Texas Floods, an oxymoron?

Most people envision Texas looking like Monument Valley, Utah – that is unless they watch the news.  They think all Texans pull on a pair of gaudy cowboy boots and great big cactus plants stretched out as far as the eye can see.  The truth is many of us have never seen the high desert or own a pair of cowboy boots.  The closest most Baytownians have come to a rattlesnake has been to a visit at the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center.

Most non-Texans are almost arrogantly ignorant about us and wish to blissfully remain so.  Some see the whole state as an aberration which produced two Bush presidents and a whole State full of obnoxious residents who brag on how big everything is in Texas. 

Most don’t realize that if you flipped the state horizontally (either way) you would dip El Paso in the Atlantic Ocean and Beaumont in the Pacific.  Most don’t realize that the Gulf Coast is wet year round and alligators are far more common that cowboy boots.

Recently they’ve watched the weather reports and believe all of us are drowning in our homes and to those who have suffered this fate; I don’t mean to sound flippant.  The truth is hardly any of us are at risk here in Baytown anyway if we simply stay inside.  It’s those folks who simply must get to work that are at highest risk of a water or traffic related accident.

If they knew they were heading out the door to sink their new car in 6 feet of water and nearly drown in the process, they would stay home.  Ah, but those of us who are committed to our jobs go anyway.  People in Dayton make that hazardous drive down SH-146 all the way to Texas City and on the way pass hometown folks heading north to the Chevron Plant in Mont Belvieu.

And to those poor souls who have to head west on I-10 into the Houston metropolis, all I can say is “May God be with you.”  It is bad enough when the sky is clear, but if we are having a deluge, it is ten times more hazardous.

Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do every day.  Add in the pouring rain, standing water, and distracted drivers and our soldiers in the military are safer than we are.  Bump it up with a boiling cup of coffee,  kolaches, and the Smartphone making its peculiar identification ring (should I answer this one or wait?) and you have just blasted this commute up into an all out attack on our senses.

Many Texans don’t realize that here on the Gulf Coast we have a micro-environment different than the rest of the state and our weather can be one of severe extremes.  When we get a Harris County weather report, it most likely covers Conroe to Victoria and over to Katy and back to Baytown making it wrong the majority of the time for all of us.

For some time, my bride and I have planned to zipline west of Austin and it just so happened that this past Wednesday was the day.  We kicked it back and forth and talked to those folks out there and decided to reschedule.  A no-brainer you offer?  Yup.  I didn’t think putting entertainment ahead of the very real possibility that we could suffer something negative was a particularly good notion. 

But let’s say for the sake of argument that we would have gone and something tragic would have happened.  It would be the same outcome as going to work in a deluge.  It has been an observation of mine for many years that the main reason people have accidents in the rain is they are going too fast.  Remember when cars used to wreck on our side of the Fred Hartman Bridge due to hydroplaning?  It would be easy to blame the standing water, but the reality is cars would not slow down in the rain.

I drove that stretch of road every day and knew I needed to take that section at about 50 mph when it rained, yet people would fly past me at 70.  On two occasions I witnessed cars lose control.  One went sideways down the freeway and came to a stop.  The other clipped the barrels and went down the exit.  They eventually fixed this low spot so now people can play with their life again.

Slow down in the rain folks, or if it is bad, think twice about getting out in it.  No one wants to die to get to work now do they?

Another day or two in the hood

I saw an animal control truck slipping quietly through the hood this morning, as I went out to get my paper so I ushered my two doggies back into the house, right quick.  I like to believe I not only acknowledge the need for law and order, but align myself right regular.  The doggies doing their business in the front yard early in the morning is actually a crime though, as they are off the leash.

The rain started right after that and didn’t let up until 8PM.  My street suffered a rare occurrence in that the drains plugged up tighter than the payout on Ron Paul’s government payroll checks.  In other words, not a drop was drained from the street into the ditch.  Note: Ron Paul is the rare politician who doesn’t accept a paycheck for his service to the country.

