A little rain Friday evening brought some wet grass Saturday morning. Clouds and then possible sunshine Saturday afternoon and the some more showers possible Sunday all make me very happy I got my mowing done Thursday.
The sights and sounds out of Houston Saturday morning on The Weather Channel sure painted a powerful picture of wind and destruction. The city had been mostly evacuated, but there were still several thousand residents who ignored the warnings. We didn’t know as those pictures were shown how they fared. One Weather Channel meteorologist/reporter interviewed one resident who had to swim out of his house and then to safety before he could walk. He said the water was right up to the top of his house when the eye came. That calm gave him a chance to escape. He said he was the only one in his neighborhood “foolish enough” to stay.
Another picture you don’t see very often was that of another meteorologist/reporter trying to tell us about conditions where he was. A strong gust came up and blew him back a few feet, then down, then along the ground for a very short distance before he was able to stand again and regain his balance. He was a true reporter, though, in that he quickly recovered his wits and picked up his story right where he had left off.
The eye was just passing the city as I began watching. The rains and winds were devastating a large part of the area and it was one of those sights that, although we have lots of sympathy for anyone left there and for the folks who will return to destruction, make us glad we live here in Maine. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers all go out to the good people all along the Southwest Gulf Coast.
That storm was expected to lose its ‘hurricane’ strength during the day Saturday, but the resulting storm will move along a front from Texas to Chicago and then follow a low pressure front into Maine. I probably don’t have all my weather terms correct, but then I’m not a meteorologist. In any event, we just might see some wet remnants of the storm Sunday night or Monday.
Gator Wife went to her part time job Saturday morning. She has particular talents that occasionally cause her bosses to ask her to work a little extra. She got there at 5:30 and would remain until her project is complete. Gator Daughter and her dog will spend some time here Saturday but Sunday will be determined by the weather.
We don’t have a lot of plans for this weekend. The weather will probably take care of any outdoor work. Early last summer GW took advantage of a really good offer from a national bulb company and bought several to plant in one of her gardens. Of course I’m talking about the flowering kind, not the lighting kind. One of the features of the purchase was the company would send them at the proper time for Fall planting. They came Friday.
GW has a couple of sections marked out and I think the ladies had planned on planting them this weekend. My best guess is that activity will wait for another week. I’ve been tempted to get one of those Awesome Auger things you see advertised frequently on the TV. With several packages of those bulbs awaiting action, I would think the device would be handy. GW rejects the idea as she says she had a manual bulb hole digger and it works just fine.
Speaking of those things we see advertised on TV, you know, the ones not available anywhere in stores, I’ve wondered why they aren’t available in stores. I keep thinking a lot more of them might get sold if they were, so I wonder about the quality of the items. Then I discover that the “not available” is not exactly true. Depending on the item, at least one of the area’s shopping club stores sells them and other items are on “As seen on TV” sections in many other stores. If you get those mail order catalogs, you’ve seen many of the items in them. More often than not, when I see the item up close, my suspicions are about right.
I passed a little gas station on Route1 in Scarborough near the Connector about ten o’clock Friday morning. The gas price was 3.56 a gallon (the 9/10ths rounded). When I passed it returning about a half hour later, that price had changed to 3.70. I understand increases in other parts of the country were even much more dramatic. I hope this is just a short “correction.” The news says it’s because of Ike.
I do think the weather gods have fooled the forecasters just a little bit. It was supposed to get rather cold Friday night, but by Saturday morning, the temperature at our house was 60. We got about a quarter inch of rain overnight, and the sun was shining by 7:15 Saturday morning. It’ll be interesting to see just how this weekend turns out. I hope you have a good one and we’ll be back Monday.
GiM
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