Abuse recovery - The tale of 3 Ritas

Author

The tale of 3 Ritas

gardenia

2005-09-28, 8:36 am

In 1978 I meet my first Rita.. James was 9 months old and I had just
returned from the a 3 month visit in the states. The house we were living
in still bore the scars of Typhoon Pamela from 2 years before. As Rita
approached Guam, she had intenstified to 150+ kt (170 mph) sustained winds
with gusts >225 mph. My husband was stationed on the USS Proteus and had to
go with the ship out to sea. Our best friends lived across the street.
Lorraine was still in the states so her husband came to stay with me.. Joel
and Lorraine had been there for Typhoon Pamela so we had a pretty good idea
of what to expect if Rita hit us head on. Our houses sat on a cliff about
20 feet above the sea. While Pamela's surge did not flood our neighborhood,
her waves had come over and through my house (my still-boarded-from-Pamela
upstairs windows) and broke across the street. Joel and I secured both
house as best we could and hunkered down for the night. Luckily for us, she
was more compact than thought at the time and she passed far enough to our
South and we only experienced cat 1 winds and minor street flooding.
http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc/atcr.../pdf/wnp/29.pdf

Fast forward to 2005. Hurricane Rita has her sites on the western Gulf of
Mexico. My hurricane evac plans have always been to evac to my mother's
house about 130 miles SW from here (~80 miles inland from Matagora Bay as
the crow flies). That being said, in August Mother pulled one of her "I
never want to see you again" stints that she pulls every 10 years or so.
She even refused to visit with Allie & Emma when they came to visit in
August. So.. I had no idea where I would go. I couldn't go to a shelter
as I could not leave munchkin here to drown in a storm. Suzanne graciously
said we could come weather the storm at her place.

Tuesday was spent securing our labs and offices. We wrapped everything in
miles and miles of plastic and duct tape. Moved computers to inside
offices, away from the outside windows. Dry ice was delayed to after 4pm..
I stayed till 6 waiting for liquid nitrogen that never arrived. Thank God
there was enough in the dewer to last till this week.

All through the day, I kept my eye on model plots, NHC/TPC and Storm2K. We
were already under a voluntary evac order with a mandatory to become
effective on Wednesday at 6pm. I knew, regardless of whether I ended up at
Suzanne's apartment or my mother's place that I wanted to leave on Hwy 6.
Once the mandatory evac took effect, I would have to take I-45 north to
Hunstville. Huntsville is nowhere near where I wanted to go.

Tuesday night here was totally surreal. At midnight the heat index as still
well over 100 and the air was so heavy. Everyone was packing and moving
out. There are 4 familes from New Orleans living in this little cluster in
my complex. Candy and her grandchild were rescued from their rooftop in
midtown by helicopter... One family fled New Orleans before Katrina hit...
Another had been in the Superdome hell. Needless to say, panic and anxiety
overtook me. I kept looking around my apartment and couldn't decide what I
would take with me. The couple who lived upstairs from me moved everything
out of their apartment. He is in the Army (I think) and she is a student at
A&M. They said they didn't think the roof was going to hold up as it leaked
into their place whenever it rained.

I had set the alarm for 3am. Plans were to start packing then leave around
6am. However, with all the activity around us, I couldn't sleep, so around
midnight I started packing my car. I could see the headlights of all the
cars on the causeway. Getting stuck in traffic was something I wanted to
avoid for many reasons. I started packing the car with clothes and other
junk, leaving room for my computer. I managed to leave around 7 missing all
the traffic. I topped off my gas tank in Eagle Lake. My car has been
eating rich these passed couple of days.. Premium seems to be the only grade
around..

I reached Mom's place around noon and spent the better part of the day
trying to convince them that we need to get to Chris' house in Austin. If
Rita had followed Carla's track (the center of the cone of uncertainty as
Dr. Neil calls it) Galveston would have suffered tremendously and my apt
building would not have survived and neither would their place. Carla's eye
passed right over their little town. Dean wasn't convinced that we needed
to leave so we decided to wait until Thursday morning to make that decision.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/hurricanes/1960s_maps.htm

Around 4pm some other folks arrived at Larry's place. They had traveled the
same route I did early in the day. Traffic had picked up considerably ..
It took them 6 hours; 3 hours longer than my ride.

