Hauʻoli lā Hānau e DT!

Today was DT's 30th birthday. Curtis & Lori brought over some birthday goodies for him including a tray of chocolate dipped strawberries, pineapple, and bananas. There was also a chocolate owl in the tray. Then they took him out to dinner along with The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes and The Potential Most Favorite Roommate; that makes 5, the limit for restaurant dining in Tier 1. They were going to bring something back for me but I had already eaten a couple hours earlier and was still quite full. (I am usually too hungry to wait to eat that late at night.)

Blowing out the candles, COVID-19-style!

It poured last late last night. The planting trough was overflowing with rainwater and there was a small stream flowing along the concrete in the cat run to a small pond forming in the grassy area of the cat run. The rain usually only covers the darker area to the left in the photo, last night it was flowing across about 2/3 of the width of the cat run!

The downpour dampened the party that the neighbors in the back were having for about half an hour. But they were back at it again when it stopped; there were way more than 5 people and they were very loud. When I tried to go to sleep I could still hear them even with all the double-glazed windows in my bedroom closed! They were partying well past 1 am! I am tempted to call 911 the next time they are partying after 11 pm so I can get enough sleep. I was unable to wake up for my walk this morning. And I had to take a nap later in the day because I was so tired.

The Potential Most Favorite Roommate went to McDonald's for breakfast again. He brought back 2 sausage burritos for me; so I had 1 for breakfast and the other for lunch. I found out last time that eating 2 for one meal was too many calories. He also brought back a breakfast for The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes; he was in his Zoom Japanese  class so his breakfast was safely waiting in the microwave.

Breakfast for The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes.

My yoga mat arrived today! The box was intact; it was the only thing in there. I later left the box out to see if the cats wanted to play with it; they aren't as in to boxes as some of my other cats were.

This box stayed sealed.

Luna was the first to spot the box.

When Keala showed up, Luna decided to leave.

She decided looking from the outside was all she wanted to do.

S'mores shows up to check it out.

Hey, what are you doing to my box!

What was she checking out?

B-O-R-I-N-G ...

The impatiens had a new bloom this morning! I think it is going to do well where I planted it. The nasturtiums are interesting; one is thriving, one is struggling, and the third is starting to put on some spindly growth. I think it might be the moisture level in the soil. The trough is automatically watered for 3 minutes every 2 hours; that might be too much for the nasturtiums. The one that is doing the best only gets water from 1 emitter, the one that is spindly has water from 3 emitters, and the one that is struggling has water from 5 emitters. Tomorrow I will adjust the timer to the next lowest amount of water.

First new bloom on the impatiens.

Thriving.

Spindly new growth.

Struggling.

I picked up our second CSA box today; this time I took the items out of the box and left it at Whole Foods. At the customer service desk they said if I took the box out to the tables outside it would be easier to unpack because there was more room; they also told me to leave the empty box out there and they would pick it up later.

I unloaded it in the Whole Foods courtyard.

Here's what we got today.

For now I only washed up the sassy salad and baby red Russian kale. For dinner I had salad topped with chicken & beef fajita meat and bacon bits. I forgot I was out of hard-boiled eggs; I'll have to boil some up later.

Lori made 2 more masks for me; I initially told her to give them to someone else who did not have as many since I have about 8 that I rotate through. But she made these specifically with a pocket for a filter so I took them. I like the patterns, too!

The orchid is still doing well. The blossoms have continued to look well even with temperatures in the mid-80's in the house; it's in a room that only has a ceiling fan and no air conditioning. It is out of direct sunlight so that helps. It mist the leaves and roots most evenings.

According to my Duolingo weekly report I spent a little over 8 hours practicing ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. It also said in that time I completed 92 lessons and reviewed 193 words. I know I am able to recognize more words when I listen to songs and hear ads in Hawaiian.

I was watching a local show called Kūpuna Power: Follow Your Vote Election 2020. It was very interesting; we are an all-mail-in state but this is the first Presidential election since we switched. The show followed the process of registering to vote, ballots being mailed to registered voters, collecting the ballots, chain of custody, and poll workers before & during election night. One of my old bosses was a featured speaker! I worked for Dennis when I was getting my undergaraduate degree at UH; I searched for monographs on Pacific Ocean flora & fauna and entered them in to the Hawai'i Coastal Zone Database (HCZDB). I was also tested out the canned programs he wrote for researchers around the Pacific to be able to search and use the HCZDB; I had 1 semester of FORTRAN which is what most researchers he worked with had. (I can't find the complete show that has Dennis in it.)

Is this more karma? Notorioua RBG specifically said she did not want her replacement picked until after the election. Wisconsin Senator Johnson as well as former NJ Governor Chris Christie
have both tested positive; Johnson is no spring chicken and Christie has severe asthma. I hope they will be okay.

There were 133 new COVID-19 cases today, for a total of 12,734 known cases. There were 11 deaths reported; the previous uncounted cases from Hilo are starting to come in, bringing the death toll to 153. There are no 2166 active cases. Oʻahu has a 7-day average of 87 new cases with a 3.5% positivity rate.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau ho'i e Fran & Michele!