My Summer Vacation

Laurel had Uncle Kazu's 49-day service this morning. Because of concerns about COVID-19 many of Uncle Kazu's friends stayed at home; they're in they're late 80's or early 90's and had been at home since the initial stay-at-home order. Besides Sensei, there were only 8 of us there; we all had our masks on & were in individual pews which were spaced 6 feet apart. Cousin Leilani was there as well as Uncle Kazu's neighbor Claude. And Joy, Glenn, & Ellen from the church were also there. After Uncle Kazu's ashes were placed in the columbarium, we gathered, 6-feet apart, for snacks, soda, & water. All the snacks and drinks were individually packaged and there was hand sanitizer on the table. Laurel & Bill even had cheese crisps for me! It was a nice celebration of the end of Uncle Kazu's journey.

At Minnie's, November 2019. (Photo by Tomiko)

The Saffron Finch failed to make an appearance this morning; no other bird took its place either.My feelings were not hurt that they did not come to wake me up.

The alarm goes off eighteen minutes after sunrise; I went back to sleep.

After snoozing another 30 minutes it was now inviting enough to get out of bed.

While I was drinking my morning tea I saw a Gold Dust Day Gecko in the kitchen window; I tried to get a good photo of its head and back. Then I saw another! There were 3 geckos in that window this morning. I took a bunch of photos and got a couple of good ones; one appears to be a female (Gecko #2) with the calcium sac starting to form behind its head. The female was smaller than one of the other geckos (Gecko #1) and about the size of the other (Gecko #3). But I think I will need to get some cheap tape measures & attach them to the screen frames so I can get a better idea of their sizes. I don't think any of them are Martin, but I need to get better photos of Martin to compare the head & back markings.

Gecko #1; note the roundish shapes of the 3 "bars" on the back.

Gecko #2. I think this is a female; note lumps behind head, compare to above.

Gecko #2 (above) & #1; I think they are a pair that have claimed the window as their territory.

Gecko #3. They both went after this one separately and chased it.

Gecko #3 conveniently jumped on the window; unfortunately window was too dirty to see femoral pores.

While looking up more information on femoral pores, I discovered it is possible to get powdered gecko food that you just mix with water. Maybe I should get some since I don't think I should be encouraging Martin to eat peanut butter. Or may be I could just get some fruit & mash it up & leave it out for Martin. And if the ants come around Martin could also eat the ants! Just a thought!

It is enticing to think perhaps the ants won't be attracted to this, but that's probably unrealistic.

One of the chores this morning was to clean out old the old refrigerator since the new one was being delivered today. I started moving the things from the refrigerator that didn't really need to be refrigerated, like the almond flour; or that didn't need constant refrigeration, like the cabbage. The things that were more perishable, like the open jar of mayonnaise and the sliced turkey, stayed in until they were getting ready to take the old refrigerator away. I also sorted the freezer items in a similar fashion, filling the cooler with the things that needed to stay as frozen as possible, like the ice cream, and putting the other things out on the table, like the rice and the coffee.

Must remove the refrigerator art.

Done!

Now for the contents.

The less perishable stuff has been removed and boxed up.

These will be removed when they call to say they're on their way.

I also had to move things out of the path in the living room and at the corner by the safe.

The chair & lamp need to be moved.

This corner needs to be cleared.

Done!

I got a call from Shane about 9; they were just leaving Waikoloa to head this way with the new refrigerator! Yay! I unlocked and opened the gate; I also moved the car to the front lawn so I wouldn't get blocked in in case they got here just before I needed to leave. Like the last time with the washer, Shane & Kurt were quick and efficient. It took them 10 minutes to get the old one out and the new one in! I was able to stay for the whole process and get the freezer items and more perishable refrigerator items back in before I had to leave for the church. Only glitch was I forgot my mask! Fortunately I was only about half way down the hill when I remembered; I turned around and headed back. I also jumped the gate rather than take the extra time to unlock & relock it.

Kurt goes back to the truck at 9:49 after measuring the doorways.

Shane (L) & Kurt get ready to take the old refrigerator away.

As they tilt the old fridge, I realize that was a bad place to put the eggs!

The old fridge leaves the house.

They used a blanket to get the new one around the tight corner; they still had to move the safe farther to the right.

All pau at 9:59!

I start to reload the most perishable items before I leave.

Shortly after I got to the church, Uncle Kazu's neighbor Claude drove up. He, Laurel, Bill, & I stood outside talking until it was time for the service. Leilani showed up a little late due to the traffic; I heard Cavalier barking as she left her car. She brought in a bunch of blueberry scones that she had baked this morning; I ate one. Well, two. One already blew my carb budget for the day, so, why not two?