My brother, his ex-wife and some friends of their's tried to leave for
either Sheridan or Austin on Thursday. After sitting in traffic most of the
day getting nowhere, they turned around and headed back home. At this time,
the NHC track was taking Rita into Galveston bay as a cat 3/4 storm. This,
of course, is the worst case scenario for our area. The Serpent's Coil is a
10 minute video modeling what could happen in such a case.
http://www.hcoem.org/videos.htm

Friday morning Rita still seemed to have her eye on Houston/Galveston. My
brother and company decided to try to hit the road again. He has his son,
ex-wife and her 3 dogs in his car. They are followed by his friends and
their son and their 2 dogs. and someone (John) from his complex who has
nowhere to go. John just sorta followed them out to Mom's place. We set
up the cattle trailer for 4 of the dogs. Munchkin and Bitsy (she's
Munchkin's mom, 18 and has breast cancer) stayed in the house.

When they arrived, John gets out of his car, telling us he just wanted to
try to find a hotel room.. He has his mother with him... she's 99. Lord
have mercy.. You can't send a 99 year old woman away with a storm like that
headed our way so we invited this stranger and his mom to stay with us.
Turned out her name is Rita and they had rode out Carla in Galveston. Added
to all this.. she doesn't speak English; only Spanish and of course, none of
us speak Spanish (its on my list of things to learn one day). Of course, I
relinquished the spare bed to her John (who was feeling rather wierd about
sharing a bed with his mother -- but with 11 folks in a double-wide there
wasn't much choice). We tried to get the boys to camp out with the dogs in
the cattle trailer but they weren't having any part of that! The guys (it
took all 3 of them) ran up to the store for beer and milk (they forgot the
milk and had to go back) and we settled down on the front porch waiting for
Rita's arrival.

As her track shifted further east, I was hopeful that maybe I could come
back to something instead of nothing.. As Rita's track shifted east to Port
Arthur, computer modeling was still showing surge flooding the area I live
in. Eyes glued to the TV as reports of the fire off the Strand flashed
across the screen. Around midnight we all settled down to watch the storm
come ashore. I woke up around 3 or so and was selfishly relieved when she
went in along the TX/LA border. The further east she was, the less damage
to my place & things..

Living across the channel from Moody Gardens, I just knew that I would be
able to catch a glimpse of my apartment. Ch. 11's helicopter started its
flyover in Surfside, making its way east up the coast. The geotubes in
Pirates beach seemed to have served them well... They were closing in on
damage.. Downed fences, some minor roof damage.. Soon the helicopter was
close to my place.. They zoomed into the marina showing the sinking
catamaran. I could see the dock and all the sailboats that are right
outside my building.. None of the boats were in the parking lot where I
expected to them be.. We took this to be a good sign that nothing was amiss
at our complex...

Feeling somewhat relieved, I hooked munchkin up to the lease for a little
stroll outside. I didn't know they had let the other dogs out of the cattle
trailer. Munchkin is not a dog-friendly dog. He charged at the lab and
bit her.. Pulling himself out of his harness.. She bit him back.. We took
him to the vet and had his wound cleaned and picked up a prescription for
antibiotics. The vet said his lungs sounded good, no sign of compression
injury. He's still rather sore and will snap at me if I pick him up wrong.
Maggie and Carey left later in the afternoon (with the lab and their other
dog) even though they didn't have any power at their place.

My brother and his family left on Sunday with the other 2 dogs. John and
his mom were told they had to stay until power was back on in their
complex... Couldn't have Rita going home with no power.. They got power
back late Sunday evening and went on home... I called someone down here to
see if I had power because with this heat wave, there was no way I was
coming back until I knew power was back on at my place.

Even though Homeland Security is still telling Galveston evacuees not to
return until tomorrow (Wednesday), UTMB is opening for business today so I
made my way home. I'm glad I filled my tank before I got to Mom's house
because there was absolutely no gas to be found anywhere. Ride home was
uneventful until I hit Algoa. Small plane had just made an emergency
landing along the highway.
http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso...7d3c3728f6277c5 . Fire marshall
made everyone behind me turn back around. The plane has knocked out a main
power feed to the island. UTMB is back on generators this morning to keep
power to the rest of the island.