I reckon that dog catcher “lit a shuck” when the rain came, but danged if I didn’t see him in the middle of the downpour chasing a little cur dog four hour later and to the little dog’s credit, it got plumb away.  It was soggier than Rosie O'Donnell’s tirades and like her, had its game face on.  That little wet doggie dang near had a smug look on its face, close as I could tell and I shook my head as it ran past the casa.

I think 6 inches of rain fell on us and over the course of the day; we probably could have handled it – except it just didn’t drain.  It collected and collected.  Somewhere around noon, I cranked up my lifted Jeep and drove down through it, sending a gentle wave up and over the curbs.  I had to.  I had to drive my Jeep in the water, something my bride doesn’t understand, even after living through 2 Jeeps.  I explained to her that it was a Jeep thing and she isn’t supposed to understand.

Down a ways where it was the deepest, two boys were swimming in the middle of the street and I eased up there to talk to their momma, who was standing under a tent-like plastic umbrella of clear material.  I guess the best way to describe her shelter would be to call it a clear plastic chifforobe and very unique and effective.

As I pulled up, she unzipped it to reveal she was videoing the event and I was later told it aired on channel 13 news.  I speculated the recent work by Harris County on the ditch across the way had possibly blocked off our drainage.  She didn’t know either, but obviously was enjoying watching her kids have a free swimming hole.  It turned out it was a “plugged crossover”, whatever that is.

Somewhere around 4PM, I stepped outside in the rain and a neighbor was in front of my house watching a lifted red Jeep with a snorkel come barreling toward my end of the street.  Now being a Jeeper, I know they were enjoying themselves, but what it looked like to the neighbors was anything but entertaining.  The Jeep was sending a wave of water on both sides up across their cars and halfway up into their yards.

He waved them down and exchanged words, and then they drove off.

I drove over close to him and he told me it “was two young women and the one driving, was drunk.”  His words, not mine.  I’ve been very vocal about this drinking and driving thing and I often say that anyone who drinks and drives is a fool, period.  Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, but he thought she was, so in his mind what she was doing was dangerous and stupid.  It did look stupid to me too, as I had no idea if she could see for all the water she was throwing up.  I fully expected to see the Jeep run into one of the cars on the street she was burying in water.

Night fell and the water remained.  The next day a giant roto-rooter vehicle and a vacuum truck arrived and by the afternoon, the water had drained.  Of course this happened on a weekend; doesn’t it always?   Just another day or two in the hood.

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2013 Starts Off With Hiking Adventures!

Made cookies in the morning 1-10-13

Well, the holiday season is finally over and I basically worked every bit of it, so aside from my personal writing and working on another book – a horror/comedy this time, I took every opportunity to go out into the woods with my Bride and doggies (when we could) to geocache.  I also teamed up with local geocaching hero, Larry Houston (HoustonControl) to teach a geocaching seminar at the Baytown Nature Center's Nurture Nature series, held each month at the center on the first Saturday.  For the last two years, it's been geocaching, but each other month, it is a different topic.

Our travels took us to a very rainy Huntsville and the state park there, Dickinson, Kemah, the JJ Mayes Trace and close-by rookery and even Lake Charlotte.  I even was questioned by a cop about my activities, who it turns out is an old TX4X4 off-roading buddy.  Enjoy the photos!

Geocaching seminar at the Baytown Nature Center's Nurture Nature series

Geocaching seminar at the Baytown Nature Center's Nurture Nature series

Geocaching seminar at the Baytown Nature Center's Nurture Nature series

Bella gets a bath

Coco doesn't like thunderstorms

BB finding a geocache in Dickinson, Tx.

It was raining very hard, so I made a yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting.

BB with yet another brush with the Five -O!

The Rookery at the Wallisville project off of I-10

Finding a geocache at the Rookery at the Wallisville project off of I-10

Geocaching on the Butterfly Nature Trail at the Trinity River NWR.

My doggies wanting a treat.

Getting credit for a virtual geocache at Sam Houston's statue in Huntsville.