More Avian Ubering

Last night Heidi called me to set up a transport for today; this morning she texted me the information for the paperwork. I picked up 3 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters from Feather & Fur, then took them over to Hawaiian Air Cargo for a 12:30 p.m. drop-off. When I got to Feather & Fur this morning; the Hawai'i Wildlife Center van was there! Which means Alexis was there; she usually starts there then moves to the zoo.

Because of construction in F&F parking lot, additional parking is in alleyway.

It started drizzling while birds were being checked at Ag inspection & continued on the way to HAC.

I made a plain proothie this morning. It had no added fresh vegetable matter, just my basic proothie ingredients. 

For lunch I had a Mikeyʻs Pepperoni Pizza Pocket.

After lunch I spent some time on gathering what I had written for November 2016 (yes, thatʻs 2016) in to a Word document. I had started doing this back in 2013 with the earliest emails for Vivian who did not have a computer. I decided to continue even after I started the blog since I did not know how long the individual pieces would be accessible (without me having to pay for anything). So far those earliest posts are still accessible. Currently I have nearly all of 2016 & half of 2019; I was working on 2019 while I was sitting in Dad's room at Maunalani & had nothing else to do. 

I embed the photos in the text where possible.

In the afternoon Marjorie sent out information on 2 more kūpuna booster clinics on Thursday. I told her to send me where she needed me most. Before the end of the day she replied; I will be going to the Punchbowl Home.

For dinner I had the same thing I did last night. But I put more sauteed broccoli & kale in it tonight.

Later in the evening I got an email from my friend Cliff. He had messaged me on LinkedIn, which I am rarely on; he was lucky I saw his message. I sent him my email address & he sent me an update on what's been going on with him & with some mutual friends. I hope to see him on my next trip back to Washington, whenever that might be.

Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kīlauea volcano is still erupting. It looks like there is a portion just north of the west vent that must be lower than the rest of the drop down block area; the lava seems to flow in that direction.

At 7:24 a.m.

At 4:45 p.m.

At 7:24 a.m.

At 4:45 p.m.

There is a Flood Advisory this afternoon for parts of Hawaiʻi Island. It was extended through the evening; fortunately North Kohala District was not included in the advisory. Even if it was, our house would not be in any danger.

The Aix weather app forecast rain all day for Honolulu. I experienced more intermittent drizzle than rain as I was running the birds around; it stayed that way for the remainder of the day. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast rain all day; becoming heavier along with thunder in the evening; Big Island Now forecast showers in the morning becoming showers with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon with a "near 100%" chance of rain. The Honomū weather station had recorded 0.2 inches of precipitation by 7:16 a.m.: it remained that way for the rest of the day. The news reported the thunderstorms because a man was almost struck by lightning. For Marysville, Aix forecast partly cloudy skies until very late in the evening when it would begin raining. The traffic cams showed a light drizzle in the morning with no evidence of rain in the early evening. I did not check later in the evening.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:15 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:16 a.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 7:17 a.m. HST.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 10:21 a.m.

Nā Koʻolau at 10:27 a.m.

At Ag Inspection looking northerly at 11:35 a.m.

Leaving Hawaiian Air Cargo at 12:05 p.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 1:21 p.m.

Kaimukī looking easterly at 1:27 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:43 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 4:45 p.m. HST.

It looked like there were freezing temperatures on top of Mauna Kea today. Several of the webcams at the Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope had what looked like freezing rain on the lens, the others were socked in. Iʻm pretty sure there was no snow; it would have been on the news if there was any snow. All the screen shots below were taken at 4:46 p.m.

Looking northwesterly

Looking easterly.

Looking southerly.

The waves on north facing shores was below High Surf Advisory levels. West & east facing shores had reasonable waves but the south facing shores were flat.

Laniakea (N) at 7:18 a.m.; a little windy out there.

Hilo Bay (E) at 7:19 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:23 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 7:23 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 4:36 p.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 4:37 p.m.

At 4:40 p.m. the Waikīkī (S) live cam was stuck on this view.

Banyans (W) at 4:41 p.m.

There was a magnitude 6.6 earthquake 6 miles deep at the Izu Islands off Japan. It did not generate a tsunami.

Lt. Governor Green was on Spotlight Hawaiʻi this morning. The interview was mainly about the omicron variant. He feels that we are in a good position with regards to it since our positivity rate is low at 1.39% versus 5.76% on the continent & higher across the world. He said if our rate begins to go up, then there will need to be discussions on mitigation measures. He also said we need to also see what the health effects are of the Omicron variant; so far he has heard that it causes more fatigue & headaches but he has no heard of bad respiratory outcomes. So even if it is more transmissible, if the health impacts are minimal than it will not be worse than Delta. 

The LG said over the next 2 weeks we will know more on what is happening. The State will be watching whether it shows up on the continent; even if it does, it may not show up here. If it does, he said our high vaccination rate will help keep things down. I have mentioned before that viruses are constantly mutating; the LG said typically viruses mutate for 3 to5 years before it has changed enough that the vaccine needs to be changed. However, every time the virus goes through several million people it is more likely to produce a mutation that becomes a concern. This is why it is so important to get as many people as possible vaccinated world wide.

When asked about reinstating the pre-travel testing, the LG said that historically ~8% people did not get tested prior to travel; almost all were local residents who chose to quarantine. He said tourists learned that they couldn't escape the quarantine so they chose not to come. LG Green said he needs to get more current information on the number of fully vaccinated travels & those that are unvaccinated & doing the pre-travel testing.

The bottom line from the LG is, :Be smart, be safe, don't panic."

There were 71 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 87,585. There were no new deaths reported today so the death toll remains at 1018; currently there are 1383 cases considered active. The 7-day new case average for the State is 82 with a positivity rate of 1.4%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 42 with a positivity rate of 1.1%.

As of today 2,320,608 doses of vaccine have been administered, providing 71.1% of the State population with full vaccination and 77% with at least one does. These numbers have been corrected to remove 3rd dose shots from the initial shot statistics. Non-residents who were vaccinated here have also been removed from the statistics, which has lowered the number of people who have been fully vaccinated.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Victoria & Valery!