I've got wireless connectivity in my office, which means even though my desktop computer is unable to log me on, I can bring in my laptop. Yay!
I'm glad everyone was pleased with my breakfast. It's a big psychological boost to be able to have a nice meal when a lot of other things are out of order. I'm hoping we can have bowtie pasta with pesto and pinenuts tonight, but we'll see how that goes. Heating water with sterno is slow and we don't feel completely comfortable using the soda can stove when it's windy out. The soda can stove really would be the better way to do it, though.
This evening I threw out everything left in the freezer that could go bad. It wasn't much-- just a few emergency frozen dinners that we keep on hand to pop in the microwave if we run out of "real" food during the week. I moved the remaining ice into the fridge, so we've got one more day before we'll have to bring all our food to my office fridge. By then we're supposed to come back to work anyway so they can't stop me.
Yes, the bastards want us back TUESDAY. Can you believe it? I'll be very surprised if they can find enough students, staff and faculty to make a quorum around here. I talked to my boss earlier today during one of the few times our cell phones were working, and she said no way could she return on Tuesday because she had too much to do. She said some of our co-workers were still in the cities they evacuated to, so they won't likely come to work Tuesday. It ought to be interesting.
I'm putting together a list of what worked, what didn't, and what I would like for next time (should there be one). I'll share that list with you in a day or two in case you live where emergency prep is something you do or should do. I have to say, though, that I've learned a lot over the years, researching my post-apocalyptic novels. I've been lucky with my situation, though. The weather hasn't been unbearable and a cool front is coming tomorrow. We've had water, even hot water (water heater is gas, unlike the stove). We've had the university resources at our disposal, although we're using them sparingly.
Anyway, Dan is off my computer now so that means I should log off as well. We're going to go home and see about dinner. If the pasta doesn't turn out maybe I'll make some of those black-eyed pea cakes. They don't fry well in my stainless steel skillet, but I do have an old teflon one somewhere. Using teflon once every five years or so won't kill me. Not if a hurricane can't.
More tomorrow. I have internet and I can say that. I'll also prep my pictures tonight and post them tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Post-Hurricane - Sunday
I'm on a friend's computer with internet access. Yay! This will have to be short, though, out of consideration.
The hurricane winds were pretty scary from about midnight through 8 am but our house is incredibly solid. The walls didn't even creak. We lost a few metal siding things from the gutters but that appears to be it. We acquired a new wind turbine which we found only a foot away from the cars. We don't know where it came from since no one in the near vicinity lost one. We have a neighbor with a new trampoline, blown into the yard from who knows where.
I've got some great pictures whenever I can get them uploaded.
Our neighborhood is full of downed trees and one street is completely blocked. Most of the rest of the neighborhood is passable though. The first thing everyone did was go outside even before the rain stopped and start moving the branches out of the roads so vehicles could pass. We saw the university cops go through today on patrol and that made me happy.
We finished clearing our yard and driveway of debris today so we look all civilized now except for the downed tree in the yard and the enormous debris pile. Everyone has a debris pile though. We also found that the reason our tree in front fell was that it was partly hollow and contained bees. I took a picture of the honeycomb so I hope the pic turns out.
There's a satellite tower behind our house where the dish blew over and the tower is now bent with the dish facing the opposite direction.
The campus has power and we had dinner in my office break room last night, cooking food from our freezer in the toaster oven. As we lose cool in our fridge we'll slowly take food over there to keep in the office fridge. No one is sending us away when we're on campus so as long as we don't look like we're moving in, we figure it's cool.
I cooked scrambled eggs with chipolte cheddar and gingerbread pancakes this morning over a sterno can. It was too windy to use my soda can stove but I'd like to try that out sometime too.
For light, we have solar yard lamps that we take outside in the day and bring indoors at night. We also have chemical glow sticks. It's all much safer than candles. We have nice LED lanterns, too.
We have no screens for the doors but we rigged up some mosquito netting. Should any mosquitoes get inside despite our efforts we can rig them over the bed at night.
Dan isn't mocking any of my hurricane supply efforts any more.
