It's Muggy Today

How muggy is it? Well, during my morning walk, you know, the one that starts about 10 minutes before sunrise, I sweat so much my entire shirt was almost the same color! Only the parts that had more than 2 layers of material were not totally soaked through.

It looked like this after every walk today!

In spite of the mugginess it was still a good walk. As I was walking I saw Mary headed back down Lurline, Calvin the Recycler was by the park, and as I was on the last part of my walk I saw Lorraine coming up Sierra; I waited for her. I told her I was beginning to not believe it when she tells me she only walks on the weekends since I had seen her a number of times these past few weeks during the week! She said she had a doctor's appointment today and it would be too hot to walk after the appointment. Later during my cool down stretches I saw Ona & Rio and Ken with the early-rising dogs.

Seventeen minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Seven minutes  before sunrise on Maunalani.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

My eBird app was doing strange things this morning. It would not let me enter data for "Japanese White-eye"; it didn't list it or "Mejiro". And when I looked at my past checklists on my phone all that Mejiro data was gone, too. And the checklist it gave me to start with was not in taxonomic order; or any other kind of order that I could discern. When I went to the website via my laptop my previous data for Japanese White-eye was not there either. I sent a message to the eBird staff to find out why it had disappeared. And got a response in a couple of minutes; it directed me to a link about their annual taxonomic update, which said, in part, "The annual eBird taxonomy update IS IN PROGRESS (Wednesday, 7 August). Expect records of some species to be changing throughout eBird over the next week. We do this once a year to reflect the most recent changes in avian taxonomy ... You may notice some unusual behavior with your lists and other tools ..., but this is nothing to worry about. ... If you do check eBird today, the most obvious evidence of the update in process is likely to be the My eBird pages. This update does not only involve name changes and changes to the species sequence, but also a number of splits." When they are done I will have to re-learn some names and the new taxonomic sequence; it will help exercise my brain! (As I walk along I keep a short list in my head before entering the data on my phone. I say the list in taxonomic order so it is easier when I am entering the data. I try to enter the data when I reach 5 or 6 species - I keep count of the species on the fingers of my phone-free hand - or if there are more than a dozen individuals of one species. I can't keep much more than that straight in my head!)

Dad was in bed eating breakfast when I arrived; he said he was sleepy. He finished half of his fried egg sandwich and all of his papaya; he saved his banana for later. He drank 120 ml apple juice but no water. Then he took a short nap!

My mid-morning walk was a little cooler than that last few mid-morning walks; it was mainly cloudy and there never was a period with enough sunlight to cast a shadow with sharp edges. There was also a short (less than 2 minutes) drizzle at the start and a light intermittent breeze throughout my walk; in spite of all this my shirt soaked through with sweat again because it was about 80 degrees F. During my walk I saw LaVie coming up the hill with Kila and Tazzie. And I also saw 2 Kōlea in the field at the park! This is the first pair I have seen since Na Kōlea have started returning.


I stopped to check the hāpuʻu. I need to weed it again; the grass is starting to take over. I also need to trim back a few branches of one of the shrubs that is encroaching on one of the palapalai. The hāpuʻu has another frond that is unfurling. I measured the trunk of the hāpuʻu; it's 17 inches tall. According to literature I have read, hāpuʻu grow about 3" a year when they are young (the 1st 10 years or so), then the growth rate slows down to about 1" per year. Based on the above ground trunk height, this hāpuʻu would be about 6 years old, however, we don't know how much was buried in the pot when it was initially potted. I'm going to guess it is at least 10 years old. I will keep notes on my baby hāpuʻu to see what it does.

Darn grass is encroaching on the ferns.

New frond unfurling .

Lunch today was Kalua pork with cabbage, Steamed rice, Tossed salad, Bread pudding, and Chicken gumbo soup. I had 2 salads since one arrived with Dad's lunch and CNA Jessa put the salad dressing on before she realized he doesn't do salads. Dad ate all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich and 1&1/2 desserts; he drank 240 ml milk but no water.


I started my afternoon walk a little early because today was Dad's day for a shower; we try to be there to get him started so he doesn't object to taking a shower. The sky was overcast again, like during the mid-morning walk; though there was no drizzle this time. The breeze was similar to how it was at mid-morning.


After Dad's shower I happened to notice the back of Dad's head; his hair was still a little damp. And it was looking a lot darker than before!


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jerry! And Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanao to Bruce & Diane!