Everything moves at warp speed during a pandemic
My apologies for not keeping up with the usual plant exchange posting. Two weeks ago, we started hosting family friends at our home (in a separate unit). Then, we went to a July 4th get-together with family and had a health scare.
Those two things were enough to be overwhelming, but . . .my daughter and I were also hatching quail, of which at least a few did hatch. At birth, they are tiny, frail, and always cold.
It’s been quite a whirlwind two weeks.
I’ll start with the summary here, then write a few blog posts in detail over the coming few days.
Visitors and the 14-day quarantine
I got a phone call from friends who are closer than family; they wanted to come back to visit parents. Knowing we just completed an ADU (which, thanks to the rent moratorium, my husband does NOT want to rent out), asked if they could stay for a month or so.
These are friends that would go to the ends of the earth for us, and us for them, so of course it was great. Only thing is, they were arriving the next day.
I have lots of good news to report about how strict Hawaii’s follow-up process is for quarantine. I’m not sure if this is because they are visitors, or whether they’ve really tightened up the process, but we not only received calls, we actually received an in-person visit, unannounced. More on that in a later post.
Fourth of July “Ohana Bubble”
On Independence Day, our immediate family took the opportunity to get together with our extended family. We had an outdoor barbecue and it was fun.
Seven days later, my daughter and I were under the weather. My daughter even had a fever. I emailed my doctor and waited to hear whether she wanted me to be tested. There was little reason to believe I had close enough contact with COVID. At most, two of the guests had visited a gym and another of the guests had worked with someone who contracted COVID.
The COVID test, Oahu
I am deeply appreciative of how well everyone has socially distanced over the past few months. We have enough tests here in Hawaii that I was able to get a nasal swab at Kapiolani Medical Center.
It was negative, of course, but good to know for sure. They say it takes between 1-2 days to get results, but I got mine within 12 hours.
For those of you wondering, it didn’t hurt, but it was a strange sensation. Also, they swab inside each nostril for 10 seconds.
To be continued. . .
Two weeks ago, I had hoped to start the sustainability part of this website. That’s where I would tell you about how I wanted quail but couldn’t find anyone selling any, so I bought eggs and an incubator and my daughter and I hatched our own.
Raising quail has been an adventure. For one thing, I thought I had more time to finish the coop after the babies were born. Totally not true! They grew so fast I was getting a little panicked. Luckily I found someone in Waimanalo who builds chicken coops and was able to adapt that to the quickly growing chicks.
Stay tuned everyone, I’ll update you again soon.