Still no word on when the university will reopen but it obviously won't be Monday. I think they should give us most or all of the week because of the massive cleanup people have to do and because people who evacuated aren't even back. We need to have enough faculty, staff and students to make a reopening worthwhile and this is a university with over 30,000 students and over 6,000 faculty and staff.
There's a cool front coming soon so this should be the worst day in terms of having no a/c. It's not so bad yet because there's a breeze and it's been overcast much of the day.
In sum, we're doing just fine.
Oh, and Cadbury was a trooper. I put him in his carrier and put him in the closet during the worst of the storm and he made no fuss even though he was cooped up in there for hours. The cat was a little weirded out by everything but the pets did really well.
Okay, I really should get off this guy's computer and let him get back to whatever he was doing. I'll post again whenever I can.
The hurricane winds were pretty scary from about midnight through 8 am but our house is incredibly solid. The walls didn't even creak. We lost a few metal siding things from the gutters but that appears to be it. We acquired a new wind turbine which we found only a foot away from the cars. We don't know where it came from since no one in the near vicinity lost one. We have a neighbor with a new trampoline, blown into the yard from who knows where.
I've got some great pictures whenever I can get them uploaded.
Our neighborhood is full of downed trees and one street is completely blocked. Most of the rest of the neighborhood is passable though. The first thing everyone did was go outside even before the rain stopped and start moving the branches out of the roads so vehicles could pass. We saw the university cops go through today on patrol and that made me happy.
We finished clearing our yard and driveway of debris today so we look all civilized now except for the downed tree in the yard and the enormous debris pile. Everyone has a debris pile though. We also found that the reason our tree in front fell was that it was partly hollow and contained bees. I took a picture of the honeycomb so I hope the pic turns out.
There's a satellite tower behind our house where the dish blew over and the tower is now bent with the dish facing the opposite direction.
The campus has power and we had dinner in my office break room last night, cooking food from our freezer in the toaster oven. As we lose cool in our fridge we'll slowly take food over there to keep in the office fridge. No one is sending us away when we're on campus so as long as we don't look like we're moving in, we figure it's cool.
I cooked scrambled eggs with chipolte cheddar and gingerbread pancakes this morning over a sterno can. It was too windy to use my soda can stove but I'd like to try that out sometime too.
For light, we have solar yard lamps that we take outside in the day and bring indoors at night. We also have chemical glow sticks. It's all much safer than candles. We have nice LED lanterns, too.
We have no screens for the doors but we rigged up some mosquito netting. Should any mosquitoes get inside despite our efforts we can rig them over the bed at night.
Dan isn't mocking any of my hurricane supply efforts any more.
Still no word on when the university will reopen but it obviously won't be Monday. I think they should give us most or all of the week because of the massive cleanup people have to do and because people who evacuated aren't even back. We need to have enough faculty, staff and students to make a reopening worthwhile and this is a university with over 30,000 students and over 6,000 faculty and staff.
There's a cool front coming soon so this should be the worst day in terms of having no a/c. It's not so bad yet because there's a breeze and it's been overcast much of the day.
In sum, we're doing just fine.
Oh, and Cadbury was a trooper. I put him in his carrier and put him in the closet during the worst of the storm and he made no fuss even though he was cooped up in there for hours. The cat was a little weirded out by everything but the pets did really well.
Okay, I really should get off this guy's computer and let him get back to whatever he was doing. I'll post again whenever I can.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Sustained winds in sixties with gusts in nineties. But not as many scary gusts as before. If we can make it through next two hours without major damage we will be good. All fm radio stations gone since four am. Damn scary gust right now. Boring too. A lot of waiting. And want to sleep but staying up in case pets need me. No daylight yet but curious what is out there. We think a tree is uin driveway.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Closet
I just finished cleaning out the biggest of the hall closets in case we need to shelter in a small space with no windows. Dan will complain about the stuff on the shelves, I'm sure, worrying that it will fall. Whatever. He's sitting around watching TV so if he wants things done a certain way he can do them himself.
