Ready or Not!

I spent much of today getting the house ready for Kai, Rei, & Tomiko's visit. Kai & Rei are arriving tomorrow night; Tomiko is coming in the next day. Rei & Tomiko will be staying in the guest room; Kai will be in the cat room. They are all coming to help with the Kohala Reunion this weekend; Tomiko & Kai are also staying for the Kohala Jodo Mission obon services next weekend. Rei also wanted to go to the obon activities but leaves for the east coast to visit potential college campuses a couple days after the Reunion weekend; she graduates next year.

Panorama of guest bedroom.

Futon couch in cat room unfolds to double bed; Hoʻokoa can't wait to sleep on occupant of bed. 

 

I saw Dolly yesterday with her chicks; it was nice to see that all 7 chicks are once again following her around. Four days ago she was in the front yard for some unknown reason & Moʻo started chasing her. Moʻo almost caught Dolly but she managed to squeeze under the house skirt & hid under the house. I was unable to find her so I tied Moʻo up to give her a chance to get back to Jessie's yard. At that time Jessie & I could only find 3 chicks; later in the day when Dolly was back in Jessie's yard there were still only 3 chicks with her. I did not see her again until yesterday.

Yesterday.

Four days ago.

This afternoon I found Moʻo playing with something. It turned out to be a bird that she had caught! I never imagined she would be able to catch a wild bird; she's faster than I thought. Even though she had eaten its head, I could still tell it was a Mejiro (Warbling White-eye, Zosterops japonicus) based on the size & coloration of the body. It was a good thing Dolly got away from Moʻo!

We were hoping that Kīlauea would have an eruptive episode while Rei, Tomiko, & Kai were here. And it almost happened. Unfortunately the Episode 27 precursory activity started on Saturday morning & by Sunday morning the episode began with low fountaining & lava pouring out on to the caldera floor; later there were fountains over 1000' high! It followed the recent pattern of activity & ended last night about 11 hours after it started; the 6 most recent episodes have lasted between 10 & 12 hours. Then its usual pattern is to build up pressure for about a week before the precursory activity starts again so it is unlikely that Rei will be able to see it before she has to leave. 

Lava from precursory activity begins to overflow vent in early part of Episode 27 on 06/29.

Fountains over 1000' high.

The end of Episode 27 at 7:54 pm.

Hau'oli lā Hānau e Cathy!