My Summer Vacation: Oh, Oh ...

After lunch I got a call from Jessie; she had just gotten a call from a family friend who had visited with her on Monday. Their daughter, who also visited with them, tested positive for COVID-19! With Jessie's asthma & age it could be bad for her. She asked me to come over & help her with the COVID-19 tests that I had gotten for her earlier in the year. I put on a mask & sat with her while she self-administered the test & we waited for the results. (It's a good thing I had all that practice explaining to people how to do the self-swab!) After 15 minutes of waiting she was negative! I am glad I got the tests for her; it has put her mind at ease knowing that she is negative. It will also be a relief to her visitors.

Jessie's negative test.

By the way, if you have not gotten your free COVID-19 tests from the Federal government, here is the link to order 2 sets of tests for your household. If you already ordered a set of tests earlier in the year, guess what! A lot of other people did not, so you can order another set of test kits by going to the previous link. I ordered another set of tests for both Jessie & me. You can also order for a household that does not have a computer or internet access; just make sure the order is in their name & sent to their address.

The cats had a brief morning feeding today; I left the house around 7:30 a.m. Even though I was only out there twice, I gave them about 4 scoops just before I left.

Mom Cat (front) & Olomea waiting for breakfast in sleeping box at 6:58 a.m.

Hahai down at the end of the ramp at 6:58 a.m.

Everyone disappeared when I opened the door at 7 a.m.

But (front to back) Holoi, Hahai, & Olomea came back for the 7:15 a.m. feeding.

The reason? I transported an ʻAlae Kea (Hawaiian Coot, Fulica alai) to the airport. This endemic bird is fully recuperated & returning to Oʻahu to be released in the marsh where it was originally rescued from. I'm glad Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center was able to help this bird make a full recovery; this is an endangered species.

ʻAlae kea (Hawaiian Coot, Fulica alai).

As I passed through Hāwī on the way to the airport there was some excitement just past Bamboo Restaurant & Gallery. I know on Saturdays there is someone set up by Bamboo as part of the farmers market & there are other stalls just beyond it. I wonder if someone stumbled while looking at things?

Afte I dropped the ʻAlae Kea off at the airport, I stopped by Island Naturals to sign up for their Rewards program; I also wanted to see if they had any natural products to keep fleas away. Since I can't put any medications or collars on the cats right now I wanted something I could spray the sleeping box & the porch with to reduce any flea population that might be starting there. They did not have anything. I did get a glass filter pitcher though; I have been wanting to take the cold water that I keep in the fridge out of its current plastic bottle & put it in a glass container. Hulō!

I also checked HPM for flea control items but found nothing there either. I also could not find any earthquake-proofing materials.

At Target I picked up a mattress cover for the bed in the front bedroom & checked out things to help me organize various things around the kitchen. I also found a flea spray for bedding & surrounding areas & also a product called Kitty Chill; supposedly it is a "Relaxing Catnip Blend". It has chamomile in it; I have never heard that chamomile had a relaxing affect on cats like it supposedly has on humans. We shall see.

So many choices! But only 1 was the right size.

Kitchen organization options.

Organization options for kitchen or bathroom.

Not sure if I would use this, seems like things would slide off if shaken.

This is OK for cats; the dog one was in back of these.

Interested to see how this works.

Just after lunch I looked out the bedroom window to see Holoi & Olomea soaking up the heat from the concrete pad at the end of the ramp. Mom Cat was headed back to Jessie's.

Holoi (front) & Olomea already looking pretty chill.

After lunch I reorganized the kitchen drawers with the dividers I had picked up at Target. I had taken measurements of the drawers with me so I knew these would fit. I need to get measurements of the cabinets before I buy the other organizers.

Before.

After; the adjustable bamboo drawer organizer looks like it was built in!

Before.

After; not as cool looking as the bamboo but still better than before.

For dinner I heated up the leftovers from last night. FYI I do not eat the big chunk of fat.

The evening feeding was a more normal one for the cats. I did not see anyone in the sleeping box before I started the feeding but they usually are not around during the day after the morning feeding; they tend to go back to Jessie's house.

Olomea (front) & Holoi at 5 p.m.

Olomea (L) & Holoi at 5:16 p.m.

Holoi (L) & Olomea at 5:31 p.m.

Holoi (L) & Olomea at 5:47 p.m.; they have inched a little closer.

Mom Cat showed up as soon as the door closed at 5:47 p.m.

Holoi ignoring me at 6:01 p.m.

Holoi (L) gets braver at 6:15 as Olomea decides to stay a little farther.

After dinner I did some online searching for things to help stabilize furniture; I found a lot of items to keep stuff from toppling over on to toddlers with a couple of them even suggesting they could be used for earthquake proofing. But the best was finding the Quake Hold! products. I had forgotten the brand name so I have been unable to ask the folks at Sunshine & HPM about it; now I have the information! I have used the Quake Hold! Museum Putty & Museum Gel for objects like planters & vases but never tried the furniture straps since I was not in an area that was as seismically active as Hawaiʻi Island. I will have to order some; in the meanwhile I will improvise things for the house. Or may be I should visit the local Lowe's; that's where I found the other Quake Hold! products when I was in Washington. There is a Lowe's in Kona.

After dinner I began to unbox the glass filter pitcher & discovered it is not glass! Auē! No where on the box did it say it was glass, but it also did not say it was BPA-free so I thought it was not plastic. My bad. I now have 7 days to return it. I guess I could return it in the next week & also go to Lowe's & pick up earthquake straps!

I'm a sucker for a good cause!

It only says the filter is made of renewable materials; nothing about the pitcher.

Still nothing about the pitcher material.

Kīlauea volcano is still actively erupting. There is still a little snow on Mauna Kea.

The weather here in the north end of the isand vacillated between clear & drizzly all day. In Kona it was sunny during the time I was there. It was apparently sunny in Honolulu today.