Oh, Oh ...

Tonight DT started to feel ill; he had a low grade fever & lots of coughing. He used a QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Test; it was negative. He will test again in 3 days. In the meanwhile he is quarantining in his room; if he has to come out for anything (like the bathroom) he wears his mask. I am glad that I have continued to spray Microban on the kitchen food prep counter & wipe down the other commonly used kitchen surfaces like the refrigerator handles & microwave touch pad even though we are all fully vaccinated; this is the area where there is the most overlap in out household. FYI DT is a teacher at a private school where there are a not insignificant number of parents who are not vaccinated; he also teaches band so those kids are blowing stuff all over the place all the time!

DT's negative rapid test. (Photo by DT)

I washed up one of the bags of beets I found in the other refrigerator for my proothie this morning. I used the 3 smallest beets, each less than the size of a ping pong ball; the smallest one was the size of a large marble.

The Potential Most Favorite Roommate was home again today. He went to see his doctor at Kaiser to see if it was only the gout medication that was affecting him; he said it usually doesn't make him nauseous. The doctor did ask him about stress at work. He also got his flu shot & the COVID-19 booster; he works in a high exposure job as a teller at a credit union.

I made another batch of ice cubes this morning. It takes 7 minutes for the ice cube maker to produce 9 "large" ice cubes. In order to get more exercise, I do not sit in the kitchen waiting for the next batch of cubes, nor do I let the receiving bin completely fill up before emptying it in to the bin that goes in the freezer. Instead, I set the timer on my phone for 7 minutes, sit in the computer room working on things; when it beeps I go out to retrieve the latest batch of ice cubes & put them in the freezer. I logged about 1.3 miles over a 3.75 hour period by doing it this way; I burned about 35 calories. Burning calories is more of a priority right now than being more efficient with my time. 

A "large" ice cube.

For lunch I made more tempeh bacon & sharp cheddar quesadillas. I added a little Tajin this time; it improves the taste.

Since he was home & feeling well enough, the Potential Most Favorite Roommate took Luna in to Purradise Cat Care this afternoon. This was her post-operation check-up to make sure she is healing well. Dr. Lau originally called me since my name was still on the file; I had her call him since he was available today. Dr. Lau says Luna is doing great! And the new anti-anxiety medication (alprazolam) they are now giving her before her visits is working very well to make her more manageable. Before they used to have to put all kinds of warnings up so the staff would not get scratched or bitten!

Luna needs half a pill an hour before her appointment.

In the meanwhile, I made a quick run to Kokua Market; I was going to do that if I had taken Luna in since owners have to wait in the car now & can't go upstairs with the cat. I got some Cashew Crusted Cauliflower & a non-dairy yogurt. The Potential Most Favorite Roommate asked me to pick up some bread while I was there; his doctor recommended he eat a bland diet for a day or so to settle his stomach. I got a loaf of take-&-bake bread from The Essential Baking Company; it was about the only bread they had, other than frozen loaves. I got a loaf of sourdough bread. It was excellent! I also got some local honey that was collected by bees about 2&1/2 miles from here.

The take-and-bake loaves apparently have a 6-month shelf life.

After 12 minutes in the oven.

 

For dinner I had the Kokua Market deli items I had picked up on Friday & Saturday.

A couple hours after she ate her dinner, Luna puked it all up. She had done a similar thing a couple nights ago but did it immediately after she ate. The Roommates thought it was because she was eating too fast; when the regulated the amount she ate at one time, she did not vomit. We're not sure what's happening this time since it was so long after she ate; they will be keeping an eye on her.

Luna pukes up some more while S'mores looks on in dismay.

Today I decided to see how much the two-toed sloths, Harriet & her baby Pono, moved around. I figured I would not see any movement during the day since sloths are nocturnal. But even last night when I clicked on to the web cam Harriet was outside for about 5 minutes then made her way back to the nest box just after 8 p.m. Then they stayed there for the rest of the evening. Today the most movement I saw during the daylight hours was a Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) that flew in to the enclosure, perched briefly, then flew off.

Sloth Cam #1: Harriet in the nest box.

