Hurricane Day
A hurricane day is like a snow day, in that you have the day off, except you don't get to go outside and play in the white stuff afterwards. Instead, you cower inside a dark house hoping the winds don't get strong enough for anything particularly bad to happen. At least, that's the plan so far with respect to this guy, with the innocuous-sounding name.
Loren and I made most of our preparations tonight. I packed some stuff, put the most valuable stuff that wasn't with me in the most sheltered places at my house, and then left my garage apartment to its own devices. We trekked up to Loren's house (a whopping 2 miles north of mine) where we eyed the large pecan tree outside rather suspiciously. "Are you going to pick an inopportune time to die?" is basically the thought that has passed through our heads. We'll shelter ourselves, plus the beloved dog, Lance, here unless things (like the forecast) appear to get worse. We also shopped for some food, but we were pretty well stocked already. To see the supermarket picked clean of so many essentials (like water, canned food, and beer) was impressive. We wished we had a camera with us at the time to document the damages. After picking up some chocolate soy milk (how come nobody wants a tasty drink that doesn't have to be extensively refrigerated?), we pondered a stop at Blockbuster, but opted out in favor of more homy past times (see below).
Ike _is_ a big hurricane, though. Maybe not in strength (a cat 2, with winds less than 110 mph, for now), but certainly in size. I mean, look at it:
It nearly covers the entire Gulf of Mexico! Damn!
So, should we worry? From what I've gleaned from reading various sources, but especially this very calm and rational blogger, we face the greatest danger from wind. Flooding isn't going to be a big deal because Houston often gets more water than this in a day's time. Storm surge isn't a problem with us being 50 miles inland. But, the wind will be fairly strong. Estimates are that we'll face 12+ hours of tropical storm-force winds (between 40 and 70 mph) and a few hours of hurricane-force winds (70 to 110 mph, if it stays a Cat 1 or Cat 2 storm) in the middle of the 12 hours (if we get hurricane-force winds at all). The National Hurricane Center has description of the hurricane strength scale, which describes Category 2 level damage: "Some roofing material, door, and window damage of buildings. Considerable damage to shrubbery and trees with some trees blown down." My opinion is that we'll be in good shape unless a certain tree decides to complicate things. We're prepared for anything short of that in terms of food, shelter, light, and such.
In the mean time, we've stocked up on pre-electronic age entertainment in the form of books and conversation with one another. Gasp! We might throw a ball to the dog, too. It's always a laugh and a half when he goes skidding across the parquet floor scrambling madly to reverse his momentum. I'll probably take some pictures too, and maybe post them here if there's still power and an internet connection. So, wish us luck and hope that the pecan tree decides to live a long, long life. Cheers!
Loren and I made most of our preparations tonight. I packed some stuff, put the most valuable stuff that wasn't with me in the most sheltered places at my house, and then left my garage apartment to its own devices. We trekked up to Loren's house (a whopping 2 miles north of mine) where we eyed the large pecan tree outside rather suspiciously. "Are you going to pick an inopportune time to die?" is basically the thought that has passed through our heads. We'll shelter ourselves, plus the beloved dog, Lance, here unless things (like the forecast) appear to get worse. We also shopped for some food, but we were pretty well stocked already. To see the supermarket picked clean of so many essentials (like water, canned food, and beer) was impressive. We wished we had a camera with us at the time to document the damages. After picking up some chocolate soy milk (how come nobody wants a tasty drink that doesn't have to be extensively refrigerated?), we pondered a stop at Blockbuster, but opted out in favor of more homy past times (see below).
Ike _is_ a big hurricane, though. Maybe not in strength (a cat 2, with winds less than 110 mph, for now), but certainly in size. I mean, look at it:
It nearly covers the entire Gulf of Mexico! Damn!
So, should we worry? From what I've gleaned from reading various sources, but especially this very calm and rational blogger, we face the greatest danger from wind. Flooding isn't going to be a big deal because Houston often gets more water than this in a day's time. Storm surge isn't a problem with us being 50 miles inland. But, the wind will be fairly strong. Estimates are that we'll face 12+ hours of tropical storm-force winds (between 40 and 70 mph) and a few hours of hurricane-force winds (70 to 110 mph, if it stays a Cat 1 or Cat 2 storm) in the middle of the 12 hours (if we get hurricane-force winds at all). The National Hurricane Center has description of the hurricane strength scale, which describes Category 2 level damage: "Some roofing material, door, and window damage of buildings. Considerable damage to shrubbery and trees with some trees blown down." My opinion is that we'll be in good shape unless a certain tree decides to complicate things. We're prepared for anything short of that in terms of food, shelter, light, and such.
In the mean time, we've stocked up on pre-electronic age entertainment in the form of books and conversation with one another. Gasp! We might throw a ball to the dog, too. It's always a laugh and a half when he goes skidding across the parquet floor scrambling madly to reverse his momentum. I'll probably take some pictures too, and maybe post them here if there's still power and an internet connection. So, wish us luck and hope that the pecan tree decides to live a long, long life. Cheers!
posted by Pascal Mickelson at
23:15
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