No, Linn, I didn't get the article. Too bad.

As for Wakana's hair I know there are a lot of potential comments and I know which ones NOT to use. I just saw a GEICO commercial where a woman steps out in a dress and asks her husband if the dress makes her look fat. He says "yes" without missing a beat. The announcer then says, "In the time it takes to pull out the sleeper sofa..."

It has been rainy over the last two days. We have a tropical depression forming over us. There is one moving off and another moving in. The one that's moving off seems to be forming up to be Typhoon 23 and the one moving in on us may be typhoon 24. For us it is only some wind and rain. There is a lot of ocean on the other side of us for them to strengthen in. If they track more northerly it will be headed for Japan. They've taken two or three hits so far this year. Just like Florida except that they expect them and prepare for them.

I don't think I have adequately described our little slice of paradise. The house doesn't look like much on the outside. The driveway is rough and we have to park in the front lawn. The left side of the yard is mostly churned up mud and the trench that the Mitsuko River used to run in. The river has finally dried up but the ground is still saturated. The right side of the house has a nice little lawn. Around that side of the house is a high steep wall of clay and jungle growth. It might be twenty feet high with a houase on top of it. All we can see of the house is a part of the roof line.

The house is rectangular with a small extension on the right side. That extension is the kitchen and an outdoor closet. The roof overhang or eave is quite a bit deeper over the closet creating a small porch like area. I have extended that into a patio using some concrete sections laid on the ground. Once we get all the junk from the old house cleaned up I will smooth that out into a real patio.

Behind the house there is a small strip of lawn between the walls and the jungle. The land slopes steeply up with nothing but jungle between the house and the mountain peak.

The left side of the house was damaged in Typhoon Pongsana. A tree came down and wiped off the eave of the house on the back corner. That area is now a tangle of broken concrete and re-bar.

The house is white, mostly. There is a mix of blue and white paint as well as dark mold. Once we get the outdoors cleaned up Gordon will bring up his power washer and we will wash it down and paint it. Eventually we will get that back corner cleaned up too.

Inside we have a nice large living room and three bedrooms. There is no dining room but there is room in the kitchen for a small table. This is in keeping with the local custom. On guam you do not invite people over for supper. You have a barbeque and eat and entertain outdoors. There is no place in this culture for a dining room.

The master bedroom is in the front of the house. It is large and sunny. All the windows in the house are large making it bright and pleasant. The closet has no doors, none of them do, but I will change that once I get some form of workshop.

The bathroom is small with a tile floor and walls. Unfortunately the tile is an odd shade of yellow. But the fixtures are in good condition.

The back bedrooms are not as good as the rest of the house. The corner bedroom is the worst in the house. It needs paint and patching. The door has a hole smashed in it where a former owner expressed his emotions with his fist.

The other bedroom we call the green room because it appears green on sunny days. The paint is white but the green is the reflection of the jungle behind the house. This is the "library". I put that is quotes because a real library has all its books on shelves. This one has all the shelves full and then more books on the floor. There are also more books in boxes in the other bedroom. Sigh, I may have too many...

The view from up here is not spectacular but it is pretty good. On a clear day we can see the valley down to the head of Apra Harbor and the ocean out beyond it. We face too far to the north to be able to see the sunset but wee can see the tail of it when it really put on a show and we can walk out to the end of the driveway to see the whole thing.

This then is our home. We are very secure here. The locks are new and all the windows have locks. There are security doors but I need to correct the installation.