My phone had totally died early this morning when Margaret called to tell me that Vivian had passed. I decided to switch out the dead battery with a knock-off battery that I had purchased months ago that discharged fairly rapidly; it was showing 80% when I installed it. I am keeping the phone in Ultra Power Saving Mode as much as possible to keep as much of a charge on it until the replacement phone arrives. I transferred the photos from the day I broke the charging port and inserted them in the proper blog post; I also transferred photos that Jackie took of last night's dinner & posted them. It took a bunch of power to do the transfers; as I write this, the phone is holding steady at 20%.
On the way back from my morning walk a pair of Mejiros (Zosterops japonicus) suddenly started flying near me and hopping on the ground; I followed the closest one off to the side of the road, thinking it was injured. Then the biologist brain kicked in; I looked back to where I had been when the birds appeared and found a Mejiro chick still partially covered in down by the side of the road. That injured wing trick works even on us more intelligent predators! I put the chick in a nearby bush, about 3 feet off the ground; its impact on the native bird population is inconclusive and it is certainly not as invasive as the Common Myna. On my later walks I did not see the chick but I could hear the parents making a lot of noise in the bushes near where I had originally put it.
Lunch today was Chicken afritada, Steamed rice, Tossed salad, Pumpkin pie, & Thai chicken curry & rice soup. I thought perhaps the difference between the "tossed" salad & the "garden" salad was that the garden salad had cucumbers; the salad today had cucumbers so there goes that theory!
I got a call from Alexis today; they need 3 birds transported tomorrow morning. Fortunately, Curtis can trade times with me and stay with Dad tomorrow morning. I need to get the birds to the airport by 10:50; so I need to leave the house about 9:15 in the morning at the latest. Mt phone needs to have enough power so that I can text Alexis when the birds are dropped off. I will go to Maunalani after I drop them off.
DT came by to see Dad with Curtis. Dad did not seem to know who he was; although he did ask about DT's beard. We thought he might be confusing him with Kai, whom he saw a couple days ago for 2 days in a row; they both wear glasses.
I forgot to mention that I saw a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or drone) flying over my walking route and up to Maunalani Circle during my mid-afternoon walk yesterday. I was alerted to its presence by what sounded like a horde of angry hymenopterans; when you work in the field in places with a lot of underbrush you are always listening for noises that warn you of a potentially painful experience nearby! While I was doing my cool down stretches I saw the UAV heading back down Wilhelmina Rise; it could have been launched from the park, I lost site of it behind a bunch of trees.
On my way to Maunalani this morning, I took a couple of side trips to measure potential additions to my walking route. Going around Maunalani Circle is about 0.5 miles and has an uphill portion for about a third of the distance if going clockwise. Going down Lurline to Matsonia and back up to Sierra is about 0.4 miles with two uphill stretches on Matsonia. I might start with the Maunalani Circle portion on August 1st.
Happy Birthday to Nan, Maria, & DeeAnn! And Happy Pi Approximation Day!
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