Hurricane Day is Here....

... but no hurricane in Kihei.

Thanks to all of you for your messages and aloha.  It is 4 AM  Friday - right about when we were anticipating a downpour and strong winds here on Maui from Hurricane Iselle.   We understand the Big Island is getting hit on the windward side - lot of rain, wind, huge surf.  Still no rain reported on Kona side.

Local news reports that there is lots of rain happening on the eastern edge of Maui, and some power outages upcountry.  Here in South Maui so far - there's not a breeze blowing, not a drop of rain.

Just another Aloha Friday.

So far anyway.  Still watching, still waiting.   And then there's Julio coming right behind.  Being told to expect impacts from that storm around Sunday.  We know its more "prepare for the worst, hope for the best"... and then just wait and see!

9:00 AM UPDATE....

Rain!  Real rain!!  Yippee!  Still no wind.

10:30 AM UPDATE....

Watching news, they are still saying we've not seen the end of the impacts from this storm.  Anticipating lots of rain, maybe up in the mountain (which make for tremendous runoff down to the  ocean).  Rivers are high, streams are swollen.  We are under a flash flood warning. Right now, all sea ports are closed (except on Kauai).  That means no supplies getting in until they are re-opened.  All flights are cancelled for now.  No one is going anywhere (and, again, no supplies coming in).

Schools are closed.  Shopping malls are closed.  Certainly not yet business-as-usual.

A Kitchen Progresses Sloooooowly . . . .

The build-up of planning, the excitement of choosing styles and materials, the struggle with deciding among appliance brands, makes and models.... all that is now just a blip in our memories.

We have a plan:

Current Kitchen Layout - Gecko-eye view from ceiling down.

Coming soon to a kitchen in Kihei.

Appliances have arrived.  Cabinets are being shipped.  There are granite slabs with our names on them. Flooring is at the warehouse.  And help is lined up.  Now we just need it all to fall neatly into place at the same time with a minimum of snafus.  How likely is that?  

So far, we have a new, larger kitchen window (so the new, larger sink which is being moved over to accommodate a full size dishwasher) will still be centered under the window.

old...

NEW!

And we have our new fridge.  It does not fit in the space where the old one was, so it is temporarily parked in the dinning room.  The the still-boxed-up new dishwasher & microwave are stacked in the space previous occupied by the old fridge.  To wit:

Currently, we are looking at beginning the real transformation work end of August.  We are not deluding ourselves.  We know this has so far been easy.  We've watched enough HGTV to know there are challenges and surprises and headaches ahead.  

We are thinking we need to have a "safe word"... so that when there is no place to cook or make food, no sink to wash anything in, a fine layer of white dust on every surface and in every crevice, a living room full of kitchen, and nailing and sawing and sanding and swearing going on, and tempers will be a bit frayed and patience shorter than ideal... we need to be able to say to each other, without recrimination,  "Whoa.  Don't bite my head off.  Dial it back a notch there, bunky."

I was thinking "Armadillo".  Oh, but if I were to say "I'd like you to be an armadillo right now"... that conjures an image of steaming, flattened road kill somewhere on a lonely stretch of Texas highway. Granted, that may accurately reflect the sentiment of the moment,  but I think misses the whole intent of a safe word.  

Maybe we'll go with "Giraffe".