The Centipede Story - adventures in Maui by James

The Centipede Story
One of our adventures in Maui was when I almost killed several people I was driving across the barren roads of south Maui.

One of our excursions was our day trip to Hana on the East side of Maui. Hana is completely different from the more touristy sides of the island. It’s lush and green and less populated than the drier sides. It’s a good few hours drive from where we were staying. Licia and I had been there before but this time decided to take the loop road around the south side of the island.

Now the roads on the south side of the island are not recommended. In previous years, the roads have been known to wash out in places after a heavy rain. They have gotten better in recent years, so we decided to see what we missed the first time around.

We spent most of the day driving the switchbacks to Hana. We stopped at many sites along the way including waterfalls, wave crashed lava rock beaches, black sand and pebble beaches, the airport so I could take a powered hang glider flight, and every fruit stand along the way to find the mythical perfect banana bread we remembered from our first trip. This took up most of the day. By the time we officially hit the south side road it was getting dark.

What are the south side roads like? Narrow for one. Unpaved, gravelly, or probably more accurate to say badly paved. There was a section where the road appeared cantilevered over a cliff. There was no allegiance paid to the word “straight” but plenty to the word “narrow”. It was all switchbacks and roller coasters with potholes as large as the bald right front tire our rental van came with; just to remind us this wasn’t an amusement park. When we crested a hill the headlights would shine into the sky illuminating nothing about the road below we were about to plunge into. This did not sway Shelley’s enthusiasm as we would accelerate blindly over a crest into a steep curve she would say “Wheee”!

The outside temperature was just right and we had the windows open until we saw a bat fly around our minivan so close that we closed the windows so it wouldn’t fly in. We had short-range walky-talkies that we could warn the trailing van about obstacles ahead. For instance warnings like “Look out for the rabid bat!” or later “Watch out for the cow in the road!” We brought 2 minivans, the Maui Intruder and the Maui Invader inspired by some of the worst (or best!) RV names we have seen in the past.

Finally, the road started straightening out into what would be considered no longer third world quality. So I rolled down the window and put my arm on the doorframe in a more relaxed posture. Immediately I felt a fluttering sensation on my arm and a biting sting. As I used my other arm to shoo away whatever had sunken its teeth into my arm I was so focused on the biting that I swerved the van to the left toward the edge of the road. Luckily Licia, in the front passenger seat had the presence of mind that I had momentarily lost and grabbed the wheel to straighten out the van before we went crashing off the side of the road. Not one of my prouder moments.

I stopped the van at the “side” of the road and got out to see what had bitten me and if it was under the seat as I felt something flitter across my leg during the whole biting-swerve thing. I looked at my arm and there were two bleeding bite marks, to my mind like the fangs of a bat, on my arm and it stung badly, like a hornet’s sting. This had me worried because we couldn’t locate what bit me. We were thinking it was a bat because of the earlier incident but why did it sting so bad? I started looking through the guidebook to see if there were poisonous snakes on Maui, but luckily not. This was a little comforting but now I thought, “oh great, probably a bat and I’ll have to get rabies shots”. The guide book also said one of the worst creatures on the island was the centipede as the bite was so bad that the only recourse was to “stay drunk for three days” as the locals would have it because there is no antidote, even though it is harmless aside from the intense pain. However, we didn’t think it was a centipede because how could it get in the van and be on the doorframe. It didn’t seem in it’s personality.

Licia took over driving and we headed, in the dark over unfamiliar roads, to the nearest hospital, which was up country several miles. My arm started swelling up a bit prompting Licia to rush a bit, when we came across the part of the road dedicated to the night cattle. Right there on the road were mostly cows and sometimes their calves, apparently foraging for roadside goods, sometimes laying down resting right in the road. We even passed some horses trotting along the road in the pitch black, so close you could reach out the window and pet them. It was a very memorable sight appreciated despite our tense mission.

We reached the hospital and to add to my dread was the thought of how much this would cost to visit the emergency room. I have insurance but it’s a high deductible for my individual ‘catastrophic’ plan. I would probably have to pay every cent for this visit.

