What a freaking tease! Ike had us in his sights for quite a while, but in the last 36 hours before landfall made a pretty significant move. It only shifted about 100 miles up the coast, but because of the way it hit and immediately moved northward instead of continuing west it left us with a windy night, but not much more. As of now (noon central time on Saturday) we haven't even seen a drop of rain. They keep telling us to expect some hellish thunderstorms to be spun off the hurricane later today but I just don't see it.
Obviously the folks a little up the coast didn't make out quite so well. Honestly I wish the thing had kept it's path down this way. It would have devastated the shrimping industry and the bulk of the fishing community on the coast, but the rest would have been ranch and ag land vs. the 4th largest city in the country. Not to mention, it's a heck of a lot easier to evacuate the 70,000 people that live in the 3 or 4 counties down this way compared to the millions up there.
Anyway, nothing can be done now! We're just waiting to hear from co-workers whose homes and workplaces were in the direct path of the storm to see what kind of help they need. We'll probably be heading up to East Texas on Monday or so to help our folks up there cut their way into their homes in the pineywoods area of Texas. They are still getting hammered pretty hard right now and the whole area still looks like pick-up sticks from the last few storms.
Anyway, thanks for the phone calls and text messages, etc. Much appreciated!!!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
For the love of...
I'm getting kind of tired of these hurricane teases. I can't say that I really look forward to getting hit dead on, but I'm getting tired of watching people run around freaking out only to barely see any effect. That said, I'd much rather be in a place where people are prepared, but we were prepared for the last three storms, now it's just becoming a joke. I might feel differently if I owned my home, or had kids to deal with, etc. but I don't, so bring it the &#%@ on!!!
The image below shows the current projected paths for the next one, along with a big ole' red X in the lovely town I call home. Looks like chances are pretty good this time around, but when I lived in Florida we always joked that the only way to avoid a storm was to be predicted as the target the whole time! We'll see what happens this time!
Updated...now we're talkin! I think that hurricane magnet on my ass from a few months back has been reactivated and now Ike is just waiting for me to bend over! Come and get it, Ike!
UPDATE:
It will pretty much be a non-event for me now. The storm shifted 100 miles up the coast and put us on the "dry" side of the storm. We're still under a voluntary evac they enacted when we were in the direct path but they shut down the assisted evac center and sent the national guard folks further up the coast late this morning. We'll see tropical storm winds and maybe some hurricane gusts but it's doubtful. The power has been flickering for the last hour, but we lose power when someone farts in the right direction so it's a no brainer that we'll probably be without power at some point. I'm pulling for tonight while I'm sleeping. That would be just bueno.
The image below shows the current projected paths for the next one, along with a big ole' red X in the lovely town I call home. Looks like chances are pretty good this time around, but when I lived in Florida we always joked that the only way to avoid a storm was to be predicted as the target the whole time! We'll see what happens this time!
Updated...now we're talkin! I think that hurricane magnet on my ass from a few months back has been reactivated and now Ike is just waiting for me to bend over! Come and get it, Ike!
UPDATE:
It will pretty much be a non-event for me now. The storm shifted 100 miles up the coast and put us on the "dry" side of the storm. We're still under a voluntary evac they enacted when we were in the direct path but they shut down the assisted evac center and sent the national guard folks further up the coast late this morning. We'll see tropical storm winds and maybe some hurricane gusts but it's doubtful. The power has been flickering for the last hour, but we lose power when someone farts in the right direction so it's a no brainer that we'll probably be without power at some point. I'm pulling for tonight while I'm sleeping. That would be just bueno.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Mmmmm....saline!