Carport
Looks like we're losing part of the roof over the carport. I told Dan we should move the vehicles to the university's new parking garage, but it's too late now. I just hope the carport holds. It's way early in the game for this to be happening.
Update
We keep hearing thumps and transformers blowing. We still have power, but we think others down the street might not. Like hell I'm going out to check, though.
We're getting a little rain now, gusty and sporadic. If things get particularly nerve-wracking, we'll move ourselves and the critters into the hall and wait it out there, away from windows.
The worst is supposed to be in the early hours of the morning.
Lights just flickered.
We're getting a little rain now, gusty and sporadic. If things get particularly nerve-wracking, we'll move ourselves and the critters into the hall and wait it out there, away from windows.
The worst is supposed to be in the early hours of the morning.
Lights just flickered.
Update
Okay so far, although Dan is sabotaging my strategy to make the house cold before we lose power. I gave the man a sweater. He needs to leave the thermostat alone.
I can't find the C batteries for the portable TV and I didn't get more at the start of the season. Looks like we'll be on radio-only after we lose power. That and Blackberry, but we'll be trying to conserve the batteries on that until after the storm. We aren't going to be going out to the truck to recharge during a hurricane. (We have a detached garage, 1950s-style.)
Just heard a bump outside but it could've been anything.
Still no rain, but weather.com says sustained winds of 33 mph, gusts of 57. Sounds about right.
I might go heat up some dinner now. I'll be up all night.
I can't find the C batteries for the portable TV and I didn't get more at the start of the season. Looks like we'll be on radio-only after we lose power. That and Blackberry, but we'll be trying to conserve the batteries on that until after the storm. We aren't going to be going out to the truck to recharge during a hurricane. (We have a detached garage, 1950s-style.)
Just heard a bump outside but it could've been anything.
Still no rain, but weather.com says sustained winds of 33 mph, gusts of 57. Sounds about right.
I might go heat up some dinner now. I'll be up all night.
Power
Lights are already flickering. I had expected us to have power until around midnight, but things might go out sooner.
Just FYI. I still want to take a nap. Gotta turn the a/c down first, though. Get things nice and cold in here for after.
Just FYI. I still want to take a nap. Gotta turn the a/c down first, though. Get things nice and cold in here for after.
Bayou Surge Update
After her last post, your intrepid hurricane blogger went to the bayou to take a look. This is what she found:
This is considerably higher than earlier in the day when from the spot where this picture was taken, the water was so low as to be barely visible. There has been no rain yet in Houston. The rise in water is all due to surge fifty miles away in Galveston. The storm isn't scheduled to make landfall for several hours yet.
Luckily there is a bit more of a rise from behind the spot where the above picture was taken, and then your hurricane blogger's house is another half mile from there up a street with a slight upward slope. The lot is on a small rise and the house itself is an additional couple feet off the ground, as shown below. For non-Southerners, the little "windows" at ground level are a crawl space beneath the house. The floor is above the crawl space.
Hopefully all will be well. The local news has done another report about bayou flooding, suggesting that the problem will be around the ship channel, not in the areas that wind through the city. All reports from the hype-it-to-death local media and the dry, facts-only online sources have indicated that this area is safe. Neighbors who have lived here thirty years and longer concur.
Cadbury just did a full-body flop by the bookcase. This shall be interpreted for the time being as an indication that there is nothing to worry about and that it's time for a little nap since this promises to be a long night.
This is considerably higher than earlier in the day when from the spot where this picture was taken, the water was so low as to be barely visible. There has been no rain yet in Houston. The rise in water is all due to surge fifty miles away in Galveston. The storm isn't scheduled to make landfall for several hours yet.
Luckily there is a bit more of a rise from behind the spot where the above picture was taken, and then your hurricane blogger's house is another half mile from there up a street with a slight upward slope. The lot is on a small rise and the house itself is an additional couple feet off the ground, as shown below. For non-Southerners, the little "windows" at ground level are a crawl space beneath the house. The floor is above the crawl space.
Hopefully all will be well. The local news has done another report about bayou flooding, suggesting that the problem will be around the ship channel, not in the areas that wind through the city. All reports from the hype-it-to-death local media and the dry, facts-only online sources have indicated that this area is safe. Neighbors who have lived here thirty years and longer concur.
