Hey all, sorry about shirking my charter member duties lately.
Here's the story:
1) Hannah Noelani was born July 14 and she's perfect. Wifes been off work since and we're working out what kind of schedule she can go back on. Child care here is really expensive and we have a 20 month old and a three month old.
2) I changed jobs again and now I work for the US Postal Service. It's a supervisor position in a post office, so I have to learn the delivery and retail unit operation. I've been tested and evaluated since August and it goes on until Thanksgiving - then probation until January. Best part: Shifts are 5 am until 2 pm; 10 am until 7 pm or 2 am until 10 pm. I get to work all of them right now.
3) probably told you all this but we moved house again in July right before the baby was born.
3) Earthquake - The Big Island is a 45 minute flight from here - 164 miles or so to Kailua-Kona - at 7 am we heard stuff falling off the dresser and Elinor yelled at the cat. I was looking at the cat and he hadn't moved. A few seconds later we heard a low rumble and the house started to shake - just enough to rattle the light fixtures - nothing fell off the walls - but you could feel the shaking in the bed. Both larger kids were up so I went to the living room - it was still rumbling and shaking, it felt like it went on for about 20 seconds. Got the kids into doorways and waited. Elinor went to the computer to check the USGS sites, I turned on the radio but 17 minutes after what was the second quake (scientists here feel it was two separate quakes, a 6.0 and a 6.7 with different epicenters and at different depths in the earth) Hawaii Electric's fail-safe system cut in and eliminated power across the entire island. In fact, on every island. A statewide power outage. Our power came back on around 1 am Monday morning, Internet and cable came up around 11 am Monday for us.
We cooked on our propane stove and grill (we had rack of lamb by candlelight!) and made a list of all the things we need to get for hurricane/earthquake preparation. We were ill-prepared but better off than a lot of people. The worst part was we have no land line phones and the cell network was jammed all day; we couldn't get calls in our out except by sheer luck.
There were no fatalities statewide and only a few injuries. One lady did die in a fire that night, probably due to negligent use of candles. A few broken bones too - no one was hurt in my family. Tree in our backyard lost some coconuts.
It was mostly an education for us as to what we need to get together in the event of a disaster of some kind. We couldn't find batteries. We need a larger amount of water put aside. A generator. Most importantly, we had a grand total of $5.00 cash on hand.
So now we have a plan for whatever happens next.
Author
Topic: Shakin' All Over... (Read 1497 times)