Settling in at the new place

I'm never, ever moving again.

I mean it. I'm done with the whole purge/pack/clean/schlep/collapse-and-look-at-the-mess/unpack drama. Five moves in the past ten years, three of those in past barely-more-than-three years, and I've had enough.

Good thing we're finally in a house we love.
Too bad it's a rental.

The silver lining: owner says he's open to selling to us should we ever decide we want to buy it. I'm ready to buy it today, if that would mean I didn't have to move again for a while. Not sure where the buckaroos will magically materialize from to support that little fantasy, but I'm deteremined this one is gonna be MINE some day.

It has to be. I've been affirming for two years now that "the next house we move into, we're going to buy." Clever me: I had in mind some kind of a rent now-buy later plan, as that's all our finances will stretch to a the present moment. And that's what I got.

Thing is, I wasn't actively looking for it. We'd talked early in the year about whether or not to renew our lease at the old place when it expired at the end of May, and had decided that moving was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much of a hassle (and expense) to be worth leaving the very nice, big, comfy house by the water we were already in. So, decision made: we'd stay put.

Then one day my Inner Voice spoke up out of the blue and said, "Go see what's on Craig's List." So I did. And there, in the Hilo rental listings, was a photo of our dream house. Seriously. The house DH and I have been talking about having "someday": north side of town, great deck, ocean view, etc., etc. It was all there.

"Honey," I said, "come look at this house on Craig's list."
"Why are you looking at Craig's List?" he complained. "We decided we aren't going to move this year."
"I know, but come look at these photos."
"Holy Sh*t," he said, looking, "that's our Dream House."

He's as big a believer as I am in listening to your inner voice, so we contacted the owner and after months (literally) of nailing down the details (much waiting on previous tenant to schedule his move-out), it all worked out beautifully and with perfect timing, and we're finally in. [I was gonna insert a photo of the view here, but realized they're all on hubbie's hard drive... oops.]

My estimate (based on way too much prior experience) that it would take a full two months to prep, move, and recover is turning out to be accurate. I haven't blogged, I haven't written, I have done barely more than nothing about the agent hunt, I've hardly even cooked, I have a pile of aging admin/bookkeeping tasks to do that's about a foot high and getting taller... but I have a new home office with a view of Hilo Bay and the ocean that takes my breath away.

There's some time-sensitive paper-pushing to be done (semi-annual General Excise/Use Tax filing, fun things like that), and a ton and a half of mental clutter to clear away, but finally, at last, I feel settled in.

So long as I don't think about the fact that it's July 1 and that means the year is half over (which could lead to panic attacks), I'm good to go.

Rain delay

I thought I'd be halfway to the Left Coast Crime conference in Waikoloa right now, but 18 hours of heavy rain have made the northern route (2 hour drive) iffy.

It's a spectacular drive in good weather, and can be a hellacious one when it rains like this. The belt highway curves through three huge gulches with practically vertical sides, and when the ground's saturated rocks and debris start coming down.

flickr.com

At 1 pm Civil defense said the road is technically still open (i.e., yes, there are rocks and debris landing in the road but not so much, yet, that they're not letting anyone through). Nevertheless, drivers are cautioned to stay off the road if they have that option.

Being halfway to Waikoloa would be great. Getting stuck halfway to Waikoloa would be a major pain.

Last time we drove in conditions like this it was Waikoloa to Hilo and a white-knuckler most of the way. We were lucky: the road wasn't closed by rock-fall until 30 minutes after we got through. Yeah, downtown Hilo was flooded when we got here, but that happens. At least in town you can detour around it. On many stretches of the the belt road your only choices are to sit there till the road is cleared (which can be an hour, or several hours, or many hours) or turn around and hope the road behind you is still open.

The other option is the southern route, but that's about a 4-hour drive in good conditions and it's raining just as hard (maybe harder) down there. So the hell with it. We'll go tomorrow. Or even Monday.

Of course, as soon as I'd alerted the hotel and our neighbs (bringing in mail, paper) to our change in plans, the rain let up here in Hilo. But I've been keeping my eye on the radar and it's still coming down strong on both the north and south ends of the island. I am truly glad not to be driving through this:

Which is wimpy of me, I guess, 'cause it was a lot worse a couple of hours ago. For Hawaii rain, not so bad.

* * * * *

Update: Rain lull was temporary, although now it's just a steady rain, not a roof-pounder. A flood advisory for East Hawaii (that's Hilo-side) was issued this afternoon, no saying when it will be lifted.

I've had some time on my hands this afternoon, whiled it away Googling Hilo rainfall and comparing real-rime radar images. One bit of trivia I've learned is that average March rainfall for Hilo is 14.35". We've had almost 9" in the last 24 hours, and it's not expected to stop anytime soon. Gosh I love the Internet! I can deal with rain delays, it's the thunderstorms and power outtages that take me offline that are hardest on the psyche.

If you think 9" of rain in 24 hours is a lot, keep in mind that Hilo "has long been recognized as the wettest population center in the US" (found that quote on a tourist info site, gee, they might want to downplay that!). Our average annual rainfall is a measly 129" or so (only about 3.5 times Seattle's 36"), but we had to hit 211" in one year a while back to set a record.

And consider this:

11/02/2000: "According to the National Weather Service, the massive storm set a record in Hilo where 27.83 inches of rain fell at the airport in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Thursday. The previous record for a 24-hour period was 22.30 inches set in 1979. If Hilo wasn't wet enough, the most rainfall happened over Kapapala Ranch in north Ka'u. Between 2 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Thursday the recorded rainfall totalled of 36.68 inches. "

Geeze, I hope we don't get that much!

Good news is the west side of the island should be a bit drier tomorrow. As of 7pm, any hopes for safe driving of the northern route tomorrow are out the window, so we may take the long way 'round. Hoping for a morning departure ("isolated showers") before things pick up again in the afternoon ("scattered showers" expected).

Secret confession of the day: I really don't mind missing some of the conference. This shindig goes on for 4-1/2 days, which, in my experience, is a at least one day longer than my conference stamina. Cutting that down to size is a fine idea. I am sorry to miss "Desserts to Die For" this evening though (one of my other blog personas is Cake Junkie: I take desserts seriously, gleefully, and frequently). Especially after spending an extra $30 so hubbie could indulge, too. I guess I owe him a cake. If we don't go until Monday I'll be out another $40 for his ticket to the luau... starting to add up to enough reason to hit the road.