RIMPAC Welcoming Our Allies

Art and I had gone to the commissary to get some groceries after my vertigo physical therapy session. We decided to have our lunch at the food court there.

While enjoying our shared plate lunch we looked over the balcony railing and saw the flags welcoming the nations who were here for RIMPAC.

The sign says ALOHA & WELCOME RIMPAC. Noticing the flags we made a contest between us to see who could recognize more flags. OK... Japan, Canada, Britain, Korea, Sweden, Australia, Mexico. And then... hmmmm... (You know I could never be on the Jeopardy game show.)

This is from the Hawaii New Now website: 

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The world’s largest maritime training event kicked off Wednesday at Pearl Harbor.

Forty maritime vessels and five submarines from 31 nations are gathered in waters off Hawaii for Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026.

There also 140 aircraft and more than 25,000 service members participating in this biennial exercise.

Military leaders say RIMPAC fosters a spirit of cooperation and inter-operability between the participating countries.

And from the Navy website, I got the countries that were participating:

As much as it's nice to see the participation of the countries biennially, there is worry that the testing of the live bombs and missiles on our waters are harming the ocean creatures living here.

It's hard...

However, it was fun to see members from other countries walking about the commissary and hoping they were enjoying their stay in Hawaii.

How many can you recognize?

Dog Danger?

A good friend of mine recently sent me a text saying a close family relative was in the hospital. They'd thought it might have been a heart or lung problem. 

"But what started it all was a scratch he got while working in his yard. He didn't take care of it, didn't put a band aid on it and for a few weeks allowed his dog to lick it which resulted in a blood infection.

One morning he couldn't walk so his wife thought it was his heart. He's sedated now to give his heart, lungs and body a rest while fighting the infection. It's so scary."

This reminds me of the time when Art got a dog bite at our school. Once he retired, Art had been volunteering in my 1st grade classroom listening to my students read stories to him that they had written. 

One day, as he walked to his car, a dog ran up to him and bit his hand. The dog's owner had been walking the dog around our school. Art walked back into our school to have the wound cleaned before going home. He chuckled later saying our principal was actually thrilled. She and our custodians had been trying to get his woman to stop walking her dog on school property for a long time and she would not listen thinking the children would love her dog. Our principal implored Art to take the dog owners to court. 

Art then followed up with a trip to the hospital just to make sure his wound could be treated carefully.

And yes, he did go to court and was surprised when the owner's husband who happened to be a lawyer told Art that they were sending the dog away from the school area. The city agreed to settle this out of court. Our principal and teachers were elated.

Please know that Art loves dogs and his family had a dog their entire lives. Our children dog sat for friends all the time. But we've always been careful.

I looked online to see just how dangerous dog saliva can be and found this on Continental Hospitals website:

I also saw this on another website:

I asked my friend a few days later how her relative was doing.

She answered that they were shocked to learn he had passed away.

Wow....

Who Should be Arrested for Damaging the Lincoln Reflecting Pool?

I don't know if you've all heard of or seen the videos of Trump's entourage driving over the reflecting pool on May 7th after it had been painted.

So now they're arresting people who are picking up the peeling paint to see what it looks like. And the Park Service that Trump controls is saying someone with a box cutter has damaged the pool.

Really?

POSTSCRIPT: 

I saw in the news last night that former Olympian David Hearn could received 10 years in jail for "destruction of property relating to incident at Reflecting pool."

Seriously?

You have got to be kidding! Then again, I'm so glad a lot of people turned out to support him through this crazy ordeal.

Finding Money, I Think

Art goes jogging VERY early in the morning before the sun is up. Invariably, he finds coins that people have dropped. It's usually pennies. If it's silver, he's quite excited, but it's quite rare. 

We have a good friend who goes walking in his town (he knows who he is, if he reads this) and he keeps find quarters and MORE... and  quite a bit of it. I told him he lives in a much wealthier neighborhood. 😏

Anyway, on this morning I was surprised to see a bunch of coins Art had proudly displayed on the kitchen counter before coming upstairs to take a nap before I woke up.

