Rain Has Arrived

It began to rain this morning. A lot. This is the front that was supposed to have arrived yesterday but held off until today.

Rain on Date Street.

Fortunately for me I was able to do my morning walk unhindered. I met Steph along Maunalani Circle, we walked down together until where she goes down Monterrey. We saw LaVie twice and Lorraine later on; usually Lorraine only walks on Saturday & Sunday. Later I saw Leslie & Ipo; she was walking earlier today since she does a hike with friends every Friday & needed to get Ipo's walk in before going on her hike. It was dry during my entire walk.

Sunrise from Maunalani.

From Sierra.

On the way home I saw The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes sitting at the bus stop; it took me a moment to realize it was Friday and he should be on his way to work. So I turned around and picked him up; he overslept and was late for work. It was on the way back from dropping him off that it began to rain so it was a good thing I gave him a ride so he could stay dry.

As I was on my way home from dropping The Roommate off I got a call from the scheduler; I was having an estimate on getting Dad's house painted. The estimator was sick today; we rescheduled for next week. I ended up having time to take care of the laundry (I put it in the dryer since it was raining), eat a little breakfast (mmmm, poke for breakfast), and relax a little.

Then it was off to the Cat Clinic; its now Chibi's turn to rack up the vet bills! She is still favoring her left paw and recently she hasn't been eating the amount of food that she should be. While we were waiting for the vet she started coughing, then she was having trouble meowing; it was like a hoarse whisper. Dr. Dean checked her out and found some swelling in her throat; more tests were necessary to find out why.

Are they gone?

The artwork in the exam room that we were in.

After leaving Chibi at the Cat Clinic, I did my mid-morning walk. It was cloudy like the morning walk. And it was dry; although it had started raining just after the morning walk, it dried up around the time I took Chibi to the vet. But during my walk, when I was at the farthest point away I could hear the thunder rumbling in the Waiʻanae Mountains. It started to spritz while I was walking; but again it stayed relatively dry until I was back in the car and on my way home. After I heard the thunder I found 2 green waste bins & 1 garbage bin with their lids open; I closed them so they wouldn't fill up with water when the rain began and earned some karma credits!

Looks kind of ominous.

If you were reading my post last week about the Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis) and wondered about its size as compared to the other possible dove it might be, here's a photo of them together. The one on the left is the Spotted Dove, the 2 on the right are Zebra Doves (Geopelia striata). The size difference is very noticeable.

That's how I knew it couldn't be a Zebra Dove.

The Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are getting back at me for saying I had never seen them on O'ahu! I saw a pair today up on Maunalani Circle. Once I start doing the Checklist-a-day I will be able to see whether they are showing up seasonally or are a year round resident.

Female on left, male on right.

Dr. Dean called later in the day, Chibi's x-rays were fine; no masses were seen in her throat and the shot of her shoulder showed no impingement there either. They drew blood; those results won't be back until tomorrow. She got a prednisolone shot today and needs to get oral prednisolone every day for the next few weeks. She goes back in on 01/11 for a recheck.

Between the end of my walk and picking Chibi up, I cleaned out the dining room. Well, most of it. Today the dining room is cleaner than the living room; it is s mess because The Potential Most Favorite Roommate switched out the old vertical blinds which were too short for the big window, to one that is properly sized for the window.

Dining room, looking southerly.

Dining room, looking westerly.

Living room, looking westerly. Chairs are from the dining room.

Living room, looking easterly. Vertical blinds are being replaced.

Dinner at Maunalani was Chicken adobo, Steamed rice, Pacific blend vegetables, Baked custard, and Garden vegetable soup.


I was planning on doing a third walk later in the evening since I gained 1.3 pounds this week and 1.8 pounds last week. Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of my using the Fitbit. Over that 1 year time I have lost 10.8 pounds or an average of 0.9 pounds per month (though if we were talking about this on November 30th it would have been a total 14.5 pounds lost). I'm fine with the 0.9 pounds/month; I'm not fine with having gained 4.2 pounds back over the last 4 weeks so my overall loss is not as good as the 1.25 pounds/month that it could have been. I'll be trying harder this year as I try to lose another 15 or 25 pounds as needed to get to feeling healthier.

In case you're wondering about the 3rd walk, it was raining so I skipped the walk.


Mary Ellen sent me these photos. She took our sons out to breakfast at Piroshky & Crepes this morning. They look like they need their coffee!

L to R: Kai, Simon. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

Turkish coffee! (Photo by Mary Ellen)

Hau'oli lā Hānau to Jennifer!