Typhoon Jelawat Emergency Preparedness

What does one do before a typhoon?

Well, you eat a great meal for starters.  We ate some tasty rice noodles that Dougie brought back from his camping trip with Seika.  I was told they were delicious with pumpkin...  So we (Eric) stir-fried up some kabocha and ginger pork.  He paired it with a great brew (thank you Dwayne!) from Wisconsin - clearly purchased for its label!

Then we got a good night's sleep.  And awoke to some fresh coffee.  Thanks to some fabulous friends, I now have a dedicated coffee pot (thank you Gina for the bigger one that Eric has tagged) and some divine decaf coffee!  My life-long friend, Leah, takes pity on me and my decaf-coffee habit (she shares this addiction) and sends me amazing decaf coffees from great local roasters around the Puget Sound area.  I love the coffee and I love it even more that I think of Leah with every brew!

Then we went to base.  Passed some road maintenance and discovered how they run the services, etc. through the streets here:

They put the road right over a H-beams and just pull them out as necessary!  I have gone by a ton of road digging, but just assumed (wrongly) that the metal plates over the H-beams were temporary.  I had always wondered how they got the road paved so fast having just had all these huge plates installed (and removed?)...  They pave over them, of course!  Yes, I am slow to discover...

We went to the NEX to add to our Typhoon Jelawat Emergency Preparedness Kit supplies: wine, beer, chocolate chips (for brownies), cheese and batteries - for the monster.  A long, lost friend was re-awoken.  Much squealing occurred...

We went to the library to rent movies and check out some books.  Can you see the amazing sunshine (note the shadows and squinting) and the dark clouds in the background?

Base was deserted.  Except for the commissary.  People actually went to buy flashlights/batteries, water and canned goods ;)

Then, we invited our neighbors over!

Grape Expectations...

We got a Kuroneko delivery the other day.  Kuroneko (Black Cat) is brown gone black.  It is the UPS of Japan - only better...

We rarely get any delivery through the Japanese delivery system.  And then comes along the Seika Yochien Mothers' Association... it has its perks!  Not tuition remission, but...

GIFTS!  

The box it came in was amazing!  Super thick, nice cardboard (OK, this may sound hoakie to some of you - but it really was quality!).  It had this picture of grapes on the outside - all I could think was "huh - I wonder what is inside?!?".  Eric had grape expectations and suggested refrigeration.

He was right.

It was an enormous box of beautiful grapes!  So, we shared with our neighbors, along with some brownies, cheese, lox and wine that we stocked up on for our Emergency Typhoon Jelawat Preparedness Kits.  The kids watched Toy Story on VHS (yes, the Anthony's live in the Dark Ages...) and the adults ate like royalty!  Thank you for making the most of a typhoon, Paluszeks!  We should not wait for natural disasters to do such things!

Dougie Moon

Dougie has always had a special relationship with Grammie & Pop - and the moon.  When he could barely talk, he would ask about the moon on a nightly basis.  Pop always had the patience to take Dougie outside to check out the night sky.  Full moons brought out the werewolves... Dougie would howl with glee!

The full moon came to be known as a

Dougie Moon

Tonight was one of those nights.  The moon was HUGE and ORANGE.  Last night was the actual, full, Harvest Moon.  We, however, could not see it thanks to Typhoon Jelawat...  Thankfully, the typhoon did not blow our Harvest Moon out of the sky!  And, it made for an amazingly beautiful day - and evening/night.

Dougie was ecstatic!  He insisted I take a picture (was going to anyway) to send to Pop.

As we "looked" for the moon, we lost it.  It was rising behind Monkey Island (Sarushima) and was momentarily "missing"...

And then we found it behind the boats.

Pop, Dougie is counting: only 2 full moons and 24 days until you can take him out to see a

Dougie Moon

TOGETHER!