December 10, 2007
The week that was - photo essay
Early last week I had intended to write about my day on Monday. Things got busy Monday and Tuesday and I never got beyond editing some photos and sketching out my post in my head. The rest of the week turned out to be blogworthy, too, but I’m only just now finding the time, so it’s all going into one long post. Pour yourself a glass of you favorite beverage, kick off you shoes and let me tell you about my week.
Monday
I started my day at home in Maili on the Waianae Coast (the west side on the map above.) I drove out Farrington Highway (93), the only access to and from the coast, to H-1, towards Honolulu. In Aiea I picked up H-3 to the Windward side, turning back west at Kaneohe. Kamehameha Highway (83)took me to my destination in Hau’ula. I drove through rain most of the way and the entire trip took over two hours.
The home I inspected had a heavy infestation of formosan subterranean termites, which we don’t see as much since termite baiting systems are providing such good control. I won’t say that they’ve become rare, but I see them infrequently enough these days that there’s an element of fun in it for me when I get to explore an infestation. The more widespead drywood termites were also present in the home, but I see them in probably six or seven out of every ten inspections. Jobs like this one keep my work from becoming boring, so I was feeling pretty good as I left the site, despite wet clothes and soggy shoes.
As I was getting ready to get back on the highway the radio announced that a car had overturned on H-3 townbound and traffic was backed up. Since my second inspection for the day had cancelled I wasn’t in a great hurry, but I decided to take the Windward/North Shore route home rather than sit in freeway traffic. The surf had been reaching spectacular heights, so I expected heavy traffic on this route, too, but at least I’d be moving and would have pretty scenery to look at. Sure enough, surfers and tourists were all moving in the same direction, towards the big surf of Sunset Beach and Waiamea Bay.
Cars were parked all along the shoulder of the highway and each beach park parking lot. I wasn’t in any hurry, so I stopped several times and took photos of tourists taking pictures of other tourists and the ocean.
I made a few new friends. These two men are from the San Francisco Bay area and one of them has connections to the part of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana where I grew up, so we spent a few minutes talking about our common background.
As I neared Sunset Beach I could see a group of surfers straddling their boards out in the wild water, all hoping for one more good wave to emerge from the sloppiness, I’m sure. The O’Neill World Cup of Surfing had kicked off early Monday morning with waves in the 24 to 30-foot range, but was cancelled about noon when the conditions got too dangerous. (Click photo to see a larger version on flikr. The little black dots in the circle are our daredevils.)
Spectators and competition officials were still trying to exit the grandstand area when I passed Sunset Beach. The parking lot was reserved for the elite, so the shoulder of the road was lined with parked cars and people were dodging in and out of traffic on foot. A police office was working his way down the lines of illegally parked vehicles with his ticket book.
I pulled into the parking lot at Waimea Bay, but there were no slots available so I had to circle the lot and climb back up to the highway. Traffic had slowed to a snails pace, but finally began to move as I approached Haleiwa, where I turned south. I cut across the island through the pineapple fields, Wahiawa and Mililani, with H-2 taking me to H-1 for the last leg of my trip home.
I hit heavy traffic again on Farrington Highway in Nanakuli. I was weary, but reminded myself that there was nothing urgent on my agenda, so I relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. It took about forty minute to travel that last five miles or so to home. The entire trip, counting the hour and half I spent actually inspecting, took almost six hours. I spent a little time chilling with the boys, then ate a very late lunch and wrote up my report and a couple of blog posts. It was bedtime before I realized I hadn’t remembered to look for Tuesday Teaser possibilities while I was out. I took several unsatisfactory photos of household items and finally settled on the oven shot that I used. I wrote the post and put my blog and myself to bed at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday.
Tuesday
Office work, some customer relations calls and Tuesday Teaser comments kept me busy for much of Tuesday. The weather was still rainy and windy, so I was happy to stay in. I watched Bones and House in the evening. We were being warned to expect much worse weather overnight. I unplugged my computer and fax machine, forwarded my office phone to my cell and readied flashlights, lanterns and radio before I went to bed. Storm noises and blowing debris crashed around all night and woke me several times.
Wednesday
I awoke around six without an alarm, as usual. It took me a few minutes to realize what felt “off.” It was the quiet. I could hear rain falling, but the wind had settled down. There was no air conditioner noise from my office and I didn’t hear the usual hum of traffic from the highway. Aha! No power! I stumbled into the kitchen and made a single cup of coffee in the little campfire pot from my evacuation kit. I read by lamplight while waiting for the sun to come up. When I felt awake enough to handle the noise I turned on the radio and discovered that Farrington Highway was closed. Utility poles had fallen across traffic lanes in several areas. There was no way to leave the coast. I called the client I had planned on meeting for an inspection. He was fine with the delay, considering that he was stranded in his own neighborhood on the Windward side. We agreed to move the inspection to Thursday. I spent much of the day putzing at housework, reading, and monitoring the radio for more news. No computer, no TV, no going anywhere. The rain continued to fall. By mid-afternoon the callers to the radio station were getting agitated about being stranded. The refrigerator was reaching unacceptable temperatures and I moved my dairy products into the freezer. I went to bed early with a flashlight and a book, fully expecting to have power by the time morning came.