He said he found them on the roadway where a LOT of cars must have trampled over them. You can see that one side of the penny is hardly distinguishable as money. However, when you turn it over, it's definitely a Lincoln penny.

I uploaded the first photo to ChatGPT but it said I needed to upload a better photo so I did.

OK, so ChatGPT still doesn't think these are actually quarters and a nickel. I did show two photos for ChatGPT to try to identify them.

Hmmm... I'm going to have to disagree.

Then again... would a bank accept this? 😏

Amazing First Ladies

One of my very dear teacher buddies, Judy posted this photo on our chat group. I love that even though I've been away from my Illinois teacher buddies now since 2006, we still keep in touch almost every day.

This is the photo she posted. 

The photo was taken at the opening of the new Obama Presidential Center. I was then interested to see what degrees each woman had.

Jill Biden: (Whitehouse Historical Association) Jill Biden holds four academic degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware (1975), a Master of Education from West Chester University (1981), a Master of Arts from Villanova University (1987), and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from the University of Delaware (2007).

Michelle Obama: (White House Historical Association) After graduating from public school, Michelle earned her B.A. in sociology from Princeton University in 1985 and then attended Harvard Law School, receiving her Juris Doctor three years later.

Laura Bush: (Wikipedia) Born in Midland, Texas, Bush graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in education, and took a job as a second grade teacher. After attaining her master's degree in library science at the University of Texas at Austin, she was employed as a librarian.

Hillary Clinton: (Prezi) Hillary liked school and was a straight A student. She maintained a 4.0 gpa through Junior High and High School. Hillary graduated with honors as a National Merit Scholarship finalist from Maine South High School, Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She graduated Wellesley college in 1969. Hillary was accepted to Yale University Law School and graduated with honors in 1973.

Some people forget what amazing, brilliant women these men (who happened to be our past presidents) were married to. And yes, the guys were smart too. 😄

Unbelievably Weird Toenails

When I used to hear of friends taking care of their parents in their old age with worsening dementia, I didn't fully comprehend what it all meant. Not really.

One day, as I tried to cut her really, really weird toenails after a bath, I goofed and cut some skin. 😮 When I saw the blood, it totally blew me away. I was aghast and felt horrible! Mom on the other hand, flinched and then forgot about it. 😳

When I mentioned it to my brother, he said he could do it because his toenails curved too. Granted, when he saw just how weird her nails were, he was also taken aback.

(Luckily, my daughter had bought some nail cutting tools for us when we were on a trip to Japan several years ago.)

Dennis comes over on Sunday mornings to take mom for a walk in the neighborhood. After her walk, he trimmed her nails (very) carefully. I heard a lot of laughing and he was able to do a wonderful job. A job that is now his, definitely his...permanently his. 😁

Japanese View of American Politics?

My daughter recently sent me this diagram that she found somewhere. She knows I can always use ideas for my blog posts.

I added a translation so you can see what the Japanese words are.

I'm not exactly sure what the Democratic guy is signaling to the girl. Hmmm.... I should write my cousin in Japan and ask.

Ahhh.... so Democrats prefer sushi to fried chicken? Soul music to Country music? I like folk music myself. Hmm..... small gas economy car to gas guzzling truck. (OK, we do have a Prius hybrid.) New York Times to Wall Street Journal. CNN to FOX. Sure.

Wait a minute. Basketball vs. Baseball? Seriously? Art and the whole family and lots of my Illinois friends are die hard (Wait 'til next year) Cubs fans. Well, I'm sure they're Bulls fans too.

It's very hard to generalize a Democrat vs. Republican. I think.

POSTSCRIPT: I asked my Japanese cousin-in-law about that Democratic boy and girl relationship. She says it infers Democratic couples tend to be more relaxed and informal. I guess they haven't seen those clips of MAGA women wearing those t-shirts saying, "Trump can grab my pussy."

