It’s a good thing we’re here to help nature!

So today Obama lays out plans to restore the Gulf Coast from:

…the catastrophic dangers of rising sea levels, hurricanes and erosion on the Gulf Coast, and backed efforts to invest in restoring barriers islands and wetlands in Mississippi and Louisiana.

A thought on the barrier islands and wetlands that I’ve always wondered…

Hurricanes have “always” happened, right? And they’d do damage to the wetlands and barrier islands in the past, right?

Logic would say so.

And didn’t those same barrier islands and wetlands eventually restore themselves without our help?

I’d think so…

So why are we doing anything?

Jack in the Box… on it’s side.

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This photo is OLD. I mean, it’s so old that it was shot on film. Really. It’s from before I got a digital camera.

This is a picture I took during my first trip back into Beaumont after Hurricane Rita in 2005:

 

I’d heard about the Jack in the Box sign crushing the SUV, so I had to go by and see it for myself.

Hurricane Humberto: The day after

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Humberto, if y’all don’t remember, was the hurricane that kind of caught us off guard.

Well, this is what the nearby college’s parking lot looked like.

Limbs. Everywhere. Of course, they already had people out cleaning it up as I walked over there to look.

Ike retired

There will never again be a storm named Ike:

Three hurricane names in the Atlantic and one in the eastern North Pacific were retired from the official name rotation by the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) hurricane committee because of the deaths and damage they caused in 2008.

The names Gustav, Ike and Paloma in the Atlantic and Alma in the North Pacific will not be used again. Those names would have been used again in 2014. In their place will be Gonzalo, Isaias and Paulette in the Atlantic and Amanda in the North Pacific. The committee issues the list of potential names for tropical cyclones to be used every six years for both the Atlantic basin and eastern North Pacific basin.

Since they’ve retired the name, I think I’ll retire the button I made up too.

The Ike Report

The National Hurricane Center recently released the Tropical Cyclone Report for Ike (PDF, 3.07 MB).

Basically, as I understand it, the report summarizes everything a tropical system did.

Weather geeks (like myself) might have some interest in it. The report has a lot of statistics for wind speeds, storm surge levels, rainfall, and other things from various locations.

The thing I found the most interesting though was the maps showing storm surge inundation by county. It was amazing to see just how far inland that the surge came.

Have a look, if you dare…

Ike recovery update

I figured I should give a window into how our personal Ike recovery is going.

All that’s left is getting the roof fixed. It’s not terrible and we don’t have any leaks so it wasn’t something we were exactly rushing to take care of.

Last week we called our roofer, who was supposed to come out and see us for the past month. For some reason we weren’t in their computer system, so we were told we’d be getting a call back from them later.

When they did call back they apologized profusely and said they’d be out in a couple days to take a look at the roof and give us an estimate.

Our insurance adjuster had assumed that the roof just needed some patches in a few place when he looked at it.

Well, the roofer disagreed.

He said that he could patch it, but a lot of areas needed patching (mainly because of loose shingles, which are common from hurricanes) and we’d be better off with getting the whole roof replaced.

The roofer’s talking it over with the insurance company for us. All we’ve had to do for them is fax them the receipt from the work they did after Rita three years ago, which was just a patch of one area.

It makes sense for them to ask. I know of at least one person who got their check to get roof repairs done after Rita but didn’t ever get them done. Their insurance company refused to pay this time around, as they should.

Anyway, we should be scheduled to get the roof redone sometime in the near future and we’ll be pretty much back to normal.

Hey, there’s a tree leaning against your house!

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This week, a picture I took for our insurance adjuster (whenever he comes) of the tree that’s leaning against the side of our house, pinching off the freon line from the air conditioner.

Thankfully, the tree guy we hired is due to be here Monday to start getting it hauled off.

Technorati Tags: Ike

Lawmakers looking to ‘rescue’ a different sort of institution

This time, it’s an institution that’s worth rescuing:

Key state lawmakers said Wednesday they will devise a rescue plan to prevent massive layoffs at the University of Texas Medical Branch, which suffered $709 million in damage caused by Hurricane Ike.

Before legislators intervened Monday, leaders of the state's oldest medical school and the largest employer on Galveston Island were contemplating a one-third reduction in its work force of 12,000.

