We Can Hide, But We Can’t Run.

It’s been a busy day. We have not one, but two hurricanes out here in the Pacific and they’re both headed our way. One, Hurricane Iselle, will make landfall tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon on the Island of Hawaii and will pass just south of us here on Maui early Friday morning. The second storm, Julio, looks like it will pass to the north sometime on Sunday. As far as we’re concerned the farther north the better.

We don’t get hurricanes very often, but they’re a big problem when they do show up. Because of our usually benign climate, a lot of residential construction is a bit flimsy compared to mainland standards. Furthermore, with a population of a million and a half people, plus 200,000 tourists, resupply is difficult. We’re 2400 miles from anywhere and, in fact, Hawaii is the most remote populated spot on the face of the earth. Twenty-plus years ago, Hurricane Iniki devastated the Island of Kauai and there were huge logistical problems involved in getting things back to normal. I mean, you can’t just pick up the phone, order 9,000 utility poles, and have them delivered out here in the middle of the Pacific by next Wednesday.

Here on our place, we’ve done pretty much everything we can do for now. A lot will depend on how close either of those storms come. My wife is worried about the two horses. We’ll certainly lose power and that means the internet will be down. The DirecTV dish up on our roof will probably go and — dammit! — that means no Red Sox games for who knows how long.

The reality is, there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. We’ve got a portable generator ready to hook up to our refrigerator, so at least the essentials will be covered: cold beer and chilled wine.