January 19, 2003

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  Impatiens

  
  

  Non Precipitation Advisory
   
  HIGH WIND WARNING
  UNTIL 12 AM HST THURSDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
  Urgent - Weather Message... Corrected National Weather Service Honolulu HI 245 PM HST Wed Jan 15 2003

  
  

  Corrected Threshold For High Wind Warning In Lowlands To 40 Mph From 45 Mph

  
  

  ... Damaging Winds In The Puna District Of The Big Island... *(Where I live!)*

  
  

  1000 - 245 PM HST Wed Jan 15 2003 Puna -

  
  

  ... High Wind Warning Until 12 AM HST Thursday For The Following Areas... Puna District Of The Big Island Of Hawaii.

  
  

  A High Wind Warning Means That Winds In Excess Of 40 Mph Are Occurring. Take Necessary Precautions To Protect Property. Tie Down Or Move Loose Objects To A Sheltered Location.

  
  

  The National Weather Service Voluntary Spotter In The Puna District Near Pahoa Reports Very Strong And Damaging Winds With Trees Down And Power Out. *(We lost power at my house TWICE, the first time for 3 hours, the second for about 35 minutes, about 1.75 hours after it was first restored, just as I was cooking supper!)* Strong Winds Are Expected To Continue With Gusts In The 50 To 70 Mph Range Through The Remainder Of This Afternoon And Part Of Tonight.

  
  

       This was Wednesday evening, once I got power back. The high winds that we were warned about Tuesday evening finally hit the Big Island about noon. I was still in Hilo when they started blowing.

  
  

  
  

       I was in Hilo to have an abdominal ultrasound done. The VA doctor was concerned about my gallbladder, since that was what she localized my pain symptoms to. I had the ultrasound done at the same imaging center that has been taking care of all my breast cancer imaging as well as that of my pelvis, which led to my hysterectomy & oophorectomy.

  
  

       I had a technician I have never had before. She & I talked a bit about gallbladders while she was examining mine (as well as my liver & kidneys). She had hers removed, the old way, leaving a large scar (same as my sister had). I mentioned learning on Discovery Health channel that gallbladder stones are formed by improper diet. This unhealthy diet is one that is loaded with carbohydrates & lacking adequate proteins. They called it 'the poor man's diet.' Another good reason to limit starchy foods.

  
  

       She took the images to the radiologist, leaving me waiting in case she needed to redo any for him. When she came back, she said we were finished, so I asked about how long it would be before I got the results. She told me that they would send them to my doctor. What I thought at that time must have shown on my face, because my next appointment with the VA doctor who ordered the ultrasound isn't until April. She quietly told me that there wasn't anything abnormal, mentioning for me not to let anyone know she told me. They often know better than the doctors what they are looking at, or they could not be good techs.

  
  

       More & more, I'm thinking that alot of what's going on with my health has to do with my fibromyalgia. She had no explanation for why I've been experiencing the localized pains in my abdomen, even though she accurately found the spots. I have also been experiencing alot of other localized sore points elsewhere on my body, like on my legs, where my kitties step when they want to lay with me at night. They invariably step on just the wrong spot, when an inch further wouldn't bother me at all!

  
  

       The winds had died during the night & hadn't returned Thursday morning... until about 10:15. Within 15 minutes, we lost power again! It was out for about 3.5 hours this time. I was the first to call the electric company with the report of the outage. I was in the middle of watching the Cuban Missile Crisis program on Discovery's History Channel. I wanted to learn the truth about what happened, rather than the BS the history texts put out.

  
  

       Ok, so with what I was doing placed on hold until the power would be restored, I went outside. Even with the winds occasionally blowing into my windows, my house was getting a tad bit too warm. I decided that I should put in some time on my yard.

  
  

       I grabbed my sickle & started in on the monstrous task of the road-frontage. The community is supposed to mow the roadways of the private (non-county) roads. Unfortunately, back some time ago, our board president fired ALL the maintenance crew! Actually, they should have been fired ages ago, because they were abusing their positions by acquiring junked cars, stripping them & selling the parts. They were also using association equipment to do work for private residents on association time & charging the residents for the work, putting the money in their own pockets. Basically, they were doing everything that the president had accused the former crew of doing when I worked with them (which they had NOT!!!).

