I went to my neighborhood independent grocery store I always go to & they had everything...

[catbyte]

Last edited Fri Mar 13, 2020, 06:09 PM - Edit history (1)

except toilet paper. The shelf was bare. Not a square. Not a square to spare.

There was a shit ton of Kleenex, Puffs, store brand, off-brands. An ocean of bottled water. Cold medicine up the wazoo. Even isopropol rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel. But. No. Toilet. Paper.

We are a weird, weird species.

BTW, I just got home from Maui and things seemed pretty normal. I flew from Maui to Honolulu to LAX to Detroit. There were a few people wearing masks but not much out of the ordinary. There was a lot of hand sanitizer dispensers installed by the gates at LAX and they were taking prudent precautions on Maui. We went to the Maui Ocean Center on our way to the airport on Wednesday and they were meticulous about wiping down handrails and the hands-on exhibits. They had also put up Purell hand sanitizer dispensers around the center.

Here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer has closed all K-12 schools and banned gatherings of over 250 people (with exceptions for large grocery stores, factories, etc) until April 5. So I guess I'm going to hunker down at home for the most part because stuff is being canceled anyway.

And I'm suffering from major jet lag. I feel like a zombie. But it was one helluva trip. We went whale watching with the Pacific Whale Foundation on Tuesday. I got some sun (not too much) and was treated with a spectacular afternoon sail on a smallish boat with about a dozen other people. A baby Humpback decided to swim to within 10 yards of our boat, which stopped when we saw mama spouting.* The baby proceeded to practice his tail slapping, breaching, and general playing for almost an hour. It was the equivalent to watching a full-sized pickup truck jumping out of the water. Then mama, approximately 40 feet long, decided to show Junior how breaching is done. She breached about 5 times. The splash spray and spouts even made it to the boat. Then a pod of about 20 Pacific White-Sided Dolphins rode the bow wave on our trip back to Lahaina. Magic. I was so mesmerized and in the moment I didn't even take any pictures while on the boat. At least my friend got a few good shots and is sending them to me. If I do get the coronavirus, at least I will die happy and in awe at the sheer wonder of nature and of our fellow, non-human travelers on this planet.

*It's against the law to approach within 100 yards of a cetacean unless you have a research permit, but it's fine if they swim to you.

Here's a shot of the sunset my last night there:

'

And my Aloha rainbow from my lanai the morning we left:



Bonus shots of a cool little gecko and garden snail that visited us every morning and night:

[dewsgirl]

1. Beautiful photos, sounds like you had a wonderful time.

[coti]

2. I love Lahaina. Nice pictures.

But this post seems awfully non-dramatic, there needs to be more running, screaming, and hoarding.

[gibraltar72]

3. Welcome back

16 cases 7 counties as of about 4:30.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. Welcome home. It sounds like a wonderful trip.