Ike Ike, I do not like Ike

I have been caught up with getting ready for Margo's wedding, and I haven't even finished my last blog! Well now there is this bloke named Ike, who is trying to decide if he wants to "visit" Brownsville. Inconvenient doesn't even begin to describe this. I am cancelling my visit to Adam, Goli and Sholeh. Tomorrow Wednesday instead of flying out I will be boarding up, for real this time. Two scenarios, I shelter in place, or evacuate with the cats with or without Barry. My heart is aching.

I will do the water, hurricane run latter. Ernesto will screw down the pool works and I have calls out for help to board up the house and those awfully big leaky front doors. This time it is surreal, painful, waiting to find out what the track and intensity will be. My sense of humor is fighting my dread and disappointment. With a fellow local Reiki master we are trying to change the trajectory and intensity of Senior Ike.

Well, I will let you all know what is what until then Vio con dios

Post: It is Wednesday, No pre-storm headache, no rain, but some really great looking cloud formations. With Barry's assurance the storm is headed as of 3:00 central time today for Matagorda Bay, Houston and was still gaining Latitude I am less stressed. We have not boarded but I did run out with Rossana and get more ply-locks in any event. They are not cheap, but a necessary evil if you will. We have also cooled down from the high 90's to just 90 today.

Margo is feeling a bit helpless, she wants to be with me and not have me go through another hurricane alone. With her wedding and all the other stresses in her life, I have tried to reassure her. The Bolivia ferry it is being posted on The Weather channel will stop running. That's not something you hear every day! School closings, airports but THE ferry? WOW that's big. I am antsy enough to think about baking a shissel of bread! Hey how much is a shissel anyway?

The birds have been feeding in a blanket on the ground. We have a lot of them and many are new to me. There's one that sounds just like a crypt door slowly opening, and one that has a cackle cry. The butterflies seem to exist all year here, and darning needles rule the airways. All the buzzing, flying thingys seem very busy today. I'll take this calm before the storm...

Saturday, "There for the Grace of G-d"...

I am soaking Hibiscus (Flor de Jamaica) flowers in boiled water. The concentrate with water and ice added becomes a wonderful cold drink that everyone assures me from the grocery checkout boy to Rossana is a tonic for the Kidneys. Next to me is reheated rice, my stomach has taken a hit from the stress and energy of Ike. We are fine, no wind, no rain, no terror in the night. A major bullet was dodged. Barry went to S. Padre Island yesterday and this morning. There was no beach or dunes yesterday. Only huge waves washing over to the roads. Geoff and another co-worker checked in the afternoon, at the Island and was astonished by the debree and destruction of the beach. B reports that a lot of dredging and work will need to be done to restore our beautiful sandy beaches. There was absolutly no wind. Brownsville for the first time since I arrived ten months ago was earily still. The sky I can only describe as a pre snow storm Nor' Easter glow. When you grow up in the North east, it is a sky you note, and then begin to stock up with milk, bread, eggs etc. The rules are different down here, other than ominous signs we are unscathed.

Astonishingly enough as Ike continues to roar as a Cat1 through the Houston burbs with it's spokes spreading outward, the media report on all the residents who did not leave Glaviston/
islands, and all the A flood zones. It is estimated 40% of residents who were ordered to evacuate did not. These folks may not be tecnically in running for the Darwin awards, it is my belief that they are golden recipients of the Dodo.

Does anyone else remember the old black and white movies where a monster of some sort or unnatural disaster is loose(d) upon the populas? Wether it was a Japanese flick or an American, the army was out going around with bull horns ordering the evacuation. Those who did not obey were escorted from their homes by gun point and a nudge. The Japenese flicks had the peasents scurrying with bundles on their backs and grannys strapped to younger men like so many sacks of potatos. They seemed to be packed and ready to leave without the bayonet point. As the mighty monster/disaster decended it was to empty towns or city's filled with gridlock and yellow cabs and madly fleeing drivers and pedestrians as the army directs and hustles them off. My point? I always belived that the Gov't would do whatever it took to keep us safe. I now understand as a "free" Nation, we are free to be as stupid and suicidal as we want. Forget that they are endangering the emergency response people, or looking for their Andy Warhol moment. As the wife of a man who's sole mission is to keep people safe, with as acurate forecasting as he can, his sweeping, brilliantly written impact statements that the NWS offices as well as the EMS, and media have repeated over and over I see his pain and puzzlement. One death and he is affected, his energy saped he questions me WHY? I can only say for the most part man is a dumb animal. I could corrilate it to our political outlook/mess, and religous beliefs but I won't. We are just dumb. Post storm deaths are inevitable and numerous, those are often wrong place, foolish etc., but to die by drowning or mishap in your own home when you could be high and dry?

We need to donate to the disaster relief funds and Red cross, this is going to take a lot of money and man power to put back together. Tzedaka and Tikkun Olam.

Well, I hope to book a flight out of here Monday and put Ike behind me, while I celebrate my family and get to wear my new sleek sexy black mother-of-bride cocktail dress. Now should I wear my diamond studs or my big silver disks...