gridlock

Just shy of 24 hours later, the power comes back to the windward side. No one can recall the last time the power was out this long.

Mom went to bed last night calling Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) a bunch of liars. We had been listening to a battery-powered radio for news until we realized we would not have power until today.

It's hard to believe one lightning strike could shut down the entire electrical grid on O'ahu. According to mom, the last time there was a long outage on O'ahu after the 2006 Big Island earthquake there was controversy about HECO's handling or, bungling of the outage. A $64,000 report later blamed the island-wide outage on 2 cheap radio shack switches. Let's see how they absolve themselves this time.

We woke this morning to more lightning over the Ko'olau mountains, then, weirdly, the sun rose while the lightning was still flashing. Less weirdly and more happily, Mom awoke feeling much better today.

Sis C, family and Brother B's oldest twins arrived late in the morning and dad put the kids to work filling little bags with ice he bought in town. The intent was to keep the refrigerators cold.

Of course, finishing this project meant that the power would finally be restored. Mom was happy to eat some hot food while Big E and I taught a mini-clinic on blocking.

Niece A was the most natural jumper and moved along the imaginary net well. Little E was the fiercest blocker, matching her brother in the jump offs, Niece D was the quickest to get into position, and The Nephew, while getting the concept of pushing in a block-off, will need to forget he ever heard the term "swing block."

As Auntie Big E said, "That's for blockers who are out of position."

Remember kids -- 100 squat jumps a day, keeps the bossy Aunties at bay.