My Summer Vacation: Gecko Day

I spent most of the day trying to get better photos of all the geckos I have seen so far. As I mentioned yesterday, Gecko #2 is Martin, now known as Martina. She came for the peanut butter several times today and I was able to see the rectangular red blotch on the right side of her back. But I could not get a really good photo; she is now very flighty when I point the phone in her direction. As I mentioned yesterday, the flash seems to bother them. She did come in when I was out hanging the laundry and ate all the peanut butter on the plastic knife which had been set up on the top tier of the carousel. I later set up a knife with peanut butter on the table top near me so I can get a better look at her when she comes to eat.

Martina.

She snuck up to check what I might have left on the napkin.

She thinks she's found something.

Here's what she's really after!

She must need all those calories to help her 2 eggs develop.

She already got the other peanut butter earlier in the morning!

I also saw Gecko #1 go cross the floor and go under the fridge again today. And I got a better look at Gecko #6, I think it is a female. And I think Gecko #5 is a male and they are a pair whose territory is the window above the washing machine. I saw 2 geckos on the east wall of the garage, but both were very flighty so I did not even get a good look at them regardless of getting a photo.

Gecko #1.

Gecko #6 (top) and #5 on the window over the washer.

Gecko #5.

Gecko #6.

I was up really early this morning; like really early. The moon was shining in my room and lighting everything up at 3 this morning! Fortunately, it was not bright enough to fool the Saffron Finch in to thinking it was morning. It waited until its usual time to wake me up.

3 am.

The moon at 3 am.


Birdrise twenty-two minutes before sunrise.

Time to get up!

After I set the limes out this morning, I looked in the mirror to see if there were any cats around. There were none.

I also walked around and checked out the plants again. There were a bunch of small red mountain apples on the ground. And I saw a few in the upper branches of the tree also. I think they might ripen before the Obon weekend so I will probably miss them.

The small lychee are growing really well. I hope I am here to pick some when they are ripe.

The popcorn orchid is still going strong.

The ʻolena is coming up throughout that area, so it was perhaps going through its dormant phase. I will have to keep track of when it is leafed out and when it is dormant.

One of the red ginger infloresences has opened up a little more. Hopefully it will bloom before I leave. The other is still quite small and tightly closed.

One of the hāpuʻu keiki actually looks like there are 3 viable plants sprouting at different points along the piece of trunk that I was able to salvage. The other appears to have 2 growing points.

The mountain apple seedling looks like it is doing very well. It is about 6" tall now.

After I got back in, I set up the plastic peanut butter knife on the table, within my sightline when I am working on my laptop. Then I could easily see if Martina came for the peanut butter, though I might not be able to get a photo of her.

After I brought the limes back on to the porch for the evening, I filled up the cat food bowl and called the cats. It took a couple minutes for Wiley to show up, but once s/he did, s/he ate all the food, looking up a few times when s/he thought s/he heard something nearby. No other cats showed up for food tonight. Wiley spent about 10 minutes eating.

You can see the back of Wiley's head in the mirror!

When I got back to the kitchen, I saw a gecko running to the opposite end of the table & disappear over the edge. I wasn't sure who it was, but then I saw that almost all the peanut butter was gone! I was now sure it was Martina that I saw!

There were 2 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total to 655. One case was on Oʻahu and the other was diagnosed in a resident who is currently outside of the state. (The CDC reports cases based on the state of residence of the patient.) A little over 93% of people who had tested positive have been released from isolation.