Tag: rain

Hawaii Life TV Show: Honolulu

~ K ~ 2 Comments

A few of you might remember that my parents still live on Kauai and I went to high school on Kauai.  I like Kauai and am enjoying the TV show “Hawaii Life”.  The show is most likely produced by the real estate company “Hawaii Life” because they make Hawaii look awesome.  On the flip side, “Dog the Bounty Hunter” shows the meth heads, wife beaters, and bond jumping thugs of Honolulu in such a positive light.

The most recent episode of “Hawaii Life” was about a couple that lived on Oahu looking for a condo in downtown Honolulu.  The couple was recently married and living with her parents but looking to move out.  Ideally, they wanted to live in downtown Honolulu since it was close to his job.

I have a few friends that live on the island of Oahu so this particular episode was interesting to me.  As a father, I would prefer to live in a house with my family rather than a condo with no yard.  As a married couple (with no kids), I could go with a condo living and a nice view to enjoy.  No lawn to mow?  No bushes to trim?  No leaves to rake?  Where do I sign up?

As long as I have access to some good grocery stores and can go for a walk, I’m happy.  Throw in some good golf courses, some sandy beaches, and a library, I’m good to go.

When you live in Western Washington, you see about 220 days of cloudy gray skies a year.  On the eastern side of the great state of Washington, that ratio of cloudy weather to sunny days flip flops to 200+ days of sun.  Sure, winters are colder with actually freezing temperatures and the chance of snow and ice, but there is sun and blue skies.

Am I complaining about wet Seattle again?  Yes, I am.  I live here and I can complain…it’s a great combination.

Back to the show “Hawaii Life”….the couple picked a nice condo, the real estate agent made a good commission, and everyone is happy.  Except me, sitting here in wet Seattle, with the temperatures in the 40’s and raining.  Life is perfect and you should move here to Seattle.  We could hang out and be friends in person (versus you reading my blog and wishing you could talk with me in person).

The parents must have been really delighted to finally get their daughter and their son-in-law out of their house.  I’m sure they wanted to take care of their daughter and husband forever….

I’m Dreaming of a Rainy Christmas

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Christmas in the Pacific Northwest is not dry.  On the west side of the Cascade Mountain Range, we get our fair share of rain which seems to happen for 10 months out of the year.  People in general love to complain about the rain (yet we still have people moving here from out of state) but for all of the folks that live here, the rain is a part of our lives and we accept it.

I personally would like to have more snow and less rain during Christmas time.  Snow enhances the beauty of the Christmas lights we have on our house and in Seattle, shuts down the whole city.  Since I don’t have to commute to a job, I really like the snow.  Call me “selfish” but I like to have a day or two in the snow with my kids, sledding and building snow forts.  Let’s be honest, I really don’t want to work.

With the coming of snow, the news coverage is insane with the reporters stationed at the bottom of every steep hill (right in front of the STREET CLOSED sign).  People are always sledding down and having an awesome time.  I’m not the only one that is enjoying a day off from work; think of all the school staff happy that the students are home with their parents and they can sleep in.  Snow brings joy.

Howwever, rain is much more common in the Seattle area for our typical Christmas weather.  The Christmas lights are still very appealing and festive.  Our cul-de-sac is great (except for one family who doesn’t do anything).  My neighbor Dan is way ahead of me in the Christmas lights display.  My friends come over to take photos in front of his house because it looks so awesome.  Everyone asks if I’m trying to compete with him (since my house is second best) but I know I can’t.  I just can’t keep up with the sheer amount of lights he has.

Dan’s display does inspire me and today in the pouring down rain, we added to our display.  We added some multi-color lights to the vine maple tree, and some more strings of purple and blue lights throughout the bushes.  If it wasn’t pouring down rain, I might actually be able to post some photos online.  But as you guessed it, it is pouring down rain so I’m not going outside to take photos.  Sorry, I’m just going to stay inside and enjoy the gas fireplace and not watch Frosty the Snowman.

Snow Camping

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Happily, I have returned from one night of snow camping this past weekend with the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scout troop left on Friday morning and spent two nights out there. Luckily, I had First Aide and CPR training so I was able to go up for only one night. My son spent two nights in the igloo he and his fellow scouts built.

Snow camping isn’t my favorite type of camping because, frankly, it is cold. It isn’t just a little cold, it is freezing cold and I really don’t like to be cold. Yes, I admit it; I’m a fair weather camper.

Now that my son is in Boy Scouts, I’ll be doing a lot more camping. Considering that we live in the Seattle area, we’ll be doing a lot of camping in the rain. To my benefit, our Boy Scout troop only does one winter camping trip a year. I personally don’t think I’d want to do more than one winter camping trip a year. Like I said earlier, I like to be warm.

When you are winter camping, you are sleeping outside (in a tent) with the temperature at or below freezing or in an igloo (which is at freezing or below because it is an igloo). Mind you, if you are outside in a tent and it is 20 degrees, it’s darn cold. And if you are in an igloo, you are slightly above freezing because of your body heat and it is still darn cold. Since the temperature in the igloo is slightly above freezing, it is never toasty warm and comfortable until you get into your sleeping bag (which you hope is a very good zero degree bag). Why would you want to be comfortable? That is a silly idea. No, you’ll never be in a nice warm cabin, sleeping in a nice warm bed, with lots of nice warm heat. Instead you’ll be outside in freezing weather, bonding with other equally frozen comrades.

Of course, I’m usually warm during a winter excursion because I’ve learned to stay dry. I have lots of layers of dry clothing and I like them to stay dry. When I was a scout, I was wet and cold during snow camping and it wasn’t very fun. Now, whether it is snow, rain, or sunny camping, I always stay dry, warm, and comfortable. I learned the hard way that camping isn’t much fun when you are miserable, wet, and cold.

Now camping in Hawaii is much more fun and enjoyable. I was fortunate to be able to camp in the Puget Sound and to camp on the island of Kauai (Hawaii) during my scouting career. On Kauai, the camping was warm. However, I do remember at one Camporee (an event where all the troops of the island would get together and camp for a weekend) up at Kokee that it pour rain the whole time. When I talk about the rain to people on the mainland, they always comment “But it was warm rain”. Sure, but water is water and you still get wet and miserable. If you don’t properly cover up your gear, it will get wet and you’ll be even more miserable. And if you happen to be my brother (he is an Eagle Scout like me) you might forget to bring your sleeping bag one year. Luckily for him, I had everyone donate their towels to him to use for blankets. Sure, they didn’t cover his whole body, he looked like a bum on the beach, but at least he was warm that weekend.

If you get a chance to visit Kauai, I highly recommend you consider staying at my parents’ guest cottage. Here’s the link: www.makanacrest.com They also offer wedding services on Kauai and that link is: www.kauaiweddings.com

Weather

~ K ~ 1 Comment

What a great stormy night this evening turned out to be! The rain poured down and I just love listening to it pounded on the roof of the house. It reminds me of being back home on Kauai with our tropical downpours that got you soaked within minutes of starting.

One of the loudest places to be caught in one of those Kauai rainstorms was at my friend Kalen’s shack. It was a small shack his parents had on their property during the construction of the main house years ago. It was only about 12×16 feet in size, painted red on the outside and white on the inside with a metal roof. When it rained it was a thousand drum sticks whacking the roof in rapid succession. You couldn’t hear a thing inside it during a storm.