Cadbury just did a full-body flop by the bookcase. This shall be interpreted for the time being as an indication that there is nothing to worry about and that it's time for a little nap since this promises to be a long night.
Storm Surge Update
They just said on TV that Brays Bayou "below" I-45 could flood from the surge. That didn't make geographical sense so I got online at NOAA where I read the same dispatch.
Below.
Okay. If they mean "due South," then my neighborhood and the entire southern part of the Inner Loop is at risk, so why don't they order us out? If they mean just the wedge of bayou that connects to Buffalo Bayou, the Ship Channel and the Turning Basin, that's East, folks. I've got a map that proves it. Got several, as a matter of fact.
It would make perfect sense for the part of the bayou that ties into the Ship Channel to be susceptible to surge. But where we are is several miles away and as noted previously, they've done a lot of work on the bayou in the past year. It should be okay, I would think.
So what does "below" mean? Think of a cross with I-45 as the up and down part. Brays Bayou is the part that goes across. There is no "below" I-45 on Brays unless they no longer teach maps the way I was taught in school, where "up" means north and "down" means south.
Below.
If I end up having to hack through my roof with an axe at 5 am, I'm gonna be pissed. Especially since I don't have an axe.
Below.
Okay. If they mean "due South," then my neighborhood and the entire southern part of the Inner Loop is at risk, so why don't they order us out? If they mean just the wedge of bayou that connects to Buffalo Bayou, the Ship Channel and the Turning Basin, that's East, folks. I've got a map that proves it. Got several, as a matter of fact.
It would make perfect sense for the part of the bayou that ties into the Ship Channel to be susceptible to surge. But where we are is several miles away and as noted previously, they've done a lot of work on the bayou in the past year. It should be okay, I would think.
So what does "below" mean? Think of a cross with I-45 as the up and down part. Brays Bayou is the part that goes across. There is no "below" I-45 on Brays unless they no longer teach maps the way I was taught in school, where "up" means north and "down" means south.
Below.
If I end up having to hack through my roof with an axe at 5 am, I'm gonna be pissed. Especially since I don't have an axe.
General Info for the Viewer at Home
Here are some information sources. My ability to give updates after a power outage will be limited.
Local alarmist fishwrap. Anything by Eric Berger the "Sci Guy" is pretty good. You'll get lots of local pictures, too: Houston Chronicle
Weather Underground tropical updates: Weather Underground
NOAA. Technical, but good. NOAA
If you have DirecTV, you can watch one of the local Houston TV stations on channel 361. It's typical alarmist news, but you can also watch the waves breaking over the Galveston seawall, which is fascinating and disturbing at the same time.
And you can check the weather forecast site of your choice to see conditions in my area. I'm in Zip Code 77004.
As a point of reference for news reports, I'm north of Hobby Airport and south of Downtown. Our neighborhood is on Bray's Bayou, which had a lot of work done on it in the last year. I just hope the engineers knew what the heck they were doing. This neighborhood didn't flood in Allison, which was a 500-year flood event, so we should be just fine even if we get more rain than forecasted.
Wind is picking up now and I'm going to bring in the last of the laundry. I also need to think of something to do with the remaining eggs in the fridge. I'll boil the very last ones this evening, since boiled eggs stay okay for awhile. But I wish I could think of another baking project. More cookies, maybe? As soon as I see the crews come through to restore power and cable, I'll want bribes to show how grateful I am for their service. Hm. Perhaps it will be cookies.
Local alarmist fishwrap. Anything by Eric Berger the "Sci Guy" is pretty good. You'll get lots of local pictures, too: Houston Chronicle
Weather Underground tropical updates: Weather Underground
NOAA. Technical, but good. NOAA
If you have DirecTV, you can watch one of the local Houston TV stations on channel 361. It's typical alarmist news, but you can also watch the waves breaking over the Galveston seawall, which is fascinating and disturbing at the same time.
And you can check the weather forecast site of your choice to see conditions in my area. I'm in Zip Code 77004.