Now It's the Hearing?!?

I'm sorry, but this is another post about caregiving and what we also need to watch for in ourselves. 

For some time now we've been noticing mom's lack of focus. If we're talking to her and she's not looking at us, it looks as though her dementia is causing her to not hear us.

When she's turned away from us and we say something to her, she might just walk away. 

Watching TV was no longer fun for her. But then, when I turned the TV on to a Japanese program she could be interested in, she asked that I turn the volume on really high.

That's when I wondered.... could it actually be her hearing that is deteriorating? Is this possible? I thought her primary care and geriatric care doctors had looked into her ears so I figured it must be OK.

However, I decided to make an appointment with an audiologist at Moanalua's Kaiser Hospital. The audiologist looked into her left ear and then her right ear. He said the left ear was completely blocked with old hardened ear wax. The right was not quite as bad but was also not good. He would not be able to check her hearing with all that blockage.

He kindly found a date next month where we could have her ears cleaned and then go back to him and have her hearing checked.

The audiologist also instructed us to be sure to get the earwax removal kit that listed Carbamide Peroxide on it and to start cleaning her ears twice a day for 4 days prior to the appointment.

I'm wondering what will happen when her ears are cleared. 

I'm glad I won't have to raise my voice anymore. The neighbors must be wondering why I'm shouting so much these days.

I've read that hearing is very important for the elderly. I just saw this on the Johns Hopkins website:

Hearing loss and the brain

If you have hearing loss, you have a greater chance of developing dementia, according to a 2020 Lancet commission report that lists hearing loss as one of the top risk factors for dementia.

Brain strain and social isolation

Hearing loss can make the brain work harder, forcing it to strain to hear and fill in the gaps. That comes at the expense of other thinking and memory systems. Another possibility: Hearing loss causes the aging brain to shrink more quickly. A third possibility is that hearing loss leads people to be less socially engaged, which is hugely important to remaining intellectually stimulated. If you can't hear very well, you may not go out as much, so the brain is less engaged and active.

Ohhh gosh....

 Well, we'll see what we find out next month after all the ear cleaning and audiology check-up.

Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT 1: We made an appointment to have Art's ears cleaned and I decided I'd have them check my ears too. This was a wake up call.

POSTSCRIPT 2: Since mom's ears are extra bad, I wrote to the Kaiser audiologist if I should just start using the Debrox a little now. He called me the next day and said I should just do the drops 4 days before and not overdo it. I really appreciated his kind phone call and will abide by his advice. I guess we'll see what they discover about her hearing in about 2 weeks.

A Care Home for Mom?

Art has often joked that we are running a care home. And to an extent, I guess we are. Our lives now revolve around mom's care. We had to modify the bathrooms in her living area to make it safer for her. Our lives are governed by those free times afforded us when she is at her day care from 7:30 when the Handi-Van picks her up until 3:00 on weekdays. 

Last Friday was Juneteenth so it was a holiday and mom was home from her day care which she absolutely loves going to. Art suggested doing something special with her (even though she will forget it all once it's over).

I was washing some garlic chives (nira) which I'd promised our Buddhist priest that I would bring for him. He is from Japan and loves this herb, like mom. 

Meanwhile, Art decided to pluck mom's eyebrows. She draws her eyebrows rather far above her actual brow so there's a lot of hair under it which can be seen. She's asked me to give her a razor to shave it. No way! 

Then she asked ME to shave it. No! That is way too spooky! I said I would pluck it, but she refused saying it would hurt. Well... while I was in the kitchen Art just told her to sit and he plucked it all. 

I walked in and caught this sight. She never flinched or showed that it hurt and was very happy to have it done by him. 😏

Once that was done, we stopped at our Buddhist temple where I dropped off the garlic chives for our priest. He happily spent time talking in Japanese to mom which she really enjoyed. There are so few people who she can speak to in Japanese now.