I stopped at the Kohala Hospital on my way back; I wanted to make a donation to them in Uncle Kazu's name since rural hospitals frequently have difficulty with operating costs and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse for most. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are part of the State system of hospitals so their operating funds come out of the State budget. This evening I still made a donation through their charitable foundation for projects they are working on for the hospital. I noted it was in honor of Uncle Kazu. Earlier in the day while talking to Gino, the administrator at the hospital, he told me they are having a plaque made to name the new walking path after Uncle Kazu.

When I got home I finished putting things back in the refrigerator. I also tossed some stuff and consolidated some stuff while I was at it. I also had to switch the bin to the left side; it had been on the right when they delivered it.

Everything back in that is being retained.

I had them put the new refrigerator all the way to one side so I can store things on the other side.

While I was gone the ants had found a couple of bottles they liked; the ketchup seemed to be their favorite, followed by the fake maple syrup bottle. Fortunately, those cleaned up easily and nothing else attracted any ants.

They used the raw rice container to get to the ketchup which was supporting it.

I checked out the wasp nest by the back door again today. A week or so ago, when Laurel & Bill were over, Bill said he saw wasps come by 3 different times to check it out; he thought it was active & wanted to know if I wanted him to remove it. I told him it was an old nest & I leave it up since wasps are territorial & have good vision. I had been sort of looking at it every so often earlier and had not seen any nesting activity; now I watched it regularly and for a longer time. I still did not see any nesting activity. But I took a photo today to check it against the photo I took in March to see if the nest had been enlarged; it had not.

March 27th.

Today; no new capped off cells.

I've been slowly eating the Cookie Dough Bread that I made a few days ago. And I am wondering how much people are really making it while in isolation during this COVID-19 pandemic. The recipe calls for 2 items that I don't think many people would just have happened to have on hand when they went into self-isolation: chocolate chips and cashew butter. (Yes, it calls for cashew butter, which is rather specific and something you can't easily find.) I have never had cashew butter, so I used peanut butter. But the amount called for was about one third the amount of peanut butter I use in a 2 week period; if it was one of my staples and I did not know when I would be allowed out to go shopping again, I wouldn't use it to make a loaf of bread. And chocolate chips, you have that around if you do a lot of baking. So I question the reliability of the author saying a lot of people have been baking this bread since they've been cooped up with nothing else to do.

I also checked the Arka Kinari website to see where Grey & his fellow shipmates were in their journey to Indonesia; June 1st was also the start of hurricane season for the part of the Pacific they are crossing. They had wanted to leave by mid-April at the latest to be as far across the Pacific as possible when the season started. But due to rules about quarantine, even though the crew had essentially spent 30 days in quarantine while sailing here from Mexico, they had to do another 14-day quarantine which delayed their departure since they were unable to complete provisioning and paperwork in order to enter Indonesia while in quarantine. They now anticipate reaching Indonesia by June 15th. I checked the forecast for that part of the Pacific, no disturbances are foreseen for the next 5 days. So far, so good.

They're sailing so they have to tack which causes the zigzag path.

I watched a real time simulation of what would happen to people on a beach. It was really interesting. It was based on a real beach but limited the number of people able to use the beach during the 1 hour period to 200. After that time period, with those 200 people, of which 75% strictly adhere to the 6-foot rule, there were over 1000 violations of the 6-foot rule! The model allows you to increase the number of people entering the beach. When they did it with 1000 people with 75% compliance, in the 90 minutes it takes for everyone to get to the beach there were more than 20,000 violations of the 6-foot rule! Aue! It looks like opening up may be hazardous to your health! Unless you're in some place with a very low virus load. The model also assumed you did not know anyone whose path you came across & assumed you are trying to stay apart (if you were part of the compliant 75%); they did not look at what would happen if you ran across someone you knew & had not seen since the shutdown began.

Start of simulation, Time 0.

Time 2:40; already 2 violations since there are only 2 entrances to the beach.

Time 8:40; 94 people have entered with 27 violations.

Time 10:40; people are still entering, there are now 43 violations.

By 20 minutes all 200 people have entered the beach area.

Over the next 40 minutes the simulation shows people moving along beach & into water.

Even though 75% of people are doing the right thing, violations continue to increase.

At the end of the hour there are over 1,000 violations of the 6-foot physical distancing bubble.

The Safe Travels folks responded about an hour after I emailed them yesterday letting them know that my travel plans had changed; I didn't see it until this morning. I am now approved to break quarantine to do stuff for Dad when I return on the 11th. I had also asked what happens on the 16th when the inter-island quarantine is lifted. They said they would have to see exactly what the order lifting the quarantine says about people already in quarantine; they're very good bureaucrats. I would have said the same thing.

There was 1 new COVID-19 case today, bringing the total known cases up to 653. Deaths, hospitalizations, and percent of people released from isolation have remained the same.

