Panic in the house- we're packing/moving/unpacking this week. Oh, is it Christmas or Hanukah? I don't know where the tree is. I have the candles but the menorah is in a box somewhere. Santa may not find our house this year. What a good time to move- it's the end of the semester and I've got grades to post. It's the beginning of another semester in a few weeks and I've got syllabi and lesson plans to prepare. What me panic? Yes, indeedy!
The cat is peeing in protest in unexpected locations. DH and I are at each others' throats. Sleep is disturbed at best, given over to worry at worst. The sky isn't quite falling; it just feels like it.
But hey, here are the upsides:
we have a place to move to
the cat has survived so far
I have a job to be worried about
we don't have heating bills
I have someone to go through this ordeal with
We are all still smiling (or purring, as the case may be), occasionally.
Happy Hanukah, a Blessed Solstice and Merry Christmas to all. It's all about increasing the Light. No blogging next week, I'll be in transit. When you see news clips about stranded travelers, pray that I am not one of them.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Kona Winds are blowing
And that seems to mean rain. Torrents of rain. Buckets of rain. Typically, the islands are blessed with lots of "trade winds" from the north and northeast, but every now and again the wind comes from the south, kona winds. This week, we experienced what that can mean. Who knew what a difference a directional change would make.
Hey, does that have a deeper philosophical meaning or what?
See, on these islands out here in the middle of the ocean, the weather is different depending on where you are on the island, and apparently, on which way the wind blows. To the leeward of the mountains, the weather is hot and dry. Windward of the mountains you'll find the area green and breezy. When the prevailing winds come from the opposite direction-- everything changes. Leeward becomes windward and up is pretty much down. As in flash floods, mud slides and downpours. Cosmic, huh? In fact, a few years ago the Kona winds brought 41 days and 41 nights of rain.
This time, it seems to be a little less biblical, but still, I've never seen a day like this past Thursday. Kona is the new nor'easter in my book, even though they're actually sou'wester.
Even so, we did venture out in the evening to make sure the insurance papers were faxed for the condo we just bought. It would be just my luck to wait to fax until the morning and discover that a hillside had slid into the living room the night before. There's no need to give an insurance company any excuse not to pay a claim and a day-late fax is a pretty good excuse.
As it turns out, the hillside is still where it's supposed to be, thank goodness. Digging out from a mudslide is pretty different from digging out from a blizzard. At least the snow usually has the decency to stay outside where it belongs. Mud and water are not nearly so considerate. It's kind of like the difference between dogs and cats; one can be trained, the other goes wherever it pleases.
Hey, does that have a deeper philosophical meaning or what?
See, on these islands out here in the middle of the ocean, the weather is different depending on where you are on the island, and apparently, on which way the wind blows. To the leeward of the mountains, the weather is hot and dry. Windward of the mountains you'll find the area green and breezy. When the prevailing winds come from the opposite direction-- everything changes. Leeward becomes windward and up is pretty much down. As in flash floods, mud slides and downpours. Cosmic, huh? In fact, a few years ago the Kona winds brought 41 days and 41 nights of rain.
This time, it seems to be a little less biblical, but still, I've never seen a day like this past Thursday. Kona is the new nor'easter in my book, even though they're actually sou'wester.
Even so, we did venture out in the evening to make sure the insurance papers were faxed for the condo we just bought. It would be just my luck to wait to fax until the morning and discover that a hillside had slid into the living room the night before. There's no need to give an insurance company any excuse not to pay a claim and a day-late fax is a pretty good excuse.
As it turns out, the hillside is still where it's supposed to be, thank goodness. Digging out from a mudslide is pretty different from digging out from a blizzard. At least the snow usually has the decency to stay outside where it belongs. Mud and water are not nearly so considerate. It's kind of like the difference between dogs and cats; one can be trained, the other goes wherever it pleases.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Not THIS off-ramp
While driving down highway H1 this morning, DH and I ran into a traffic snarl. Either construction or an accident had brought traffic to a dead halt on the off-ramp that we wanted to take.
"No problem," I said. "We'll just get off here, make a U-turn and work our way around to the right direction."