I really do think that rebuilding UTMB and keeping them from cutting a third of their staff is admirable and should be done.

But there’s one thing about it that I do wonder…

MICHAEL AMADOR, TxDOT
TxDOT crews clear I-45 approaching the Galveston Causeway.

Should we be rebuilding UTMB in Galveston or somewhere inland.

I know, I know, I know. The school’s always been in Galveston and that it pre-dates the 1900 hurricane.

I also know that it would cost a hell of a lot more to take a facility like they have and build everything brand new inland enough that storms aren’t a major concern than it would to repair what is there now.

It just seems like the smarter investment would be to move the largest medical school in Texas to Houston, where you wouldn’t have to worry about pouring $709 billion (or more) into repairs the next time an Ike happens.

And Galveston being where it is, there *will* be a next time.

Of course, with government being what it is, that will never happen.

Oh well.

Well that’s not where I put the house!

All I can say is wow:

A Lamar professor was amazed by what she found when she returned to the Bolivar Peninsula last week to check on her beach cabin.

Unlike many of the cabins in her neighborhood, Cissie Owen's beach home was still in one piece, but it wasn't where she expected to be.

Cissie Owen has to walk through a field, and over roofs, to get to her beach home.

"A neighbor found it Friday and called and sent a picture on my phone. That was a surprise," says Owen.

Amazing, isn't it?

Getting started with getting things back to normal

Last night my cousin and myself got started on fixing some of the Ike damage by setting new posts for a section of the backyard fence that was built after Rita.

This is what the fence looked like when we got home:

As bad as it may look, it’s really not taking much to fix. We’ve set five posts and tomorrow we’ll put up new 2x4’s for framing and putting the pickets back up.

5 posts, 3 sacks of concrete, and 10 2x4’s. About $100 worth of materials, since it looks like all the pickets are good enough to save.

Sometime in the next few days I’ll upload some pictures to the photo gallery.

Technorati Tags: Ike

Ike Video Roundup

Being back in town now and having internet, I've had time to look at YouTube and found a few videos worth sharing.

Ike 1, Geraldo 0:

Fox News

Taking a stroll along the seawall...

KHOU

Ike tries to blow one reporter away:

The Weather Channel

And in my own hometown, a "pretty wild streak:"

The Weather Channel

Watching these yesterday brought a smile to my face.

Technorati Tags: Ike,video

Random thoughts about Ike and anything else I decide to rant about

Howdy y'all.

That's right, folks, I'm home!

On to the random thoughts:

• First, let me take the time to thank K T Cat and Dean for
• As much as I love Fort Worth, damn it feels good to be home, even without A/C
• The MLB's ad in the Chronicle is total bullshit. Let me take this time to pass on a little message to Bud Selig: FUCK YOU!
• The only thing that's missing from making being home totally 1000% awesome is not having A/C. I sure hope the tree guys get here soon.
• Tomorrow I'll be working with my cousin Wes to fix our fence. Wes built our fence after Rita and then hired me to help him building them. It'll be fun to work with him again.
• I might be getting a job helping out with the recovery soon. Not only is it good money, but it's helping the area get back on it's feet.
• After not sitting at it for a week and a half, my own computer feels foreign to me. I swear.
• Not having A/C sucks. I'd probably vote for Obama if he sent someone to take care of the tree leaning on the house tomorrow.
• Fort Worth to Beaumont's a long drive with the dogs... probably took about 7 1/2 hours since we hit a few backups on the way home.
• Massey's is awesome. If you're ever in Fort Worth, go there and have a chicken fried steak. Best I've ever had I think.

That's all I can think of for now y'all.

I'll leave K T and Dean here to guest-blog for a while while I get back in the groove of things and all that.

Heading home on Monday

(posted via email)

The city just lifted the boil water notice, the last thing we were
waiting on before we went home.

We don't have air conditioning because a tree leaning against the
house crimped the freon line from the compressor, but it should be
nice enough outside that we'll manage with fans.

The tree doesn't appear to have done any major damage so that's good.

Monday can't come soon enough,
Justin

WE CAN HAS LIGHTS!!!

(Posted via email)

Just heard from my cousin that we have electricity.