I walked in to the quiet hospitable, the guard directed me to the e-room where a nurse and a doctor were sitting by their computers chatting. I showed the nurse my bite marks and without missing a beat she said “Oh that’s a centipede bite… and it looks like a big one too!” I asked if she was sure and related the bat story and she took a closer look and said nope it was a “classic” centipede bite, I could ice it and take ibuprofen for the pain and the itching that would happen in a few days but there wasn’t much else to be done. I was relieved because I was more worried about rabies, or it being a poison snake someone imported and got loose or something, plus they didn’t want to charge me anything for their diagnosis. Did I mention I love the island attitude?

We still had to drive the van back home to the other side of the island and since we narrowed down the culprit to a centipede, we knew it was likely still inside the van, hiding in some dark corner. So, under the headlights of the other van we completely unloaded the Centipede van and its contents. Licia’s parents, John and Marie, and for some reason my brother John decided they wanted to ride in the bad van back to the condos. Needless to say I had enough centipede bites for the evening and didn’t want any part of that van.

On the way back, I kept an eye on the centipede van in the rearview mirror. About 10 miles from home, I see the van suddenly swerve onto the shoulder of the Piilani highway! We tried to contact them from the walkie-talkies but they had gone dead. There was no cell phone reception. Technology failed us. We pulled over to the shoulder too, but by that time were about a quarter mile down the road. We could see the interior lights were on and some movement in the van but were left to wait and wonder what happened. Surely it was that dratted centipede causing havoc once again!

It turns out this is what happened in the other van. Johnny was driving and Marie looked over and saw numbers on the dash disappearing. She realized that it was the centipede walking across the dashboard. She told Johnny to pull over but he insisted on continuing to drive. Then she saw it walk across the top of the dash, and said ‘Johnny it’s walking across the top of the dash’, but he insisted on continuing to drive. This was a very persistent centipede because next Marie said “Johnny it’s walking across the steering wheel!” This time he switched driving to one hand the other side of the steering wheel while leaning over to Marie side of the van. This time he pulled over.

The centipede is apparently a night dweller and goes into hiding when the lights come on but my brother John saw it skittering across the driver’s seat whereupon he took off his shoe and attempted several smacks to kill it dead as it zipped around the van. We later found no evidence of a dead body but John did get a look at a 6-inch long, ½ inch diameter mischief making insect zipping around the van before disappearing once again. They decided to leave the interior lights on and continue driving back the final stretch home.

The next day, I called the rental company and demanded a new centipede-free van. The guy at the office was very understanding and he related a story about when he moved into a ground floor apartment and was woken up three times during his first night there by a centipede walking across him in the night. We got a new van, delivered free of charge.

We had other fun adventures during our stay in Maui and over the year but they would probably be anti-climatic. And take up more pages.

Or, you could use morse code...

Since the other bazillion modes of communication are much too easy and fast.

I'm just messing with ya!

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Wedding necklace in progress

It's not easy to do the crazy wire wrapping and avoid destroying my nails in the process. Here is what I have so far. Each piece is formed using a jig and then finish formed by hand, then hammered and wrapped onto it's section of leaves. Then they area all linked together (so hard to get everyone to hang just so!)

After they are linked I am adding itty bitty off white freshwater pearls between the sections. It hangs about halfway down the back.

I still am not sure if I want the long back to have a gemstone dangle at the end... opinions? Maybe the pearls should "fizzle out" in a chain... maybe both pearls and a gemstone. In any case, I feel like it needs to come more to a point at the back.

Here is the front, still needs the pearls though. I'm wrapping throughout the day.

And I still need to decide a design for earrings and a bracelet! Oooh, should I do an anklet? I could do a simple one for everyday too since noone will see it at the wedding...

Comments, suggestions, opinions!! :)

Concrete counterops and bead gutters

It's in progress! So we took the forms off the left counter top and have plenty of finish work to do (because I know there is someone going "eew, is that done?) since it's not done yet. The forms are still on the right hand one while it continues to set. We did things a little differently with the second one and will see how that worked out.

