Snow Day

So, I’m discovering why they call it the “Rainy Season”.

Apparently, winter here comes in the form of lots of rain – at lunch one day, some of my co-workers (Ok, I only have two – Derek and Wendy) were sitting around, reminiscing about bad floodings of the past. Fun! I recommend that if you are planning on visiting, maybe May – Nov. would be the best time frame. I would hate it if you came and it was raining. Tax busy season is Feb – April, so those are bad times to come anyway, for David. So it all works out.

Back to the weather; I thought Texas was fickle, but out here I’m just confounded. Looking out your window is not a good indicator for weather – David and I often stare up into the clear blue sky and exclaim, “Where is this rain coming from!?” I wish I could take a picture. It is usually a light drizzle when there are no clouds present, and if I close my eyes halfway, the sun hitting the raindrops looks pretty close to snow, so I can pretend for just a little bit.

I’m also learning about weather and elevation. I mean, I’m not retarded, it’s obviously going to be cooler and usually wetter the higher up I go. I’m just not used to having to plan for it. (‘I think I’ll take my bathing suit, sunscreen… oh, and my raincoat.’) I walk around downtown quite a bit, so after a few drenchings, I’ve learned to keep an umbrella with me at all times. Just because you leave the office to walk 4 blocks to lunch with clear skies doesn’t mean it won’t rain on you before you get there.

All this adds up to my first Hawaiian Snow Day! It was very exciting – eventually. Mainly the going back to bed part, anyway. As I’ve mentioned, David and I take The Boat into work each day, and on this particular day we drove to the harbor….and it was deserted. So we figured the boat wasn’t running due to high surf. So… we went to the bus stop. NOTHING! We were like, what the hell is up with this freaking ghetto-Hawaiian bus system. Defeated, we resigned ourselves to fighting the traffic into town, and paying $30 (!!) for parking. We got about 10 minutes in when I got a call from Wendy telling me to go home – I was more than happy to comply. A TV would have come in handy – but then again, since we get up at 4:45 and leave a little after 5, we probably wouldn’t have taken the time to watch the news anyway. It turned out that a huge storm had come in, flooding parts off the island, knocking out most of the electricity, and actually cutting off one whole part of the island, as the only road in/out was blocked with debris. It was kinda of nuts. I’m amazed I wasn’t getting calls from my mom, in hysterics. As she puts it, “I don’t like the thought that both of my children are stuck on a rock in the middle of the ocean.”

So I went home, and spent a few more blissful hours in bed, and then took care of some house stuff. Poor David, he can work from home, so they tracked him down.

We got outside for a little bit - I wish you could tell how big the waves were - they made for some not fun boat trips for the next week.

In all, it hasn’t been a very rainy season this year, apparently. We still get a fair amount of sun, and the rain index says we have only gotten around 50% of the rain that is normal for this time of year.

One thing that I enjoy about the season is that our side becomes beautifully green. We prefer to live on the dry side, as the snorkeling is better (less runoff) and since it rains less often, we have more chances of being outside. A sad side effect is that, true to it’s name, it gets dry and kinda brown in the summer. But right now, coming in on the boat each day we get a great view of the wonderful lush paradise we live in.