As a point of reference for news reports, I'm north of Hobby Airport and south of Downtown. Our neighborhood is on Bray's Bayou, which had a lot of work done on it in the last year. I just hope the engineers knew what the heck they were doing. This neighborhood didn't flood in Allison, which was a 500-year flood event, so we should be just fine even if we get more rain than forecasted.
Wind is picking up now and I'm going to bring in the last of the laundry. I also need to think of something to do with the remaining eggs in the fridge. I'll boil the very last ones this evening, since boiled eggs stay okay for awhile. But I wish I could think of another baking project. More cookies, maybe? As soon as I see the crews come through to restore power and cable, I'll want bribes to show how grateful I am for their service. Hm. Perhaps it will be cookies.
Cadbury, WeatherBun
How do I adjust this computer chair so I read the updates at Weather Underground?
Okay, I'll trust the humans to know what they're doing on this one. Just keep my hay dry, all right?
Pre-Gaming
When I got up at 8:00 this morning Dan was watching the news, where they were showing the storm surge geysering over the Galveston seawall. The island was already flooding and even the non-alarmists on Weather Underground are saying that the 17-foot seawall will likely be topped and the island inundated.
It was disconcerting to see on video the familiar places flooding already and the spray over the seawall where I just was in June for that conference. The coastal community of Surfside is flooded too, with no roads visible, only the houses. The houses are on eight-foot stilts which won’t help with a 15-20 foot storm surge.
Many years ago my friend Kenny and his boyfriend rented a ginormous house in Surfside for the weekend, right on the beach. Kenny told me to come join them since they had invited a lot of people, bought huge amounts of food and alcohol and it was going to be one big party. I went and it wasn’t nearly the decadent, boozy sort of thing it probably sounds like. It was a cold cloudy weekend in April and we mostly stayed indoors watching movies. I walked on the beach a little. I sipped Bailey’s and scanned the dusky horizon through a brass telescope in an upstairs room. I found a blue shell among the beach grass near the deck where Kenny's friends grilled shrimp under tiki torches. In sum, it was a peaceful interlude in the chaos that was my 20s and I remember it fondly. The house, if it was still standing before this weekend, will likely be gone or irreparably damaged by Sunday.
That’s how things go on the coast.
We’re fine here. Dan and I gathered all our emergency equipment into one place this morning and then I went for a run on campus. There were still students there—dorm residents who had no place to go to. I could smell food cooking at one of the dorm cafeterias, so the students will be fine. Those dorms are built like bomb shelters. They look like them too, but that’s a topic for another time.
What I didn’t see on campus was squirrels. Yesterday I saw only one. I saw a few birds today, but only the hardy grackles who aren’t scared of anything. No mockingbirds, doves, sparrows, or any other kinds. I also didn’t see any feral cats. There are two that hang around the building where I work and they weren’t there yesterday. The animals know when something is up.
Right now it’s overcast and breezy out, but very pleasant. People are walking around the neighborhood visiting each other, letting their kids ride their bikes on the empty streets and doing last-minute pickup of stuff in their yards. A few people have boarded up but most have not. We have double-paned storm windows on our house and were advised by people who were here during Alicia that this should be sufficient.
What we’re getting is basically a Cat 2 hurricane in terms of wind and rain, with a Cat 5 surge. Since we’re 50 miles inland, the surge isn’t a concern. And my only worry regarding the wind is that I'd rather not be without power for very long. A few days of cooler weather are following the storm, so that will help, but it would still be no picnic.
Nothing to do but wait and see, though. We have lots of places we can go in the Austin and Dallas areas if we need to leave after the storm.
I’m doing laundry now and putting water into sports bottles and freezer bags to make ice that I’ll transfer to the fridge and to coolers if I need to. I did a lot of baking last night, although we've got plenty of camp food, too. I don't expect us to have any sanitation issues with the local water supply but we've got lots of bottled water as well as filters and tablets if we need them. I have glass bottles for pasteurizing water in the sun. Once the wind starts picking up this evening I’ll turn the a/c down as low as we can stand it to build up a nice cushion of cold. Then we’ll settle in and wait.