Once we left the temple, Art drove us to Don Don Donki in Kapolei where he planned to have us pick up some bentos for lunch.

Mom saw the unagi (freshwater eel) that she's always loved but said we shouldn't buy it for her because it was too expensive. It was about $15.00.

We knew that once she was done eating it, she would forget she had enjoyed it. She lives in the moment. But what the heck, we got it for her. 

Art and I just shared a chicken and salmon bento which... ummm... wasn't great. Ah well. 

And yes she loved every bite. We kept half for the following day so she could enjoy it again.

Once she had her nap, I gave her a hair cut which she was happy about and then helped her with her bath. 

I'm thinking back to my younger days when I was still dating. Once mom met Art he was the son-in-law she wanted. She said she didn't want to jinx things by stating her preference. But when I called to tell her that I'd accepted Art's proposal, she was over the moon. 

At our wedding, one of my aunts asked where I'd found Art because she wanted one like him for her daughter. 

And yes, mom is grateful for Art everyday and she still thanks him for the delicious food he prepares for her, all the places he takes her and all the little/big things he does for her. Even with her dementia, she doesn't forget. 

A Treasure for My Brother

I have been slowly cleaning out some things from mom's closet and dresser that she no longer has any use for. There were Japanese wooden trays that I donated to the Buddhist temple for their rummage sale. There were clothes she no longer uses or fits in which I also donated. 

When I checked her drawer I found a lot of things like decades old plastic shower caps and very old brooches (I thought this jewelry was spelled broaches but I guess I was wrong) she worse.

When my brother was over to take mom for a walk, I asked him if there was anything he might like to keep since I was trying to clear out her drawers.

He said there was just one thing that he would dearly like to have. "Her sewing marker."

Seriously? Wow! I would never have guessed that! I remember that marker. Mom once worked as a seamstress before she began work at the Hawaii Times Ltd. Japanese language newspaper.

Her antique sewing machine has not been used in decades.

I do remember her sitting in front of it and pressing up and down on that treadle pedal. I remember people coming over to be fitted with the clothes she sewed.

I remember playing on it when my 3 year old brother, Dennis stuck his hand under the needle. That was the only time my mom swatted my bottom. (It wasn't my fault. 😢)

"It's a whalebone marker," said Dennis. “It's perfect for folding creases on paper when making paper airplanes or any art project.” Dennis inherited all the art talent in the family which he passed down to his sons.

Soooo... we went to mom's singer machine which she no longer touches anymore. I knew just what he was talking about because I also used it when I learned how to sew in grade school (probably 6th grade or so). 

And there it was! Dennis held it like it was some precious golden sword. He was thrilled! Wow! I would have told him to take it years ago if I knew how special it was to him.

I looked it up online and found this.

There's not a lot of things mom kept because she was one for throwing things away or giving them away when not needed. She did not like clutter. And now, because of her dementia, I have to simplify her surroundings as much as I can.

I know how happy she would feel if she could remember the joy of her son having her sewing marker.

POSTSCRIPT:

I showed mom a photo on my phone of my brother holding the marker. I told her how happy Dennis was to get her sewing marker.

She asked, "What is that?" 

F'ELON and FELON?

My daughter was driving through Chicago with our granddaughter and came across this sight. Tiffany told KC to take a photo and send it to grandma (that's me).

It's a Tesla with a rather unusual sticker near its bumper.

I've seen newer Teslas that have that big T removed.

The TESLA "T" logo is now pretty hard to see on the newer Teslas.

This is from AI Overview:

Yes, Tesla’s sales have been declining. The company reported a second consecutive year of falling annual vehicle deliveries, dropping from 1.79 million in 2024 to 1.63 million in 2025, which also resulted in the company losing its title as the world's top-selling EV maker to China's BYD. 

