Hawai'i Wildlife Center

I called this morning and found out why the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center (HWC) needed emergency help. Part of it is because they have some elderly volunteers who do not want to be out and about while COVID-19 is here. The other part is because Patrick left early; he was originally leaving at the end of the month. But as things got worse he wanted to get back to the Bay area where his wife is at before air travel was shut down. So they need some extra help while they refill Patrick's position. I went in for a volunteer orientation today with Heidi; my first day volunteering will be next Wednesday. They are only allowing 2 volunteers to be on site at a time to be able to practice social distancing while the volunteers and staff work on things.

The HWC is closed to the public at this time, except for receiving injured wildlife.

The patient information board; artwork by Rae.

This morning I woke up a little later than usual. I have decided to skip the outdoor walks here and just use the treadmill while here. As I was lying in bed watching the sunrise colors my phone rang; it was Margaret calling from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan! She had received the COVID-19 (& UP Winter) Survival Kit and was enjoying a cup of Kona coffee! We talked for over an hour!

Twenty-two minutes after sunrise.

The Aikane Nursery crew arrived about 10:30 to keep the weed load down in the anthurium bed. I went to talk to the crew manager Sarah about what I wanted done. I told her I wanted a lot of the non-native flowers like the blue ginger moved out to the northerly wall and remove the rest from the anthurium bed; she will be doing the same with the spathiphyllum. I told her I wanted to retain the moa and the other ferns and any orchids growing on the ground or in the hapuʻu.

Series taken from northerly property line near center of anthurium area, looking easterly.

Looking southeasterly.

Looking southerly at kitchen window.

Looking southwesterly at sewing room.

Looking westerly.

After my orientation at HWC, I stopped at King's View Cafe to pick up some lunch. I met Jim there; like me he is trying to buy meals at his favorite local eateries to give them some business; he was picking up a pizza for lunch for him & his wife. I have a feeling I might be running in to him at several local places; he had just come from Sunshine True Value which I also needed to visit today! I got the Mahimahi Plate with no rice and extra salad. There was only one person running things; he takes your order, prepares it, rings you up, and delivers it to you. It was slow enough he could do that.

They blocked the entrance off with the table.

You order here.

I forgot to take a photo of the mahimahi part.

On the way back I stopped at Sunshine True Value to pick up the red cinders to keep weeds down along the side of the house. I am removing weeds and plants in about a 3 foot wide area along the edge of the house and garage; that's the space needed for the tent material when they fumigate a house for termite treatment. Along the south side of the house & garage I am covering the weed cloth with red cinders.

Loading up at Sunshine.

Getting ready to unload the car.

The cinders are unloaded & helping with temporary weed control.

I passed by CSC Cafe on my return from Sunshine; I did not see Lem there. In fact, I did not see any of the regulars there. That's probably because all those kūpuna are in their late 80's or early 90's so they need to be very careful.

I took a quick tour around the yard to check out how the plants, especially the fruiting trees, are doing. Here are some of them in the back yard.

The Dwarf Samoan Coconut; I told Grey to take as many as he wanted for the boat.

Tangerines; he can also take as many of these as he wants.

There was no fruit on the lychee tree, just this mejiro nest under construction.

Only one mountain apple is ripe; he will miss out on any of these.

The avocado tree needs some pruning work.

It has some flowers!

Masa had some new people working with him; they mowed down the olena.

But they could recognize the kalo so they left them.

I am hoping the persimmon is just going through its seasonal leaf drop.

There are not that many fruiting trees in the front yard and several of the decorative non-native shrubs along the road have died back. I will replace them with native shrubs.

Series taken from the gate post, looking westerly to northerly; this one is westerly.

Looking northwesterly.

Looking northerly.

The calamansi lime.

The Meyer lemon.

I took a short nap, Grey has reminded me how nice siestas are! I woke up about a half hour before sunset. When I stood up I noticed a juvenile pig trotting through Jessie's back yard; I went out to confront it.

Thirty-four minutes before sunset.

At first I did not see the pig; I discovered it was still checking for goodies in Jessie's back yard. It made its way over to the break in the fence and sauntered in. I think it has its favorite fruit, it headed for the area under the mountain apple tree. I don't think they like citrus; there's a lot of dropped under the tangerine, Meyer lemon, and calamansi.

Coming through the break in the fence.

Walking past the bananas; there are only tiny green fruit right now.

Walking past the tangerine.

Running back to the safety of Jessie's yard after I scared it.

I heard from Leslie yesterday about the COVID-19 Survival Kit that I sent her; it took the long way to get to her. I had sent it to the P. O. box she had given me when I left, but she has since closed that and gets mail delivered to her house. The package was in the post office being held in the oversized mail storage lockers. But since no one has that box now, and she could tell them where it came from and about when, they said they would send it to her home address. (Which would also be on file.) She said, "It arrived at my doorstep yay! its marked box closed so no one has it and it would have been returned to you. I'm so glad I caught it. Thank you ever so much. Good medicine! 💕 ... I thought the doggie treats were caramel corn! Good thing I didn't need any. And yes Oliver smelled them immediately and wiggled all over and whined at Me and kept looking at the package. He loves them thank you 💕" 

Statewide we are now up to 120 cases; an increase of 14 cases with most on Oʻahu. Only 7 are on Hawaiʻi Island. The 14-day mandatory quarantine for all incoming visitors and residents seems to be having the desired effect; only 268 tourists arrived on 59 flights for the first day of the quarantine. On average there were 27 passengers each. This same day last year it was 30,000 daily passengers. The majority of arrivals (1,321) were returning residents who will also be quarantined for 14-days. Most tourists arrived on Oʻahu, with 11 arriving on Maui and 18 on Hawaiʻi Island.




Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Andreas!