March Madness

Ahhh! The tropics! If you haven't seen or heard the news, we are in the middle of a series of severe storms. Those of you in Colorado, imagine this - 36 inches of rain in 5 days. That was what was reported on TV two days ago. I think we got another 36 in the last 24 hours. (I imagine it was more like 8-10 inches).

I have never seen this much rain even during an entire year in the Midwest. Last night, it was raining so hard that I could not see out any of the windows in our house. There was just a constant wall of water. I was truly afraid that a house or people might get washed away. But it sounds like people and homes are safe. We lost power for the second time in a week and we are not able to drive to Princeville (where there is a major grocery store usually 5 minutes away) because of mudslides on a bridge. Rain, hail, thunder, lightning, flash floods, mud, landslides, mudslides, brown water advisories (more than you care to know about in the water). It brings a whole new meaning to paradise and  "monsoon season." I will now think of the Colorado monsoon season as the Colorado mists. If you see this blog within a day or two of the posting, go to the Hawaii News Now website  (www.hawaiinewsnow.com/) and check out the storm slides and videos. They are amazing. When people that were born here or have been for 20+ years tell me they've never seen anything like this, I believe them.

For those of you who know Jan Lanting, she was stranded for 5 days in a little beach town (Haena). Her husband and friends spent their Kauai vacation in the middle of this stuff - with no power or phone or way to get beyond "the land called Hanalei."  She probably could have used a few puffs from a magic dragon. Needless to say, I didn't see her while she was here. Now, she and company are treading water on Maui.

Sam in his rain poncho waiting for permission to go out again.

More to come...

(Know that we're safe, just bored and damp).