More later, as time permits. The worst part about all this is that the period when I'm likely to have the most time on my hands for blogging is when we'll be without power. Life is funny that way.
It was disconcerting to see on video the familiar places flooding already and the spray over the seawall where I just was in June for that conference. The coastal community of Surfside is flooded too, with no roads visible, only the houses. The houses are on eight-foot stilts which won’t help with a 15-20 foot storm surge.
Many years ago my friend Kenny and his boyfriend rented a ginormous house in Surfside for the weekend, right on the beach. Kenny told me to come join them since they had invited a lot of people, bought huge amounts of food and alcohol and it was going to be one big party. I went and it wasn’t nearly the decadent, boozy sort of thing it probably sounds like. It was a cold cloudy weekend in April and we mostly stayed indoors watching movies. I walked on the beach a little. I sipped Bailey’s and scanned the dusky horizon through a brass telescope in an upstairs room. I found a blue shell among the beach grass near the deck where Kenny's friends grilled shrimp under tiki torches. In sum, it was a peaceful interlude in the chaos that was my 20s and I remember it fondly. The house, if it was still standing before this weekend, will likely be gone or irreparably damaged by Sunday.
That’s how things go on the coast.
We’re fine here. Dan and I gathered all our emergency equipment into one place this morning and then I went for a run on campus. There were still students there—dorm residents who had no place to go to. I could smell food cooking at one of the dorm cafeterias, so the students will be fine. Those dorms are built like bomb shelters. They look like them too, but that’s a topic for another time.
What I didn’t see on campus was squirrels. Yesterday I saw only one. I saw a few birds today, but only the hardy grackles who aren’t scared of anything. No mockingbirds, doves, sparrows, or any other kinds. I also didn’t see any feral cats. There are two that hang around the building where I work and they weren’t there yesterday. The animals know when something is up.
Right now it’s overcast and breezy out, but very pleasant. People are walking around the neighborhood visiting each other, letting their kids ride their bikes on the empty streets and doing last-minute pickup of stuff in their yards. A few people have boarded up but most have not. We have double-paned storm windows on our house and were advised by people who were here during Alicia that this should be sufficient.
What we’re getting is basically a Cat 2 hurricane in terms of wind and rain, with a Cat 5 surge. Since we’re 50 miles inland, the surge isn’t a concern. And my only worry regarding the wind is that I'd rather not be without power for very long. A few days of cooler weather are following the storm, so that will help, but it would still be no picnic.
Nothing to do but wait and see, though. We have lots of places we can go in the Austin and Dallas areas if we need to leave after the storm.
I’m doing laundry now and putting water into sports bottles and freezer bags to make ice that I’ll transfer to the fridge and to coolers if I need to. I did a lot of baking last night, although we've got plenty of camp food, too. I don't expect us to have any sanitation issues with the local water supply but we've got lots of bottled water as well as filters and tablets if we need them. I have glass bottles for pasteurizing water in the sun. Once the wind starts picking up this evening I’ll turn the a/c down as low as we can stand it to build up a nice cushion of cold. Then we’ll settle in and wait.
More later, as time permits. The worst part about all this is that the period when I'm likely to have the most time on my hands for blogging is when we'll be without power. Life is funny that way.
Hurricane Update
Not much to report as of tonight. The storm has not intensified, which is good. Predicted wind speeds in my area might not even merit moving the cars to a safer place than our carport. There's still an excellent chance that the storm will make the traditional last-minute bob to the east and it won't be much of an inland event at all.
That would suit me fine.
By all accounts, though, this will be a major coastal surge event and tonight I'm wishing the best for those in the surge areas, hoping they, their loved ones, and their most irreplaceable belongings get safely north in the next 12-24 hours.
More sometime on Friday.
That would suit me fine.
By all accounts, though, this will be a major coastal surge event and tonight I'm wishing the best for those in the surge areas, hoping they, their loved ones, and their most irreplaceable belongings get safely north in the next 12-24 hours.
More sometime on Friday.
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