Lunch With The Bronco Dude

I went to bed early last night; real early, like 8:30 pm! When I got up this morning at my usual hour before sunrise time, I had a scratchy throat and was feeling chilled. And tired. So I skipped the walk and went back to sleep. This post is what happened yesterday.

The Bronco Dude arrived a little after noon; Curtis picked him up from the airport. I met them at Zippy's for a late lunch. Curtis had his usual Chili Burrito with an egg on top, The Bronco Dude had Korean Fried Chicken Salad, without the salad; they were out of greens. And I had the Garlic Rib Steak with a side of broccoli. After lunch I gave The Bronco Dude a ride back to his place.

Chili Burrito; I forgot to take photos of the rest of the food. (Photo by Curtis)

During the drive up I saw The Runner as she was heading down Sierra; later I saw Paul & Bodhi also going down Sierra. During my sunrise walk I saw Lynette & Noe by the park. On my way up Lurline I saw Tina with Massimo, Ink, & Chloe Bacon. While we were talking Kelly drove by.

Seventeen minutes before sunrise on Waiʻalae.

Four minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Fifteen minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

I saw several cats during my walk; starting with Nori. I also saw Jennifer. The Tuxedo Cat meowed at me as I walked by but wouldn't come out of the bushes to greet me; probably because I did not have any food. Then I saw the Wild Cat; I have not seen it in a while.

Nori having breakfast.

Jennifer.

The Tuxedo Cat is under the bush.

The Wild Cat.

I also saw a couple of runners going down Wilhelmina Rise. I think I have seen them in a larger group. I'm not sure where they are from. One of these days I will be close enough I can either read what is on their shirts or actually talk to them.


Dad was eating breakfast in bed when I arrived. He ate half his fried egg sandwich and all of his papaya; he did not eat the banana. He drank 120 ml orange juice but no water.

It was a sunny morning and Dad was soundly asleep so I did my mid-morning walk. As I made my way around the circle I was looking forward to seeing what type of work was being done; but there was no one there. As I was nearing the end of the circle a Hawaiian Electric truck went by. Then another. And another. All total there were 5 HECO trucks that drove by. Now I am really wondering what they are doing up there!

At 6:51 a.m.

At 9:51 a.m.

At 9:53 a.m. The 1st of 5 trucks.

On my way down Sierra I passed Dr. Lothar and Wilts; we stopped and chatted a little. It turns out that Wilts is just renting from Dr. Lothar. The work being done is to stabilize the slope; one of the support posts for the downhill side of the house had shifted due to the creep in the slope. I hope it helps to stabilize the slope; the house that Suzette is in is right below them! I wonder if plants have been incorporated in to the design? I wonder if they considered doing a soil bioengineered wall? We used these a lot when working near streams and wetlands to provide both stabilization and vegetative cover. And they were also somewhat self-repairing, unlike stone walls.

I got a great view of the work they are doing on the roof of the kitchen & staff break room wing of the building. They had started removing the topmost roof layer which was metal; you can easily see the elaborate skip sheathing that was on top of the old roof and supporting the metal panels. On my mid-morning walk I could see that they had been removing the skip sheathing, then the layer of what appeared to be hot tar. In the sections where they were down to the base they had covered it with roofing paper. As I left I saw that all the skip sheathing had been removed.

At 7:47 a.m.

Over view of the project area.

At 9:46 a.m., at the start of my mid-morning walk.

At 10:27 a.m., at the end of my mid-morning walk.

At 1:26 p.m.

I saw several birds during my walks yesterday; 2 of them using the same perch but at different times of the day. During my sunrise walk I saw the Saffron Finch on the same truck where I saw it the day before. Then during my mid-morning walk it was replaced by a Cattle Egret! There was also a Cattle Egret on the top of the light fixture, watching a landscaper getting ready to weed whack and generate potential food morsels!

Saffron Finch at sunrise.

Cattle Egret at mid-morning.

Cattle Egret watching landscaper.

I also checked on the hāpuʻu and palapalai; they seem to be doing well. The new frond is now as tall as the others; just have to see if it unfurls properly.



Lunch was Kālua pork with cabbage (4g), Steamed rice, Garden salad (3g), Bread pudding, and Chicken Gumbo Soup (17g); I skipped lunch since I knew I would be meeting Curtis & The Bronco Dude for lunch later. Before I left to meet them, Dad had eaten all his 1/2 peanut butter & banana sandwich but no dessert. He drank 240 ml orange juice but no water.

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi class in the afternoon because of the timing for lunch with The Bronco Dude. But I wasn't worried about it because they have the videos on the KTUH Facebook page as well as all the slides posted on-line. But I did call ʻAnakē Healani to let her know that I might not be there; or I tried to. I got a pre-recorded message saying the number had been disconnected! I'm not sure what's going on. After dropping off The Bronco Dude I had about 30 minutes left to get up to campus, find a parking spot, and walk to class. All total it would have taken about 30 minutes,  so I skipped being in class in-person today.

Belated Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Dr. Mimms, Marilyn, & John!