As I turned into my apartment complex, I looked to the back and the first
thing I saw was the hole in the roof. As I drove around to the back of the
complex, I saw the building next to me with an even bigger hole in the roof.
I went in my apartment, expecting to find my bed soaked as it was up against
the window and under the hole. Mattress is dry... The linen closet smells a
bit musty so I'm going to take all the stuff out of there and wash it. I
don't see any signs of water damage on the ceiling or walls, so its probably
all in my head. The roofers came late yesterday afternoon and covered the
hole with a plastic tarp. I'm going to move my bed into the living room and
find somewhere to stash my clothes.. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for
tomorrow and day after.. and I really don't have much faith in plastic tarps
holding back the rain.

This morning I went outside and took some photographs of the damage around
here. Met some folks along the marina and talked about the storm. They
said there was a 15 ft wave that rolled thru the channel. 3 are screen
shots from google earth showing my apartment complex and the surrounding
area; the rest are just shots of the damage around here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56502335@N00/sets/

Time to get busy.. get stuff cleaned up and re-arranged. Please let's not
forget those folks along the gulf of mexico -- Nov. 30th cant come soon
enough.. I've had my fill of this season.

Liz

2005-09-28, 8:36 am

I know we have our issues, Pat, but I am genuinely pleased to see you
are ok.

