...and Don can be played by Don Johnson.

Good heavens. Just don't know how else to start. Good ya-gotta be-kiddin'-me Heavens.

In our last episode, Don and I were dealing with an uncooperative ex-landlord and wondering about our only-in-our-imagination budget. Today, we assume our ex-landlord is still being uncooperative since we have not heard otherwise, but my-oh-my, how the other has changed. My silver Solara has a new mom and dad, thanks to an ad in the Maui News that we forgot about. About a month ago, it seemed to make lots of financial sense to sell my convertible and bring the jeep over here. Not only would the cash be dandy, but we are paying storage for the jeep. SInce we simply rent a car when we go to the mainland, it just seemed more prudent to bring Mr. Jeep over here. But then nobody bought my car. After prayer, we decided to sell Don's fine-for-a-realtor-but-kinda-fancy-for-Maui Lexus OR my car. It would be interesting to see which would sell quicker: cute or fancy-schmancy. Cute won. Actually, we had decided to keep my car and focus on selling his car, but the ad in Maui News stayed in there until it expired next week. Don took a call last night, and outa the blue, there was someone who wanted the car, said they had cash, and they would be here at 10:00 in the morning. AT 10, as Don and I were finishing up giving her a good shine, they pulled up. Thirty minutes later, they drove out with their new convertible Solara and Don and I had considerably more cash than we had yesterday. Can I hear a resounding PRAISE GOD!!!! When the Lord says He's got our backs, I guess we just gotta believe it!

We are settling into our new digs. It is pretty spectacular here, I have to admit, but there are some things to, shall we say, adjust to. The property itself is a two bedroom bungalow right on the ocean in North Lahaina. The lanai runs the entire length of the house, and has dining on one end and a living room-type grouping at the other. There is a small yard with a lawn - although the grass closest to the seawall is pretty much dead, due to the waves that splash over at high tide. At the south end of the yard is a smaller deck that is next to the sea wall, and has a small lip on to the wall itself. This small deck has 4 lounges. Unfortunately,the furniture is made from iron, so that, and the painted decking, are both in pretty bad shape, having been beaten up by the surf. Don put our beach chairs out there, so we sit in the evenings and watch turtles and spotted eagle in the glow of the setting sun. Last night, we actually saw a ray launch himself out of the water and glide for about six feet!! Amazing!! This is when we just pinch ourselves, and remember that we did nothing to deserve this. It is simply God working through this client. Nothing more.

It is significantly warmer here, without the trade winds and accompanying showers just a couple of miles to the north in Ka'anapali. It is also a bit noisier, with families with little kiddies on both sides of us. The neighbors to the north also have at least two dogs, and when our front gate isn't closed, they tend to come wandering in. We have no fenced yard, per se, so they can come right into our backyard from the front. With the ocean as part of our boundary, and having a doggy that's afraid of the ocean, we're not that worried about FloJo wandering off. She likes hanging around us. So, the neighbor dog thing still has to be worked out, but they don't seem aggressive - just curious about the new kid next door.

Another aspect of this place is the onsite caretakers. They are a couple of apparently very nice guys, being extremely polite and friendly. The issue once again is the lack of fencing around the backyard. The property has two houses - the larger bungalow in which we are living and a smaller "ohana" where the guys live. The ohana is on the street side of the property, near the big gate that is at the entrance. There is a courtyard big enough for our two (oh, wait. We only have one, for a while) plus a couple more. The two houses are separate, but there is a straight shot from the ohana to the backyard, and the sea wall. This would not necessarily be an issue if we understood from the get that we might be sharing the space once in a while - after all, we are here at the generosity of our Don's client. The problem comes in that there are NO WINDOW COVERINGS WHATSOEVER!!!! This is a place with lots n' lots of windows out the back because there's lots n' lots to see!! I don't want to be one of the things that is seen!! In fact, not sure anyone wants to see that. The other problem is that since we face pretty much due west, the sun starts beating in around 4-ish, raising the temp inside to about 173 degrees...celsius. I am planning to speak to Don's client about possibly popping up some sunshades on this wonderful lanai, thus taking care of both privacy and sunacy issues at once.

