Category: weather

GRACE…

Became disorganized, but obliged us with a fair amount of rain all day. We spent all day shopping, so that was a great indoor activity. I am very tired, so putting a sentence together is quite difficult… so I’ll tune out and you can tune in later. 🙂

TROPICAL STORM GRACE

The forecast for this weekend had been highs in the low 90’s, no rain… until this depression developed in the Gulf last night. Now, the eye of Tropical Storm Grace spins 230 miles southeast of Corpus Christi. Whenever the eye is south of us, this means Houston could get slammed with heavy rains. It’s called the “dirty” side of a storm. The moisture pouring into our area is saturating the air and tomorrow (if not tonight) will be wet.

I’m glad I don’t attempt tanning anymore. This would have totally depressed me. Of course, my roommate thinks I’m obsessed with weather like an old person, but I’m just fascinated with storms. Don’t know why…and it’s not because I’m aging.

I will keep y’all updated…but I think so far, we’re just due for some rain.

BLACKOUT

One of the hottest days of the year… and…

It’s about 8:30 p.m. and I am in my room getting ready to blog about how hellishly hot it is and Jene’ is in her room transferring files and BOOM! The electricity flashes on and off, then back on again. This ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem, except the a/c is running full blast, the dryer is on and the washer is mid spin cycle. Since this is an old apartment complex and the place is not wired for such electrical activity… the electricity stays off… in my half of the apartment.

My half of the apartment is also wired to run the air conditioner. The washer comes to a screeching halt. The dryer continues to run, after all, it is a different voltage and therefore separate. Jene’s room still has power, though it grows hotter by the minute as her two computers trade about 9 gigs of information furiously. The first call to the maintenance guy is taken at 8:40. Jene’ calls at 9:15, 9:40 and is about to call at 10:40 when the maintenance guy gets around to tripping the breaker. In Houston, especially during a heatwave, any maintenance calls for a/c are treated as emergencies, and usually, when we do trip a breaker, within 15 minutes it is restored. Needless to say, we were a little restless until the a/c was turned back on.

But now… we’re cooling off. Jene’s room had gotten quite toasty with her two computers churning and the dryer running below her downstairs. It’s getting better now, but the a/c will be on full blast for a couple of hours, I’m sure. I’m about to tempt fate and throw my clothes in the dryer and start another load of laundry (yes, in my jammies).

Good night!

SIZZLE, SIZZLE…

It’s now 7 p.m. and it’s still 102 degrees outside. When I got home an hour ago, it was 106. The only factor that even remotely makes me feel any better about this is that the humidity is under 30%. (This time of year, the norm is between 80-100%). In fact, this summer, the humidity has been below 50% quite often, which has actually made not having a/c in my car a little bit more bearable.

Today, however, by the time I got home, I was soaking wet, despite the low humidity. I got a smidge of sunburn on my arms through the windshield, too. I am so happy I have no hair on my neck now! (The ‘do got rave reviews at work today… from the women. The men looked at me as if to say, “I know there’s something different, but I don’t know what it is, so I’m not going to say anything.”)

My roommate, who is still car-less (see blog: Thursday, May 29, 2003) has decided to go to MicroCenter… which is about 2.5 miles from here. She will walk about a half mile to the bus stop and ride from there. She has to get a cord to connect her old computer with the new computer so old computer can go bye bye Saturday. It’s down to 101 degrees… I hope there’s a breeze. The sun is lower on the horizon, so now it’s 100 degrees. You know it’s hot when you’re excited to see it dip below 100 degrees…

It’s time to get some work done… I will blog atcha later!

CLAUDETTE NO MORE

Claudette’s eye was headed straight toward the Galveston area until about 10 p.m. last night, when the high pressure system north of us (that was supposed to show up a day or two ago) finally showed up and shoved her straight west to Port O’Connor and the Matagorda Bay. Claudette became a hurricane shortly after midnight, packing winds of up to 85 mph (near the eye) by the time she made landfall. Rain and wind from Claudette rolled into town in the wee hours this morning — while I was still in bed. The electricity blinked off a time or two, but then everything was fine. Of course, people all over town lost power, including SBC — our DSL provider. Therefore, it is after 8 p.m. in the evening, and I am just now online for the first time today. Fortunately, I could watch the hurricane coverage on our local channel, and one of the most notable hurricane specialists in the world, Dr. Neil Frank, is a meteorologist for CBS here in Houston. MUCH better coverage than the Weather Channel, who merely yawned and updated the hurricane coverage for about 15 minutes per hour.