The downward trajectory and sales slump have continued through 2026, driven by a few primary factors: 

• End of Tax Credits: The removal of the $7,500 U.S. federal EV tax credit caused a significant hit to domestic demand. 
• Increased Competition: Tesla is facing intense competition and market share erosion from heavily established and emerging EV manufacturers across the U.S., Europe, and China
  .
   
Brand Sentiment: Customer polling and analysts suggest that consumer polarization regarding CEO Elon Musk has negatively impacted brand perception and purchase consideration.

So there you have it, I guess. 

I looked on line and saw a LOT of stickers along the same theme. 

Thank you, Tif and KC for a fun blog post.

No More Pennies?

Our daughter had stopped at the DSW footwear discount store and saw this sign on the counter.

Wow! Really? You can't use your pennies anymore? 

I'm sorry the sign is blurry because this photo was texted to me. 

It says: Due to the discontinuation of the penny, we may have to round the change you receive to the nearest $.05 or $.10.

The sign also says that if you use a credit card the payment won't be impacted.

(I'm assuming this means you can still use your pennies to pay them.)

Well... Art loves to look for change on the ground when he goes for his runs/walks.

He adds them all up and gives it to charity.

Well.... I'm seeing quite a few pennies there.

So I looked this penny thing up on line.

I got this from Govmint. 
https://www.govmint.com/learn/post/can-you-still-pay-with-pennies?srsltid=AfmBOoq9diXIqAx9vJvF9N-Xx7gxT_RKdOU6uxT3YrX_yqcySwQq3AR2#:~:text=Yes%2C%20you%20can%20still%20make,the%20supply%20to%20dry%20up.

Yes, you can still make purchases with pennies. As of the end of 2025, the U.S. Mint officially stopped producing pennies for circulation. While they are still "legal tender" in a technical sense, the government is effectively allowing the supply to dry up. Most banks have stopped ordering new rolls, and many businesses are already rounding their cash totals to the nearest five cents.

If you have a jar of pennies at home, you do not need to panic. You can still use them to buy things, but you might run into some "private policy" issues. Since there is no federal law that forces a private business to accept physical cash (or specific denominations), a store can legally refuse your bag of 400 pennies if it decides it is too much of a hassle to count, but that has always been the case. 

So there you have it.

Wow!

By the way, in Japan the smallest coin is the 1 yen coin.

It is worth a fraction of a US penny. And yes, it's still in circulation. We had a bunch of them and ended up sending them to my cousin in Tokyo. 😁

Following Dad's Running Steps?

Art has always been a runner. Me? Absolutely not. Absolutely absolutely not! Why run when I can walk. And yes, my brother and I walked a lot when we were kids. I used to tell my kids we walked to school 5 miles uphill both ways in Hawaii. They would scoff and ask, "Was it snowing too?" (And no it wasn't quite 5 miles. Maybe a mile... maybe 2?😄) 

Art however, was always into sports and was an avid tennis player and then runner.

Our children, Tiffany and Keola soon followed in their father's footsteps becoming the team breast strokers in high school. Jon eventually joined the water polo team and was a co-captain. And then he became a cross country runner.

In Middle School, Keola told Art that he was going to be one of the runners representing his school in a track meet. Art was worried that Keola might need some practice and instruction so he took him out to a nearby track field.

Ummm.... imagine his surprise when 12 year old Keola actually ran faster than he did.

And then wonder of wonders Keola won that middle school 800 meter run.

And then there was that time in 2006 when Tiffany had signed up for the Y-Me 5 K Race (National Breast Cancer Association) in Chicago. Unfortunately, Tif was in her first trimester with our granddaughter-to-be and didn't feel perfect. Keola was visiting at the time so just for fun, he took his sister's bib and ran for her. Uummm... Imagine their shock when her name came out as one of the early women finishers.

In 2009, Art did the Honolulu Marathon and then the Half Marathon several times. Tiffany and her family even came from Chicago to support him doing the Marathon.