And because my little round beads like to roll all over the place, I incorporated a bead gutter into the sides of my counter. Everything needs to still be sanded smooth, so all the rough edges and ridges and such will be much more finished looking. No worries!

Another shot of my little gutter :)

Messy mud pie in my table

So, this was fun and exciting :) We just did this a little while ago and are waiting for the concrete to cure a little bit and the water to evaporate. Then we are going to smooth it out and stick stuff in it that we got in downtown Edmonds at a place that sells rocks and other cool earthy things.
(See the whole thing from current to beginning, click here.)

Pool table

(See the whole thing from current to beginning, click here.)

More progress in the ongoing office renovation. Forms have been built around the base tables to be filled with a cement sand mix. They are even textured so that the final product will have a nice pattern on the side of the countertops. The counter top as you see it below has also been covered in a foam material to keep them from being too heavy.

So the top level counters are just about ready to accept concrete (tinted dark). The mesh form below will be set into the table above as it is filled with the cement mix. It will be filled in a bit at a time and the top will be smooth finished. After they are completed, we will do the desk height counters.

Cool huh? It's like we know what we are doing... okay, so this is the first time we have done such a thing on the interior. It's exciting anyway!

Creating my own wedding jewelry

Sneak peak peeps!

So now that I know what the dress is going to look like I can finally start working on my necklace. My favorite part is that it has a low back, so I am going to take advantage of that part. I always feel like the back of a necklace should be just as fantastic as the front.
Here are my preliminary drawings that I started with. I'm working on bending wire and will get some photos of that part soon too. I have to decide on what stones I will use as well... I'm not sure yet but I may just use little tiny cream pearls.

Open to ideas too, leave them in a comment ;)

Preliminary built ins

My new side of the room! Well, it doesn't look like much now, but you have to be patient. Each side of the room has a standing height counter top and a desk height counter top. The forms you see here will be topped with a concrete surface. I have to decide if I want to embed anything into them.

The big table will be a creative surface for other projects (likely card making and things of that sort) and the giant crazy heavy drafting table will be on the "man side" of the room. The secret of this room is that the counter with the yellow level will hold the kitty potty room, enclosed (except for a little kitty door) around the exhaust fan for when Rockaboy drops bombs. Didn't want to know that part? Oops!

It's coming along :)

What the office is, and what it will become

So for the last 4 years I have been working from this desk. It's a nice desk, certainly nothing to be upset about, but it just isn't cutting the mustard anymore. I've grown out of it. It would be a great desk for doing general writing but isn't suitable for computers and such.

I didn't clean up first... cause lets be honest, this is how it usually looks. Little pieces of furniture and bins have been added as I "grew" but I don't know that I can add any more.

Behind me is the Shipping Office. This is where I play with the bubble wrap and paper cutter and all the little envelopes and ribbon. See the little wooden table (which is actually a stool on top of a tall plastic storage bin), that's my work surface. It's for one thing at a time only, which is okay since that is how I do things... but it's a little lacking.

So that is my current little space... and following is the new office in construction. We combined two bedrooms to make what will be the new office. Doing this makes it nice and light too, which really helps!

The side below will be my side (I get a whole side peeps!). The plan is to make a big counter top, suited at varying heights for specific work spaces. There will also be a big table in there as a center "island" for teaching, classes and crafty parties. (Crafty parties peeps!!!)

This will be the "boy" side of the room below. Eventually there will be outside access to the covered patio (see the construction of the pergola patio we built) . It's gonna be so much nicer!
This is the far side of the room. Nothing special.. yet.
So that's where we are so far. We are thinking about flooring options too. I am thinking large 4' square A side of ACX plywood as the floor surface with countersunk bolts in the corners, epoxy covered. Medium honey stained and sealed. James want's to do dark gray concrete countertops, which I think would look great with the floors for a cool industrial feel. I have requested a little bead gutter set into the countertops so they don't roll off the counter.

He textured the walls to match the two rooms with the rest of the house where they didn't already. I'm thinking about colors... soft sage green (Prasiolite :), or maybe a dusky gray blue, but I am leaning toward a soft yellow/orange clay color. I'll have to think about it and consult with the other parties.