Ron and I live on Maui, so we’ve been preparing for Hurricane Lane since the beginning of the week when we returned from San Jose.

Earlier in the week, Lane was a category five hurricane. This morning it’s a category two — definitely an improvement but still dangerous — and it’s moving with excruciating slowness. We originally expected the worst effects Thursday, then Friday, now Saturday. The predicted track shows it taking a westward turn before making landfall. We are hoping it turns sooner than expected! Unfortunately, it could also continue farther north than the track shows and if so, that could be a big problem for us.

So far, we’re fine. Here in Kula we’ve had intermittent rain and periods of very strong winds. Trees have been dropping dead branches, and this year’s paltry avocado crop is mostly on the ground. Other parts of the island have seen much worse, and a large brush fire was burning on the Lahaina side last night. A hearty thank you to Maui’s fire and police for all their hard work, and thanks also to Maui Electric and Spectrum cable for keeping the grid going.

Here’s hoping things get better, not worse!

Yes, of course. I sit down to a brainstorming session, determined to write for ten whole minutes without stopping, to see what sort of ideas might pour forth. I even set my alarm.

Five minutes later I hear a pheasant squawking almost right outside my window. Naturally, I just have to go and look.

Ring-necked pheasants are common in the pastures in Kula, where I live, but they don’t visit the neighborhood around our house. There was once a Kalij pheasant that hung out in our neighborhood for a few days, but never the more common ringneck — until today.

I’ve been trying to get a pheasant photo for two years, so I grabbed my camera and, moving with great caution, I leaned out the door and started shooting. Okay, so it’s not great photography, but a pheasant standing on a chainlink fence? That’s got to be an unusual pose.