After Ike

I haven't abandonded Ruminations; I didn't have power until Monday and today is the first day that internet service is up.

We are exceedingly busy at work with so many hospitals down everything funnels to the ones that are open. Dialysis patients are in critical need and so many centers still have no power so we are getting some very sick HD patients. Everything from burns from generators to wounds from downed fences to heart attacks and the emotionally traumatized.

I'll get a post up about Ike later.

Waiting for Ike

Hurricane Ike is slowly making its way to Galveston. Those who were wise have left the island and the other coastal areas. It has been over 40 years since the Galveston area has taken such a big storm. In that time, many houses have been built where none should have been allowed. There will be much loss of property.

We are as prepared as we can be. Food and water, windows boarded, gasoline for the vehicles and generator, water in the big tub. Now we wait--for the wind & rain and for the electricity to go off.




Quote for the Day:
Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.
--Phillips Brooks

Tropical Storm on the way

It looks like Galveston will be getting Tropical Storm Eduard tonight or tomorrow. We certainly need the rain but since it will go in north and east of us, we may not get much. It is a minor storm now but may (or may not) intensify as it gets closer to the coast. Since we don't have television reception here at OakMeadow, we are spared the non-stop warnings and precautions. So much of what passes for news now is just sensationalization. I guess they have to say something to fill up all the hours of news time but I don't have to listen to it.

I've been through some doozies of hurricanes and have a very healthy respect for them. One of my earliest memories is being carried by a National Guardsman through the swirling water of Hurricane Audrey; then there was Hurricane Carla which put 3 feet of sea water into my parents house; then there was Hurricane Camille when I was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I deliberately chose not to live on the coast because of the possibility every year of being flooded by a hurricane. We are far enough inland that rising tides are not a concern; torrential rain, winds, and tornadoes are always possibilities. Life is not risk free; you limit your risk and go from there.

As I have said before, I am appalled that people have built houses right on the beach with nothing but a small sand dune between them and the Gulf. When a hurricane comes along, as it inevitably will, and destroys their house, all the reporters will be out sympathetically interviewing the people who have lost their homes. Well, duh, what do you expect when you build there???

Hot, hot , hot

It is baking hot outside. It is always hot in July, August, and September but it seems worse than usual this year because of the lack of rain, because it turned very hot by the first of June, and because it doesn't cool down much at night. It was 80 degrees before the sun came up this morning. The water level in the stupid (man-made) lakes is way down. What a waste of water and electricity. I look outside and wonder how the trees and shrubs survive; quite a few of them wouldn't if it werren't for Joe watering them. I wish there were a way to drain water from our shower, sinks, and washer to our trees.

I wonder if we will have a hurricane this year; we haven't had one since 2005 when Katrina took out New Orleans and was followed by Rita. According to Global Warming, hurricanes will be both more frequent and more severe. They are probably right but even if not, because of the tremendous build up of population along the coast, subsidence, and the draining of the coastal marshes, the damage caused by any hurricane is increased by several orders of magnitude. Joe and I are just incredulous at all the houses along the West End of Galveston Island.

My portable clothesline came and I was pleasanttly surprised that it was fully assembles and I only had to unfold it and set it up. Although I plan to use it in the garage (because the stupid subdivision won't let us have outside clotheslines), I refer to it as my solar clothes drier. My next solar projects are a solar charger for my scooter and a solar oven.