is getting sushi for the 4th of July tomorrow. Our local government is worried about people who might choose not to social distance tomorrow. Fingers crossed. We've already had an uptick in COVID-19 cases from church, graduation and funeral gatherings. I know you are careful. I hope others are.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Skies of Saharan Dust

My granddaughter sent this photo of a rainbow last week and it really surprised us.

In the 35 years we lived in Illinois, I think we've seen a full rainbow only a handful of times and this is almost.... almost.... faintly a double rainbow. Maybe if you squint.

I was also surprised at the color of the skies. I wondered if KC had manipulated the tints on her iPhone. 

Our daughter explained that the reason for the sky color was probably the Saharan Dust Storm. 

Seriously? From Africa?

This photo was taken on June 21st by NASA.

Tiffany then sent me these sky photos of the eastern and western skies.

I showed mom the photo of the rainbow in Illinois and she was not  impressed.

Well...

She's used to seeing rainbows like these which are pretty common here in Hawaii. We never get tired of seeing them though.

Have your skies been impacted by the Saharan dust storm? Is it causing a breathing problem for you?

Reusing Amazon Mailers

I've been mailing masks and other small things lately to friends and family on the mainland. Prices for mailing USPS flat rate boxes have gone up.

It's now $8.30 to mail the smallest flat rate box.

My masks are very light and don't take up much space so it occurred to me that I could reuse those Amazon bubble envelopes.

I've reused them before to protect my iPad in my traveling backpack.

And sure enough! It cost just $5 to mail 10 masks to Maryland for my grandson and his parents.

I've since asked my friends and family to save those Amazon mailers so I can reuse them if they were planning to throw them out.

However, now my brother is telling me he's been getting even small things from Amazon in cardboard boxes these days.

Ah well. I did save $3.30! Woohoo!

Omiyamairi in Times of Coronavirus

My nephew, Barry invited us to a Miyamairi for their infant son at Kotohira Jinsha Shinto Shrine on Saturday. He also said they would totally understand if we opted not to go because of the coronavirus. They are aware how careful we are trying to be since mom is 90 years old.

"Miyamairi (宮参り, literally "shrine visit") is a traditional Shinto rite of passage in Japan for newborns. Approximately one month after birth (31 days for boys and 33 days for girls), parents and grandparents bring the child to a Shinto shrine, to express gratitude to the deities for the birth of a baby and have a shrine priest pray for his or her health and happiness. The practice is similar to a Christian infant baptism."

We thought hard about it and decided to go since mom hasn't been out of the house much at all since March.

She also loves talking to Barry's wife who is from Japan.

We were assured that there would not be more than 10 people there and everyone would be wearing masks.

So we decided to chance it.

Art and I are very paranoid, but we were relieved to see that the shrine was set up for social distancing. Chairs were spaced in groupings about 6 feet apart. There were also large doors which provided lots of air circulation.

It is pretty much tradition to take a photo to commemorate the event. There was no way for us to social distance, but the photos were taken quickly.

We're glad we went to witness this happy event, and also glad that we took as much precaution as possible.

Our coronavirus numbers are rising in Hawaii also and they're talking about letting tourists and travelers back in so long as they provide proof with a test taken 3 days before boarding the plane that they don't have the virus.

Are we nervous?

Yup.

Pigeon Paranoia

I wrote a post a couple weeks ago about finding out why there were so many pigeons on our street. We saw an elderly lady with a caregiver dropping a big bag full of crumbs on the sidewalk. The sidewalk was covered with pigeons who also perched on the rooftops (including ours) waiting for her to come.

A few commenters suggested I ask them not to do it.

I was reluctant... but when I saw her drop another bag full yesterday, I bolstered my courage and as gently as possible asked them if they could do it elsewhere (like maybe at their house) because of bird mites. We mentioned how we'd been bitten as well as other occasions of neighbors who had experienced similar problems. They were very nice about it and said they understood.