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:23:21 GMT, "gardenia" <patgaz@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>
>In 1978 I meet my first Rita.. James was 9 months old and I had just
>returned from the a 3 month visit in the states. The house we were living
>in still bore the scars of Typhoon Pamela from 2 years before. As Rita
>approached Guam, she had intenstified to 150+ kt (170 mph) sustained winds
>with gusts >225 mph. My husband was stationed on the USS Proteus and had to
>go with the ship out to sea. Our best friends lived across the street.
>Lorraine was still in the states so her husband came to stay with me.. Joel
>and Lorraine had been there for Typhoon Pamela so we had a pretty good idea
>of what to expect if Rita hit us head on. Our houses sat on a cliff about
>20 feet above the sea. While Pamela's surge did not flood our neighborhood,
>her waves had come over and through my house (my still-boarded-from-Pamela
>upstairs windows) and broke across the street. Joel and I secured both
>house as best we could and hunkered down for the night. Luckily for us, she
>was more compact than thought at the time and she passed far enough to our
>South and we only experienced cat 1 winds and minor street flooding.
>http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc/atcr.../pdf/wnp/29.pdf
>
>
>Fast forward to 2005. Hurricane Rita has her sites on the western Gulf of
>Mexico. My hurricane evac plans have always been to evac to my mother's
>house about 130 miles SW from here (~80 miles inland from Matagora Bay as
>the crow flies). That being said, in August Mother pulled one of her "I
>never want to see you again" stints that she pulls every 10 years or so.
>She even refused to visit with Allie & Emma when they came to visit in
>August. So.. I had no idea where I would go. I couldn't go to a shelter
>as I could not leave munchkin here to drown in a storm. Suzanne graciously
>said we could come weather the storm at her place.
>
>Tuesday was spent securing our labs and offices. We wrapped everything in
>miles and miles of plastic and duct tape. Moved computers to inside
>offices, away from the outside windows. Dry ice was delayed to after 4pm..
>I stayed till 6 waiting for liquid nitrogen that never arrived. Thank God
>there was enough in the dewer to last till this week.
>
>All through the day, I kept my eye on model plots, NHC/TPC and Storm2K. We
>were already under a voluntary evac order with a mandatory to become
>effective on Wednesday at 6pm. I knew, regardless of whether I ended up at
>Suzanne's apartment or my mother's place that I wanted to leave on Hwy 6.
>Once the mandatory evac took effect, I would have to take I-45 north to
>Hunstville. Huntsville is nowhere near where I wanted to go.
>
>Tuesday night here was totally surreal. At midnight the heat index as still
>well over 100 and the air was so heavy. Everyone was packing and moving
>out. There are 4 familes from New Orleans living in this little cluster in
>my complex. Candy and her grandchild were rescued from their rooftop in
>midtown by helicopter... One family fled New Orleans before Katrina hit...
>Another had been in the Superdome hell. Needless to say, panic and anxiety
>overtook me. I kept looking around my apartment and couldn't decide what I
>would take with me. The couple who lived upstairs from me moved everything
>out of their apartment. He is in the Army (I think) and she is a student at
>A&M. They said they didn't think the roof was going to hold up as it leaked
>into their place whenever it rained.
>
>I had set the alarm for 3am. Plans were to start packing then leave around
>6am. However, with all the activity around us, I couldn't sleep, so around
>midnight I started packing my car. I could see the headlights of all the
>cars on the causeway. Getting stuck in traffic was something I wanted to
>avoid for many reasons. I started packing the car with clothes and other
>junk, leaving room for my computer. I managed to leave around 7 missing all
>the traffic. I topped off my gas tank in Eagle Lake. My car has been
>eating rich these passed couple of days.. Premium seems to be the only grade
>around..
>
>I reached Mom's place around noon and spent the better part of the day
>trying to convince them that we need to get to Chris' house in Austin. If
>Rita had followed Carla's track (the center of the cone of uncertainty as
>Dr. Neil calls it) Galveston would have suffered tremendously and my apt
>building would not have survived and neither would their place. Carla's eye
>passed right over their little town. Dean wasn't convinced that we needed
>to leave so we decided to wait until Thursday morning to make that decision.
>http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/hurricanes/1960s_maps.htm
>
>Around 4pm some other folks arrived at Larry's place. They had traveled the
>same route I did early in the day. Traffic had picked up considerably ..
>It took them 6 hours; 3 hours longer than my ride.
>
>My brother, his ex-wife and some friends of their's tried to leave for
>either Sheridan or Austin on Thursday. After sitting in traffic most of the
>day getting nowhere, they turned around and headed back home. At this time,
>the NHC track was taking Rita into Galveston bay as a cat 3/4 storm. This,
>of course, is the worst case scenario for our area. The Serpent's Coil is a
>10 minute video modeling what could happen in such a case.
>http://www.hcoem.org/videos.htm
>
>Friday morning Rita still seemed to have her eye on Houston/Galveston. My
>brother and company decided to try to hit the road again. He has his son,
>ex-wife and her 3 dogs in his car. They are followed by his friends and
>their son and their 2 dogs. and someone (John) from his complex who has
>nowhere to go. John just sorta followed them out to Mom's place. We set
>up the cattle trailer for 4 of the dogs. Munchkin and Bitsy (she's
>Munchkin's mom, 18 and has breast cancer) stayed in the house.
>
>When they arrived, John gets out of his car, telling us he just wanted to
>try to find a hotel room.. He has his mother with him... she's 99. Lord
>have mercy.. You can't send a 99 year old woman away with a storm like that
>headed our way so we invited this stranger and his mom to stay with us.
>Turned out her name is Rita and they had rode out Carla in Galveston. Added
>to all this.. she doesn't speak English; only Spanish and of course, none of
>us speak Spanish (its on my list of things to learn one day). Of course, I
>relinquished the spare bed to her John (who was feeling rather wierd about
>sharing a bed with his mother -- but with 11 folks in a double-wide there
>wasn't much choice). We tried to get the boys to camp out with the dogs in
>the cattle trailer but they weren't having any part of that! The guys (it
>took all 3 of them) ran up to the store for beer and milk (they forgot the
>milk and had to go back) and we settled down on the front porch waiting for
>Rita's arrival.
>
>As her track shifted further east, I was hopeful that maybe I could come
>back to something instead of nothing.. As Rita's track shifted east to Port
>Arthur, computer modeling was still showing surge flooding the area I live
>in. Eyes glued to the TV as reports of the fire off the Strand flashed
>across the screen. Around midnight we all settled down to watch the storm
>come ashore. I woke up around 3 or so and was selfishly relieved when she
>went in along the TX/LA border. The further east she was, the less damage
>to my place & things..
>
>Living across the channel from Moody Gardens, I just knew that I would be
>able to catch a glimpse of my apartment. Ch. 11's helicopter started its
>flyover in Surfside, making its way east up the coast. The geotubes in
>Pirates beach seemed to have served them well... They were closing in on
>damage.. Downed fences, some minor roof damage.. Soon the helicopter was
>close to my place.. They zoomed into the marina showing the sinking
>catamaran. I could see the dock and all the sailboats that are right
>outside my building.. None of the boats were in the parking lot where I
>expected to them be.. We took this to be a good sign that nothing was amiss
>at our complex...
>
>Feeling somewhat relieved, I hooked munchkin up to the lease for a little
>stroll outside. I didn't know they had let the other dogs out of the cattle
>trailer. Munchkin is not a dog-friendly dog. He charged at the lab and
>bit her.. Pulling himself out of his harness.. She bit him back.. We took
>him to the vet and had his wound cleaned and picked up a prescription for
>antibiotics. The vet said his lungs sounded good, no sign of compression
>injury. He's still rather sore and will snap at me if I pick him up wrong.
>Maggie and Carey left later in the afternoon (with the lab and their other
>dog) even though they didn't have any power at their place.
>
>My brother and his family left on Sunday with the other 2 dogs. John and
>his mom were told they had to stay until power was back on in their
>complex... Couldn't have Rita going home with no power.. They got power
>back late Sunday evening and went on home... I called someone down here to
>see if I had power because with this heat wave, there was no way I was
>coming back until I knew power was back on at my place.
>
>Even though Homeland Security is still telling Galveston evacuees not to
>return until tomorrow (Wednesday), UTMB is opening for business today so I
>made my way home. I'm glad I filled my tank before I got to Mom's house
>because there was absolutely no gas to be found anywhere. Ride home was
>uneventful until I hit Algoa. Small plane had just made an emergency
>landing along the highway.
>http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso...7d3c3728f6277c5 . Fire marshall
>made everyone behind me turn back around. The plane has knocked out a main
>power feed to the island. UTMB is back on generators this morning to keep
>power to the rest of the island.
>
>As I turned into my apartment complex, I looked to the back and the first
>thing I saw was the hole in the roof. As I drove around to the back of the
>complex, I saw the building next to me with an even bigger hole in the roof.
>I went in my apartment, expecting to find my bed soaked as it was up against
>the window and under the hole. Mattress is dry... The linen closet smells a
>bit musty so I'm going to take all the stuff out of there and wash it. I
>don't see any signs of water damage on the ceiling or walls, so its probably
>all in my head. The roofers came late yesterday afternoon and covered the
>hole with a plastic tarp. I'm going to move my bed into the living room and
>find somewhere to stash my clothes.. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for
>tomorrow and day after.. and I really don't have much faith in plastic tarps
>holding back the rain.
>
>This morning I went outside and took some photographs of the damage around
>here. Met some folks along the marina and talked about the storm. They
>said there was a 15 ft wave that rolled thru the channel. 3 are screen
>shots from google earth showing my apartment complex and the surrounding
>area; the rest are just shots of the damage around here.
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/56502335@N00/sets/
>
>Time to get busy.. get stuff cleaned up and re-arranged. Please let's not
>forget those folks along the gulf of mexico -- Nov. 30th cant come soon
>enough.. I've had my fill of this season.
>
>
>