Saline has always been the bane of my existence, primarily because it usually had to do with my not taking appropriate care of my contacts and thus always being in pain when saline was in the picture. I take back all those bad feelings though as I spent the better part of the afternoon/evening getting pumped full at the ER after getting my ass kicked by the 107 heat index today. I spend most of my time working outside, often with fire which only adds insult to injury. No fire today, but a few things snowballed and the result was me so dehydrated that when I finished a couple mile hike back to my truck I (though I know better) downed a bunch of water and gatorade. That lasted for all of about 5 minutes before my stomach said "no honey, not today, I'm just not in the mood" and started sending it all back out the way it went down. Oddly enough (again, though I know better) I kept drinking more and my stomach kept kickin' it back up, eventually to the point that even a sip of water to take some Advil led to a "just wutchu you thinkin bout' bitch, didn't you hear me the first time?" from my stomach. I eventually got on the road, but I was so dizzy I felt like I was drunk and I could hardly keep my eyes focused. I pulled over and thankfully a couple co-workers were able to run out and pick up me and my truck. Anyway, on to the hospital...first of all, this is my first visit to the ER (that I remember anyway) as a patient outside of a major metropolitan area and without some sort of appendage pointing in the wrong direction. I walked in to see one other person in there and was brought back within about 30 minutes (I was bumped a couple times, by a stroke and a girl that busted up her head on a water slide). So here's where this entry goes from being about dehydration to being about the beautiful staff of the ER! WOW! First of all, everyone there was awesome. It doesn't hurt that all of the nurses, the nurse practitioner and the doc were all beautiful, but mainly they just did a damn good job with everything they were doing. I really appreciated the incredibly hard (yet joking, mostly) time both the triage nurse and my primary care nurse gave me about letting myself get soooo dehydrated. My first thought was damn, I'm going to have to get dehydrated more often, this was a pretty pleasant experience and I like these people, not to mention direct inject of saline! I don't think I've mentioned it to anyone yet, but at the end of the month I start in the EMT program at the local college and only found out this morning that this hospital ER is the one where I'll do my clinicals! I think I'll have to get in there during some of the busier times to see more stuff, but it sure does seem like it will be a great place to put in those hours!
I guess that's about it. I've backlogged on other stuff I should write a message about. We'll see whether or not that happens.
I guess that's about it. I've backlogged on other stuff I should write a message about. We'll see whether or not that happens.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Let's get this party started!!!
Alright, I've been harassed by several people lately about not updating this thing. My standing response is "get over it." That said, being that I'm on a wonderful vacation with nothing but time on my hands I'll go ahead and post a quick message.
The pool is wet, the keg is tapped and Wii Rock Band is ready to go. Let's get this party started! My dad's siblings (5 of them) and a few cousins are on their way down to Atlanta for a mini-reunion. Folks will filter in over the next day and a half to party for the next few days, culminating with a white water rafting trip on Saturday. We did this once before when my mom's family all came to town with great success. This time we've got two boats worth of people with ages ranging from 24 to a bit older. Hopefully we come home with the same number of people we arrive with! This is the first time in a while that all of the siblings have been together so we'll just have to see what kind of shenanigans we can cause.
So far my vacation has involved a significant amount of sitting by and in the pool, whitewater kayaking with my sis on the Chatooga River (though with the water so low it was more like tubing with some occasional watery bumps) and catching lunch with Robert, Betsy and little (but not so little) Jonathan this afternoon. What a cool little kid they've got! Oh, I've also spent a fair amount of time kicking my dad's butt out on the horseshoe pits he put in out back. The only thing more impressive than the pits he installed is the winning streak I have on said playing field!
I'll be sure to pass on some pics of the festivities!
The pool is wet, the keg is tapped and Wii Rock Band is ready to go. Let's get this party started! My dad's siblings (5 of them) and a few cousins are on their way down to Atlanta for a mini-reunion. Folks will filter in over the next day and a half to party for the next few days, culminating with a white water rafting trip on Saturday. We did this once before when my mom's family all came to town with great success. This time we've got two boats worth of people with ages ranging from 24 to a bit older. Hopefully we come home with the same number of people we arrive with! This is the first time in a while that all of the siblings have been together so we'll just have to see what kind of shenanigans we can cause.
So far my vacation has involved a significant amount of sitting by and in the pool, whitewater kayaking with my sis on the Chatooga River (though with the water so low it was more like tubing with some occasional watery bumps) and catching lunch with Robert, Betsy and little (but not so little) Jonathan this afternoon. What a cool little kid they've got! Oh, I've also spent a fair amount of time kicking my dad's butt out on the horseshoe pits he put in out back. The only thing more impressive than the pits he installed is the winning streak I have on said playing field!
I'll be sure to pass on some pics of the festivities!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Yo yo yo!
I kind of feel like I owe an update. I can't be shown up by Angel who is a posting fiend lately!
