Five B

      More Letters From Paradise
               Five B
Honolulu is located on the lee, or sheltered side of the Koolau mountains that divide the island of Oahu. The windward side of the island gets most of all the rain. So, we here are most often free of rain. There are sometimes passing trade wind showers, like a fine mist or sprinkle of rain. This results in what some locals call "pineapple juice." Tourists are sometimes surprised by the sudden sprinkle of rain when no cloud is in sight. The wind has carried it from a far away cloud.

Okay, so it doesn't rain much in Waikiki.  Except some time ago when we had more than forty straight days of rain. Why am I going on about this? It is all about not having a wet dog.

You see there are 407 apartments in our building, and each one has an assigned parking stall. Okay, all I have learned from reading this is that it doesn't rain much and that has something to do with a dog not getting wet.

Well, at last getting to the point of the story. We have six floors of parking, and we park on level 5B, under the swimming pool. Well-covered in case of rain, and there is some other covered parking on the same level. And so now about the dog. Mai Tai is built so close to the ground that even if the sidewalks are not very wet, he still manages to get his underside and paws wet. There are fewer unpleasant chores than washing a dog's feet and blowing him dry.  (Teena's note:  I can think of a few!)

So, at last we come to the title of this short letter. If it has rained over night, or if it is raining, it causes me to have to forgo a nice brisk walk outside with Mai Tai, and resort to Five B. This simply means walking under the sheltered deck of Five B, in order to keep Mai Tai dry. Walking back and forth, again and a again for at least thirty minutes. If you are one of those who find soccer or a baseball no hitter as boring, you can relate.

Anyway, it is not raining now and the forecast is for rain for later in the week. It must be exceedingly difficult to predict the weather for all eight of our major islands. My fingers are crossed that there will be no 5B in the morning.  

     Aloha
     Grant