Mother Nature's Tree Trimming Service... It's Free!

Yes, we're experiencing an Ice Storm unlike anything I've ever seen in this neck of the woods, with Mother Nature hard at work being a total bi-atch.





Until today, I haven't left the house for 3 days but just as I was was starting to show signs of cabin fever, we decided to drive around a few blocks in our hood, just to see the damage. The roads aren't quite so slick as they were early this morning.

                             

We lost a big limb off one of our scraggly fruitless mulberry trees in the front yard and the oleanders look close to dead in the back yard. I guess 3 years of severe wildfires, drought and water rationing wasn't enough so the Old Girl came back to ravage us again. However, we are still alive so it can't be all that bad, right?

We also lost our water well this last summer, which is really just as well since the water had a big hand in all that we lost in the yard, including the grass. It turns out that the water had something like 10 times the sodium it should have had, thus taking out shrubs, lawn and trees, one by one.

After the water well went dry, we had to wait for 6 weeks before the city could get the sprinkler system on city water. They had to dig a trench across our street, stopping all traffic for 2 whole days. I was able to experience two days of a jack hammer, which was way fun. The house has always been on city water but not the sprinkler/bubbler system for the yard. Not a very fun experience but it was certainly more fun than this ice storm.

At this point we're just thankful for no typical high winds, or we'd be in fear for our lives. The last picture was the worst we saw within our 3 block radius. It was a huge red oak tree which just seemed to have come apart and fell over against the front of their house and into the street. Oddly, it didn't seem to have damaged the house, as far as we could tell.

Others suffered quite a lot of damage and all oleanders seem to look the same as ours. Everyone seems to have suffered one kind of damage or another. The ice is thick and quite heavy.

There is no way of knowing what the total damage will be when this nasty handiwork of The Ice Queen is done. It's not the desired way to receive water here, and it still doesn't take us off water rationing, by any means.

Strangely enough, the WIDIOTS (weather idiots) refused to tell us it would be an ice storm, insisting even today that we were getting snow. Ummm, no. Didn't happen. It's been an ice storm since Friday yet no one called it that even once. They're going to have to own up to it in retrospect, if they have the guts... But, probably not.

Since writing this, it has been in the mid to upper 70's, with today topping out at 80 degrees. It doesn't really make me feel *Christmas Cheer* like cold weather does. But not to worry... We're getting freezing temperatures in a couple of days. This weather is giving me whiplash! 

As It Was In Winter, So Shall It Be In Spring & Summer...

It appears our year of crazy, bizarre weather is not done with us just yet. Last night it rained and hailed like crazy although nothing like the one we had last spring. Today, it is dark as night outside and so far we've had torrential rains and more hail, with a tornado warning as an added cherry on top. The electricity has gone off numerous times but has thankfully come right back on (I say this as I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood.) If you click on this picture you can see the hail from today.

We haven't had a tornado warning in at least 10 years, so when we do have one, you'd better take it seriously. I called Mr. Snoots to tell him about the tornado warning and he said he knew something big was coming because this morning he saw the Weather Channel Storm Chasers spread out all over the Hilton parking lot and they almost never come here since no one wants to hear about dirt storms (which is what we mostly have).

I've only gotten to play golf twice this Spring because of the weather, which makes me really cranky. Now, our back yard is completely flooded, which I've never seen in 25 years of living here. This means the town is flooded because we live in one of the higher spots in town, so there will be no leaving the house again today. Argh! I'm starting to feel like a prisoner between the workmen and the weather....



 

GALVESTON, OH GALVESTON....

All week the old song of the same name has been constantly going through my head as I worried for Galveston and everyone else effected by Hurricane Ike. As I watched the horrendous video footage, I could only fear for the worst, although I prayed for the best. West Galveston Island was really hit hard and it will be a long time before anyone can even get back there from the Galveston side. A stretch of the four lane highway just after it turns from being Seawall Drive, into The 3005 (or the San Luis Pass Rd.), completely collapsed after the ground underneath had been washed out. The road is completely gone. You can go to the following URL to see the video from KHOU TV in Houston:

http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282684

So, our Galveston friends called this evening to say that they watched this same video and were able to see both of their houses are still standing. But, you can't even see where the paved streets used to be in any of the private subdivisions, and many houses (mostly older ones) are simply no longer there. They lost an amazing amount of beach from one end of the island to the other. The debris everywhere is incredible, as if you're looking at a miniature set of Galveston. And, who knows what will be left by the time residents are allowed back in to Galveston?

The highway could take months and months to repair and the only other way back to Galveston is to continue west for 55 miles take the first right, go another 30 miles, take another right and go back east for another 55 miles to reach I-45. I haven't heard if that stretch of road survived or not. Sounds like it's going to be a major pain at any rate.

Half of the restaurants on Seawall Blvd. are either completely annihilated or just no longer there. This is really hard for me to wrap my brain around, especially since we were just there in July. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if they hadn't hustled everyone out of Dodge ahead of time. The seawall did exactly what it was designed and built to do, but the wall only goes so far and it doesn't extend to West Galveston. This is why the private beach houses were hit so hard. The ocean is a powerful force, especially when paired up with Mother Nature.

As far as I could tell, our favorite Biker Bar "Woody's" is gone which caused me a moment of reflection. Of course, they will be back. Eventually. I hope.

We told our friends that if and when the time comes to begin cleanup, we will head down there with our shirt sleeves rolled up and do what needs to get done. I'm not even talking about repair work. I'm merely talking about helping them sift through their things at both houses so repair work can begin. Who knows when we'll be going down there to help? Then, we figured we can volunteer ourselves to neighbors. There is so much that is going to have to be done, it just seems overwhelming, but we figured the more people there are to help, the faster everyone can get their dreams back up and running again.

I also want to give a BIG shout out to all of the brave Galveston rescuers and those who stood vigil through the storm. I would have never been able to do that. And, thank you to everyone for all your prayers. Galveston may be down for a time, but its going to be back. Eventually.