Friday, November 8, 2024

 Friday, November 8, 2024 

    I tried out the new drill bit on an African tulip tree. It worked like a charm. I texted Mike to tell him how thrilled I was with my new toy.

    Spencer from Provision Solar called to say the county Inspector would be at my house between nine and ten to check the electrical system. I had Hula at 10 and was leaving the house at nine-thirty. As I left, I found a tall man, six feet seven inches, in my driveway. He was from Provision Solar and was here to meet the inspector. I showed him where the attic access was and left.  

   Hula was surprisingly easy today. I usually get worn out halfway through, particularly when the dances require me to lift my left arm above my head. Sweetie had us perform all the dances we learned today. She split the class into two groups and had half perform the dances while the other half watched.

    On my way home, I stopped off at Costco to pick up a package of lox and a bag of Mandarin oranges. I impulsively picked up a tray of California sushi rolls. I'm never happy with what I get at Costco. They may have been made that morning, as advertised, but they don't taste fresh.

    When I got home, the Provision Solar guy was gone. I called Spencer, excited, asking when they would remove the ladder leaning against my house, there for the convenience of the inspector, and turn on the electricity. Jaymie answered this call.  So sorry. It wasn't going to be turned on today. The fellow whose job it was was out sick.  Monday was a holiday, and he had other people on his list. Maybe she could expedite it. I didn't expect that, but I didn't object either.

    I needed to organize the panels.  Beth, from Hawaiian Solar, had given me the number and dates of the replacements. Thirty-five panels were Installed in July of 2017. Four were replaced in 2019, 8 in 2021, and 7 in 2023. I had checked for a date on the labels but found nothing. The installers from Provision recognized that seven had smooth instead of scored edges. Those they knew were new. They tried to figure out the rest from the degree of moss growing on the panels.  I discovered there was more information on the label than I thought.  While every panel ended in 11-2, there were other distinguishing numbers. 

    Yvette helped me sort them out. I hoped we would wind up with four piles: one of the 16 originals and three more from the three replacements. That's what happened. I wound up with a pile of 16, 4, 8, and 7. Now, I knew which ones I could sell, assured they would not fail like the panels from the original batch. I could sell the nineteen for $100 a piece.

     I had a call from someone who responded to my Next Door/Facebook ad. He wanted four panels.  He lived right around the corner. Could he come over and check?  I gave him the address and directions. Turn left out of your side street; at the stop sign, turn left onto Hiolani; make your next right. My driveway is the first one on your right after the side street. He couldn't find it.  He asked me to spell the street name. I did, with keywords, to make sure he got it right. He checked out what I had, went home to check the information on the Internet, returned, and took eight panels.

   Larry understood what the numbers on the label meant. Some panels were marked 300, some 305, and some 310.  That was the wattage. He said the newer ones would have a lower wattage because they were more efficient.  I didn't get it, but okay.

     I had a session with sixth-grade RH. I'm trying to teach her phonics. I have gone over the syllable patterns repeatedly.  V stands for vowel; C stands for consonant. She has trouble remembering that. Another one with memory problems.  They are the most difficult to deal with.  I worked on teaching her how to use partial memory. We continued working on the multiplication fact 6 x7=42.  Did she remember any of it?  she remember 6 x something = 47.  The six and the forty were right. She had transposed the 7 from one spot to another, but she had recalled that. That's a good partial memory. Now, she had to correct the partial memory and embed the correct image.

  I had a session with fourth-grade LG. He showed me how to find the partial product of a multiplication problem using boxes. I gave him another example using a two-digit top number. He said he couldn't do that; he could only do it with big numbers. I walked him through several problems with two-, three-, and four-digit top numbers. Ah, he finally said. You use expanded notation.

    My friend Linda from England, the first wife of an old tutoring client and a regular reader of my updates, asked if I would benefit from seeing a grief counselor.   I had been writing a lot about grief. 

    I had tried to participate in a grief group sponsored by the hospice center. The leader and I were as incompatible as two humans can be.  Her idea of the appropriate response and mine were on the opposite ends of the pole. One of us had to leave. Since she was being paid in her capacity, it had to be me. The church had been advertising an upcoming grief recovery eight-week workshop.  I considered going until I saw the name of the leader. It was that woman from the hospice center. No way, Jose,

    Today, after Mass, the Knights of Columbus served a pancake breakfast, and the ministries advertised their missions. The woman leading the grief recovery workshop was there—it wasn't the woman I knew from the hospice center. I would like to try the workshop. Suzanne made it clear it wasn't a support group; this was an eight-week class with a program on how to deal with grief. It starts in January. 

  When I got home, I read the leaflet the woman handed out. This was how to deal with all sorts of grief, basically any form of disappointment.  My one consideration is that I don't think my problem is primarily grief; it's loneliness. The loneliness is caused by not being number one in anyone's life. It was the complaint that Maggie Smith articulated. No matter how many friends and relatives you have, without a partner, you are no one's number one. There is a sense of safety in that. You will never be without a seat when they play musical chairs. As long as you have a partner, there will always be a place for you at the table.  It's a primitive feeling.  It's not the loss of an individual person; it's the loss of position relative to the rest of the group. I don't mean it in the old-fashioned sense; true when I was a child. A widow was a third wheel, considered a danger to all marriages.  The widow would be after the husbands. Really??!! This not belonging is more primative. It's a basic human need to be part of a unit where someone has your back.