  
  

       I had set a goal of cutting the area between my driveway & my rock wall steps. This was a slow process, because I would get tired quickly. At least I wore gloves this time, so I didn't tear up my hands like I usually do. But this made a problem holding the sickle properly. Even with the 'pimples' on the grip areas of the gloves, the handle would slide & turn, making for more strain, trying to hold tightly to the handle.

  
  

       I alternated between sickling & raking, building a few large piles of my cuttings. About the time I was finishing up, I noticed that the equipment engine sounds I was hearing for the past half hour or so belonged to the community mower. They were cutting the road frontages several blocks below me. FIGURES!!! Just when I set to work doing what they are supposed to take care of, along they come!

  
  

       I set about moving my piles of cuttings, knowing that if I left them where they were, the guy mowing would just drive around, leaving my area uncut at all! If there wasn't so much, I would have been able to leave the cuttings right where they fell & the mower would have done a great job mulching them!

  
  

       I checked on their work. Pretty good. Except where I hadn't yanked the stuff away from my rock wall yet. In that area, the mower was a foot away from my wall. I'm too achy right now to finish that. The cuttings from the mower also spilled into the road, so I need to rake that away. I had also cleaned some of the stuff away that was encroaching on the road surface, but there is still more of that to do.

  
  

       It's another bright, sunny & windy day, although the winds aren't nearly as bad as they have been. We still have high wind warnings for the summits of Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa. The vog (volcanic smog) has also been quite bad in Puna & Hilo lately, making many people & animals sick. Normally, even as close as we are to the eruption, we don't get the smog because of the Trade Winds, which blow the vog off the island to the south. The Kona side gets more vog than we do, since the Trades come from the east (mostly the north, northeast). When the winds come from the south, southeast, we get vog. This comes up in the winter, which seems backwards to me, getting winds from the north for most of the year.

  
  

       Boy, am I ever slow to get this latest blog up to par! Sidetracked, as usual, what with finally being able to talk/chat to my sister & a friend for the first time in months! I don't seem to be capable of doing more than one thing at a time anymore. If I'm text-chatting, I can't read or write anywhere else. If I'm in a voice-chat, I'm usually surfing along with my chat partner.

  
  

       Again today (Saturday), the winds picked up for a time. While sitting here, reading the Xanga subs email that I got 5 days behind on (yeowch!), I heard the start of falling timber. I also heard what sounded like a heavily leafed branch hit a roof. When I went outside to find the source, I climbed up on top of my car for a better vantage, but saw nothing out of place on or around the house. I got down & stood, turning around & around, trying to find the source of the noise I heard.

  
  

       I kept staring at a branch that travels mostly horizontally that starts about 6 feet up the trunk of probably the oldest ohia lehua tree in my subdivision. It looked odd somehow. Then, I noticed that it was dead, when I know it hadn't been when a Hawaiian hawk used to sit on it a couple years ago. Looking more carefully at the place it connects with the main trunk, I noticed evidence that its positioning has recently changed. I found the source of my noise. I followed the limb to where it rubbed up against another ohia tree & saw that it had dropped about 2 feet from where it rubbed the bark off the other tree.

  
  

       I mentioned to my son that I'm going to need his help trimming dead branches off another ohia, which are threatening my phone & electric lines to the house. I now have another limb to add to that project. This one could possibly crush my old carport roof & even roll off onto my car! I am almost ready to remove ALL the ohia from my yard, since they are very brittle & dump leaves, flower strands & seedpods about 3 times a year.

  
  

       They are an endemic species, originating here in Hawaii & not brought in, so cutting them almost seems sacreligious. But these are the common red-flowered ones & have caused enough damage & headaches. I WON'T cut down the very ancient one, though, unless it decides to die. for those of you familiar with liveoak trees, imagine one about 400 years old. My ohia is about that size & shape. The limbs are as brittle as the liveoak's too.

  
  

   

  
  

       On a sad note, we have lost another great actor to cancer today (Saturday). Richard Crenna succombed to pancreatic cancer at age 75.

  
  

       It is interesting to note that when I performed a search on MSN to get a pic & background information on him, I found that the VA website has a bio on him, from when he paid tribute to hospitalized Veterans in 2000. He was an enlisted radio operator during WWII in the US Army Signal Corps, so another WWII Veteran has passed on.

  
  

       I enjoyed watching him portraying the role of Lt. Frank Janek in several TV movies. He will be sorely missed in his last role on Judging Amy, where he was to marry Amy's mom (played by Tyne Daly). His acting style, so calm & centered, endeared him to me. Au revoir, Richard!

  • 4:51 am
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