Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas

• Number Ten: Decorating the house (with plywood).
• Number Nine: Dragging out boxes that haven’t been used since last season.
• Number Eight: Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
• Number Seven: Regular TV shows pre-empted for ‘Specials’.
• Number Six: Family coming to stay with you.
• Number Five: Family and friends from out of state calling you.
• Number Four: Buying food you don’t normally buy . . . and in large quantities.
• Number Three: Days off from work.
• Number Two: Candles.
• Number One reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas: At some point you’re probably going to have a tree in your house!

Dog Day

Just for fun, I occasionally take the pooches to the Bark Park. The Millie Bush Bark Park, to be precise, which certainly cracks me up. But sometimes when I go, the poochinis don't want to play nice. If there are men around, Cowgirl goes a little nuts protecting me, and sometimes Spot thinks he's Big and Bad and tries to chase dogs three times his size.

It's easier not to go there.

So I stumbled on a little soccer field bordered by woods, and I've begin taking them there. I keep them off the fields, don't worry. We go straight to the edge of the woods. They love this place so much, all I have to do is say the word "RIDE?" and they are in the car. Witness:

Lately they've been tracking down squirrels and birds and they even surprised a rabbit out of some underbrush by a lone tree and sent it back into the woods for cover. They treed a squirrel recently, and the squirrel sat on the branch teasing and scolding them. They are far too slow to catch these critters, but they love the chase. By the time they notice a varmint, the varmint is already long gone.

There are deer who live in those woods and occasionally come out to wander on the edge of the fields. I wonder if that's what they smell when they dash to the edge of the woods.

Good thing they're too chicken to go find out.

FEMA - your tax dollars at work

Now, I'm usually a fan of self-reliance. But then, I haven't been two weeks without power and ice and water and work. After a while, that has to get to you. But FEMA, this federal agency with a gazillion dollars to pour into communities in an emergency, just can't seem to get anything right.

Three neighbors. Same street, same answers to questions, same EVERYTHING. One denied, one pending, one approved.

And now this story, where FEMA sent trucks full of ice to Seguin, outside of San Antonio, in order to dump them on the runway of an airport out of view of reporters. Heh heh, reporters caught them anyway.

When some truckers consented to an interview, a man wearing a FEMA shirt arrived on a golf cart within moments and threatened to have the truckers fired.
"This conversation is over," he told the truckers. "Or you guys will not be here any longer."

And this is a part of the agency charged with keeping the country safe? Of patrolling the border?

Mailbag:

No bills today. That's good. We're pounding away on the credit mess we're in, so we're in high gear. It helps that several credit card companies gave us a month or so free ride due to hurricane expenses. That never sucks. We're using that money to build up the emergency fund ala Dave Ramsey. And get everyone glasses or contacts. Poor Little Critter needs glasses. I was hoping we could have ONE child who didn't. Nope. Plus braces are also an impending necessity, so we're working towards that as well.

Also, I got the new Texas Association of Parliamentarians roster today, and lo, my name is on there as an actual listed at-large member. Coolness! There are less than 400 of us in the state. Pretty exclusive, eh?

When Fish have a bad day

Here are more pictures around the area.

Third World Country

All the posts were once holding up houses.



And some of them may never be able to go home again to try to rebuild, if this is any indication. You can debate the stupidity of people who live on the edge of the water all you want. It was still someone's home, and that has to hurt.

My daughter just called - she heard through some connections that they've identified 47 bodies in a flyover of the marshes north of Bolivar. I don't know if it's true, but if it is, it's being well hidden. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is talking about this. I said Saturday afternoon they'd find the bodies of all those people in the marshes, and I hope I am not right and that this is wild rumor.

Somehow I doubt it.

In the dark

Red=no power.

Blue=water.

Bolivar Peninsula etc.

I spent a lot of my childhood in our family's beach cabin on Bolivar Peninsula, across the ferry from Galveston. Everyone knows Galveston. Hardly anyone knows Bolivar. It was the beach for the rest of us, little towns made up of summer visitors and year-long residents and renters and fishermen and shrimpers.

Here are some amazing pictures of the devastation. One town has two houses left out of over 250.

Meanwhile my own world is only slightly less comfortable than it was before. Grocery stores are crowded and have no frozen food or dairy, and they are closing early. Gas lines are two or three cars deep most times unless everyone else is trying to get gas at the same time. I paid $3.59 for gas last night. It takes a while to get through the drive-through lines - nobody wants to cook and I don't blame them. We had power back within 15 hours of losing it, and so we slept Saturday night in air conditioned comfort.

Houston proper, however, has a long way to go.

The Beaumont Enterprise, my hometown newspaper, has a series of interesting photos of the damage there. I have a relative on the paper who rode out the storm on one of the emergency staging ships loaded up with fire trucks and ambulances and everything. Apparently one of the graveyards there was washed up and caskets floated down the road. I don't know if there are pictures of that.

The president is coming today to Galveston and Houston, but Beaumont, Orange, and Bolivar aren't getting any attention at all. Nobody realizes that power is still out as far north as Huntsville in places.

Back in the saddle

Oh, yeah, the Fish is back.

I got my study materials yesterday. 1200 possible questions. This is probably comparable to the LSATs! Or the bar exam even! I read the first question and just put the book down and walked away.

I start teaching tomorrow, and I can't wait. I need to get back to my kiddos. It's been too long since May.

I'm also busy trying to find people to work the election with me in November. Everyone is excited about it but few want to be there at the polls. I guess after the primaries I don't blame them, but it shouldn't be this hard to get people to give up one day to make sure everyone can vote.

/rant. But it still makes me a little frustrated.

On the plus side, my range hood and top of my fridge are spotless. FLYlady rocks!

But that's just in time for Hurricane Ike to take a trip through the neighborhood. Lots of water, a full gas tank, lots of lunchmeat, ice, soda, bread and chips, so we won't starve. I'm just worried about the winds breaking my flimsy windows. We'll be policing the area for projectiles, but with next-door neighbors like we have, who knows what possible missiles could be launched.

The news is full of projected paths, stories of past hurricanes and evacuation orders. They're basically telling us inland in west Harris County to hunker down and ride it out, then leave afterwards if we need to. In downtown Houston they're warning of possible 100+ mph winds intensified by the tall buildings. And all over Texas the most urgent warnings of all: college football games may have to be moved or rescheduled. THAT shows how serious it is.

The first bad thing

My mentor Bill is in a rehab facility after a stroke. Bill has been a Party Animal for four decades, and is a Rules maven. Now he can barely get out a couple of sentences before he's gasping for breath. He looks so worn out from the pain and stress. He missed the convention in St. Paul and feels he has to resign as precinct chair, so I know it has to be driving him crazy. I ordered the study materials for the Registered Parliamentarian test, and that made him happy that I'll be trying that. Now it's a matter of pride - I have to pass it for Bill.

Tap Tap

Wow, I finally figure out how to get back into my blog and everything on this side looks different! I've got to figure all this out before I lose entire posts or something.