The musings of a weary mind. Conversations on aikido, gardening, cooking, travel and, maybe, woodworking.
Friday:
Friday:
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 9:04 AM 0 comments
Labels: baking, hurricane, leatherwork, weekend, woodturning
Friday:
Friday:
Stopped by the folks that took over MyDojo's space
2 hours of yard work - cleaned trash from creek, mowed side and front yard
Saturday:
2 hours of edging the yard
Nap
Dinner at Habanero's
Sunday:
2 hours of bow saw, clipping, and chainsaw work on the fallen trees
Nap
Aggie football - Argh!
Monday:
Tried to replace bulb in security fixture - fixture appears to be toast
More trash cleanup
Nap
Friday:
Tidied up the porch, moved all loose items into the shop.
Stopped by the library to pick up some videos for the weekend
Watched "Chef" - a pretty good movie, if somewhat predictable.
Saturday:
Cleared out trash from drainage ditches during lulls
Rain
Wind
Sunday:
Watched 6 episodes of "Boardwalk Empire"
Water got within 1" of coming into the house around 2:30 a.m. - 3:30 a.m.
Didn't get any sleep until maybe 7:30 a.m.
Rain
Wind
Watched "Cloud Atlas"
Monday:
Went in to work in the morning. They sent us home around 10:30 a.m. Had to find an alternate route home as the straight route was flooded more than when I went in.
More wind, rain
Slept very little
Tuesday:
Storm still around, did not go in to work
Friday:
Lunch at Durango's
Rehab session
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Bank errands
Aikido
Picked up cupcakes at Rise Cupcakes (too much icing)
Roast Beef stew for dinner
Sunday:
Lunch with the family to celebrate birthdays. We went to Phoenicia in town and had a nice lunch. Picked up some "Herbs de Provence" and some Mediterranean spice combo.
Nap
Football
Ongoing concern:
Will Isaac come and visit us or will he hit New Orleans instead.
Friday:
aikido
Saturday:
Mow the lawn
Sow bluebonnet, paintbrush, indian blanket and corn poppy seeds
Work on installing suspended garage storage.
Football
Aikido
Dinner at Joe's
Baseball
Sunday
Complete installation of one suspended garage storage rack
Aquarium water change
Route out spotlight back for Leo.
Help K. set up her backyard post-Ike
Football
Baseball
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 7:26 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, aquarium, hurricane, ike, weekend, woodworking
I've been on a very slow book reading stint for the past year. The time waiting for power after Ike got me back reading again. Here are the books I've read since the hurricane.
Old Man's War John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
Beholder's Eye - Julie Czerneda
Lost in Booth Nine - Adam Troy-Castro
Roman Dusk - Quinn Yarbro
Dragon's Tongue - Laura J. Underwood
Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller
The Blue Girl - Charles deLint
The Clan Corporate - Charles Stross
The Gospel of the Knife - Will Shetterly
We finally got back on the court after Hurricane Ike did a little damage to the court.
We did pretty well considering we were playing the second place team. 5 points the first game, 11 the second and then we won the third game.
Got this from my darling spouse.
You know you live on the Gulf Coast when....
1. You have FEMA's number on your speed dialer.
2. You have more than 300 'C' and 'D' batteries in your kitchen drawer.
3. Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti O's.
4. You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.
5. When describing your gutted house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and an open air feel to it.
6. Your SSN isn't a secret, it's written in Sharpie on your arms.
7. You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
8. You are delighted to pay $4.00 for a gallon for regular unleaded.
9. The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.
10. You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
11. You own more than three large coolers.
12. You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
13. You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking it'll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back.
14. You have 2-liter coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer.
15. Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.
16. You catch a 13-pound red fish - in your house.
17. You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's insurance policy.
18. You consider a vacation to stunning Tupelo, Mississippi.
19. At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.
20. You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.
21. There is a roll of tar roofing paper in your garage.
22. You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel.
23. Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.
24. Ice is a valid topic of conversation.
25. Your drive-thru meal consists of MRE's and bottled water.
26. Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.
27. You spend more time on your roof then in your living room.
28. You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.
29. A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.
30. You don't worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.
31. Your child's first words are hunker down.
32. Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it's Christmas.
33. Toilet Paper is elevated to coin of the realm at the shelters.
34. You know the difference between the good side of a storm and the bad side.
35. Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
36. You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.
37. You are prepared to wait in line at Starbucks for 2 hours to get a cup of coffee.
Trees left to process: 0
State of power: off
Estimated power turn-on: unknown. I'm guessing 0-6 days.
State of the weather: fabulous, all things considered. Nice breezes are great. I wish they'd continue through the night, though.
We spent a couple of hours at the library last night, reveling in the A/C and accessing the internet.
Trees left to process: 0
State of power: off
Estimated power turn-on: unknown. I'm guessing 1-7 days.
State of the weather: fabulous, all things considered.
I cut up the last pine tree and the tallow tree that were in the creek/ditch. I did not complete it, but until I get access to a chainsaw, I'm done.
