Creepy Crawlies

Hawaii is supposed to be "Paradise" but they don't ever mention all of the wonderful creatures you get to share this island paradise with...

Such as gargantuan, flying cockroaches, geckos by the truckloads, and these NASTY poisonous centipedes that sting the crap out of you. I'm scared to death of them!!

Last month, I found one in my dining room by sheer accident. It was about 2 inches from my bare foot when I spotted it and my kids nearly had to peel me off the ceiling when they came running into the room at midnight to find out why their mother was screaming at the top of her lungs. I couldn't speak or think. I could only point. At. The. Twelve. Inch. Long. Centipede. Of course, then they started screaming and were climbing the walls right along with me.

Quite a scene.

You can be sure that bright and early the next morning, I was on the phone scheduling an appointment with an exterminator.

Tonight? Folding laundry... Minding my own business... I pull out the last item of clothing from the dryer and what do I see there in the bottom, dried up and dead? ANOTHER CENTIPEDE!

Where did he come from? Did he find his way into the dryer and die there? Or was he in the washer and I [BLECH!] transferred him to the dryer when I put my clothes in there? OR... Was he in the pile of dirty laundry that I [SHIVER] picked up and carried from the bathroom and then put into the washer?

Either way you look at it... I'm freaked out now. It looks like I'll be making another appointment with the exterminators.

FYI... Centipedes do not respond to RAID. You can douse them with it. You can create a virtual swimming pool around them with it. It will not faze them.

Oh. And yes, they are very fast.

And... they can climb walls.

I know this now.

Honey? Can you come home now?

Tired...

What a LONG week!

I just can't even begin to write about it. I'm so glad it's done!

That makes 12 weeks down!

I'm tired. I think I'll hibernate for the rest of the deployment.

All Shook Up!

From theHawaiiChannel.com

Earthquake 6.5 Shakes Islands; Knocks Out Power

HONOLULU -- An earthquake measuring 6.5 shook the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday morning, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The U.S. Geological Society is reporting the quake was 6.3.
It happened at 7:07 a.m. off the Waikoloa coast on the Big Island, according to scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The quake did not generate a tsunami, officials said. Aftershocks as strong as 5.8 have been reported.

Okay, Okay! I slept through the whole thing. I admit it!

After living in Japan and Alaska, even a 6.5 on the Richter Scale can't rouse me these days. It was nuttin'.

Nuttin' that is, until 10 year old Thing 2 came screaming into the bedroom like Henny Penny as if the sky was falling!

No shit, there we were!...

Just kidding.

We are fine. The house is fine. We lived without power [GASP!] and internet [GASP!] for about 11 hours and we are fine!

I grew up with Hurricanes... Moved here from the Gulf Coast after Katrina and Ivan the Terrible and Dennis the Menace and all of those other horrible destructive hurricanes.

We know all about disaster preparedness, evacuation, yadda yadda yadda.

With no warning for the earthquake, though... No time to prepare ourselves mentally for it...

I'll take Hurricanes for $100, please, Alex!

One thing we've learned after Sunday's rocking experience...

When hubby deploys, not only is every possible worst-case scenario GOING to happen, but we will NOT be prepared for it, since he's packed up and taken all his "camping" gear with him. ;)

(Did you know you can make coffee on a gas grill?)

Ever Have One of Those Days...

Ugh!
That about sums it up.

Good Night, Moon

One of the things I miss most about Alaska is the beautiful starry skies at night. On a clear night, you could find yourself surrounded by hundreds of stars and ribbons of Northern Lights. It was just amazing. And breathtaking.

I'm not sure why, but we don't always get to see the stars at night here in Paradise. Even on beautiful, clear nights... they just aren't there. I love to see the moon in its different colors and phases, though. And it's somehow reassuring to know that hubby is looking up at that same ole' moon on the other side of the world.

Good night, Moon.

Good night, Hubby.

Be safe over there. I love you.