Morning on Maunalani

I was a little late getting up to Maunalani this morning; I dropped Chibi off at The Cat Clinic for them to coordinate her cremation. I started my walk 3 minutes after sunrise. The African Tulip Tree was partially in the sunlight and there were no birds on it; I am wondering if the nectar begins to evaporate when the sun comes up so the birds leave. The sky was overcast and there was a light but steady breeze. I saw the Dog Pack twice on Maunalani Circle, once just as I was pulling in, then later as they were on their 2nd lap. Later, as I was doing my cool down stretches, Suzette was walking by and came in to chat for a bit. She is off work for another couple of weeks as she gets therapy for her injured knee.

Three minutes after sunrise on Maunalani.

Nineteen minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad was awake and eating when I got to his room. My slightly late start caused a chain reaction delay in my day; I hope to get back on track with the mid-morning walk. Dad ate a couple bites of papaya and scrambled egg. He drank all of his Plus and about half of his Breeze.

The wind picked up and it was very gusty during my mid-morning walk under partially cloudy skies. I think I saw less birds due to the strong gusts; there were less birds that I saw flying by. But I did get back on track with my timing. As I was passing the Mauʻumae trail head there was a couple and their 2 dogs just coming back; she was wearing a calf-length muʻumuʻu! I should have asked them about the quality of the trail out to the bench.


Lunch today was Baked furikake mahimahi, Wild rice pilaf, Steamed edamame, Tossed salad, Strawberry cloud cake, and Tomato basil soup.


I cut my afternoon walk a little shorter; I skipped the lap around Maunalani Circle and went down Wilhelmina Rise instead of around the park. I needed to make it faster because I had a periodontist appointment.


Dr. Ching had some good news and bad news for me; the lower back right corner tooth were doing better but the lower back left corner tooth was not. I was given 3 options of what to do next. 1) Continue with cleaning and inserting antibiotic chips below the gumline, which would likely be a lifetime thing. 2) Remove the tooth in question, then keep an eye on the upper tooth, which might also need to be removed if it begins to project down in to the open space. 3) Surgically open up the gum and do a major deep cleaning below the gumline, sew it back up, and see what happens. Oh and I guess, there is the No Action Alternative of do nothing. I have chosen option 3; its set for early March, after I return from my Seattle trip.


Dr. Ching's office is about half a block from Petco, so that's where I went when I was done with the check-up. I took all the food back that I had bought for Chibi; S'mores & Luna are still eating kitten food for at least another 6 months and they have not yet been started on any type of canned food so we don't know what they will like. Petco is great! They took back 2 batches of food I bought for Chibi and had the receipts for; they put the purchase price back on to my credit card. Then there was one batch that I could not find the receipt for; they gave me a store credit for those cans! I gave the Petco card with the $22.44 credit to The Roommates for S'mores and Luna.

Speaking of S'mores, here's what she looked like when I got home. So peaceful and angelic! Not! It has been really nice that Luna tires her out during the day so that she just sleeps for much longer than she did before Luna arrived.


The Potential Most Favorite Roommate made dinner tonight. But it was only him and me that made it to dinner at the usual time for dinner. DT had band practice and The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes was also going to be home late. Dinner tonight was corn chowder with grilled cheese sandwiches. Both were ono! And the chowder warmed me up!


I watched the Na Mele show on the educational station tonight; they featured the Lim family. They are from Kohala, I recognized a lot of the local places they showed. In fact, Minnie's Restaurant where I take Uncle Kazu for lunch, is operated by a Lim family member.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Dave, Jerry, Suzi, and Paul!

Life Goes On

On the way up I passed Kelly & Abby, they were near the entrance to Maunalani; by the time I started they were long gone. But I did see Steph as I was doing my lap around the circle, she asked if I had seen Lorraine on the way up; I hadn't. But I did run in to her by the park; she said she started later since it was dark & windy. When I ran across Steph on Lurline, she said to tell Lorraine she was going down the street with the great view of Diamond Head & since she walked a lot slower than Lorraine she would probably catch up to her. I gave Lorraine the message when I passed her up near the top of Lurline; wonder if they connected up today?

Ten minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Six minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad only ate a bite of scrambled eggs and a couple of pieces of papaya and drank about half his supplements for breakfast this morning.

The mid-morning walk was a little warmer than the morning walk. As I was going past the Mau'umae Trailhead I saw a van that I have seen there a couple times before, it belongs to the Honolulu Korean Hikers Club; never knew such a club existed. I also saw Rodney doing some yardwork and Koa & Kuma snoozing along the gate. Later I stopped to play with Abby for a little bit; I think she wouldn't leave me alone when I was working on the irrigation on Wednesday since she knew something was bothering me. She wouldn't get her frisbee for me today, she only wanted to lick me & have me pet her; she helped make me feel a little better.



Lunch today was Roast beef, Mashed potatoes with gravy, Steamed green beans, Tossed salad, Blond brownie, and Potato chowder. Dad ate all of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and about half of his supplements.


The afternoon walk was not any warmer than the mid-morning walk due to the overcast sky and steady breeze. I found a flattened centipede on my way in to the Maunalani parking lot; I think I am missing some of the flattened fauna since I am doing the eBird Checklist Challenge I need to look up more than down.