Eventually Tiffany decided she would start running more too. In 2011, she did the St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon in Chicago.

And then Keola came to Hawaii in 2012 to run with his dad in the Honolulu Half Marathon. I say with, but apparently that was only up to a point before he took off. 😆

Tif was really into running in 2013. She joined her brother running the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. where Keola was living at the time.

She also ran in the Chicago Half Marathon.

The following year, Tif was in D.C. again doing the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Eventually her knees started to bother her so she usually just walks. At least that's what she tells me although I think it's just that she's too busy at her job right now.

Keola on the other hand decided to try running a marathon in Africa. I was concerned because his knees started to hurt while training for it. 

I tried to dissuade him from running it, but Art and Tiffany somehow understood his need to Just Do It. And so he did. And he finished it with Tif and Art giving him loads of advice on what to do for his sore knees (which he inherited from me) once he was done.

Sigh... I hope this is it. I'm happy for him... relieved...

But I hope he decides now to just walk like his mother.

Nah... I doubt it.

POSTSCRIPT: Would you believe he completed the Marathon in under 5 hours? What the heck? He did this limping the last quarter of the 26.2 mile distance. Arrrghh! 😣 I know my hair is turning whiter and whiter.

Black Tomato?

When we lived in Illinois, we grew tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, lettuce, etc. in our small garden patch and they did quite well actually.

Here's a photo from decades ago of our daughter, Tif and a friend in front of our garden patch in Illinois.

Well... just wanted to show you that we're not total incompetents as gardeners.

So we decided to plant some tomatoes again here in our Hawaii garden. We went to Home Depot and they didn't have any tomatoes. We went to City Mill and they only had one variety. It was called an Akoya tomato and it was supposed to have black tomatoes.

Seriously? Black? OK since that was our only choice, we decided to try it.

The Akoya is only supposed to grow about 18" tall, but we decided to use our tomato cage just in case. The plant was looking pretty good and yes, the fruit was looking pretty black.

But then...

When I looked closely, I saw trails of leaf miners.

Doggone it!!!

And you know what? I've seen those moths around. I just didn't know they came from tomato leaf miners.

Ah well...

What can I grow in Hawaii that won't be eaten by bugs?

Garlic chives?

They have been doing very well in my garden. Very, very, very well actually.

We use some of it for any kind of soup, but sheesh! That's a lot of garlic chives (nira ニラ in Japanese).

It's a good thing I have a relative who loves it and even our Buddhist priest. So I guess we'll have a LOT to share.

POSTSCRIPT 1: (2026-06-10)

I was starting to feel a little better so I went to water our little garden and to check on those Akoya tomatoes. 

Wow! I saw that one of the tomatoes was almost totally red so I called Art to look. He found one that had fallen the ground that was totally red so decided to also pick one that was reddish black and then one that was mostly black. These tomatoes are a little bigger than cherry tomatoes, but we haven't tasted them yet. I thought the black tomatoes were the ripe ones, but nope. They turn from green to black to red.

POSTSCRIPT 2: (2026-06-11)

OK, we had the tomatoes in our salad and uuummmm... it tasted like tomatoes. I'm not a judge of taste but Art still has very sensitive taste buds and said they taste like regular tomatoes. Ah well...

The Impact of War

Now that the Strait of Hormuz is blockaded, a lot of countries have been impacted.

This is what I got from Google:

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow body of water adjacent to Iran and Oman, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. While it is a shared body of water between Iran and Oman, Iran functionally exercises a greater amount of control over it.Mar 18, 2026

Unfortunately, it’s not just the U.S. that is suffering from the higher gas prices for our vehicles due to the Hormuz blockade. 

It was surprising that Japan, although it does have an oil reserve for now, do rely on importing oil from other countries. I saw this online from the Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-05-13/some-japanese-snack-packages-are-turning-black-and-white-as-iran-war-depletes-ink-supply

Apparently it’s impacting Japan's supply of plastics and inks which are derived from oil.

