MAKANI ULUULU (HURRICANE) or…

A LULU OF A BIG BLOW

Nothing can interrupt a writer’s thought train more than when her caboose is being blown right out of the station. A category #1 hurricane can do that. Back in the 70’s, a couple of guys: structural engineer Herb Saffir and his buddy, meteorologist, Bob Simpson (who was Director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida) came up with a scale from 1-5. The higher the number on the scale, the more neighbors’ roofs that blow off, the bigger the trees that topple onto Toyotas and the more water that pours down or surges into basement man-caves.

Now I have to admit that husband, Tom and I had just left Maui this past week to return to Los Angeles for a month, so we missed the actual events. Thank goodness that friend Sandi became weather watch commander and provided all of us “mainlanders” who have Hana homes with continual updates. So far she is still afloat and emailing from her closet. Hana has never experienced a hurricane category number..a tsunami maybe, but not a hurricane.

So when it was announced that hurricanes Iselle and Julio were on their way and headed toward Hawaii, the natives started paying attention. At first I thought when I heard the names that they were that dance duo on Dancing With The Stars. Where do these guys get these names? Up until 1979, all hurricanes were female. Of course, that figures. We got the blame for everything in those days. But then the first male hurricane was named and it was Hurricane Bob. Really? I betcha anything that it was named after good ‘ol Bob Simpson, Director of the NHC. And he turned out to be bad Bob..a category 3.

And so it is no surprise that coming up with hurricane names is as political as congress trying to pass a bill before Christmas vacation. All names must be approved by Region #4 Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organzation. This group is made up of reps of all countries affected by the hurricanes in their zone or area. Why can’t they just draw names out of alphabetical and gender appropriate hats. That would be way more fun. Why take the time to vote by committee? Geez!

Friends Mike and Larry decided that they should go up to our house and move all our lanai furniture indoors. I know Allstate appreciates that. It could get expensive if our bamboo and all-weather-wicker with the Sunbrella fabric blows to Oahu. However, Mike reports that our open floor-plan is no longer open and looks more like Furniture Warehouse.

And speaking of warehouses, CostCo in Kahului has now had a serious run on toilet paper, rum, beer and Doritos..not to mention ice. This is probably because one of the favorite Hawaiian drinks is appropriately named “The Hurricane.” Just to keep you in the mood, here’s the recipe and you might want to pick up some juice while you’re at it. Then chug-a-lug and literally let the world fly by:

Ingredients
1 light rum
1 dark rum
1 1/2 fluid ounces amaretto liqueur
6 orange juice
6 pineapple juice
1 dash grenadine syrup on top after drink is poured
Don’t forget the little paper umbrella with the cherry

Mix all ingredients well and pour over ice into a hurricane glass (hopefully unbroken).

So the good news is that Iselle could have been a lot worse. She got herself into a tropical mood and morphed into a “storm.” Now we just have to hope that Julio continues to hold the stage way-y-y out in the Pacific far from the islands. Otherwise, think of the great business start-up we could have..where we can share plants and lawn furniture and “recycloned” materials by air with our island neighbors at no freight charge. Then we can hold a humongous blow-out sale!