There are a few branches down here and there, and, as I said, some were without power for a good portion of the day, but for the most part, Houston is far enough inland that the hurricane was a non issue by the time I woke up at 7:30. I never did lose satellite coverage (our dish is on a pole in a bucket of concrete because our apartment complex won’t let us attach it to anything) and though it rained all day, most of Houston’s streets drained well. So, Claudette wasn’t nearly as bad as her witch sister Allison. We are breathing a sigh of relief here.

In Galveston and Kemah, the storm surge washed away a good portion of all the beaches. In Texas, the state of Texas owns all property between the vegetation line and the water, so many homes have now found themselves on the other side of the line. That should play out nicely. In Port O’Connor and Palacios, the damage was pretty extensive (the dorms of the camp where the middle schoolers go no longer exists), but I don’t think anybody was killed. Of course, the networks had lots of coverage of the IDIOTS who stayed to “wait it out,” and the IDIOT TOURISTS who purposely took their kids down to the seawall to get their pictures taken with the stormy seas behind them. They don’t get my vote for parents of the year.

All in all, though, Claudette is finished here. She is the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast in 13 years, so we’re hoping we’re safe for at least a decade…

HERE COMES CLAUDETTE

You know, I have a great respect for technology and science, but I have to laugh at the predictions that Tropical Storm Claudette would “absolutely make an abrupt turn westward,” and make landfall on the border between Texas and Mexico. “Don’t worry, Houston,” they said. “You won’t even know Claudette was here,” they assured. Well, I’ll give them a little credit, Claudette did turn west as predicted… then she thumbed her nose at the entire world of meteorology and said, “I’ll show you and your (bleepin’) computers!” Claudette then turned back east… then west, as if to tease… then north… then northwest… then she stalled, gained momentum, looked about 200 miles north of South Padre’ Island, and said, “Ooh, let’s go play there!” The eye is now predicted to make landfall in Matagorda Bay, about 82 miles southwest of Houston (if that’s what Claudette decides to do. After all, she could just be playing with us).

Claudette’s eye will most likely not pass over Houston, nor will we get much wind and damage from this storm. Houston is on the east side of this tropical storm (that wants to be a small Category 1 hurricane so bad it can taste it) — the side of the storm that nets all the RAIN. The hurricane expert was just asked, “People in Houston are nervous… should they be?” He skirted around the issue and wouldn’t commit, only saying that it will be windy and rainy right now.

Ah, you might sigh, that can’t be all that bad, can’t it? Um… yes it can… and hurricane expert knows this, which is why he won’t commit on how bad it will be because…

Let me introduce you to Tropical Storm Allison (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2001allison.html#FIG5) who wreaked havoc in Houston for about ten days in early June, 2001. Allison was a supposedly a relatively harmless tropical storm, and it was supposed to sweep through, bring a little rain, knock down a tree or two, and be gone. If only Allison had been that kind.

Allison attacked on a Tuesday, flooded a good portion of southern Houston (including my friend Ginger’s parent’s house), left and came back that Friday… (flooding Ginger’s parent’s house again) dumping up to 38 inches of rain in East Houston and 20 inches downtown for the week… but a big bucket of that rain came in less than 24 hours. I was in my apartment (on the third floor) that Friday night, watching the radar and wondering how bad things would get. I have never heard it rain so hard. (Ginger, who was on her way back from helping her parents carry all their valuables to the second floor of their house, was caught on the freeway in traffic, which had no place to go because all the access roads and low parts of the freeway were under water. She and her dog, Chloe, spent the night in the car).

Anyway, It was about 10 p.m. when it started raining so hard I couldn’t hear my TV at full volume over the torrential downpour, so I went to bed. At 3:45 a.m., I awoke to people running down the hallways, cussing, screaming, and more than a dozen car alarms. I sleepily pulled on a flannel shirt over my pj’s and stumbled out into the hallway. My neighbor, was on the phone with her son, crying. I walked to the end of the hall and looked down. Every car on the first floor of the parking garage was under water, which was why the car alarms were going off. It was odd, hearing all those alarms and seeing the headlights blinking under the muddy water. My car, thankfully, was on the second floor, nice and dry. I felt sorry for the lady in the next building who had just bought her PT Cruiser. I met several of my neighbors that night, most lamenting parking on the first floor.