And Then There Were None

Chibi died early this morning. I'm not sure exactly when she died, but she was still warm when I went to give her the meds at 6 a.m. She was almost 12 years old; she was about 7 months old when we rescued her from being a stray in rainy, wet Washington. She had a good life; she moved to Hawaiʻi in July 2015 so she got to spend the last 3&1/2 years in the sun. She spent a lot of her time out in the cat run enjoying the sun and the warm evenings. Chibi is the last of the 4 cats that moved to Hawaiʻi with me.

Posing by the autumn crocus in the front yard. October 2007

In the back yard in Washington, she slept in the grass in the background when she was a stray. November 2007

Checking out the house. December 2007

Now comfortable in the house. November 2008

Sleeping in the bathroom sink. January 2009

Warming up on the heater vent. January 2012

Taking over Dad's chair in Hawai'i. January 2016

At the Cat Clinic with Xander. February 2016

Roach Patrol! February 2016

Snoozing in the cat run. June 2016

She claimed the bean bag chair. August 2016

Keeping Dad company. October 2016

I want to go out! November 2016

Taking over Shiro's chair. November 2016

Lounging in the bean bag chair. March 2017

Snoozing in the cat run. March 2017

On Mom's bed. April 2017

Sleeping on Dad's bed. August 2017

Keeping Dad company with Xander. September 2017

Catching geckos in the house. November 2017

Her favorite place. November 2017

Getting treats from Sam. November 2017

Checking out the new flooring with Xander & Shiro. December 2017

Sleeping in the sun. December 2017

Out in the cat run at night. March 2018

Last photo of all 3 cats together. April 2018

With Shiro keeping me company in the bathroom. June 2018

Hiding on the bed after Shiro died. November 2018

Meeting the new kitten, S'mores. December 2018

Taking over S'mores' bed. December 2018

Sleeping through the early fireworks. January 2019

Ignoring S'mores and Luna. January 2019

Coming home from the vet's office. January 2019

It's Cold! It's Relative

We had a cold front move in last night; the drizzle yesterday afternoon was the leading edge of the front. The news said it would get down to the high 50's in Honolulu and high 40's on Kauaʻi last night; yes, I know its not like the -40's that the Midwest is supposed to be getting tonight. But the average minimum temperature in Honolulu at this time of the year is usually around 65 degrees F, so it's cold! I was warm & toasty sleeping in my leggings & sweatshirt; in Washington I used to sleep with the windows upon until it got down to 40F. This morning it was overcast and very blustery but dry. I picked Barbara up at the bus stop, she was very glad I did; she said it was very cold waiting there. Later I saw Steph & Lorraine on their way down Lurline. The birds didn't seem to mind the cooler, windy weather.

Nine minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

This is a Red Junglefowl (Domestic type); that's what eBird calls it. They also list Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon), Muscovy Duck (Domestic type), Mallard (Domestic type), Helmeted Guineafowl (Domestic type), and Indian Peafowl (Domestic type - that's peacock to you non-birders). This is from the list for Hawaiʻi; I'm sure there are other birds on it for other areas.


Dad was asleep with his breakfast in bed. He drank about half of his supplements but didn't touch any of the solid food.

The weather was a little warmer at mid-morning for my walk. As I was going around the circle I was passed by a number of bikers going in either direction. As I was finishing that lap I saw all the bikers gathered at the intersection with Sierra; their were 16 of them.



As I was on my way in to Maunalani I noticed that another resident has passed, I saw her family in with her earlier in the day; now many were out in the hallway and the guys from the mortuary were their with their gurney. Maunalani had put a cart just outside the door with refreshments for the family while they were waiting with her. It was one of the residents I did not know since she never left her bed.

Since I had been out sick for so long, I tried to check in on the residents whom I know when I got back. I had not seen Mrs. Iseri in the halls and she was not at the anniversary celebration yesterday; I was concerned because she is a very social person. It turns out she is confined to bed with something that is contagious, there is a warning sign outside her room. All the other kupuna I visit with were accounted for.

Lunch today was Chicken florentine, Angel hair pasta, Steamed broccoli, Tossed salad, Pineapple cheesecake, and Tomato tortellini soup. Dad ate all of his 1/2 peanut butter & jelly sandwich, half of his pineapple cheesecake, and all of his Boost Plus supplement & half of the Boost Breeze.


The last walk was under sunny skies but there was a nice breeze so it was still fairly cool. I got some fairly good photos of a cattle egret. It was in front of Jake's house.

Cattle Egret.

Chibi's breathing this morning was the same as it had been; but when I got home it was better. I could still hear her through the closed door but not as clearly. I am hoping by the time I am done with the syringes they have given me her breathing will have shown a lot of improvement; I give her the last dose on Monday morning. We will re-evaluate how she is doing at that time. I have not been able to get her to eat yet; if her breathing is good they might use a feeding tube to get some food in to her to help with the healing.

Luna has been tiring S'mores out with all their playing throughout the day. So S'mores spends more time sleeping, which is very nice!


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Ann & Robin!