ZCTAs for cases occurring over the past 28 days.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Patricia, Janet, Ken, Marla, & Fatima!

Today Governor Ige announced that the 14-day inter-island quarantine will be lifted on June 16th! Yay! I wonder if that means that I can end my quarantine on the 16th even though that will be less than 14 days from when I arrive in Honolulu? The CEO for Hawaiian Airlines said currently they have 5 round trips a day each from Honolulu to Lihue, Kona, Hilo, and Maui which are running at about 20% capacity.

The Saffron Finch was a little late this morning; but I didn't mind. I went back to sleep and waited for my alarm to go off.

Birdrise eleven minutes before sunrise; the Saffron Finch was late this morning!

The weather outlook didn't look much better at eighteen minutes after sunrise.

There is a pair of Saffron Finches that appear to be nesting in the downspout at Jessie's house. This morning it looked like they were starting to build a nest.

Looking in the downspout at the other Saffron Finch.

One bird is up top looking around while the other peaks out from the hole in the downspout.

It popped out of the hole and flew up to the downspout.

When I looked out the back porch at the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel at about 7:30 it was looking unsettled. Although it was sunny here, the channel was full of dark clouds rolling through. Later, just after lunch it was cloudy everywhere.

At around 7:30 am.

At about 1 pm.

I thought I should clean up the butter knife after each time I use it and leave peanut butter on the plastic butter knife at a lower level so Martin did not have to climb all the way up each day. But then I had another idea; I would set up the butter knife with a little peanut butter on the tip and get Martin used to standing up on him hind legs to eat. Then I could get a great photo to determine what gender Martin is! So I had put that in place around lunch time; I had not seen Martin or any other geckos all morning.

Strategically placed peanut butter knife.

Strategically placed blob of peanut butter.

I was on the phone later in the afternoon, talking to Kai, when Martin showed up again. He was walking across the kitchen floor, going from the refrigerator to the rolling shelving unit by the window. I told Kai about Martin's adventures with peanut butter yesterday. I also told him I might also abruptly end the conversation so I could get some good photos of Martin.

However, Martin had other ideas. When he did finally climb up to the top of the kitchen table, Martin approached from the other side of the carousel and was able to reach the peanut butter without coming far enough out from behind the lower container. I slowly moved the peanut butter out of his reach, he left. But came back a short while later. But I still could not get a good photo. So I waited; Martin moved to get a better angle on the peanut butter. And now I could see to the base of his tail! But before I could get the phone set up for photos, he moved. Aue! Outsmarted by Martin! He left shortly after that, I think he had enough calories yesterday to hold him for some time. Looks like I will have to try again tomorrow.

At first it looked like he was going to take the same route as yesterday.

But instead he came up from the other side.

He's not high enough for me to get a good photo.

Coming from the other side after I moved the knife.

Darn! He found another blob of peanut butter.

I went to give the cats their evening feeding. Within 15 seconds of pouring the food loudly in to their bowl Mom Cat appeared. She sauntered about half way up the ramp, then sat there to see if the coast was clear. After waiting about 7 minutes she left, she never came up to the food bowl. I waited to see if she would return, but when Laurel & Bill arrived 10 minutes later none of them had come around.

Immediately after I put the food in the bowl.

Mom Cat shows up about 15 seconds later.

Mom Cat sits near the end of the ramp, waiting.

And waiting.

Something over there has gotten her attention.

She walks away to investigate.

Now what's that over there?

Mom Cat comes back and waits again.

Only her tail is visible here in the mirror as she checks on something else.

Back at her usual waiting spot again.

She leaves again.

Ten minutes or so later Laurel & Bill arrive in their red truck visible through the window.

Laurel & Bill picked Sir Purr up this afternoon. Since the refrigerator is being delivered tomorrow, and I am not sure I will be here when they arrive, I wanted Sir Purr to go home so he doesn't make a break for the open door tomorrow. At first Bill couldn't find him; he wasn't under the end table as usual. They checked under the couch and chairs and still couldn't find him. I finally found him in the space under the nightstand that was up against some boxes. With a little rearranging, Bill was able to move the nightstand enough so he could reach in and get Sir Purr.

Sir Purr hiding in the nightstand.

Bill has Sir Purr by the scruff of his neck.

Sir Purr is not going in to the carrier willingly.

Bill finally gets him in.

We talked for a while after they were able to get Sir Purr out of his hiding place. Once I got back in the house I vacuumed up what was left of the cat litter then I went to start dinner. And I saw Martin up by the peanut butter again! He didn't stay long this time; I think the flash was annoying him.

Today is the first day of Hurricane Season for us. So far so good. Nothing showing for the next 5 days. But the season goes through November 30th so there will be many more opportunities for one to form & come our way.