So Cyclone Evan went out with a whimper, at least here in American Samoa. Independent Samoa, didn't fair so well.
Cyclone Evan, after devastating Samoa, was aimed straight at American Samoa. However the storm stalled, and turned away from American Samoa, managing to wreck further havoc on Samoa.
We didn't know this was how it was going to shake out. So we boarded up our house and prepared to hunker down through the storm. Once reports of possible 130 mph winds started to come from NOAA, Sara insisted that our house wouldn't survive a hit like that and checked us into the Tradewinds Hotel. Under protest I went along with this and we packed up a few days worth of good and drink to head over to the hotel.
We ended up holing up with a Lord of the Rings marathon. We didn't notice much wind from the confines of the hotel room and couldn't get updates on the weather as the internet at the hotel was frustratingly unwilling to connect to our laptop. After waking up the next morning, we learned the storm had turned away and spared our island any real damage. With no reason to stay in the hotel, we had breakfast, used their gym for awhile and headed home.
After cleaning up our cyclone preparations, we were left with a Thursday off from work on a sunny day. We opted to hang out with our friends and celebrate a holiday in honor of Cyclone Evan, which is the best possible way the storm could have gone.
The only damage we received was that we didn't get The Hobbit into our movie theatre on Friday. As a stout Tolkien nerd, this was some serious damage. I had to wait until Wednesday to see it. I guess you can't win them all.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Waiting for Cyclone Evan
All government offices and schools were off at noon today. So I'm back at the house waiting for Cyclone Evan to roll in.
We buttoned our house down as well as we could last night and this morning. Weather stripping across the doors, all our outside furniture moved in, our beer resupplied, the garden moved into a corner under the deck. We're as ready as we're going to be. Winds for the storm are supposed to ramp up high, but the worst of it is supposed to hit our neighbor Samoa.
My plan's to watch a Lord of the Rings marathon until we lose power. Then it's reading by headlamp and playing board games. Sara would prefer to decamp and hole up in the Trade Winds Hotel for the next two days. We're waiting on the 3pm weather update to decide. We'll keep you posted if the internet stays up.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Cyclone Season
Living on a small island near the Equator can be lovely. It can also be hot and humid. When those two things combine with a low pressure system it can form a tropical cyclone. It looks like we have our first one bearing down on our little island. Based on early reports, it supposed to be a Category 1 (winds 39-63 mph), about on par with a Tropical Storm in the U.S. National Hurricane Center Scale. Not a devastating storm, and it also looks like it is only going to be a glancing blow to our island. But it adds up to more extreme weather than a mild California kid like me is used. Should make for a couple of interesting days.
Dog Rescue
Let's start this off with a confession, I occasionally have idiot moments. For example, a few weeks ago, following a Halloween Party at our friend's house, Sara and I got a ride home with a sober driver. The next morning, I walked 6 miles along the ocean side of the airport fence back to the house we had the party at and picked up our car. The idiocy arises from the fact that the three street dogs (creatively named Blackie, Whitey and Oreo; Brownie disappeared over a year ago, but people still ask why Blackie is named that when he's mostly brown, it's because of precedent) we look after and feed followed me on my walk.
It's not unusual for them to walk with us the mile or two out to Airport Beach and hang out while we swim, snorkel and relax. However, this time, I passed right by the beach and kept walking along the sea wall past the airport radio tower and along to the next set of pools and to the point on the South end of the mouth of the Pala Lagoon. The dog kept coming along with me for the walk. This stretch of land is unique in American Samoa as it does not have any wild dogs. The 5 to 40 yard wide stretch of land that borders the airport fence doesn't have any residents for a four mile stretch, so with no one living there, there's no cast off food for wild dogs to sustain themselves. Therefore with no food, there's no packs of dogs.
As we crossed no competing dog pack's territory, there was nothing to discourage the dogs from following me. They followed me the four miles to Lions Park, which is some of the meanest turf for dog packs in American Samoa. Bravely our dogs followed me through, the casually walked through some of the toughest dogs turf. Whitey was the first to turn back, mostly due to getting cut off from the rest of the dogs by a pack in the Park. Oreo made it to the beginning of Tasi Street, where he ended up in a stand off with one of the local dogs and not proceeding any further.
Blackie braved on until the end of Tasi Street, where he fled after getting surrounded by a pack, as I made my final turn into Off-of-Tasi Street. I got in our car and proceeded to start driving back. Oreo was still standing where I left him at the beginning of Tasi Street. Recognizing our car he started to chase it along the Lions Park Road. Once I could see he had made it back to the place where the path back started I sped up. One to discourage him from trying to follow me along the road back and two, to keep from holding up the traffic I had following me as a result of driving 10 mph so that a dog could follow me. I pulled away and the dog didn't see me turn away, so I figured he made it back to the starting point for the trail back. I then proceeded to drive home and fall over for the rest of the day from heat exhaustion.
That evening, none of our dogs had made it back to the house. Sara and I drove to Lion's Park to look for them, but after an hour of hunting around, we didn't see any signs of them.