We've hauled all of the debris to the curb, except some onesies and twosies of limbs. Nothing major is left to get to the curb
Aikidokas: Tim, and Trey.
Ukemi: No big falls.
The Walk: Went ok.
Releases: With Trey.
Techniques:
Trey and I worked on 1-10 for each of us and then 11-17 for me.
It was an ok night. Hurricane Ike had an impact on our performance. We all spent most of the previous week dealing with the aftermath, so he made his presence known on the mat.
I certainly don't feel I'll be ready for Shodan demonstration anytime soon. Maybe I'll feel better later.
Aftermath: None of note.
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 9:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, clear creek aikido, hurricane, ike, tomiki
Trees processed today: 2
Trees left to process: 2
State of power: off
Estimated power turn-on: unknown. I'm guessing 3-9 days.
State of the weather: fabulous, all things considered.
I cut up the last pine tree and the tallow tree that were in the creek/ditch. I did not complete it, but until I get access to a chainsaw, I'm done.
We've still got a lot of debris to haul to the curb.
My mom got power yesterday, so it's just my sister and I now left in the family without power.
Trees processed today: 1
Trees processed previously: 4
Trees left to process: 2
State of power: off
Estimated power turn-on: unknown. I'm guessing 3-9 days.
State of the weather: fabulous, all things considered.
I cut up one of the pines that had fallen across my creek/ditch. One of
the branches was under far more tension than I thought it was. It
released the tension quickly when I made the final cut. I was not in
its path when it did so.
The next two trees are going to require getting into the muck to make
the cuts, so I've got to find my rubber boots.
No cutting tonight as the dojo is up and running and it's a night for
aikido.
Thursday, Sept. 11
8:15 am: Friendswood announces voluntary evacuation
8:45 am: I decide to evacuate and head home
10:30 am: Finish packing, with K.'s help. Say a tearful goodbye and head north
1:30 pm: Arrive at the in-laws' place
Friday, Sept. 12
9:00 pm: Take Jack and Tank out for the last chance to relieve themselves before the storm
Saturday, Sept. 13
1:30 am: Call from K. giving the conditions in Friendswood
4:30 am: Hurricane Ike arrives, causing the structure to sway slightly for the next 7 hours
6:20 am: Power goes out
10:30 am: Attempt to take Jack and Tank out to do their business. Jack cooperates, Tank decides it's too windy.
1:30 pm: Storm has abated, leaving a very light rain falling. Tank decides he can go to the bathroom now.
Sunday, Sept. 14
3:00 am: Call from K. with conditions in Friendswood
10:00 am: Finish packing to go home and head out
1:00 pm: Arrive back in Friendswood
End of timeline
Surveying the damage, we got off very lightly. A total of 7 trees lost major limbs or gave their lives in the storm. The bamboo plant also lost a number of shoots. None of them damaged the house.
Trees left to process: 3
State of power: off
Estimated power turn-on: unknown. I'm guessing 4-10 days
State of the weather: fabulous, all things considered.
Pictures when I can get them off the camera
Picked up more plywood for the protection of windows and doors, along with some more Plylox. Spent the time after volleyball sizing the plywood and the 2x4s necessary as adjuncts. So, should we decide to do it, we can board up the final windows and doors in an hour or so.
I don't expect to do it, as it looks like Ike will come in south of us. We will likely get some rain, but not the really high powered winds.
The shop has, according to K., been filled with loose stuff from the yard.
Unless things change, I'll be riding the storm out at home.
It looks like Mr. Ike might be headed my way.
Yesterday afternoon, I got home and saw the projected path. It looked like he was likely to come straight up the gut. So, I went out to the shop and got down all of the storm boards.
I spent some time spray painting them with labels that are easier to see than the Sharpie I had used previously.
I also cut the plywood for the windows of the addition, and figured out how they were going to get installed.
K. came home and helped me get the last board down from the shop and we started installing them. We had to do some size adjustment along the way, along with learning some tricks of using Plylox. If you place the Plylox further away from the ends of the board, it makes it easier to install them.
It took judicious use of prop boards and cinder blocks to install the boards on the addition, but we got it done.
We got in from the installation and sat down to check the news on Ike. Now it looks like he's going to hit South Texas instead of the Upper Texas Coast. Grrr.
We need some more plywood for two doors and the big windows (107" x 52" and 107" x 72"). K. is out picking that up now, with her dad. We're going to need 'em at some point, so might as well have them ready.
I'm really glad I've got the shop now. I've got a plywood cutting methodology down after doing so much for making the cabinets for the shop. It made the cutting of the new boards, and adjustment of the old ones relatively pleasant.
One car is gassed up. It's the one that will be staying in town with Kim. She's a part of the city's emergency team.
She's using the truck to get the plywood and will fill that up during her errands. I'll use that to transport myself and the animals to our chosen destination. That might be the family place in Granger. I haven't checked to see if there are prior claims on the space there.
But, I'm now thinking I won't need to leave. And, I'll be busy unboarding the windows this weekend.
Check out directly from here. Fast. Secure. Simple.
