Rats!, Part 2

Rudy & Braxton with Terminix came by this morning to do another check for rats in the attic; I heard noises from the attic a week ago, about 4 days after Brannon was here. They found an area at the corner of the roof where the flashing was loose and it appeared that perhaps the rats were trying to enlarge the opening so they could get in. They also walked through the attic area, looking for active signs of rats; they found none.

There is a small gap under the flashing.

Braxton fills the gap.

Braxton goes up in to attic to look for fresh signs of rats.

Rudy helps Braxton check for signs of rats.

While Rudy & Braxton were walking around the outside of the house checking for signs of rats entering the house; I closed off the cat door while they were in the cat run. This time it was Luna who was watching them while they were checking out the cat run.

Luna watches Braxton walk by.

I was awakened at around 5 this morning by my phone dinging; it was Kai. He was wondering if I could identify a bird for him. It was a Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus). 

Early this morning I also got an email from Alamo telling me I was eligible for a free upgrade on my rental car! I decided to see if may be they got more cars for July; they did not. I checked the fine print, then looked later in the year. Turns out no cars are available until the last week of October.

That pesky fine print.

This is for October 15th through 22nd.

I had a beet stem proothie this morning. It was less leafy and redder than usual. But still tasty. 

I also had a phone call with Karen & David this morning. Karen had texted me last night saying they were going to Tomiko's wedding, had an extra bed at their Air BnB, & could pick me up at the airport. Winner! So it looks like I will fly in to Seattle, drop off my large bag at Kai's. Then Kai & I would fly to Salt Lake City, most likely on Friday with overnight bags. Then leave on Monday with transportation from & to by Karen & David. We would also stay at their Air BnB for the weekend.

Most of the cats were in their usual morning spots today. But Luna was out in the cat run first thing in the morning.

Keala in her normal spot.

Luna was out in the cat run.

S'mores in her usual place.

I have been helping my friend Charlie look for his friend Art whom he had last heard from in 2017. Art used to live on Hawaiʻi Island so Charlie asked for my help looking for Art in the Keaʻau area where Charlie had last known him to be. Since I might be in Keaʻau in the next couple of weeks I started tracking Art down through the information that Charlie gave me. I found that Art's house had sold in November 2020 & he had last used his post office box in 2020. Since that was all I could find, I then tried to see if I could find a death certificate. Which is easier said than done in this pandemic time; I left a message at the State Department of Health Vital Statistics & was waiting to hear back from them. Charlie emailed me today to say that he had been able to contact Art's sister and received a call from Art this morning. Yay! A positive outcome!

About noon I got verification from Kai that he was approved for time off for Obon. Which means he arrives in about a week ... yah, procrastination. I made his reservation as soon as possible. He'll arrive in Kona next Thursday & stay for about 2 weeks. In return, he needs to bring back omiyage for his co-workers who will be covering his route while he is gone.

I saw a pair of Spotted Doves (Spilopelia chinensis) sauntering along the edge of the neighbor's roof, heading towards the back yard. I had been seeing them for several days in a row doing the same thing and was curious about what their daily routine was. They flew down to our back patio. I peaked out the back door window and found they were drinking water coming out of the air conditioner compressor.

The Aix weather app forecast rain in the early morning in Honolulu, then partly cloudy for the remainder of the day. There was no rain in the morning or for any part of the day. For Kapaʻau, it forecast rain for most of the day, but photos from Hawaiʻi Island didnʻt seem to support that. In Marysville it forecast no rain and temperatures up to the mid-80's; it's nice to see that the temperature is going back down to the more normal range.

Honolulu at 8:08 a.m., about 0.6 mile from the house.

Waikoloa at 8:08 a.m.

CFHT at 8:08 a.m.

Honomu at 8:10 a.m.

Hilo Bay at 8:13 a.m.

Marysville at 8:13 a.m. HST.

Honolulu at 1:36 p.m.

Waikoloa at 1:37 p.m.

CFHT at 1:38 p.m.

Honomu at 1:38 p.m.

Hilo Bay at 1:39 p.m.

Marysville at 1:30 p.m. HST.

There was a magnitude 4.6 earthquake about 50 miles below the surface 65 miles north of Homer, AK. It did not create a tsunami.

There were 56 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 37,758. There was also 1 new death reported, raising the death toll to 517; currently there are 569 cases considered active. There are now 1,682,432 doses of vaccine that have been administered; 57.9% of the population has now been fully vaccinated and 62.5% have received at least one dose. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 27 with a 1.5% positivity rate.