Well, it's 4:45 and my eyes are now getting hit by the sun. I am so grateful to be in the middle of this great adventure, and I can't see what God, the author, has in store next!!

and when they make a movie of this, I want Michelle Pfeiffer to play me....

Well, we are now in our temporary home by the sea. It's a pretty awesome consolation prize - but more on that later...

We're out of Kualapa, and I would love to tell you that it went as smooth as the proverbial silk, but that would be far from the truth. It went. That's about the highest grade I can give it. We had several friends helping us along the way, but it was still waaaaay more than we could handle with anything resembling ease. I came up with a formula for moving, though: when you know you will be moving, assess the contents of each room and calculate the number of boxes and packaging needed, and the time required. Next, quintuple the amount of boxes and packing material, and multiply the time by about three months. But with the Lord's strength, and the blessings of hearty friends with trucks and scrub brushes, it got done - with our soon-to-be-ex-landlord watching on.

Speaking of landlords: the adage goes, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Now, about ours:....... .......................um.....................................................uh........................then there was.........................................and...........
.......................................... And that's all I have to say about that. Actually, it has been truly difficult - being accused of taking and/or losing things, told that we didn't have the carpets steam cleaned when we did, and being faulted for 10 years worth of wear and tear in our one year of living there. Wow. Should set that to a beat... Anyway, as of now, we do not have our deposit back, and we likely won't see it for another week at the soonest. It's a good thing my trust is in God rather than landlords - but it does get a bit harrowing...

One of my more fun adventures was taking FloJo up to her doggy spa in upcountry Maui - Olinda, to be exact, a beautiful rural town at about 4,000 feet on the slopes of Haleakala. Since Don was taking care of all things in the move (including having the apparently mythical capet cleaner doing his mythical carpet cleaning), FloJo and I headed up for adventure on a here-to-for untraveled road - at least by us. The road started out innocent enough, but before long it was a series of switchbacks and uphills -sometimes both - and asphalt so rutted and swelled with tree roots it was like driving over a series of closely placed speed bumps - or like the Winnie-the-Pooh ride at Disneyland, take your pick. By the time we got there, we were both ready to get out. There are those who thought it would be traumatic for FloJo to leave her there. Hah, I say. She essentially went off happily and tail-waggily with the nice lady who offered to take her on a walk. So, after 90 minutes up, I had the 90 minutes back, arriving to a completely exhausted husband and totally soaked carpet.

Omigosh. Even as I write things just get nuttier and better. Don and I went to our usual prayer-at-the-pastor's-house Tuesday morning gig, then stopped by storage to rescue a few more items that we will need here. I locked my purse in the trunk. My purse with my keys and phone and everything. Don went to his Tuesday morning office meeting. My purse is still locked in my trunk, and, Drat! wouldn't ya know? I missed class the day they taught B&E for dummies. I have taken to posting my plea for rescue on Facebook....

But now, back to our story.... The long and the short of it is we got out. It was completely insane and frenetic, with all my organization skills being tossed out unceremoniously as we just simply wanted to VACATE!! There was no dignity whatsoever in this effort. We absolutely could not have done it had God not provided wonderful friends to help us.

So, now we are in our temporary digs, which are pretty fabulous, but not home. We picked up our puppy yesterday, so it's feeling a little more home-ish. Of course, FloJo hates the water, and especially the surf, so she's not all that jazzed.... But last evening was our first relaxed evening in some time, so we sat and sipped a little white wine while watching the sunset and a few turtles and spotted eagle rays. Yeah... it'll do in a pinch...

More on the little hale by the sea in the next blog!

PS: Don got the message and is on his way here. Thank you, God, for geeks who invented all this techy stuff and the dude I married who loves it all