Sometimes I Just Can't Help Myself

There is a story on the news this morning about three Boy Scouts who were electrocuted while sailing on Lake of the Pines in East Texas yesterday.  Apparently, the mast of their catamaran came in contact with a power line.  Two of the boys were killed outright and the third was flown to a hospital in Shreveport.
I felt terrible when I read the story, felt remorse for the pain and suffering their families and friends must be going through, but - God help me - my first thought was "Well, that gives a whole new meaning to the term Floating Ground ."

Day of Rest

There's an old joke that goes something like "Woke up this morning with nothing to do, and this evening I'm less than half done."
Today is one of those days.  
I woke up late.  
I have plenty of projects that I could be doing, but none that require immediate attention. 
I'm out of books to read.
It's almost eleven o'clock, and I still haven't settled on anything I want to do, but nothing is headed toward the top of the list.

It Ain't An Ant

In her years of walking five miles each morning, Honey had only called me to come get her twice - once when she was caught in a sudden rainstorm and once when she was bitten by a dog.  

Call number three came last week.  

She was about as far away from the house as she gets when she was stung between the toes by a Cow Ant.  We don't know if the critter was inside her sock when she put it on, or how it could have gotten there, and we have no idea why it chose that moment to sting her.  I do know that it hurt bad enough that Honey didn't think she could make it home. 

The original pain subsided shortly after we got home - she actually talked about resuming her walk, but decided against it - and life went back to normal.  Two days later, it started itching so bad it was driving her nuts.

I did some on line research and learned more than I ever wanted to know about Cow Ants - also known as Red Velvet Ants and Cow Killer Ants, they are not an ant at all, they're Wasps!  If you get stung, it was a female - females are wingless but have stingers, males have wings but no stinger.  

They are solitary, so at least you'll never come across a colony of Cow Ants. They lay their eggs in the ground in the nests of burrowing wasps and other insects, and their offspring feed on the larvae of the host. 

The one useful thing I learned is that Cortisone will relieve the itch.  Honey tried that, and it worked.

Three Quarters

I have a birthday coming up in a few days.  

Normally, I try to ignore birthdays, or at least treat them like just another day, but this one is number 75, and for some reason it seems like that ought to be sort of a big deal.

When I was 25, or even when I was 50, it never occurred to me that I would make it this far, but - barring some catastrophe in the next couple of days - it looks like I have.  Not only that, I'm in relatively good health and don't feel any older than I did ten years ago.

Honey asked me the other day what I wanted for my birthday, and I couldn't think of a single thing.  I have a loving wife, a house that's paid for, just enough retirement to get by without having to do without, and I still have my health.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Celia 1970

Today is the actual anniversary of Hurricane Celia's 1970 landfall in Corpus Christi, and I've been talking about Hurricane Celia here on my blog for over a week now.  It's time to wrap it up and move on.

Just a few more memories:

• On the morning of August 3rd, frantic shoppers emptied the shelves of the local grocery stores.  There were several reports of folks actually stealing stuff from another shopper's grocery cart.
• A few days later, those same folks were emptying their freezers and hosting neighborhood barbecues to eat the food before it spoiled.
• I'll never forget the ungodly smell from our freezer when I opened it a day or two too late.  Hours of nausea and gallons of Clorox later, I finally got it usable again, but when it got warm months later during our move back to Houston, I realized the smell would never go away.
• And I'll never forget the taste of the first cold beer after the storm.  We had heard a rumor, so several coworkers and I went to Nolan's Steakhouse for lunch, and sure enough, they had icy mugs of cold draft beer. I don't think any beer before or since has tasted that good.
• I can't close this out without mentioning that Honey was right there beside me during those 19 days of sweltering heat and low supplies - and she did it while pregnant! She did make a trip to Houston, but after she was sure her dad was OK, she turned around and came back to Corpus.

A few months after the storm, when everything was more-or-less back to normal, I received an award from the City of Corpus Christi for my work in getting the news out before, during and after the storm.  I was very proud of that - included it in my resume - though I suspect the same Certificate of Appreciation was handed out to dozens of folks, probably just about anyone connected to a local radio or TV station.

Celia - Not JUST Corpus Christi

That's a picture of the shrimp fleet at the harbor in Port Aransas.
I have been talking about Hurricane Celia and Corpus Christi as though that was the only city affected.  
It wasn't.  

• Highest wind gusts  (180 mph) were recorded at Aransas Pass and Robstown.  The Corpus Christi weather station recorded 161 before the anemometer blew away.
• At 95%, the City of Portland had the highest percentage of homes and businesses that sustained damage.
• Still a Tropical Storm, Celia did over a million dollars worth of damage to Del Rio, and it was still a Tropical Depression as far west as El Paso.
• Shortly after forming in the western Caribbean, the Tropical Depression that would become Celia crossed over Cuba where it caused five people to drown, and once in the Gulf of Mexico and before it turned west, the storm surge from Tropical Storm Celia caused nine deaths along the coast of Florida.
• Total damage from Celia - homes, businesses and crops - exceeded $3 billion in today's dollars.

Celia, the Driscoll and the Red Cross

I mentioned on Saturday about watching all the water being sucked out of the pool at the Driscoll Hotel.  Yesterday, I came across this "after" photo which shows the damage.  As you can see, there was almost no glass left in any of the hotel's windows.

Honey reminded me that the Driscoll was one more reason we love and respect the Red Cross so much.  

When she got to our studios on the day Celia hit, Honey called her dad at the hospital in Houston.  She assured him that we were safe and would be riding out the storm in the hotel.  That night, Channel 2 in Houston reported that the Driscoll had suffered over $2 million in damage.  Of course, by then there was no telephone service. We didn't know about the TV report, but we did know they would be worried.  

The Red Cross had announced that they were coordinating with HAM radio operators, and offering to send emergency messages.  We went by their office, and Honey filled out the message form which they assured us would be delivered. Days later, when phone service was restored and we finally got through, we learned that the message was never delivered. 

One last bit about the Red Cross and Celia:  

Power was still out in much of the area - ours was out for 19 days - when the movie theater reopened downtown.  Honey could tell you what was playing, but I really don't remember - I was mainly there to cool off and relax for a couple hours.  What I do remember - will never forget - is that at intermission the Red Cross ran a film saying "We helped you, now it's time for you to pay back." and sent ushers down the aisles with collection boxes.

The ushers escaped with their lives (barely) and some remarkably novel suggestions about where to put those boxes. 

I'm sure that somewhere, at some time, the Red Cross has done something good, but Celia showed me that there are other agencies - the Salvation Army, for one - that do more and ask for less in return.