By the end of the work day on Monday, Whitie and Blackie had filtered back to our house. Both were a little shell shocked and humbled by seeing how the meaner dogs on the island live. However, Oreo, our current favorite didn't make it back. For the next two and a half weeks, we didn't see him. Both Sara and I gave up hope that he'd make it back. Best case, he'd take up with a pack where ever he ended up. Worst case, he was already dead.
It was a bit of a surprise early in the morning when driving home from the gym. Sara was driving and I was staring off into the fenced in grassland that surrounds the airport runway. All of a sudden I saw Oreo standing along the airport fence, only he was on the wrong side of the fence. He was locked in on the runway side. I pointed him out to Sara and we pulled over.
Oreo was a whining, skin and bones version of himself, but it was certainly him. He also had made friends and had another young dog with him. I walked along my side of the fence with the two dogs following along the inside, while Sara drove back to our house to get her phone and the number for the airport. I walked all the way to the gate at the end of the runway and waited. Sara managed to talk to someone at the airport and they said security was on its way to open the gate. Sara also brought some biscuits for the dogs. Which we fed to them through the fence.
Eventually a SUV from Airport Security made it out to the gate and immediately to dogs ran off. In talking with the security officers, we learned that they had been trying to catch Oreo for the last two weeks. Once we asked them to back away, Oreo snuck through the gate. We thanked the guards and then needed to get home and get on with our morning. I walked Oreo back to our house, not wanting to take any more chances that he was going to get lost. Twice he tried to take wrong turns, turns out he's really bad with finding his way home. He made it back OK and so our dog pack is back up to three. Oreo's also been filling out a bit since then and all of the dogs have seemed to recover from their ordeal. Also, I'm an idiot and not allowed to take the dogs on walks anymore.
It's not unusual for them to walk with us the mile or two out to Airport Beach and hang out while we swim, snorkel and relax. However, this time, I passed right by the beach and kept walking along the sea wall past the airport radio tower and along to the next set of pools and to the point on the South end of the mouth of the Pala Lagoon. The dog kept coming along with me for the walk. This stretch of land is unique in American Samoa as it does not have any wild dogs. The 5 to 40 yard wide stretch of land that borders the airport fence doesn't have any residents for a four mile stretch, so with no one living there, there's no cast off food for wild dogs to sustain themselves. Therefore with no food, there's no packs of dogs.
As we crossed no competing dog pack's territory, there was nothing to discourage the dogs from following me. They followed me the four miles to Lions Park, which is some of the meanest turf for dog packs in American Samoa. Bravely our dogs followed me through, the casually walked through some of the toughest dogs turf. Whitey was the first to turn back, mostly due to getting cut off from the rest of the dogs by a pack in the Park. Oreo made it to the beginning of Tasi Street, where he ended up in a stand off with one of the local dogs and not proceeding any further.
Blackie braved on until the end of Tasi Street, where he fled after getting surrounded by a pack, as I made my final turn into Off-of-Tasi Street. I got in our car and proceeded to start driving back. Oreo was still standing where I left him at the beginning of Tasi Street. Recognizing our car he started to chase it along the Lions Park Road. Once I could see he had made it back to the place where the path back started I sped up. One to discourage him from trying to follow me along the road back and two, to keep from holding up the traffic I had following me as a result of driving 10 mph so that a dog could follow me. I pulled away and the dog didn't see me turn away, so I figured he made it back to the starting point for the trail back. I then proceeded to drive home and fall over for the rest of the day from heat exhaustion.
That evening, none of our dogs had made it back to the house. Sara and I drove to Lion's Park to look for them, but after an hour of hunting around, we didn't see any signs of them.
By the end of the work day on Monday, Whitie and Blackie had filtered back to our house. Both were a little shell shocked and humbled by seeing how the meaner dogs on the island live. However, Oreo, our current favorite didn't make it back. For the next two and a half weeks, we didn't see him. Both Sara and I gave up hope that he'd make it back. Best case, he'd take up with a pack where ever he ended up. Worst case, he was already dead.
It was a bit of a surprise early in the morning when driving home from the gym. Sara was driving and I was staring off into the fenced in grassland that surrounds the airport runway. All of a sudden I saw Oreo standing along the airport fence, only he was on the wrong side of the fence. He was locked in on the runway side. I pointed him out to Sara and we pulled over.
Oreo was a whining, skin and bones version of himself, but it was certainly him. He also had made friends and had another young dog with him. I walked along my side of the fence with the two dogs following along the inside, while Sara drove back to our house to get her phone and the number for the airport. I walked all the way to the gate at the end of the runway and waited. Sara managed to talk to someone at the airport and they said security was on its way to open the gate. Sara also brought some biscuits for the dogs. Which we fed to them through the fence.
Eventually a SUV from Airport Security made it out to the gate and immediately to dogs ran off. In talking with the security officers, we learned that they had been trying to catch Oreo for the last two weeks. Once we asked them to back away, Oreo snuck through the gate. We thanked the guards and then needed to get home and get on with our morning. I walked Oreo back to our house, not wanting to take any more chances that he was going to get lost. Twice he tried to take wrong turns, turns out he's really bad with finding his way home. He made it back OK and so our dog pack is back up to three. Oreo's also been filling out a bit since then and all of the dogs have seemed to recover from their ordeal. Also, I'm an idiot and not allowed to take the dogs on walks anymore.
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