Dead Rat in the Middle of the Road

Well, not quite. It was at the bus stop at the edge of the pavement. And it wasn't quite dead. Actually, it was very much alive! During my mid-morning walk, as I was completing my lap around Maunalani Circle, I noticed the body of a rat at the bus stop. As I started to get my camera out because, you know, I take pictures of dead things for you. It moved! In fact, as I moved towards it, the rat looked up at me and started to move away towards the hedge. It did not run, it sort of sauntered even as I walked up to it trying to get a photo. But it was camera shy and my phone is slow to get to camera-mode, so I wasn't able to get a photo of it. Then as I was nearing the end of my walk coming up Lurline approaching the bus stop I looked for it again, but didn't see it. But wait! What's that in the shadow of the tree? It's the rat again! And once again it sauntered under the hedge as I came up to it. I checked; I had about 10 minutes to spare so I decided to do the field biologist thing and wait for it to come out again. I set myself up, waiting behind one of those watering bags they put on trees, propping my camera hand up against the tree so I was in position to take a photo when it emerged from under the hedge. I waited. And watched the spot where it had disappeared under the hedge. Being an experienced biologist, and having watched many Wile E. Coyote cartoons, I also looked behind me. Five minutes. No rat. Ten minutes. No rat. Oh, well. That's how it goes in the field biologist business!


Why am I so interested in this rat? I got a pretty good look at it and it did not look like the rats that we caught in the attic. And it also did not act like those rats, it sauntered off rather than scurrying off as I approached. I'm pretty sure it was a brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) rather than a black rat (Rattus rattus) which is what the attic rats were. On future walks I will have to be more vigilant around the bus stop and see if I can spot it again. (I don't want to leave food because I do not want it going up to people at the bus stop looking for food. They might not be as interested in seeing it as I am.) The rest of my mid-morning walk was less intriguing; I didn't see any regulars but I did see the pair of Saffron Finches by the park and a Manu-o-Ku (Gygis alba) flying by as I was heading up Lurline.

Saffron Finches (Sicalis flaveola).

I started my morning walk a few minute earlier than I usually do, but since there were few clouds in the sky it was still light enough there was a lot of bird activity. I saw Lorraine on her way up Sierra, but no other regulars this morning. Even Jake was not in his front yard this mornings. I did find, however, that the Red Junglefowl (Domestic Type) once again left its calling card at the covered viewpoint; this one was larger than the last one.

Eleven minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Six minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Chicken poop.

Dad was awake and eating breakfast in the Plumeria Dining Room. Since he was in the wheelchair I asked him if he wanted to go look for Popokilani; he did, so we headed outside. We ended up sitting at the open air outdoor viewing area for a while.


When we went in I needed to use the bathroom so I left Dad in the Castle Living Room, where Ki'ini was leading the residents in exercises. When I returned, Dad was sort of following along so I just sat along the side until he decided he didn't want to do that any more.


As we were leaving he wanted to go outside again. So we did. This time we found Popokilani but she only stuck around long enough to find out whether we had treats for her; she left when she found we had none. We probably spent another half hour outdoors until Dad's okole finally got so sore he couldn't ignore it any longer. He went back to bed and slept until lunch!

By the way, it's called the Castle Living Room after Ethelwyn Castle, the woman who left the property to become a residence for seniors needing care.

Lunch today was Beef stir fry, Brown rice, Tossed salad, Lemon meringue pie, and Split pea soup. Obviously this is not brown rice. Dad ate his half a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, about half of the pie, and all of his Breeze.


As Ken was leaving after lunch he said he saw me walking by his place this morning; he said he was wondering how cold I must have been! I told him I warm up after about 5 minutes of walking so it was fine. He said he had just gotten up and it was still feeling quite cold to him! He has a fireplace in his house to warm it up when it gets "cold".

As I mentioned a few days ago, sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out. I was a little faster this time in figuring out why I gained so much weight last week; I have cut my walking back to 2 times a day rather than 3 times but did not cut my caloric intake back by 1/3. Duh! So now I need to make a decision to restrict my intake or continue with the 3 walks. I think I will continue with the 3 walks, I enjoy being outdoors and active!

On Sundays and Wednesdays Dad is scheduled for a shower in the late afternoon. Usually he takes his shower; tonight he was resistant. CNA Chivas even came by about half an hour later and we could not convince him to take a shower today. It will now be up to Curtis to see if he can get Dad to take a shower on Wednesday.

Dinner tonight was Japanese chicken and veggie curry, Steamed rice, Banana cream pie, and Shrimp corn chowder. I was hoping for brown rice since at lunch the menu said "brown" but it was just "steamed", but no such luck. So I ate my curry without rice. The shrimp corn chowder was actually quite good, though I couldn't find any corn in it.


My evening walk started pleasantly. There were similar number of cars on the road tonight. There was a light, cool breeze to keep my cool while I walked.

Ten minutes after the end of civil twilight on Maunalani.

The end of nautical twilight on Sierra.

I took some photos to use as reference photos for paintings.

Seven minutes after the end of civil twilight.

Nine minutes after the end of civil twilight.