What a surprise that Calbee had to change the packaging for their potato chips from color to black and white. 

I guess everything the US does when it wages a war impacts a lot of other countries also in ways we don’t even know.

Still Fighting this Human Rhinovirus/Enterovirus

I CAN'T believe I'm into my 4th week of this stupid Human Rhinovirus/Enterovirus. It's a lousy cold. That's what I tested positive for at Tripler Army Hospital.

I looked this up on Google AI Overview and got this:

Human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses are closely related, highly contagious RNA viruses that belong to the same viral family (Picornaviridae). While rhinoviruses primarily cause mild, upper respiratory illnesses (the common cold), enteroviruses can trigger respiratory symptoms as well as more severe, systemic diseases like meningitis, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and myocarditis.

I am 99.9% positive I got this from mom who probably got it at her daycare. Somehow, she recovered from it in a week with all the treatment she got from Kaiser as well as her medications.

Since Art is the last one standing in the house and needs to be kept standing, we've done a lot of precautions. I sit at the opposite side of the kitchen table during meals. I moved into the guest bedroom and we use separate bathrooms. I'm just really hoping he doesn't get this.

I then got this from Art's cousin:

"Hi Kay and Art,

Hope you're feeling better.

I had that lingering mild upper respiratory infection that lasted for over a month. The mucus wouldn't go away for a long time! I heard other people had that also."

I'm also hearing of other friends and relatives suffering from this so it must be going around. I did read it was highly contagious.

One of the problems was getting a good night's sleep so Art recommended NyQuil PM. However, we found this liquid generic version at the commissary and I decided to try it. I took the full 30 mL dose that first night and it knocked me out so completely which spooked me. Therefore, I've taken only a half dose each night this past week which works really well. I'm just worried I'll get addicted to it. 

I am getting better. I haven't been sick like this in such a long, long time. I'm getting stronger though I tire easily. However, the cough is still there occasionally which is very annoying. 

How have you all been? Have you had this kind of cold before?

Yes, He is Our Son

I wrote before about the night our son was born.

 https://travelerswife.blogspot.com/2012/01/born-on-way-up.html

Art has said before that it will always be one of his favorite memories. 

It was very late at night and we didn't quite make it perfectly on time to Great Lakes Naval Hospital in our little Volkswagen beetle. Contractions started around 10:00 PM. When we called the hospital, they said we had plenty of time and should drive up. 

When we arrived at the hospital at rather break neck speed, the people at the desk gave Art a wheelchair and told him to take me up to 8th floor. He told them it was an emergency, but maybe he was too calm...

Whatever the case, Keola was born in the elevator on the way up with only Art to deliver him.  We were told that our son was the first boy born at the hospital in 2 weeks! 

When a corpsman (medical assistant) brought Keola to us one day, we asked what his blood type was. We were told it was completely different from either Art or me. 

"What?!?" I said. "Is that even possible?" 

The corpsman said, "No." 

Hunh? 

OK... He was the only Asian boy born there at the time, the only boy in the ward. He's ours.

However, when we took Keola to an outside pediatrician who we really loved (and was recommended by Art's social worker cousin), Dr. Cibul rolled his eyes and said, "Of course, it's possible!"

I was talking about this with our daughter who didn't even know our granddaughter's blood type until KC donated her blood in college. I can't believe anyone wouldn't know their own blood type. Don't all pediatricians check for that? Or at birth?

Anyway, Tif sent me this chart to show how KC fell in line properly matching her parent's blood type.

And then when I mentioned how weird it was that his blood type wasn't the same as either Art or me, Keola sent this.

Ohhhhh Kkkkkk.... Of course Keola works in the medical field so he would send me something like this. Puhleeease... 🙄

Did he really think I would understand this?

Well... anyway... rest assured. Both our kids belong to us.