Today promised sunshine. This morning was partly cloudy with a few peaks of sun. I took offspring #1 to the track for a little 0700 PT session. The day was shaping up nicely. Then, at about 1100, the clouds dropped in and the bottom dropped out. Sunny day? Close, but no cigar.
Today marked the 40th straight day of rain. Yes, that’s 40 days in a row. Flooding of Biblical proportions here. Of course, that’s 40 days in a row following a 2-day reprieve from the previous 3 straight weeks of rain.
When I was a kid, we used to call a really hard rain a t*rd floater. I wasn’t really sure what it meant, but I was a kid and it was funny. This past week also marked the second occurrence of raw sewage making its way into the ocean. A literal t*rd floater. They closed Waikiki beach.
I spent about 30 minutes in the darkness and rain tonight putting a sheet of plastic on top of the roof to our enclosed patio. It seems that we sprang a few small leaks. Over here, they call these patios “lanais.” Of course we call it “the guest room.” (No leaks over the bed yet!) We’ll see how it holds up. Supposedly, we’re in for 2 more weeks of rain. I can’t wait!
J
I’m gettin’ a little tired of rain. It’s pretty much rained every day for the last 2 months. The average March rainfall for this area is a little over 1 inch. As of yesterday, we were over 10 inches…and it’s still raining. The yard is a water/mud pit.
I took a little business trip this weekend to the Seattle area. You know…cloudy, rainy and cold. Well, it wasn’t very warm, but it was partly cloudy with little to no rain! Who woulda thought that I’d have to go to Seattle to see better weather???
Of course, this could be my fault. All the rain started about a week after I took the top off the Jeep. Hoping for a little sunshine…
J
Today, I went to lunch with 4 guys from the office. We decided to do the on-base cafe by the water, so we invited the wives and kids to join us. We went inside and ordered our food. I went over to the drink machine to get a diet Coke. There were two girls getting drinks, so I waited a few steps back. As I stood there, an older gentleman walked over with his cup and stood to the side waiting his turn. He didn’t see me there, so as the girls finished, he took a step toward the drinks. He turned and saw me there so he hesitated. I motioned him to the drinks and said, “Go ahead.” I noticed the polo style golf shirt had an embroidered P-51 on it with “P-51D Mustang” written below it. As he turned to get his drink, I kind of looked at him with the “wow, you look familiar” face. He stood there an extra few seconds with the “hey son, what’s on your mind” look.
Anyway, I just thought he looked really familiar and went on with it. So, I walked over to my table across the cafe and found one of the other guys from the office. As I walked over, I realized who he looked like. I told my friend, “Tell me that the guy over there doesn’t look like Chuck Yeager.” He agreed that there was some similarity and kept going. The gentleman in question sat down in the booth next to our table…as we ate lunch with wives and rowdy kids, it kept bugging me. So I asked him again. “Don’t you think he looks like Chuck Yeager?” He said that he did, but we should ask one of the other guys from work who had met him years ago. So we say, “Doesn’t that guy look like Chuck Yeager?” He then says, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
Now keep in mind, this guy was just wandering through with a lady who looked about 45 and a guy that looked about 50. The whole time, I’m thinking, “Why would Chuck Yeager be eating in here without a group of protocol types following him around.”
I need more opinions, so I discretely ask the other two guys from work who are sitting at the table behind me. They say, “No, he doesn’t look old enough.” After several minutes they call out my name and basically give me the “Dude, that ain’t him.”
We’re finishing up lunch and a lady comes by cleaning up the dishes from the tables. She stops between our table and his booth and starts chatting. The lady with him starts talking and says, “Do you know who he is? He’s Chuck Yeager.” Of course, the cleaning lady didn’t have any clue who that was, but the other guy at our table heard her say that. Just then, they get up to head out the door. The guy at our table who had overheard them stood up shook his hand with a “General Yeager” and out they went.
Immediately, I point both hands at everyone and yell “I KNEW IT!” All-in-all, it was a cool, once in a lifetime moment. I’m not sure what felt better…eating lunch next to Chuck Yeager, or being the only one who had put it together. Fun lunch…
J