Sloth Cam #2: Red-whiskered Bulbul checking for leftovers in the food tray.

At about 2:45 p.m. I saw some movement! But it wasn't Harriet; there are apparently at least 2 other sloths in the same enclosure. Sloth #2 was climbing in to the hammock above Harriet's nest box. 

Then at about 4:30 p.m. one of the sloths in the hammock became much more active & started to move around a bit; I'm still referring to this one as Sloth #2. At one point its movement apparently annoyed Harriet, she poked her head out briefly. FYI It was during this 1&1/2 hour flurry of sloth activity that I spotted Sloth #3 in the hammock. The activity was broken up into 2 portions so it may have been a different sloth being active during each period.

4:34 p.m;.

4:36 p.m.

4:37 p.m

4:39 p.m.

4:40 p.m.

4:47 p.m.

4:48 p.m.

4:50 p.m.

5:10 p.m.

5:23 p.m.

5:44 p.m.

5:46 p.m.

5:48 p.m.

5:50 p.m.

5:51 p.m.

5:53 p.m.

About 6:10 p.m. the cameras switched to infrared mode; the photos became "black & white". About 6:30 p.m. Harriet stuck her head out of the nest box. She stayed still so long I thought the camera feed had frozen up, but then she stuck her tongue out several times. 

6:11 p.m.

6:32 p.m.

6:39 p.m.

6:41 p.m.

6:45 p.m.

After about 15 minutes Harriet made her way to the food tray in the enclosure; it took her about 10 minutes to get there. She stayed there for a while; once again it looked like the live feed had frozen but it was working. I did not pay much attention to it. And I did not see Sloth #2 or Sloth #3 during this time. 

6:46 p.m.

6:47 p.m.

6:48 p.m.

6:49 p.m.; heading for the food tray.

6:53 p.m.

7:24 p.m.

When I checked again at about 9:15 p.m. the live feed really was frozen. After I restarted it I could find  either Harriet nor any of the other sloths. I did not check after that because that was about the time DT announced that he was not feeling well so my attention was focused elsewhere. 

9:14 p.m.

9:14 p.m.

More of the excitement that is part of living in a rural area: a man was arrested yesterday while making his getaway on a lawn mower. To watch the video click here. 

In case you are wondering, here are the top 5 Hawaiʻi Island stories for today from Big Island Now. The ʻŌhiʻa Love Festival is free & runs from November 3rd through 5th; it highlights the ʻōhiʻa forest ecosystem.

The video below of the eruption at Kīlauea summit was taken a couple days ago but was just posted today. There is no voice over, it just shows a close-up of the one vent that is currently active.

8:24 a.m.

4:53 p.m.

8:24 a.m.

4:53 p.m.

 

 

The Aix weather app forecast rain in the early morning in Honolulu, then partly cloudy skies for the rest of the day; there was just a light drizzle in the morning. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast rain until the midafternoon when it became a drizzle for  few hours, returning to rain in the vening. Big Island Now forecast scattered showers in the morning turning to isolated showers in the afternoon with a 40% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station recorded no precipitation for the day. For Marysville, Aix forecast rain all day getting progressively heavier as the day wore on. The traffic cam did not support that.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 8:16 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 8:16 a.m.

Nā Koʻolau at 2:47 p.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 4:46 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:46 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 4:46 p.m. HST.

The north facing shores continue to have the biggest surf, with west faing shores having the next best waves.

Laniakea (N) at 8:18 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 8:19 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 8:22 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 8:22 a.m.

Laniakea (N) 4:47 p.m.

Hilo Bay (E) 4:49 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:51 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 4:52 p.m.

There were 74 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, raising the total known cases to 83,522; this number is from Sunday when there are less tests done so it is artificially lower. There were no new deaths reported so the number of fatalities remains at 888; currently there are 1679 cases considered active. As of yesterday, 2,152,849 doses of vaccine have been administered providing 71% of the population with full vaccination and 79.7% with at least one dose. The 7-day new case count for Oʻahu is 69 with a positivity rate of 2.1%.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Chris & Prime!