What Are They Doing Back There?

There was some activity with the backhoe on the lot above Jessie. But not much. I heard them starting it up & moving what looked like hollow concrete block. I have no idea what they are doing back there though I think it might have something to do with the crossing since they are not gone for very long whenever they do come to move the backhoe. 

They start up the backhow & begin maneuvering it around.

The forks were added to the front loader.

Looks like a pallet of hollow concrete blocks.

They return a very short while later without the pallet.

It began to drizzle as they left.

I think they are following the path along the yellow line to the crossing.

I made another plain proothie this morning; I forgot to wash the dinosaur kale last night.  

There was still food leftover from last night when I went to feed the cats this morning but Hahai came in when she heard the door open when I went to check. Later, when I turned on the Roomba, she left & did not come back for the rest of the morning feeding. No one else did either; I was a little late so I am wondering if Jessie had fed them already so they were full.

At 7:02 a.m. when I looked out the door.

Hahai at 7:17 a.m.

At 7:30 a.m.; Hahai did not touch the food.

At 7:45 a.m.; no one has come to eat.

At 9:04 a.m.; the same food as at 7:30 a.m.

 

Today I was supposed to start as a regular volunteer at Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center, but Shelby texted saying there was already a volunteer coming in & there wasn't much to do; she wondered if I could come in tomorrow? I left a message for Shelby saying I could come in but wanted to talk to her to see if there was a better day or time for me to volunteer. I never heard back from her so I will show up tomorrow & have that conversation then.

Grandma's gardenia is really starting to bloom! There was one bud that opened up when Catie was here; I picked it & it perfumed the car during our day touring the volcano area.

I finished making the bed in the front bedroom & covering it back up. It is now ready for the next visitor! Just need to clean out a few more boxes to make it more liveable.

Today registration to help with the humpback whale count opened up at 12 pm; I got right on & registered. I chose the Kapaʻa Beach Park site; it is the closest one to me & I was the 1st one to sign up for it. Shortly after I signed up I got an email confirmation about helping with the count which will occur on March 26th.

At 10:30 a.m. this is all that would open up.

At 12:00 p.m. I was able to get in.

I did not know this area of the island was a humpback whale sanctuary.

Some behaviors volunteers will record.

Today a humpback whale off Maui was freed of the fishing gear that it was entangled in. Multiple agencies were involved in the freeing the whale which was first sited by a commercial whale watching tour company. It was lost amid numerous whales in the area but later sited by another commercial whale watching tour company which led to the successful removal of the gear. 

For lunch I had the remainder of the proothie from this morning. I washed the dinosaur kale after lunch; I had picked it up at Island Naturals because I had not been able to pick up any at the Hāwī farmers market on Saturday. I discovered that they got this kale from California; I wonder if there are no certified organic dinosaur kale farmers in the state? Even though it is nice looking organically grown kale, I will have to try to get to the Hāwī farmers market to help support local farmers until my CSA starts up in April. 

At least the bag is compostable.

 

For dinner I finished off the corned beef hash that I started for dinner last night. I had it along with some Raw Slaw; its made by Sonoma Brinery, the company that makes the Chipotle Sauerkraut that I like. The raw slaw is actually curtido, a type of Central American sauerkraut.

It really bothers me when I buy something somewhat on the expensive side & the packaging is cheap. It is especially annoying when it is a food item & the packaging is meant for multiple servings. Those zipper type seals are the worst when they use cheap packaging. I should not have to resort to using clothespins to keep the bag closed. Other than that, I did like the hot chocolate.

Good chocolate, cheap bag.

At the evening feeding, Hahai showed up for the 1st 3 scoops but then disappeared; no one showed up after that either. I hope the cats are all right.

Hahai at 5:02 p.m.

At 5:16 p.m.

At 5:31 p.m.

At 5:45 p.m.

At 6:45 p.m.; same as an hour earlier.

I signed up to get email updates from Compost Hawaiʻi even though they do not provide the service in North Kohala; I just like to know what's happening. Under their Resources section they had a link to 100 Things You Can (And Should) Compost. I had already decided to use the things I regularly put through the shredder to mix in with the mulch I put on the anthurium bed. I have now decided to shred even more of the things that I can & perhaps use that as the mulch in the anthurium bed. It will also reduce the amount of material that I have to haul to the transfer station each week.

A sample of the 100 things you can compost.

The 'Imiloa Astronomy Center & NOAA's Mokapāpapa Discovery Center for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument are offering a new educational program for students called, Earth, Sea, Sky: Creating Connections. The program is available both virtually or in person for Hawaiʻi Island students.

Kīlauea volcano is still erupting; the HVO continues to issue daily reports about the eruptive activity. Mauna Kea still has a few small patches of snow left.

At 10:11 a.m.

At 10:11 a.m.

At 10:11 a.m.

At 10:06 a.m.

I need to find another weather app to replace the Aix app that I was using. In the meanwhile, I can just tell you what I see on the web cams & looking out the window! Honolulu & Marysville looked like they were both partly cloudy with no precipitation. Here in Kapaʻau it was cloudy with precipitation in the morning but cleared up in the afternoon & was mainly sunny. In Honomū there was 0.01 inches precipitation by 10:05 a.m. 

Seven minutes before sunrise in Kapaʻau looking southeasterly.

Kapaʻau looking southerly at 9:41 a.m.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 10:08 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 10:09 a.m.

Honomūlooking northerly at 10:10 a.m.

Kapaʻau looking northeasterly at 10:10 a.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 10:11 a.m. HST.

Kapaʻau looking northerly at 4:05 p.m.

Only one of the webcams for the surf areas was working today. It's kinda frustrating because the error message implies that I have changed the settings on my computer when I have done nothing to those settings since I 1st started looking at these webcams.

Laniākea (N) at 10:07 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 10:07 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 10:08 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 10:09 a.m.

There was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake 21 miles deep near the east coast of Honshu, Japan early this morning. Although there was a tsunami advisory issued for parts of Japan, no tsunami was generated.

Today was the start of the weekly COVID-19 reports. There were 1092 new cases of COVID-19 reported for the previous week, increasing the known cases to 238,764. There were also 14 new deaths over the last week bringing the death toll up to 1368. Currently there are 61 cases that are hospitalized with 5 in the ICU & 2 on ventilators. There have been 2,823,360 doses of vaccine administered, providing 76.8% of the population with full vaccination & 38.0% with a 3rd dose. The 7-day new case average for the State is 97 with a test positivity rate of 2.3%. The 7-day new case average for Hawai'i County is 10 with a test positivity rate of 1.7%. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kip!