~*~ I am incredibly silly, so I emphasize you. My tropical liaison won't improve before I say it ~*~

Liz

2005-09-28, 8:36 am

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:20:45 GMT, Liz <isnexttogodly@heaven.net>
wrote:

>I know we have our issues, Pat, but I am genuinely pleased to see you
>are ok.
>
>On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:23:21 GMT, "gardenia" <patgaz@hotmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>
>~*~ I am incredibly silly, so I emphasize you. My tropical liaison won't improve before I say it ~*~

~*~ I am incredibly silly, so I emphasize you. My tropical liaison won't improve before I say it ~*~

gardenia

2005-09-28, 8:36 am

Thanks liz.. we're grateful we had a home to come home to..

Liz wrote:
> I know we have our issues, Pat, but I am genuinely pleased to see you
> are ok.
>
> On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:23:21 GMT, "gardenia" <patgaz@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>

windswept

2005-09-28, 8:37 am

X-No-Archive: Yes

We mostly had blown over trees and a lot of debris. We really lucked out
considering what could have been had it stayed on the course it start in.

Everyone here made it through - we spent a lot of the night sitting outside
on the porch watching the wind whip the trees around. I fell asleep about
2:00 am and shortly after that some noise woke me up and I found zoomer
hiding under a chair - he hates storms and the worst was from then till
about 6:00 am.

The hardest part of the storm was getting that damn tape offa the windows.
I need a tanker car of "goo be gone"