We're still gonna wait until next week at the earliestnto go back tho.

--
Just a 23-year-old South Park Republican with a blog and a lot of free time.
http://www.jrtblog.com/

The Evacucation

(Posted via email)

Good news on the home front today. After looking at the news I believe
it's safe to assume that we'll be home next week, hopefully as early
as Monday.

Of course, that doesn't mean an end to the guest blogging so soon,
there's still no telling if we'll have internet hooked back up.

In other news, we're ordering take-out tonight from Spring Creek BBQ.
They have some of the most awesome BBQ ever, give them a try sometime.

Trying to enjoy my evacucation,
Justin

--
Just a 23-year-old South Park Republican with a blog and a lot of free time.
http://www.jrtblog.com/

Damage report

(Posted via email)

We lost part of the fence in the backyard and a whirlygig blew off the
roof. My cousin didn't see any water damage.

This is GREAT! It could have been so much worse.

As for my return, there's no telling, but i think it'll be at least a
week from now.

I have internet access through my PDA via a neighbor's unsecured wifi
if you must know.

Hopefully I'll be back in town soon. Until then, I'll keep twitter and
utterz updated.

Y'all take care now,
Justin

--
Just a 23-year-old South Park Republican with a blog and a lot of free time.
http://www.jrtblog.com/

Hurricane "Ike" Update

Dean here. Justin is enroute to the high ground of Ft. Worth because of “Ike” and has asked me to hold down the fort. I, of course, said yes and am honored that he would give me the keys to the family station wagon. (Oh, you can find more of my stuff over at Beers with Demo (aka the Theocracy’s Monastery of Miscellaneous Musings) where I run a collective of one… with some occasional outside help.) Let’s check on Ike’s progress here. (Weather Underground is a great site which Justin turned me on to). Looks like the models are predicting landfall in Galveston early Saturday morning by which time it will be a Cat 3 Hurricane. Good times. I’ll be back tomorrow with some music. Not mine, thank goodness, but someone else’s.

Maybe I should just move up to Fort Worth...

It's now official. Jefferson County just called for a mandatory evacuation due to Ike.

Needless to say, after having to do this for Gustav just a week and a half ago, I REALLY didn't want to have to go through all this shit again.

We've got some hatches to batten down, but we'll likely be heading out this afternoon or early tomorrow morning.

How it's looking I think we're far enough away from the center to not get whacked too hard (assuming it holds the forecasted course) but I'd rather be wrong in Fort Worth than wrong here.

On an unrelated note, feel free to steal my button.

Also, here are some relevant local links. I know I've posted them before, but I figure it's good to have them here for quick access:

• SciGuy - Written by the Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger, I've found it's one of the best places to watch when it comes to the tropics.
• The Beaumont Enterprise - Local newspaper.
• KFDM, KBMT and KBTV - Local TV stations. All have video.

I've got a couple guest-bloggers lined up to try to keep this place fresh. This time I think I'll let them introduce themselves.

Thanks, y'all!

I leave you with this:

Technorati Tags: Ike

Still livin' on the edge

Looking at Ike today, it looks about the same as last night.

Since I last wrote about Ike, the forecast track has shifted up the coast a bit. We're still on the edge of the cone.

As of now, there's no planned evacuation of the area, but that could change if it goes more to the north.

My gut feeling is that we won't need to pack up and head out, since the NHC has a pretty good track record with forecasting storms like Ike.

We should have a better idea what we're looking at tomorrow.

I swear, having to deal with this stuff twice in such a short span has really got me wanting to move away from the coast.

I hate this stuff.

Technorati Tags: Ike

Livin' on the Edge (of the Cone of Uncertainty)

Since yesterday, Ike's forecast track has shifted dramatically to the left.

That's a good thing, and it leaves me cautiously optimistic about Ike. It's looking way better than yesterday, when the forecast had Ike pointed right at Galveston. Now it looks to be aimed more towards Corpus.

However, it's important to remember that Ike's still four days out and not even in the Gulf yet, so it's too early to sound the all clear. I don't expect to be able to do that until Wednesday night or Thursday at the earliest.

I'll be back tomorrow with another update.

Technorati Tags: Ike