Panic! Batten down the hatches!

This next blog was supposed to be the next installment of Eden's rooster adventure, but... I got busy, and something else come up that I just HAVE to blog about. of course...

Living on Hawai'i has its oddities. One of them is the weather. You think, 'always sunny,' right? No, always the threat of the Great Tsunami! I was reminded of that when my better half, Pat, made the mistake of watching the weather report before we went to bed the other night. We were scheduled to drive into Kona the next morning. The implications there are:

1. We have to drive 1.5 hours on a long, curvy road.
2. We have to leave our 4 dogs and 43 chickens untended. (The 1 cat can fend for himself; he's pretty smart by all evidence.)
3. Then, we have to drive 1.5 hours home in the semi-darkness on a long,curvy road.
4. A storm may take out parts of the road or power or both.

Well, the weather report said a really, really big storm was coming with really, really big winds (65+ mph). Should hit us at around 6 - 8 am. Now, this was 11 pm at night. And she was very concerned. 

Hmmm... Now, remember, we have lived in the Hawaiian Islands for about 10 years. We NEVER watch the weather reports. (This was really a fluke.) The following is a true story:

3 am... the phone rings. It's my sister in California. "Hello?" I say, sleepily. She asks, "What are you doing?" "Sleeping," I respond, not quite getting the point. "You weren't hit by the tsunami?" she asks. "What tsunami?" Then I gather my wits and say, "Hey, I'm fine, can I call you in the morning?"

Another true story:

A friend of mine, that actually LIVES on the Big Island, was traveling on the mainland, and sent me a text. I forget what I was doing, maybe cooking or gardening, or playing cards. The text read, "Did you suffer any damage from the earthquake?" My texted response, "What earthquake?"

I guess the bottom line is that the weather-related events make more news elsewhere than they do right here, where they are happening.

So, when my wife started fretting about the storm that was 7 to 9 hours away, I said, "You know, it may just pass us by, or die out before it gets here. Why don't we wait for morning, and see what happens. Unless, of course, you want to batten something down tonight." Which suggestion she was not into at all. Worrying was one thing. Actually going out into the dark (leaving warm bed) and putting away some buckets and things didn't sound like a good time at all. So we went to bed. And woke up to a sunny morning. The storm did hit, but much more north than expected. And not quite as heavy. But that didn't stop my daughter from calling to find out if I was safe.  Ahhhhh...... she loves me.