Eight Feet Deep

The big storm Ike is down there in what we call the “Gulf of Mexico.” Nuts? Wild Hickory or Pecans?
Surprise! Our county dads called for a mandatory evacuation in Jefferson and Orange counties in Southeast Texas this morning bright and early. Nothing like having plenty of warning, but I don’t know enough about their decision to criticize. Besides, I am not going anywhere.

We may not be as lucky this time as with Gustav. The forecast, for the moment, puts landfall somewhere around Freeport, Texas, some 107 miles down the coast. The enormous wind field of Ike extends its tropical storm blows 200-something and about 110 miles for hurricane force winds. So we will likely get hurricane force winds here tomorrow. Don’t expect any postcards. I figure I will do a lot of reading and sleeping and probably listening to the radio or TV as long as power is available. No word on freelancing opportunities yet.

Ta. Talk to you when I can.

Mr. EFD

Well, it seems we have finally progressed to the point of the presidential campaign which more resembles schoolyard name-calling than the process of electing the leader of the world’s most powerful nation.

Sen. John McCain’s people and his surrogates are raking Sen. Barack Obama over the coals because of the latter’s use of the term “lipstick on a pig.” The McCain camp said Obama was referring to McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who in her Republican Convention speech pointed out the only difference between “a pitbull and a hockey mom (her self-description)is lipstick.”

McCain’s whiners say Obama is being ist. He says “fooey.” And I say grow the hell up!

Yes, this is the best we can do to elect our president, look for every little possible slight, each tiny nuance so it can be used to clobber over the opponent’s head. Ah, but the method in that madness of course is that they (Obama AND McCain) don’t have to talk about issues. There is nothing that’ll make a downer out of an election — especially a candidate with a blip bump from his wonderful Mrs. It Governor Miss Alaska Runner-up — like issues. Issues bad.

Geez, it makes me want to run into the eye of Hurricane Ike so perhaps it might toss me off into another dimension like Dorothy of Oz. Of course, those winged monkeys are pretty creepy …

Hello. I am multi-tasking here. And since I can’t do one task well, much less two, I am doomed for completing with mediocrity.

Nonetheless, our fortunes here on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast seemed to have temporarily improved Ike-wise since the 5-day Cone of Consternation puts the middle path of Hurricane Ike aimed toward South Texas for the moment. Yet, the Forecast Discussion on the National Hurricane Center Web page — revealing the thinking behind the forecast — hints or so it appears that Ike might take a right just before landfall. This is precisely the same type of scenario when Rita hit us in 2005. But I hope not.

Anyway, how about that Sarah Palin?

Question: If a bridge to nowhere is never built does it really exist as a bridge to nowhere?

Forgive me if I seem to be obsessing over hurricanes. Really, I am not. But if I am it is only because it appears it is my area’s time — here on the Upper Gulf Coast of Texas — in the barrel for tropical storms and hurricanes. Sometimes Florida gets picked. Other times it’s Louisiana or South Carolina. Hurricanes rarely, if ever, hit Idaho but then we seldom get hail-sized potato storms.

So Ike is the storm du jour. The 5-day Cone of Insanity would have you believe that Ike will ultimately make landfall somewhere around Galveston Bay. But the center has to be somewhere. If the cone were to shift westward, the center might appear headed for New Orleans (Don’t get me started) or more to the east, the bulls eye might seem destined for Corpus Christi. But the center of the cone is simply the middle of the path that Ike may take which is roughly anywhere, for the moment, between Dauphin Island, Ala., and Monterrey, Mexico. Or that’s my interpretation of it. If you want real information, go to the National Hurricane Center’s Web site. Because you will likely find yourself sorely disappointed with local TV forecasting and even major network and cable weather dudes and dudettes.

One thing that is for certain. If a hurricane is within 1,000 miles of New Orleans, news people will flock there and await the second coming of Katrina. But seriously, the news media have obsessed over the possibility of a storm hitting The Big Easy long before Katrina. For years tons of media flocked there to await a storm that would end up hitting Cameron, La., or Aransas Pass, Texas. It’s easy to understand why. New Orleans is fun. Port Arthur, not so much. Corpus, don’t ask. We shall see what we shall see though. In the meantime, media folks, why not try Lake Charles? At least it has casinos.

Just a quick word or two before the weekend. I have tried to watch some of the Republican National Convention this week. After seeing the Veep candidate speak, all I can say is: “Scary.”

Sarah Palin is kind of like one of those quiet mothers you hear about doing all sorts of unspeakable things on made-for-TV movies.

And McCain? Sigh! Good ol’ John McCain. You can’t help but like the guy but he is clueless. People are tired of Gee Dubya. Give us something different. The end.