Friday, March 11, 2011

Another Tsunami Warning

I'm really hoping this does NOT become an annual event. Last night I was sitting on my couch having a beer after class when my Mama sends me a text about the earthquake in Japan. I've decided that she really must not sleep anymore at all and we texted some back and forth but at that time it didn't seem like we were in danger. I kept the news on and then a little before 10pm they issued a warning for us in Hawaii and started sounding the sirens.

The sirens scare the crap out of me. I hate them. I get anxious on monthly test days. I woke CRH up and frantically told him that we were under warning and I was freaking! I packed the essentials like last year; makeup, jewelry, food, and the kid. We debated about where to go and finally I just followed him up the hill to the Dole Plantation. We stopped along the way for gas and beer and more non-perishable food items.

We parked at the Dole Plantation before midnight in the rain and sat and waited. I could not sleep because of my anxiety level, despite having been up since 6:30am Thursday. As it got closer to 3am our time, my mom and I stayed on the phone so I could hear the news. The local radio stations just weren't doing it for me. I needed more info and I was so happy she was home and watching it! Waves "hit", water receded...but it didn't seem like the water was pouring back in. All in all, it ended up doing some very minor damage. A few houses got washed out on the Big Island (where there was also a small earthquake last night), some boats were damaged but all in all we were unharmed!

I heard on the radio about 6:40am that they were planning to give the "all clear" around 7am so I woke CRH up from his slumber and told him we needed to head that way to get in line. We sat there waiting and heard that they were extending the warning until 12pm. I almost lost it. I was sooooo tired after only about an hour of sleep in my car (not fun by the way!). The view was beautiful though to include this huge, brilliant, full rainbow over Haleiwa. The guy across the street from us pulled out his cooler, his camp chair, and an umbrella. He propped his feet up on his truck and popped himself open a Heineken. It was hilarious! Finally, they downgraded it to an advisory and gave the all clear about 8am. We were home, safe and sound, and in our beds by 8:30am. When I looked out my bedroom window before falling into my bed, I saw another gorgeous rainbow over Waialua. Thanks so much for all the calls, texts, FB messages, etc. We're fine here and managed to dodge another bullet.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Eve's Sunrise Shell

Today we have a guest blogger, Eve Hart. Yesterday she found her very first sunrise shell in Haleiwa. Here's her story.

Yesterday when I was practicing my swimming, I dug up some sand and found a sunrise shell. At first when a wave came, it was gone but when I looked for it I found a shell that looked nothing like a sunrise shell. After I looked for a while, I found my sunrise shell again. I came running and screaming up to my Mommy telling her I found a sunrise shell. She thought I'd been stung by a jellyfish. In the end, she took a picture and put it on Facebook.
Sunrise shells are the rarest type of shells in Hawaii. We found out about these cool shells at the farmer's market. There are blue and green ones and there are ones that are pink, yellow, and white. Mine is pink, yellow, and white. It's great because my favorite color is pink. On the back, it has a really dark color pink. This one looks like it was connected to another one before I found it. Well, that's all for today's story.



PS My Mom's birthday is in a month, if you need ideas. (Shameless plug by the author's mom!)
http://www.monicabytheshore.com/