"Here" was the off-ramp to an air force base and naval base. I zipped off the H1, feeling pretty smart and headed on down the now-clear road. Four lanes opened out, two going to the air force base and two going to the naval base. Uh oh. The road went only to the military bases, no side streets or other exits in sight.
We eased onto the visitor's lane for the naval base hoping for an easy exit. It was not to be so. The road in did not seem to lead easily out. I turned the car around in amongst the barracks or some kind of housing and headed back to the gate. Not as easy as it looked. As I barreled the wrong way into what I thought was the exit, DH screeching and flapping her hands at me, I noticed that I had gotten the attention of the men directing base traffic. All six of them, in uniform, with pistols at their hips. Yikes. I thought about holding up my hands but figured that they'd prefer my hands stay on the wheel. Happily, the pistols stayed snugged into their holsters.
One of the men marched (and I mean marched!) over to the car and seemed to accept my babbling explanation of being lost and headed for Pearl City, not Pearl Harbor. He instructed me as to what to do to get on the right road and then turned to bellow to his colleague.
"U-Turn!"
The colleague, also with pistol in holster, waved me around the gate, and between the traffic cones while incoming traffic was held up to let us pass. Jeez. There's no such thing as an innocently made wrong turn around here. Who knew that the off-ramp led strictly to the military base? (As I'm typing this three helicopters are flying overhead in formation. Does that mean we went from a mention on the daily report at the naval base to a fly-over? Are we on a list?)
Believe me, I'll never do that again. If the sign says "to the base" I'll believe it and go another way. Problem is, there are so darn many bases on this island, it's hard to avoid them. But hey, there is a funny side to this. See the H1 is one of those freeways with a blue and red sort of shield-sign. If you look closely at those signs on your local highways, you'll see that the red part says Interstate. Now typically, that would mean that the road leads to another state, but in our case, the next state is across about 2500 miles of open water. In fact the next county is a boat ride away not a drive. So the three interstates on Oahu- H1, H2 and H3, really just go in circles, like the rest of the roads here. And like some of the drivers.
"No problem," I said. "We'll just get off here, make a U-turn and work our way around to the right direction."
"Here" was the off-ramp to an air force base and naval base. I zipped off the H1, feeling pretty smart and headed on down the now-clear road. Four lanes opened out, two going to the air force base and two going to the naval base. Uh oh. The road went only to the military bases, no side streets or other exits in sight.
We eased onto the visitor's lane for the naval base hoping for an easy exit. It was not to be so. The road in did not seem to lead easily out. I turned the car around in amongst the barracks or some kind of housing and headed back to the gate. Not as easy as it looked. As I barreled the wrong way into what I thought was the exit, DH screeching and flapping her hands at me, I noticed that I had gotten the attention of the men directing base traffic. All six of them, in uniform, with pistols at their hips. Yikes. I thought about holding up my hands but figured that they'd prefer my hands stay on the wheel. Happily, the pistols stayed snugged into their holsters.
One of the men marched (and I mean marched!) over to the car and seemed to accept my babbling explanation of being lost and headed for Pearl City, not Pearl Harbor. He instructed me as to what to do to get on the right road and then turned to bellow to his colleague.
"U-Turn!"
The colleague, also with pistol in holster, waved me around the gate, and between the traffic cones while incoming traffic was held up to let us pass. Jeez. There's no such thing as an innocently made wrong turn around here. Who knew that the off-ramp led strictly to the military base? (As I'm typing this three helicopters are flying overhead in formation. Does that mean we went from a mention on the daily report at the naval base to a fly-over? Are we on a list?)
Believe me, I'll never do that again. If the sign says "to the base" I'll believe it and go another way. Problem is, there are so darn many bases on this island, it's hard to avoid them. But hey, there is a funny side to this. See the H1 is one of those freeways with a blue and red sort of shield-sign. If you look closely at those signs on your local highways, you'll see that the red part says Interstate. Now typically, that would mean that the road leads to another state, but in our case, the next state is across about 2500 miles of open water. In fact the next county is a boat ride away not a drive. So the three interstates on Oahu- H1, H2 and H3, really just go in circles, like the rest of the roads here. And like some of the drivers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
