That Can't Be Right

This was what I got in my email this morning; I was pretty sure it was wrong. That sharp a drop for no reason would be amazing, especially since the previous day's positivity rate was 1.5%. If the 8 new cases was correct that would mean either there were only 533 tests that were done on Thursday or the positivity rate had dropped dramatically to 0.1%. See the end of this post for what was really going on.

Almost immediately after I walked out of my bedroom, Luna tried to sneak in. I keep the door ajar so there is some airflow with a grate across to keep the cats out. But Luna likes to push the grate aside; so I booby trapped it. I balanced an empty plastic jar on the grate. When she pushed it this morning the plastic jar fell & startled her! She jumped backwards & almost did a flip against the wall. I don't think she'll try that again any time soon.

Luna checking out the door.

Luna jumps out of the way of the plastic jar.

It's a Feast Day! I made a banana proothie with a frozen banana from August. I had followed the advice of my friend Charlie (from yesterday's post) & had peeled the banana before I froze it. While it takes more prep time to freeze it, getting it ready to use is very quick & neat; unlike trying to peel a frozen banana which is very messy, time consuming, & pretty near impossible to remove all the peel completely. Mahalo e Charlie!

I really like the color of the "flowers" on The Potential Most Favorite Roommate's bougainvillea. It is a variety called Miss Manilla. The "flowers" are actually colored bracts surrounding the tiny white true flower in the center. The bracts start out a peach color, as the bracts age they fade to pink. It is tempting me to consider adding a non-native, non-food-producing plant to the yard in Kohala.

Kinds hard to see the colors in the bright sunlight.

For lunch it ate junk food; The Potential Most Favorite Roommate had brought home some leftover Napples from work. I warmed up an apple Napple and had it for lunch. But forgot to take a photo of it. But here's some nutritional data from Napoleon's Bakery. One apple Napple has 420 calories, 25g fat, 47g carbs, & 3g protein.

For dinner I air fried a piece of salmon; it took about 15 minutes & made less of a mess to clean up. It also did not heat up the house like the oven would have. I also had the last of the Cashew-crusted Cauilflower along with the last of the Sauteed Kale & Won Bok.

The Volcano Blog this week was about the use of 3D-printed electronics to help monitor volcanic activity. 

There is still snow on Mauna Kea; but it's not new snow. The temperature at the summit must be below freezing since its not melting off during the day. It looks like there is a morning crew at the Subaru Telescope as well as one that comes in about 4:30 p.m. for the evening. 

At 2:30 p.m.; roads & parking lot plowed.

At 4:42 p.m.; 2 additional cars have arrived.

At 5:10 p.m.; the cars that had been there during the day have left.

At 6:26 p.m.

I forgot to get a screen shot of the Aix weather app again. The skies in Honolulu were partly cloudy. For Kapaʻau, Big Island Now forecast partly sunny & scattered showers with a 50% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station showed partly cloudy skies & recorded no precipitation for the day. In Marysville, the traffic cam showed dry roadways.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 9:16 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 9:16 a.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 9:19 a.m. HST.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 9:21 a.m.

Kainukī looking westerly at 1:16 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 5:49 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 5:52 p.m. HST.

Surf conditions along north facing shorelines appeared to be the best for today.

Laniakea (N) at 9:20 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 9:21 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 9:23 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 9:26 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 4:08 p.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 4:08 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:10 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 4:13 p.m.

There were 189 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total know cases up to 89,014. There were also 8 new deaths reported; that's what the 9:30 a.m. email was supposed to have said instead of "cases." The headline was corrected about an hour later. With the new deaths, the number of fatalities increases to 1053; currently there are 1400 cases considered active. The 7-day new case average for the State is 108 with a positivity rate of 1.6%; this breaks a 16-day streak of new case averages below 100. Hopefully, this does not continue & be accompanied by a rise in hospital admissions, which is currently at 40 cases with 8 in the ICU & 4 on ventilators. The 7-day Oʻahu new case average is 75 with a positivity rate of 1.8%. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e John, Dina, Carlo, & Seth!