The oddest thing about Allison was that several people I knew who lived on the West side of town… got about 1-5″ of rain and they had no flooding at all. The closer into town you got, the higher the rain total. People lost everything they owned, and it took months to clean up. Mosquitoes, a usual problem in Houston, were so thick after this that you couldn’t be outside very long, even with repellent sprayed everywhere. I was proud of how the city banded together to help each other, too. All in all, it was a horrorific experience, though. Not something I want to go through again.

Now back to Claudette. Today at work, several people were talking nervously, wondering if we are going to get flooded again. Granted, in 2001, it was one of the wettest springs ever, and the water had nowhere to go, and this year, though it’s rained nearly every day for 40 days, we are still in a deficit and it would take quite a bit of rain to flood like Allison again.

And… the reason I laugh at the technology is… this is nature for goodness sake! A storm… an entity with a mind of its own that has just made a joke of the hurricane experts…again. Granted, in the past five years, the hurricane gurus have been fairly accurate about strike possibilities, etc., but this time, Claudette giggled, did her own thing, and is about to flex her muscles on the western Gulf coast.

I’ll keep you posted! Don’t worry, if you live on the Gulf Coast, you always have water and food stored for such a time as this… if indeed it becomes such a time as this…

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN… OR LACK THEREOF…

Tonight, it finally rained on the southeast coast of Texas… everywhere but Houston. It rained (monsooned) in the counties north, east and west of Houston, but not in Houston. My car used to be a nice berry color, but now my car classifies as dusky fawn or dusty beige metallic. I’m in the “Why bother to wash it?” phase. After all, I do work next to the freeway, so every day, my car gets a fresh coat of dusky fawn and dusty beige metallic residue, in addition to the lovely pollen, ash, and other pollutants that the Houston smog has to offer. Granted, when Houston does receive it’s weekly 4 to 5 dibble dops of rain, or I accidentally park my car next to a hidden sprinkler, the drops make the dusky fawn look like it’s been shot in about four places, but better that than washing the car only to have the satisfaction of seeing it dustless/clean for approximately 5 hours.

The salvage guy came and towed away Jene’s car, Sheila (you’ll have to ask her), on Friday. Sheila was declared officially “totaled,” and Jene’ will receive compensation for Sheila tomorrow, which she will deposit into a car fund (after she buys a bus pass). Fortunately, Houston has an adequate public tansportation system and she works about a mile from home. Church is a quick bus ride down Westheimer. Wal-Mart, more than one grocery store, and Sam’s are all within a reasonable walking distance for Jene’. I also still have transportation (that without a/c resembles more of a sauna with wheels and a radio of which the volume cannot be adjusted…). Jene’ is not one to whine or mope, so she waved goodbye to Sheila and now my dusky fawn car takes up our two spaces so Sheila’s spot doesn’t look so empty.

I will fast forward in this story (after Sheila’s departure) or rewind (it’s all about perspective, isn’t it?) to Saturday night in San Angelo, where Jene’s nephew, Josh, graduated from high school. I had wondered how the entire family was going to be able to attend, let alone sit together, but I was assured that since the ceremony was outdoors that would be possible. OUTDOORS?! Affirmative. Outdoors… at 8 p.m. in West Texas, where, though it was still in the 80’s, the humidity is low enough that the air wasn’t that bothersome. Over 700 calm and surprisingly well-behaved seniors sat on the far side of the field… a sea of blue that grew exponentially larger as the time approached 8 p.m.

My own graduation (in 1987) featured over 460 people in rented dorky silver and maroon gowns and it took almost four hours. Girls wore the caps on the back of their heads, perpendicular to the floor, to make room for their big tidal wave bangs. JoEllen sang as the graduation band played Night Ranger’s Goodbye. Several other songs were sung and more than one speech was made. Graduates received a Bible of their choice and when the prayer was uttered, it was definitely to the one true God and nobody had a problem with that.

At one point early on in the ceremony, a prayer was uttered that began with a vague “Holy One,” and continued with a list of vague spiritual references and a general sense of, well, vagueness that led me and several people in my general vacinity to whisper, “Does anybody know who she’s praying to?” I shook my head. The trouble with vagueness in this case is that though the prayer is uttered upward with good, inclusive and tolerant intentions, the prayer falls quickly to the ground, and the thud that follows sounds like the door to heaven slamming shut in disgust. I think God was pretty clear when He told Moses to pass it on to the rest of us, “You shall have no other gods before me.” I’m not going to preach on this, but this instance was a reality check. I now live in a world where God isn’t at the top of the list anymore… though He’s still on the list, He’s getting shuffled down the list in the name of tolerance, inclusiveness, and good intentions. I suppose this move allows the Christians then to also pray, but one wonders which is better — an all-inclusive, vague prayer, or none at all? Of course, if a Christian complains, she’s hateful and intolerant and her house gets egged. If a Buddist complains, his brother gets to lead his own prayer/meditation the next year when he graduates. Ok…I’m going to get off my soapbox now. Just chew on it.

