Mahalo e Darla!

This morning Kaia wrote a thank you note to Darla for the delicious blackberry jam that she has been enjoying for breakfast, as well as lunch and dinner! She also drew a picture for Darla (which I neglected to get a photo of). She was very proud of herself.

The Saffron Finch woke me up at 5:31 a.m.; sunrise was really at 5:47 a.m.

Birdrise, 16 minutes before sunrise.

I got out of bed 28 minutes after sunrise.

This is the 1st day of the yoga retreat that Sarah & Leah have come here for; I am also alone with Kaia. For the next 4 days, sort of. Sarah might be back one of the evenings. I started out today figuring out what I had to do for the day and what things I definitely needed to do before focusing on fun things with Kaia. By the way, after Kaia wrote her thank you note to Darla, we added a trip to the post office to the list of things to do.

One of the 1st things Kaia wanted to do when she woke up was check if Wiley was waiting for someone to come out and feed her. She was! Wiley came up to eat about 2 minutes after Kaia put the food in the bowl.

Waiting for Kaia.

Wiley didnʻt move very far away when Kaia went out to the bowl.

We also put out food for the gecko. From past experience I have found they like soft fruit. It also seems they like fairly sweet fruit since this one went after the eggfruit, which is not pulpy like guava.

I put it on a small lid; I invert the container to put it in refrigerator at night.

 

After breakfast we ran our errands. The first thing we did was mail the letter to Darla since the post office is at the bottom of the hill.

Patiently waiting to get to the counter; I had some other post office business to do.

Then we went to Takata Store to buy the ingredients to make the ice cream.

Wiley was waiting for us when we got back so I let Kaia feed her again.

The gecko also came by to get more food. I was also able to get a good photo of this gecko's back. This female is definitely not Martina, the red blob on the right side of this gecko's hip has a small blip above the larger blob. Martina has just one large blob.

The calcium sacs are visible just behind this gecko's head.

 

When we got back we started the ice cream. Unfortunately, even though the freezer bowl was in the freezer over night, it apparently wasn't in long enough; I used to just store it in my freezer so it was always ready. I put the bowl back in the freezer; we'll wait a couple of days before we try again. Then after that I will keep it in the freezer again.

The ingredients.

The ice cream maker.

The pre-ice cream mix.

The unsuccessful attempt on its way to the refrigerator.

After we got the ice cream started, I made lunch for us. Kaia wanted to have the bacon we picked up at Takata, so we had breakfast for lunch!

The base for a good local breakfast.

Ta-da!!!

I made a very surprising discovery in the afternoon, Wiley has a kitten! I saw her lying in Jessie's backyard, then all of a sudden a very small kitten with tuxedo markings came darting out from under Jessie's house. It is the size that the kitten that was killed by the dogs last week would be. Now a number of things make sense; especially why the kitten was here on my side of the fence rather than on the other side of Jessie's yard and why I kept seeing Wiley near the end of the driveway. Wiley ended up leading the kitten over to the clump of trees and shrubs on the other side of Jessie's back yard.

They eventually disappeared in the trees & shrubs in the upper left of the photo.

 

Hereʻs what our list looked like at the end of the day. I let Kaia hold on to the list and cross things off, that way she can feel like she has some control over what we are doing for the day.

We also did item #1 even though it was not crossed off.

I got an IM from Kai in the early evening, he asked me for a bunch of information for a job application! He needed 5 years worth info on his housing & employment. He also needed his Social Security card & his Selective Service card; which I didn't have. And even if I did, they would be in an unknown box here. What's the job? It would be working for the post office driving mail from a sorting facility to a bunch of post offices on Whidbey Island. FYI I suggested he find a place to save all the information I gave him today; he thought that was a good idea.

This morning I sent Darla the photo of Kaia with the thank you note. She sent me back a couple of photos of the Paige wetland mitigation site she was at on Little Bear Creek. I had taken over this site from a previous wetland mitigation biologist & oversaw the planting. I was in the middle of a 10-year monitoring plan when I left. Darla is wrapping up that plan now.

The snag was one we installed as part of the mitigation. (Photo by Darla)

There was a bridge here that was removed as part of the mitigation. (Photo by Darla)

The beaver foraging here is a positive sign. (Photo by Darla)

The Aix weather app forecast rain in Honolulu until the early afternoon; I have no idea if that's what happened. It basically forecast the same thing here; ot was occasionally overcast but we never had any drizzle today.

I read an article about the Aeʻo and taro farmers. Apparently the expansion of taro farming can increase habitat for the Aeʻo (Hawaiian Black-Necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). Hulō!

There were 47 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 33,367. There was also 1 new death reported, bringing the death toll up to 489; currently there are 1195 cases considered active. The 7-day average of new cases on Oʻahu is 60 with a 2.1% positivity rate. 

Hauʻoli lā Hãnau e Darla! Yes, it's also Darla's birthday today! Boy, will she be surprised to find that card Kaia sent her is a thank you note and not a birthday greeting! (I also texted Darla the photo that opened this post along with a birthday greeting.)