Great photos and I'm glad you did ok at you Mom's

"gardenia" <patgaz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Zle_e.34089$S26.25272@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>
> In 1978 I meet my first Rita.. James was 9 months old and I had just
> returned from the a 3 month visit in the states. The house we were living
> in still bore the scars of Typhoon Pamela from 2 years before. As Rita
> approached Guam, she had intenstified to 150+ kt (170 mph) sustained winds
> with gusts >225 mph. My husband was stationed on the USS Proteus and had
to
> go with the ship out to sea. Our best friends lived across the street.
> Lorraine was still in the states so her husband came to stay with me..
Joel
> and Lorraine had been there for Typhoon Pamela so we had a pretty good
idea
> of what to expect if Rita hit us head on. Our houses sat on a cliff about
> 20 feet above the sea. While Pamela's surge did not flood our
neighborhood,
> her waves had come over and through my house (my still-boarded-from-Pamela
> upstairs windows) and broke across the street. Joel and I secured both
> house as best we could and hunkered down for the night. Luckily for us,
she
> was more compact than thought at the time and she passed far enough to our
> South and we only experienced cat 1 winds and minor street flooding.
> http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc/atcr.../pdf/wnp/29.pdf
>
>
> Fast forward to 2005. Hurricane Rita has her sites on the western Gulf of
> Mexico. My hurricane evac plans have always been to evac to my mother's
> house about 130 miles SW from here (~80 miles inland from Matagora Bay as
> the crow flies). That being said, in August Mother pulled one of her "I
> never want to see you again" stints that she pulls every 10 years or so.
> She even refused to visit with Allie & Emma when they came to visit in
> August. So.. I had no idea where I would go. I couldn't go to a shelter
> as I could not leave munchkin here to drown in a storm. Suzanne
graciously
> said we could come weather the storm at her place.
>
> Tuesday was spent securing our labs and offices. We wrapped everything in
> miles and miles of plastic and duct tape. Moved computers to inside
> offices, away from the outside windows. Dry ice was delayed to after
4pm..
> I stayed till 6 waiting for liquid nitrogen that never arrived. Thank God
> there was enough in the dewer to last till this week.
>
> All through the day, I kept my eye on model plots, NHC/TPC and Storm2K.
We
> were already under a voluntary evac order with a mandatory to become
> effective on Wednesday at 6pm. I knew, regardless of whether I ended up
at
> Suzanne's apartment or my mother's place that I wanted to leave on Hwy 6.
> Once the mandatory evac took effect, I would have to take I-45 north to
> Hunstville. Huntsville is nowhere near where I wanted to go.
>
> Tuesday night here was totally surreal. At midnight the heat index as
still
> well over 100 and the air was so heavy. Everyone was packing and moving
> out. There are 4 familes from New Orleans living in this little cluster
in
> my complex. Candy and her grandchild were rescued from their rooftop in
> midtown by helicopter... One family fled New Orleans before Katrina
hit...
> Another had been in the Superdome hell. Needless to say, panic and
anxiety
> overtook me. I kept looking around my apartment and couldn't decide what
I
> would take with me. The couple who lived upstairs from me moved
everything
> out of their apartment. He is in the Army (I think) and she is a student
at
> A&M. They said they didn't think the roof was going to hold up as it
leaked
> into their place whenever it rained.
>
> I had set the alarm for 3am. Plans were to start packing then leave
around
> 6am. However, with all the activity around us, I couldn't sleep, so
around
> midnight I started packing my car. I could see the headlights of all the
> cars on the causeway. Getting stuck in traffic was something I wanted to
> avoid for many reasons. I started packing the car with clothes and other
> junk, leaving room for my computer. I managed to leave around 7 missing
all
> the traffic. I topped off my gas tank in Eagle Lake. My car has been
> eating rich these passed couple of days.. Premium seems to be the only
grade
> around..
>
> I reached Mom's place around noon and spent the better part of the day
> trying to convince them that we need to get to Chris' house in Austin. If
> Rita had followed Carla's track (the center of the cone of uncertainty as
> Dr. Neil calls it) Galveston would have suffered tremendously and my apt
> building would not have survived and neither would their place. Carla's
eye
> passed right over their little town. Dean wasn't convinced that we needed
> to leave so we decided to wait until Thursday morning to make that
decision.
> http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/hurricanes/1960s_maps.htm
>
> Around 4pm some other folks arrived at Larry's place. They had traveled
the
> same route I did early in the day. Traffic had picked up considerably ..
> It took them 6 hours; 3 hours longer than my ride.
>
> My brother, his ex-wife and some friends of their's tried to leave for
> either Sheridan or Austin on Thursday. After sitting in traffic most of
the
> day getting nowhere, they turned around and headed back home. At this
time,
> the NHC track was taking Rita into Galveston bay as a cat 3/4 storm.
This,
> of course, is the worst case scenario for our area. The Serpent's Coil is
a
> 10 minute video modeling what could happen in such a case.
> http://www.hcoem.org/videos.htm
>
> Friday morning Rita still seemed to have her eye on Houston/Galveston. My
> brother and company decided to try to hit the road again. He has his son,
> ex-wife and her 3 dogs in his car. They are followed by his friends and