As I was saying, we were sitting in the bleachers high above the football field on a warm, dry night. I was sitting in between Jean (Jene’s mother) and Julia (Jene’s sister, who is my age). Julia’s husband, Jeff, recently returned from duty in the Persian Gulf, sat on the end of the row with Grant, their 3 month old son. I could list all the other members of the McClellan/Speciale clan that had gathered to watch Josh graduate, but I need to keep this a small blog if I can (ha ha). Just trust me, Josh was well represented in the stands.

At my graduation, families were asked not to scream, applaud or anything else until everyone’s name had been called. My graduation was in a gymnasium and the screaming would have meant extra pauses between 460 plus names and graduation would have taken 5 hours… in an open football stadium… well, those noisy airhorns and cowbells were ringing and blasting all over the place, including in poor little Grant’s ears (while I was holding him). He did not take too kindly to the blasts. I did not take kindly to the blasts on his behalf, but as we’ve established in previous blogs, I’m learning that it’s not about me, so I passed Grant down to Jene’ who was further down from the inconsiderate blast-er and I let the blast-er live until his graduation.

This graduation lasted under two hours. I was amazed. Several faculty members teamed up to recite over 700 names. Some kids danced as they crossed the stage, one kid did a flip, and two sign language interpreters signed each and every one of those names… and it was over in under two hours. We even got out of the parking lot with relative ease and were home in minutes. I had to keep reminding myself I wasn’t in Houston and we didn’t have to wait fifteen minutes to get to the street and then another half hour to clear traffic and then home — all to go five miles. No, we were far away from Houston and I rather enjoyed the pace, thank you very much.

The next day, Jene’ and I got back into the Toyota Camry to drive home, and we arrived after 10 p.m. Somewhere in the weekend, Jene’ found a Big Lots and more dishes, all the while escorted by her PARKING ANGELS. Apparently, when Sheila left, the parking angels did not. I still don’t have parking angels unless Jene’ is in the car…

…but I digress… and now it’s time for some sleep…

HOTTER THAN…

We’re about to leave in a rented Toyota Camry for our 6 hour drive… and I just had to tell y’all it’s 102 degrees! (Heat Index 104)

BYE!

BYE, BYE, BYE…

Of course, we are not leaving town at the time we planned, but we’ll hopefully get out of town before RUSH HOUR. Jene’ at Enterprise picking up the car and will be home shortly. I still have to cool down from the drive home (it’s 98 degrees right now with a heat index of 101 degrees, BUT it’s only 30% humidity, so it’s not quite the sauna today) so I can even entertain the thought of eating lunch. We also have to clean out Jene’s car before we leave… they are towing it away today. (sniff, sniff)

Wait… now it’s 99 degrees. This is not typical May weather, even for Houston. It hasn’t rained since EASTER Sunday. This weather is August weather and this does not bode well for the rest of the summer. By the time I’m finished with this blog, I do not doubt it will be 100 degrees.

Pray for us while we are on the road! We have a six hour drive to San Angelo, and it’s a steady incline all six hours so my ears will be popping! Houston is below sea level… San Angelo is not… you get the picture. Pray that the other drivers will be paying attention as we drive!

Talk to y’all later…

80 DEGREES AT 9 PM

It’s 80 degrees at 9 p.m. It’s still hot upstairs… the air conditioner has run all day. Yes, it’s the beginning of May and it’s already hitting the high 80’s and even the 90’s during the day. Somewhere in Central America grass is burning and it’s blowing up the coast and making our days hazy, our eyes water, and it’s making me sneeze. (Achoo! Bless me or something). From now until mid October, Southeast Texas is a sauna. The hazy air is just the icing on the cake.

It’s the eve of Mother’s Day. The first Mother’s Day without my mom. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel, really. My main goal is just to get through tomorrow and move on. I haven’t been home on Mother’s Day since 1994. Most of Mother’s Day has been cards and phone calls. It’s an odd feeling when you can’t call anymore. As a friendly tip, keep that in mind.

It’s time for me to go adjust the a/c again. I will make it through tomorrow and I will keep my chin up, I promise.