A Country Girl Visits Maui

My husband and I recently traded the cold Iowa winter for a week in Maui. It was our first time to travel to this beautiful island and I fully intended to make the most of it. On our first full day there, Gene had to attend a conference. I waited a respectable 30 seconds after he left the room to grab my swim suit and head to the infinity pool. It was amazing. The pool appears to drop off into the ocean. I claimed my seat, ordered a drink, and started some serious daydreaming about moving to Maui and enjoying 80 degree weather every day. Around mid-January, I start thinking that four seasons in Iowa is highly over rated. Give me some sun!

About that time, I noticed a whales fin and tail slapping the water out in the bay. I held my breath and watched in awe. I had hoped to see a whale while I was there and could you believe it, one appears just outside our hotel pool! I looked around and wondered why others weren’t similarly awed. I started pointing and telling anyone who would listen, “Look, there is a whale!” A few people glanced up and smiled politely and I thought how sad it was that they weren’t taking in the beauty. I tromp down the pool steps and swim to the edge so I could watch to my heart’s content. It wasn’t until a few days later that I found out that February was the month that all the whales come to the bay and that there were literally thousands of them in the bay. You would have to be blind NOT to see one. It reminds me of how someone will say, “I saw a deer in your yard!” and I smile politely and think, “Quick, grab a gun and shoot it before it eats another $200 worth of landscaping!”


I don’t want you to think this country girl spent all of her time in Maui at the pool. I was determined to scout out the entire island and have some adventure while I was there. While reading the tour books, we found mention about the breathtaking views along the road to Hana that should not be missed. The road is described as follows:

“The world famous road to Hana is a gorgeous, winding costal drive through breathtaking valleys, beautiful beaches, lush rain forests, spectacular waterfalls, desert-like landscape, and remarkable cliffs. This will be one of the most unforgettable journeys of your life (They should underline that part!) with beautiful photo opportunities.” The brochure goes on and on to describe the 617 curves and 54 one-lane bridges.


What the brochure doesn’t tell you is that your vehicle will be hugging the edge of the road as you travel by the remarkable cliffs. Your teeth and kidneys will be jarred from all the bumps on the unpaved portion in the “untouched” southern side of the island where rental car contracts expressly state, “Travel at your own risk. We won’t come get you, and the tow truck will ask for the deed to your home to come get you.” At one point, a passenger in front of us turned to his wife and said, “Am I worried? Why should I be worried? Our driver is a kleptomaniac who makes up facts at every turn and then reassures us by saying, Don’t worry, I know this road like the back of my hand!” I’m not catholic, but when people started crossing themselves, I started thinking it was a good idea. We hit the bar when we got back to the hotel.

Snow

I'm trying to think of something funny to say about snow and winter weather . . . . nope, I've got nothing!

Thinking Outside of the Box . . . Literally!

We had a run of bad luck last week. The front burner on our cook top quit working and then the refrigerator started making an awful noise. To be honest, I have hearing loss, so I couldn’t hear the noise in the refrigerator but it seemed to annoy everyone else, including the dog. As the temperature in the fridge starting climbing, we decided to unload it so as not to lose all the food. Normally, this would cause quite a dilemma, but it is winter in Iowa and I have been known to think outside of the box. I created a freezer on the back deck and a refrigerator in the garage. Problem solved, or so I thought.


Four days later, I was still trying to find a repairman to come out. Two companies took the information and then I never heard from them again. While it has been entertaining to ask my husband to “go out to the freezer and get me blah, blah,” it has grown old stepping out onto the freezing deck to get ice for my drink. A repairman finally showed up and told me the refrigerator had a short and was a fire hazard and needed to be unplugged. He has ordered parts, and they should be in any day, but now we are under a blizzard warning with 1-2 feet of snow in the forecast. And now the temperatures are suppose to be in the negative numbers for several days. My freezer has become a “sub-zero” freezer.

So I have a plan. When the power goes out, I move the frozen food to the garage, which will now be below freezing, and the refrigerator items to the house, which will be cold, and we roast weenies in the fireplace. We are going to die!

Monday's Snow

I was recently visiting family in Texas for a weekend and enjoyed the 50 degree temperatures as I peeled layers of clothing off while waiting for my luggage to arrive.  Generally, January is a great time to travel to Texas and enjoy a break from the single digit temperatures.  Unfortunately, the snow followed me and they received 4 inches of snow the next day.  As I sat in front of the "first fire of the season", I snickered as the weathermen broke into the football game with updates on the snow accumulation.  The DFW airport cancelled hundreds of flights, schools closed, and everything came to a standstill.  To be fair, they don't have snow often and don't have the equipment to handle this much snow.  But on the flip side, the streets were warm enough that within a day, most of the snow would melt.  I did laugh when the weather men named the storm "Operation Ice Blast 1".  When I came home and told some friends about it, they said, "We name our storms too.  We call them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday . . ."

So here is a photo of Monday.

Septic Sucking Service

Christmas was eventful. I should just leave it at that, but just for fun I will share the details. On Christmas Eve morning, I took my son into our storage room to show him our new project. To my surprise, I saw that the septic system had backed up. Super! How am I going to get someone to come out on Christmas Eve and fix this? I called a few neighbors and looked in the phone book. Do you need a septic tank specialist or a plumber for something like this? Most of the plumbers listed “heating and plumbing” and since it was 16 degrees outside, I figured they would be busy, so I called a septic sucking service. Guess what? He is a procrastinator and was in town doing his Christmas shopping.


It turns out that he is a really nice guy and in a couple of hours, he was out at the house to help us out. Now, you try to find the septic system access points in 12 inches of snow. I knew roughly where two were located, but was stumped when he asked about the effluent filter access. Fortunately, with a lot of patience, he found what he needed, unclogged the filter and we were back in business. I took the opportunity to ask him about 5,000 questions and I now know everything there is to know about septic systems. Ask me anything!

It started snowing just as we finished up and the weather man commented that instead of 1-3 inches of snow, we were under a winter weather advisory and could get 2-4 inches. We were soon upgraded to a winter weather warning. We got 12 inches of snow, thank you very much. When my daughter arrived, she could not get up the hill. My husband went out to pull her up, but she slid sideways on the hill and ended up in a 5 foot snow bank at a 45 degree angle. We decided to leave the car till morning and she climbed out the passenger door, stuffed her gifts in the Kubota and they came in. How will Santa ever get here?

The final insult was when the larger burner on my stove decided not to work. Ho, Ho, oh no!

Town Meetings

I get a lot of entertainment reading the local paper and following the minutes from the town meetings. After living in cities with populations in the millions, several with populations in the hundreds of thousands, and one with a population around 70,000, I now find myself in a community of 2,500. In large cities, the city council meetings rarely made the paper unless there was a controversial issue discussed. Here, they print a summary after each meeting. I’m delighted to read that the water treatment plant came in under budget; that the city has agreed to let AmeriCorp clean up “the park”; and that there was a discussion on whether we need police coverage four days a week or seven days a week.


But I must say, I laughed at the following: “He (Sherriff) also let the council know that he had to purchase a flashlight and a holster for a taser. The city did have the items at one time, but he had been unable to locate them and no one was able to tell him what may have happened to them.”

Speculation

We were driving to town last night and I saw headlights in a remote field.  It caught my attention because it was 16 degrees outside and I wondered what a farmer would be doing in a field at dusk on such a cold day.  As we got closer, I could see a back hoe in a dark field burying something.  Now I ask you, what would a farmer bury in a field at dusk in 16 degree weather?