> their son and their 2 dogs. and someone (John) from his complex who has
> nowhere to go. John just sorta followed them out to Mom's place. We set
> up the cattle trailer for 4 of the dogs. Munchkin and Bitsy (she's
> Munchkin's mom, 18 and has breast cancer) stayed in the house.
>
> When they arrived, John gets out of his car, telling us he just wanted to
> try to find a hotel room.. He has his mother with him... she's 99. Lord
> have mercy.. You can't send a 99 year old woman away with a storm like
that
> headed our way so we invited this stranger and his mom to stay with us.
> Turned out her name is Rita and they had rode out Carla in Galveston.
Added
> to all this.. she doesn't speak English; only Spanish and of course, none
of
> us speak Spanish (its on my list of things to learn one day). Of course,
I
> relinquished the spare bed to her John (who was feeling rather wierd about
> sharing a bed with his mother -- but with 11 folks in a double-wide there
> wasn't much choice). We tried to get the boys to camp out with the dogs
in
> the cattle trailer but they weren't having any part of that! The guys (it
> took all 3 of them) ran up to the store for beer and milk (they forgot the
> milk and had to go back) and we settled down on the front porch waiting
for
> Rita's arrival.
>
> As her track shifted further east, I was hopeful that maybe I could come
> back to something instead of nothing.. As Rita's track shifted east to
Port
> Arthur, computer modeling was still showing surge flooding the area I live
> in. Eyes glued to the TV as reports of the fire off the Strand flashed
> across the screen. Around midnight we all settled down to watch the storm
> come ashore. I woke up around 3 or so and was selfishly relieved when she
> went in along the TX/LA border. The further east she was, the less damage
> to my place & things..
>
> Living across the channel from Moody Gardens, I just knew that I would be
> able to catch a glimpse of my apartment. Ch. 11's helicopter started its
> flyover in Surfside, making its way east up the coast. The geotubes in
> Pirates beach seemed to have served them well... They were closing in on
> damage.. Downed fences, some minor roof damage.. Soon the helicopter was
> close to my place.. They zoomed into the marina showing the sinking
> catamaran. I could see the dock and all the sailboats that are right
> outside my building.. None of the boats were in the parking lot where I
> expected to them be.. We took this to be a good sign that nothing was
amiss
> at our complex...
>
> Feeling somewhat relieved, I hooked munchkin up to the lease for a little
> stroll outside. I didn't know they had let the other dogs out of the
cattle
> trailer. Munchkin is not a dog-friendly dog. He charged at the lab and
> bit her.. Pulling himself out of his harness.. She bit him back.. We
took
> him to the vet and had his wound cleaned and picked up a prescription for
> antibiotics. The vet said his lungs sounded good, no sign of compression
> injury. He's still rather sore and will snap at me if I pick him up
wrong.
> Maggie and Carey left later in the afternoon (with the lab and their other
> dog) even though they didn't have any power at their place.
>
> My brother and his family left on Sunday with the other 2 dogs. John and
> his mom were told they had to stay until power was back on in their
> complex... Couldn't have Rita going home with no power.. They got power
> back late Sunday evening and went on home... I called someone down here
to
> see if I had power because with this heat wave, there was no way I was
> coming back until I knew power was back on at my place.
>
> Even though Homeland Security is still telling Galveston evacuees not to
> return until tomorrow (Wednesday), UTMB is opening for business today so I
> made my way home. I'm glad I filled my tank before I got to Mom's house
> because there was absolutely no gas to be found anywhere. Ride home was
> uneventful until I hit Algoa. Small plane had just made an emergency
> landing along the highway.
> http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso...7d3c3728f6277c5 . Fire marshall
> made everyone behind me turn back around. The plane has knocked out a
main
> power feed to the island. UTMB is back on generators this morning to keep
> power to the rest of the island.
>
> As I turned into my apartment complex, I looked to the back and the first
> thing I saw was the hole in the roof. As I drove around to the back of
the
> complex, I saw the building next to me with an even bigger hole in the
roof.
> I went in my apartment, expecting to find my bed soaked as it was up
against
> the window and under the hole. Mattress is dry... The linen closet smells
a
> bit musty so I'm going to take all the stuff out of there and wash it. I
> don't see any signs of water damage on the ceiling or walls, so its
probably
> all in my head. The roofers came late yesterday afternoon and covered the
> hole with a plastic tarp. I'm going to move my bed into the living room
and
> find somewhere to stash my clothes.. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for
> tomorrow and day after.. and I really don't have much faith in plastic
tarps
> holding back the rain.
>
> This morning I went outside and took some photographs of the damage around
> here. Met some folks along the marina and talked about the storm. They
> said there was a 15 ft wave that rolled thru the channel. 3 are screen
> shots from google earth showing my apartment complex and the surrounding
> area; the rest are just shots of the damage around here.
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/56502335@N00/sets/
>
> Time to get busy.. get stuff cleaned up and re-arranged. Please let's not
> forget those folks along the gulf of mexico -- Nov. 30th cant come soon
> enough.. I've had my fill of this season.
>
>
>
>
>

