New Hat Review

The hat makes crinkly noises when I move; I think it is just from being new, we shall see. It is a YR.Lover Outdoor Boonie Hat. In most places the brim is about an inch wider than my green hat so it will provide more protection from the sun; it also has mesh inserts to allow for air circulation to keep my head cooler. I like the mesh inserts because I can shift my orientation to the breeze & have it blow through to cool my head instead of removing it totally like I have to with my green hat. My green hat is a Seattle Sombrero by Outdoor Research; its made with Gore-Tex fabric to repel moisture but still breathe so its great in wet weather. I'll have to see how the new hat works in the precipitation here.

The back brim  of the green hat is longer so the rain doesn't drip inside the collar of your slicker.

I met up with Steph by the park; she had been on Matsonia when she saw me so she ran up the hill to catch up with me! After she caught her breath she invited me to lunch at her house later in the month; she is also inviting Lorraine & Ona. Later we ran in to Lorraine; it was near the point in our routes where our paths diverge so they went on down the hill while I continued on up Lurline.

Eleven minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad had finished all his supplements and about half his scrambled eggs by the time I got to his room; I was a little late today. I gave him 50% since he had only eaten a couple pieces of papaya.

While on my mid-morning walk I saw a guy stop to look for a cardinal that we could hear calling; I should have asked him if he was a birder but I kept on walking. And I didn't see him later on Lurline, I will have to talk to him the next time I see him. I saw a pair of Cattle Egrets later in my walk. I also saw Kelly drive by with a surfboard in the back of his truck; I never noticed that before but thatʻs probably because I was too busy trying to figure out if it was Kelly or Dan driving by. It was really easy in December to figure out if it was Dan; after the Christmas parade they left the red nose and some tinsel on the Maunalani truck!

Why did the Cattle Egret cross the road?

Lunch today was Pork tofu, Steamed rice, Tossed salad, Stir fry vegetable blend, Caramel cheesecake, and Garden vegetable soup. It wasn't cheesecake, it was just regular cake with caramel sauce. Dad ate half of his half of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and a bite of the cake; he drank most of his supplements.


The weather changed before the afternoon walk; there was a heavy cloud cover moving in but there was no precipitation and the breeze had died.


While I was doing my cool down stretches I saw a large dark brown bird come zipping over the building then headed on downslope. My first thought was that it acted like a raptor, but ʻIo are not found on Oʻahu now; I couldn't identify it so I did not note it in my eBird checklist. I later found out through the eBird Rare Bird Alert that a Peregrine Falcon was seen at 11:20 along the Ala Wai Canal about 4 miles away as the crow (or falcon) flies; the photo below of a juvenile bird was attached to Michael Walther's checklist. With a flight speed of 40 to 55 mph a Peregrine could have easily flown up to Maunalani from the Ala Wai in the 4 hours between the eBird siting and when I saw the mystery bird. Because of possibilities like this I always scan the treetops with my binoculars looking for hawks, just in case. I had also seen another bird a couple months ago that flew like an accipiter but didn't get a good look at it either.

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum). (Photo by Michael Walther)

DT moved in today; he will now be about 10 minutes away from his new job as band director at Saint Louis School. He'll be in the middle bedroom until Nikki leaves next week, then he will move into the larger bedroom. It also has better cross-ventilation to keep it cooler in the summer.

S'mores: I'm helping DT move in!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Aaliyah, Tom, & Mason! Today is also the 2nd anniversary of my Subaru; it's a 2016 but I bought it in 2017.