Well, this morning, we saw that indeed the sidewalk was not covered with food for the pigeons (because they're the only kind of birds we see eating it).

But then...

As we walked past. The giant flock of pigeons (maybe 50 or so of them) started to follow us.

This is just a few of them, not counting the ones flying overhead to follow us for a whole block.

I'm sure they just thought we had food, right?

They weren't really planning some kind of Alfred Hitchcock revenge, were they?

Or were they?

My Photo Magician Brother

I posted a photo earlier about Forest Bathing and several blog friends commented that I should frame it.

Here's the photo again that my daughter-in-law sent us.

However, if I was going to have it enlarged and printed, I wanted to run it by my photo expert brother.

So I sent the photo to him.

His first photo suggestion highlighted the boys, but we thought it was a little dark.

So he lightened it, but Art thought it was still a little spooky looking for the boys. Frankly, I liked it.... but I asked Dennis if he could lighten it a teeny bit more.

So here it is. I sent it to Sam's Club to be printed. I hope it turns out OK.

Fingers crossed.

POSTSCRIPT:

Oh yes... It turned out very nicely indeed. Sam's Club did a great job and we're so pleased.

Mask Designs Galore

My mask making group of friends have been texting each other every day for the past 3 months, commiserating, consoling, encouraging, laughing and always exchanging lots of helpful ideas.

When we first started making masks, I tried the surgical mask style.

It just wasn't comfortable to me. Since we couldn't go out, I used tea towels to make it.

I must have the wrong kind of head because the strap over the ear kept sliding down and the bottom one was annoying.

Then my daughter sent me a website put out by Unity Point Health from Cedar Rapids.

The nurses and technicians asked seamstresses to make the Olson mask.

I made it with and without a filter pocket. (This is because some people wanted the mask to wear over their N95s.)

This is the pattern design that I've been using. I added a little more material at the bottom since my son-in-law felt it was a little too small.

I also added a nose wire.

Honolulu Aunty mentioned the origami style so I tried this one which is pretty good. It does give you more nose space, but I didn't add the filter pocket on this since I was making it for my 5 year old grandson. My son felt breathability was most important for him.

This is called the 3D face mask.

The first one is very similar to the origami mask except that you top stitch the top and bottom of the front panel.





This bottom one?

I haven't tried it so have no idea how it would work. Looks good though.

My mask making friends have made this Craft Passion style in a smaller size for the grandkids. I did make it before my daughter moved me to the Olson mask.

It's slightly different from the Olson mask. Slightly.

This is showing head ties instead of elastic around the ears but you can do it either way.

These clear masks might be good for teachers since their students could see them smile.













And then there's this mask pattern which is created by using a round plate.

It's certainly been a trial and error journey of mask creation.

When we went to get our blood tested last week, the (rather adorable, awfully cute) technician taking my blood was wearing a rather lovely mask. Surprisingly, the lab was empty except for us.

He said his mother had made it and showed me a mask ear strap hook that he bought very inexpensively on Amazon.

When I left the lab, Art (who had finished with his blood work quite a bit before me although we went in together) asked, "What took you so long?"

I explained how the technician and I had been talking about masks.

I'm not sure but... did Art roll his eyes, or what?

Ant Killer

We’d been ant free for a long time, but recently, we’ve had an invasion of teeny ants that keep showing up at night.

I’m sure they have a big nest somewhere but we don’t know where. We mentioned it to our Terminex guy and he put down some ant traps but it hasn’t worked in over a month. It almost seemed like we were getting more ants, rather than less.

Art was talking to his sister who mentioned mixing Borax and sugar with a little water. She said she uses 6 parts sugar to 1 part Borax, but when I looked it up online I found this on the Organic Lesson website. He says 3 parts sugar to 1 part Borax with a little warm water. He explains how Borax works by interfering with the ants’ digestive system. He does caution that if you have pets, you must keep this away from them because they will also be attracted to the sugar or honey.