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Alan B. Mac Farlane

2005-09-30, 12:07 pm

Brought to you by the Rove Rage Show ... and the season is not over.

Global Warming and Pat Robertson gonna get your XXX real soon.

When you get family to die for the Bushmeister ... maybe you be singing a
different tune then.

When Brother Bush and Brother Pat got you in heaven where God the Father
makes babies with His daughters ... sure you will be happy then you are
happy now with the results of your vote for Bushit.

sumbuddie help me

)

in article Zle_e.34089$S26.25272@tornado.texas.rr.com, gardenia at
patgaz@hotmail.com wrote on 9/27/05 9:23 AM:

> Time to get busy.. get stuff cleaned up and re-arranged. Please let's not
> forget those folks along the gulf of mexico -- Nov. 30th cant come soon
> enough.. I've had my fill of this season.

James

2005-09-30, 12:07 pm

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 14:24:16 GMT, "Alan B. Mac Farlane"
<alanb@sonic.net> wrote in message
<BF5FF59F.11A1C%alanb@sonic.net> the following:

>sumbuddie help me

You definitely need some.

Liz

2005-09-30, 12:07 pm

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 23:24:27 +0800, James
<James@RemoveThis.whocares.org> wrote:

>On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 14:24:16 GMT, "Alan B. Mac Farlane"
><alanb@sonic.net> wrote in message
><BF5FF59F.11A1C%alanb@sonic.net> the following:
>
>
>You definitely need some.

Let me guess - nearby elementary school closed?

~*~ I am incredibly silly, so I emphasize you. My tropical liaison won't improve before I say it ~*~

Luna

2005-09-30, 12:07 pm

"James" <James@RemoveThis.whocares.org> wrote in message
news:icdlj11jursdr7c253el3kcigi7va1nogn@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 14:24:16 GMT, "Alan B. Mac Farlane"
> <alanb@sonic.net> wrote in message
> <BF5FF59F.11A1C%alanb@sonic.net> the following:
>
>
> You definitely need some.

Spoken from a person with the self awareness of a clump of sod.

Jean