I'm really not sure what's been going on with me lately. I think I posted about my first trip up to Nebraska when we went up there to burn. I spent another week or so in a different part of the state for a conference for work. Kind of fun...included folks from up and down the central U.S. as well as Meso-America and the Caribbean. It was held up at a conference center in Nebraska City that was one of the most amazing places I've ever stayed. The food was absolutely off the hook and they had activities planned for us every night that typically included an open bar starting with dinner through the first two hours of whatever was planned. I had been doing a lot of jogging and working out for the few months before I went up there and had knocked off upwards of 15 pounds. In one week I managed to put it all back on with the crazy food up there. Fresh Apple pie available at every meal? I mean come on! Anyway, had a good time and learned a lot. Really more of a vacation with co-workers rather than a work event. The highlight of the event was a tornado warning that had us all sent to the basement of the conference center. Growing up in Georgia, a tornado warning wasn't exactly new. What WAS new however, was having the bartender from upstairs decide that as long as he was down there, and the big tub of beer waiting to be taken up to the bar was down there, that there was no reason he couldn't serve beer in the basement! The tornado warning with beer service was a first. At least here we didn't have to get down on our knees and kiss our ass goodbye like we did back in elementary school.
Work...our summer season is starting and our summer seasonal guys are on-board. We've gotten on a few fires recently but mainly we've just been working on training together and getting equipment ready. My whole crew headed a few hours north on some wildfires yesterday but unfortunately I'm a moron and sliced my knee open on an oyster reef while fishing this weekend so I'm on the bench for a few days waiting for my knee to explode in infection. Apparently oysters can carry some pretty nasty bacteria and it's often suggested that you don't hang out in the coastal waters with an open wound. I didn't help matters by actually slicing myself on one. How I ended up in the water on my knees is a whole different entry for a different time, but it involves two of us ending up with one single kayak filled half full of water and desperately trying to beat an approaching storm back to shore and then having to walk a mile down a dirt/gravel road being sandblasted by the 30mph winds blowing in our faces (and into my open wound). Fun. I promise.
Now I'm hanging out hoping that the minimal puffy infection that has set in gets its ass kicked by the antibiotics I started today. We'll see!
I think I'm done for now. Toodles!
I'm really not sure what's been going on with me lately. I think I posted about my first trip up to Nebraska when we went up there to burn. I spent another week or so in a different part of the state for a conference for work. Kind of fun...included folks from up and down the central U.S. as well as Meso-America and the Caribbean. It was held up at a conference center in Nebraska City that was one of the most amazing places I've ever stayed. The food was absolutely off the hook and they had activities planned for us every night that typically included an open bar starting with dinner through the first two hours of whatever was planned. I had been doing a lot of jogging and working out for the few months before I went up there and had knocked off upwards of 15 pounds. In one week I managed to put it all back on with the crazy food up there. Fresh Apple pie available at every meal? I mean come on! Anyway, had a good time and learned a lot. Really more of a vacation with co-workers rather than a work event. The highlight of the event was a tornado warning that had us all sent to the basement of the conference center. Growing up in Georgia, a tornado warning wasn't exactly new. What WAS new however, was having the bartender from upstairs decide that as long as he was down there, and the big tub of beer waiting to be taken up to the bar was down there, that there was no reason he couldn't serve beer in the basement! The tornado warning with beer service was a first. At least here we didn't have to get down on our knees and kiss our ass goodbye like we did back in elementary school.
Work...our summer season is starting and our summer seasonal guys are on-board. We've gotten on a few fires recently but mainly we've just been working on training together and getting equipment ready. My whole crew headed a few hours north on some wildfires yesterday but unfortunately I'm a moron and sliced my knee open on an oyster reef while fishing this weekend so I'm on the bench for a few days waiting for my knee to explode in infection. Apparently oysters can carry some pretty nasty bacteria and it's often suggested that you don't hang out in the coastal waters with an open wound. I didn't help matters by actually slicing myself on one. How I ended up in the water on my knees is a whole different entry for a different time, but it involves two of us ending up with one single kayak filled half full of water and desperately trying to beat an approaching storm back to shore and then having to walk a mile down a dirt/gravel road being sandblasted by the 30mph winds blowing in our faces (and into my open wound). Fun. I promise.
Now I'm hanging out hoping that the minimal puffy infection that has set in gets its ass kicked by the antibiotics I started today. We'll see!
I think I'm done for now. Toodles!
Monday, May 5, 2008
A sad...sad...day.
For the first time in many, many years...I missed Cinco de Mayo. I don't know what happened. I said the date numerous times today in conversation, wrote it down a few times and even responded to someone that asked the date. It was May 5th every time. Never did that fact that it was Cinco de Mayo register It took me opening up Google and noticing that there was a mariachi band playing and dancing around the logo to realize it.
I guess I didn't technically miss it as there is about an hour to go here in Central time, but alas, not a chance of me dragging butt to the local Mexican place (or one of the other 30 in town) to grab a margarita and shout ole.