OK... Art has planted these little ant traps around the kitchen. It’s supposed to work within 48 to 72 hours.

We shall see.

I've never used Borax in my laundry. I knew of it, but never bought it. My granddaughter was using it to make slime last year.

Have you used Borax? Have you tried using this ant bait recipe using Borax?

POSTSCRIPT:
OK, even with the 6 part sugar to 1 part Borax (Art’s sister’s husband did correct her and said it’s supposed to be the 3 to 1 part solution) it must have worked. I was going to take a photo of the ants a couple nights after Art put down the Borax mixture, but I couldn’t find any ants. It was really eerie. We went from a carpet of ants to nothing.

Wooow!

I now have quite a lot of Borax left. I wonder what it will do for our dirty laundry.

Puzzlemania

I think it all began in Illinois this February when we went there to see our granddaughter perform in a dance show.

Our daughter, Tiffany, Art and KC began working on a 4 D puzzle which I didn't participate in at first. I was never a true puzzle person.

Eventually, I did help a little and discovered that the 4D puzzle had 3 levels to complete.

It took 3 days to finish it.

After COVID-19 took hold in earnest and we were locked down, Tif sent a 1,200 piece puzzle to Art in April. He began fitting it together on April 28 and finished on May 17th.

To prolong the enjoyment, he'd worked on the puzzle for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. Eventually, he went down to 1 hour for each session. (He never did convince mom to help him.)

So.... What to do with the finished puzzle?

Well, after staring and admiring the completed masterpiece for a couple of days, he wrapped it up and sent it to Tiffany who is now working on it with KC in Illinois. I think.

A week later, look what we got in the mail. Yup. Tiffany sent the  1,000 piece puzzle she had completed.

Ummmm.... And you'll never guess what I got Art for Father's Day.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Since hair salons have been closed for several months, some of my friends have been posting photos of haircuts they've given themselves and their spouses.

Frankly, I think they've done a fabulous job. In fact, one friend said she thinks she'll cut her own hair from now on just as I do.

I hadn't cut everybody's hair for a couple of months because let's face it, who sees us?

We don't go shopping very often and we're always wearing masks. Nobody knows who we are. I think. So what does it matter?

However, since everybody was posting photos of their haircuts, it motivated us to do the same.

Darn! I should have done a Before and After. I shall have to leave it to your imagination.

I've heard that barber shops and hair salons are now pretty booked since the state is gradually opening up. I did see a lady recently (with a mask mind you) who obviously had just had her hair done. She looked beautiful.... mask and all... whoever she was!

Gaggle of Nene Geese

The nene goose is the official state bird of Hawaii. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands and apparently called the nene because of its soft bird call.

I can count less than a dozen times how often I've seen nene geese in the wild.

We saw one at Mt. Haleakala on Maui in 2012. Here's Keola taking a photo of that rare bird.

I got this from Wikipedia:

The nene is the world's rarest goose. It is believed that it was once common, with approximately 25,000 Hawaiian geese living in Hawaiʻi when Captain James Cook arrived in 1778.Hunting and introduced predators, such as small Asian mongooses, pigs, and cats, reduced the population to 30 birds by 1952.The species breeds well in captivity, and has been successfully re-introduced. In 2004, it was estimated that there were 800 birds in the wild, as well as 1,000 in wildfowl collections and zoos.

So you can just imagine my surprise when my cousin, Lorna sent this photo taken in her backyard on Kauai recently.

There were 14 of them! Can you imagine? Hmmm.... I just noticed something. It looks like that goose at the bottom is tagged. I can see the tags on its leg.

My cousins on Kauai are animal lovers. I'm thinking these birds know a safe place to rest and relax.

Within the main islands of Oahu, Big Island, Maui and Kauai, Kauai does have the lowest numbers of COVID-19 cases.  So yes... Kauai itself is a lovely place to rest and relax.