Hawai'i Wildlife Center

Yesterday I had a series of texts & a phone call with Patrick from Hawai'i Wildlife Center (HWC); a Wedge-tailed Shearwater & Bulwer's Petrel needed a ride to the airport. Later a Noio or Black Noddy Tern was stabilized & it, too, needed to go to HWC. This morning I picked them up at Feather & Fur and took them to the airport. Today's transport was by a non-commercial flight with Bill to the Upolu Airport. Because the birds were on a non-commercial flight space was tight; they were put in appropriate sized boxes and all 3 boxes were put into the same carrier.

Birds on their way to Hawai'i Wildlife Center.

As I was entering the  parking lot where I meet Bill to hand off the birds, there was a loud rumble and a plane streaked overhead. It was a Stealth Bomber! Within seconds its low profile was lost in the clouds. There were a bunch of people in the parking lot watching the Stealth as well as the commercial planes leaving from the Reef Runway.

The Stealth is barely visible in the clouds in the center of the photo.

Because of the timing of the HWC transport, I was able to do my early morning walk. I forgot my hat so I was glad it was early and still cool. The 2 Kolea were at the park and very calm about me walking through, I don't think any people or dogs had been there yet. As I was leaving the park I saw a guy standing on the sidewalk admiring the new landscaping across the street from the park; I think it was installed while I was on the Big Island. It turns out Peter lives a couple houses down and was just admiring his neighbor's landscaping while sipping his morning cup of coffee. We had a great conversation, he had seen me a couple of times and was wondering what I was looking at in the park; I told him about the birds, especially the Kolea. He says a cattle egret follows him when he is mowing his lawn.

Cool new landscaping; it used to be just a grassy slope.

As I was leaving to go to Feather & Fur I was almost sideswiped by a woman who wasn't paying attention to traffic on Sierra Drive; she was turning left from Wilhelmina. The thing that saved me was that she was an overall poor driver and turned in to the oncoming traffic lane rather than the lane she should have been, which was the lane I was in. It gave me enough distance to stop and avoid a collision with her. I think she was in a hurry, I couldn't keep up with her as she headed down Sierra. (I was following her on Sierra but I was about a block behind her.)

I did my mid-morning walk after I dropped the birds off with Bill; I made a quick stop at home for my hat first. I checked in on Shiro while there, he had not really touched the cat food which was Limited Ingredient Turkey; I don't think he likes that. Which is too bad, since I bought 3 cans of it yesterday! Petco had a mix & match sale, buy 20 cans or pouches and get 20% off on those items. So I tried a bunch of other brands but looked for ones that were grain free since cats are obligate carnivores. I have now sorted them into: red meat, poultry, and fish.

Shiro really likes the freeze-dried Instinct Raw Boost Mixers.

Not sure what was with the drivers on Wilhelmina Rise today but as I was on my way up in the afternoon I was following a small white pick up; it went around one of the curves. Next thing I see the reverse lights of the truck coming at me! Fortunately the driver had seen me in the rear view mirror so was heading for the other lane so we avoided a collision as he was backing down to go and park along the side of the road. I have no idea why he went so far around the bend before deciding to come back down and park.

Dad was given a regular dinner tonight; I think its because I have not gotten around to turning in an annotated menu list yet. I usually am crossing out things and writing in about the peanut butter & jelly and egg salad sandwiches. Tonight the dinner was Chopped beef & cheese macaroni; he ate 3 bites on his own! He also drank all his supplements plus another 1/2 box of the Boost Plus; he did well tonight.


Do I write about everything that happens to me? No. Some of it is just plain boring and then some of it can't be described adequately. Like when Curtis & I have one of our fits of humor. For example, I'm not sure how we got to this topic, but Kai was telling us about a town in Florida where all the residents are carnies. As I asked about the Mayor and Council, I also asked, "How many cars does the police department have?" Before Kai could answer, Curtis & I were laughing so hard; Kai was clueless as to why that was so funny. If you can't understand either, then no matter what I wrote you wouldn't get the humor. On the other hand, if you started laughing as soon as you read the question, you're on the same wavelength that Curtis & I are on! By the way, we have those fits of humor quite regularly, in fact we had one yesterday; you just had to be there to appreciate it!

Happy Birthday to Aaron!