I did celebrate a little via Tim and Angel calling and leaving me an audio postcard voicemail with the mariachi band from my second favorite Mexican restaurant in NYC playing in the background. That probably should have tipped me off, but no.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. I'll have to double up on margaritas next year, or maybe on Quatro de Julio with the family in Atlanta.
Alas...hope everyone had a good Cinco de Mayo, whether you remembered or not!
I guess I didn't technically miss it as there is about an hour to go here in Central time, but alas, not a chance of me dragging butt to the local Mexican place (or one of the other 30 in town) to grab a margarita and shout ole.
I did celebrate a little via Tim and Angel calling and leaving me an audio postcard voicemail with the mariachi band from my second favorite Mexican restaurant in NYC playing in the background. That probably should have tipped me off, but no.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. I'll have to double up on margaritas next year, or maybe on Quatro de Julio with the family in Atlanta.
Alas...hope everyone had a good Cinco de Mayo, whether you remembered or not!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Oh the humanity (and the irony)!
Oh the Humanity...
So I've been up in Nebraska with my crew for the last week to assist with some burning that needs to happen on TNC property up here. Yesterday we got just a little bit of fire on the ground, barely getting stuff to burn and for the rest of the trip we've been completely weathered out with either crazy high winds or crazy high or low humidities. We've had a little bit of everything. This morning, however, we woke up with 3 inches of snow on the ground. Eye opening to say the least. I haven't seen snow for 4 years and I don't own a winter coat. Another guy on my crew (from Texas, mind you) has only seen snow once before in his life, back in the mid-80s as a kid. Oy veh! is all I have to say. With the weather no good for burning we have two choices, either hang out and don't get paid or find work to do, so we've been out cutting trail, cleaning up old trail, fixing and constructing fence and as of today, freezing our asses off working (completely unprepared) out in the snow.
Oh the Irony...
Today we spent the day out on the preserve, snow freakin' everywhere, working on cutting down juniper trees. The juniper is a tree formerly planted to provide wind breaks for old homesteads but is now encroaching and taking over the prairie that is one of the most endangered ecosystems that the country has to offer. So the irony...today is Arbor Day and we, The Nature Conservancy, were out cutting down trees. It just brought a smile to my face when someone mentioned it this morning. One of the guys we work with in Texas always just laughs and talks about how insane it is that the home of the Arbor Day Foundation up here in Nebraska is located in an area surrounded by endangered prairie yet they continuously take pride in planting trees all over the darn place, exacerbating the problem of declining habitat. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. It's odd to be out in the middle of nowhere, with no phone service, etc. but have access to satellite internet.
The preserve has two herds of buffalo grazing on 61,000 acres. They are beautiful to look at and awfully darn tasty too.
And the snow...WTF!
So I've been up in Nebraska with my crew for the last week to assist with some burning that needs to happen on TNC property up here. Yesterday we got just a little bit of fire on the ground, barely getting stuff to burn and for the rest of the trip we've been completely weathered out with either crazy high winds or crazy high or low humidities. We've had a little bit of everything. This morning, however, we woke up with 3 inches of snow on the ground. Eye opening to say the least. I haven't seen snow for 4 years and I don't own a winter coat. Another guy on my crew (from Texas, mind you) has only seen snow once before in his life, back in the mid-80s as a kid. Oy veh! is all I have to say. With the weather no good for burning we have two choices, either hang out and don't get paid or find work to do, so we've been out cutting trail, cleaning up old trail, fixing and constructing fence and as of today, freezing our asses off working (completely unprepared) out in the snow.
Oh the Irony...
Today we spent the day out on the preserve, snow freakin' everywhere, working on cutting down juniper trees. The juniper is a tree formerly planted to provide wind breaks for old homesteads but is now encroaching and taking over the prairie that is one of the most endangered ecosystems that the country has to offer. So the irony...today is Arbor Day and we, The Nature Conservancy, were out cutting down trees. It just brought a smile to my face when someone mentioned it this morning. One of the guys we work with in Texas always just laughs and talks about how insane it is that the home of the Arbor Day Foundation up here in Nebraska is located in an area surrounded by endangered prairie yet they continuously take pride in planting trees all over the darn place, exacerbating the problem of declining habitat. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. It's odd to be out in the middle of nowhere, with no phone service, etc. but have access to satellite internet.
The preserve has two herds of buffalo grazing on 61,000 acres. They are beautiful to look at and awfully darn tasty too.
And the snow...WTF!
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