Mahalo e Aloha!
My thanks and heartfelt appreciation for the emails I’ve received over the past two days from readers of this humble blog. Your sentiments are very much appreciated. And they help!
In response to questions asked in the roughly 200-plus emails I’ve received, we’re fine and the only damage to our place was a large branch falling from quite a nice rainbow eucalyptus tree in our pasture. We, of course, are among the lucky ones.
There was a brush fire about a mile away from here last night and, in an abundance of caution, my wife got the two horses into our trailer and the two dogs in my car and we all spent several hours at a riding arena a couple of miles from our place.
Aftermath. This is what historic Lahaina town looks like today.
In the meantime, the death toll, almost all from Lahaina, continues to rise—the latest number is 80 with more expected.
The Washington Post has a story today that says the folks at Hawaiian Electric were slow to shut down power to the Lahaina area and, specifically, to the electric poles that were blown down by the high winds. The gist of the story is that’s what caused the awful conflagration. I cannot verify that, of course, but I can say that Maui Electric, HECO’s subsidiary on this island, is known to have old equipment and any Maui resident who has lived through any of MECO’s frequent power losses would agree that is the most likely explanation for his terrible tragedy.
Again, my most sincere thanks for all the emails.
Phyllis,
As a follow up to our email swap of a month ago, I just want to tell you–you probably already know–that Jack was my most-appreciated client. I was with another agency before forming Loomis and Pollock. They were going broke and I went to se Jack as a courtesy inform him that
at I was leaving. He asked my what I was going to do and I said I was going to form my own agency. And Jack said–these are his exact words–“Well, of course I’m going with you.” I’ve never forgotten that because it gave me encouragement when I needed it most.
I also remember, when one of the other banks did something that was unusual, Jack saying “What do they know that I don’t know?” The wisdom in that almost casual remark astounded me and I applied it multiple times in subsequent years.
How is Jack . . . really? And if you think a note from me might be appreciated, please send me their current address.
Thanks again for your nice noted., Phyllis. My apologies for just now getting around to responding. I trust/hope things are going well for you. With aloha, Jim Loomis
I hope you find this response to your email, but I don’t have your email address. Mine is
jploomis@maui.net
Hi Jim,
I’ve been wondering if you are OK. So happy that you and your wife, horses, doggies and house were spared. Now that I’ve discovered this site, I’ll have to find a lot of spare time to enjoy all of your past postings.
Aloha,
Phyllis Oliver
(I occasionally hear from Mr. Corteway or Phyllis. Mr. C’s still hanging in there.)
Phyllis! Wonderful to hear from you! Yeah, we’re fine. Old, but fine!
Cheers,
Jim