Thursday
I awoke to an unnaturally quiet house again, but could hear several portable generators powering neighbors’ homes. The rain was still falling, sometimes quite heavily, and gusty winds had the boys on edge for the third day in a row. My Wednesday client was fine with waiting patiently for better conditions before I should attemp his twice-delayed inspection. By noon I was running out of ice. My freezer was packed with chicken, beef, pork, sausage and fish in addition to vegetables, a few leftovers and some ice cream. I drank a glass of French vanilla slush before pouring the rest down the drain and putting stewpots of chicken and beef on to cook. I tried to turn on the oven, but there’s apparently a safeguard that won’t let the gas flow until the electronic ignition fires, so I couldn’t get it to light with a match. I had wanted to cook as much as possible and try to get the excess to the folks who camp on the beach, but the lack of an oven limited what I could do. It was too wet and windy outside to attempt grilling. The inside of the freezer was sweating by mid-afternoon, so I cleaned out both the fridge and freezer and hauled most of the contents out to the rubbish bin for Friday morning pick up. The kitchen floor was a mess by the time I’d gotten three rubbish bags of ripe meat and fish, soggy vegetables and a couple of mushy pizzas out, so I mopped the floor. The highway had opened up for one lane of traffic in each direction with delays of three hours or more being reported by those brave enough to attempt entering and leaving the coast. I could not have gotten to the homeless encampments even if I’d had a way to cook all of my food. Shortly before sunset a neighbor and her two boys called me out to the gate. The local school had invited the community to load up on ice and they’d brought me three precious bags. I cooked some rice and had it with chicken adobo for dinner, then spent the evening reading by lamplight again and went to bed early.
Friday
I knew as soon as I woke up that we were still without power. My phone had died the previous day - maybe the folks re-installing the utility poles had done something? - and my cell phone battery was dead, so I was out of touch with everyone. The radio advised me that traffic was flowing through one lane in each direction on Farrington Highway and still moving at a creep. I pulled the brew basket out of my coffeemaker, put a filter and coffee in it and poured water boiled on the stove through it. Two days of brewing one cup at a time (and having “chewy” coffee full of grounds) had convinced me that it was worth it to stand with my finger holding the brew-stop valve open while the coffee dripped. After I finished my coffee I opened the freezer to get some ice for tea. The bag of ice sitting on my butter and cheese had dripped down the walls into the bottom of the freezer, where a drain hole allowed it to exit gracefully. The bag in the bin at the bottom of the freezer had to be “bailed out” so it wouldn’t overflow. There were puddles on the floor by the time I finished so I mopped again. I needed to go the grocery store, but hesitated because of the traffic tie-ups in each direction. Still, I hadn’t been out of the house since Tuesday and was going a little stir crazy. I showered and put on a work uniform, intending to call the realtor-on-hold from a pay phone.
Just as I was ready to take Lance out to the kennel, the power came back on. After the boys were situated I called the realtor. His own work was backed up and he didn’t have time to meet me, so he gave me the lockbox combo and his blessings to do the inspection at my convenience. Unplugging my office machines ahd saved them from power surge damage when things went live again, so I didn’t need to arrrange a computer rental before booting up and checking in with folks before I went out. Knowing that the retailers on the coast had lost all of their fresh foods, I put my ice chest in the trunk and took off. At the intersection where I enter the highway I saw power crews working to get lines reinstalled, blocking one townbound lane as I looked towards Waianae.
More crews were working on downed lines in the Waianae Bound lanes a few hundred yards away in the other direction. Traffic was slow but moved steadily until I got into Nanakuli. The usual drive at that time of day would take twenty or thirty minutes to get me to H-1. I knew that the hour it took me on Friday was a blessing considering what drivers had contended with the last two days. The inspection in Ewa Beach was uneventful and only took about half an hour, so I was soon at the Safeway in Kapolei. I had chicken adobo and stewed beef in the fridge, but stocked up on vegetables, dairy products and bread. I remembered sandwich rolls and mayo, but forgot that I’d thrown away all of my deli meats. Ah, well - I needed to eat the cooked meats at home first.
Traffic coming back to the coast was heavier than it had been when I was leaving, but I was back in Maili about an hour after I left the grocery store. Crews were still hard at work in the Waianae-bound lanes near Maili Stream, just before my turn-off. Neighbors were out with chain-saws cutting up downed trees, but everyone was in a cheerful mood now that we had power and were no longer stranded. I moved the butter and cheese from the freezer to the fridge, removed the now-empty ice bags and bailed out the freezer one last time before putting away my groceries. The beef that had braised for two days in balsamic vinegar and herbs was delicious and falling-apart tender with left-over rice for my late lunch. I generated my inspection report, made some calls to schedule work for the coming week and acknowledged that life was sweet, despite the rain that continued to fall. Eh - no rain - no rainbows!
Image credit for map: hawaiicity.com
Technorati Tags: Hawaii, isolation, power-outage, storm, surf, termite inspection
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December 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am, Karen Says:
It sounds like a hectic week. I am so glad you weren’t worse from the wear.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:17 pm, Whim Says:
What a week!
I hope this one is much more peaceful.
(((HUGS)))
December 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm, sassymonkey Says:
Well that sounds like it was an adventure!
I think you need to tell us more about this braised beef….
December 10th, 2007 at 12:52 pm, pussreboots Says:
Monday sounds great. The remainder of the week sounds rough but it all made for a great blog post. It’s good to see you blogging again.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo, Karen. Some other islanders had it much worse, with flooding and mud- and rockslides, so I’m good, and beginning to catch up with everything I missed.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo my Whimsical friend. An uneventful week would be nice.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:35 pm, skeet Says:
Yes, Sassy One - we’ll talk about the braised beef. Unfortunately, I threw things in the pot in the dark, so I’ll probably never make it quite the same way again.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:36 pm, skeet Says:
It was rough, Sarah, but not really awful once I knew that clietns would all know that I couldn’t get to them or return their calls. They’ve all been great about waiting for the coast to re-open instead of going to my competitors for a quick fix.