Weekend update

Friday: aikido

Saturday: yard work, mowing, aikido, dinner at Durango's with K. and K.

Sunday: Heroes new episodes, water for the aquarium (since we're starting it back up after the power failure), football on TV, Garden Drive block party

One of the neighbors down the street decided that the recent neighborliness generated by Hurricane Ike should not be wasted. To that end, she invited the street to her house for a fabulous meal. We went over there and spent about 2-1/2 hours talking, eating and watching football. It was a great evening.

There are rumors of plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 9/27/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Brad, and C. (a new student).

Ukemi: Took a few big falls with no aftereffects.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Brad.

Techniques:

Brad and I worked on 1-5 Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate for him.

Aftermath: None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 9/26/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and C. (a new student).

Ukemi: No big falls.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

Trey and I worked on 1-5 for each of us and then 6-10 for him and #6 for me.

Relearning Shomen-ate and working on Aigamae-ate (left-sided) occupied most of my time as tori. I'm at a bit of a plateau with those techniques at the moment.

I'm also having to correct some footwork on Oshi-taoshi.

Trey did fairly well. He made a bit of a verbal mistake that I found hilarious. We'd finished up his techniques for the evening and were getting some water before continuing on. He thought he'd done fairly well, and he had, and he said "It would have been really good if I'd had a trained uke." Now, I'd been his uke all evening so I cracked up laughing. I knew what he meant, somehow, and knew it wasn't intended as an insult.

I still don't feel I'll be ready for Shodan demonstration anytime soon.

Aftermath: It's great to have another student on the mat.

Power

It came back on at 7pm last night. 10 days, 17 hours after it went out.

You know you live on the Gulf Coast when...

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.

A. I. Day 9

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.

A. I. Day 8

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

Aikido Friday Night - 9/19/08

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.

A. I. Day 7

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.

A. I. Day 6

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.

Hurricane Ike: a summary of events

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

Volleyball 0-3

Another winless night. It was a set of 3 close games, so I'm not disappointed. We were outmanned 6 players to 5.

I managed to get one ace, plus a couple of good serves. Nothing like last week, when I won around 9 straight points off of my serve.

A couple of kills and a couple of blocks rounded out the evening.

Oh, plus a tweak of the ankle I sprained back in March. I'm limping today.

Hurricane Ike, still

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.

Brief political quote

A great (unattributed) quote from Lynn Flewelling's LJ:

"Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor."

Hurricane Ike

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.

Gig 'em Aggies

Not a convincing win, but a win nonetheless.

Now onto the Hurricanes of Miami. I'm not optimistic.

In the shop

I managed to get some design work for the face frames for the cabinets done. I've got a cut list ready. Now I need to go to the Borg to see what they've got in affordable poplar and figure out what I need to buy.

Weekend update

A weekend of pleasant temperatures and decent humidity levels. Still warm, but it felt so good, comparatively.

Friday: aikido

Saturday:

aikido
picked up a load of vegetable mix for a new garden
Clear Lake Symphony concert
listened to the TAMU/New Mexico game when I could
watched some of the tu/UTEP game

Sunday

prepped for a smoking of some ribs on the grill
did a little design work for the face frames in the shop
moved the vegetable mix from the truck to the garden
dinner with the in-laws
watched a little of Colts/Chicago

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 9/6/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, and Brad.

Trey was leaving early, because of the Aggie game, so we had to work him out early.

Ukemi: No big falls.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

We spent a lot of time working on shomen-ate this afternoon. We're all having trouble with the new version, but we're slowly getting a handle on it. I think I've crossed the line from confused to competent.

We played a lot with the initial off-balance and the quick transition into the entry for the technique.

Before Trey left, Sensei Tim wanted Brad to see the aikinage. Trey got to be uke again, and we got the same result as the night before: air time for Trey.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon as uke for Brad on shomen-ate.

Aftermath: None of note, a good afternoon. Ibuprofen afterward.

Aikido Friday Night - 9/5/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and Trey.

We had some visitors watching the session this evening. Potential students. Mature women. So, Sensei Tim spent some time talking to them while Trey and I did the usual things, with a bit of an ear out for stuff Sensei Tim wanted us to show.

As they left, they implied they'd be back next week. We'll see.

Ukemi: No big falls.

The Walk: Went ok.

Releases: With Trey.

Techniques:

All I remember of the techniques for the was the aikinage Sensei wanted me to try before the ladies left the dojo. It was cool, and generated a comment from the ladies: " I want to be able to do that."

I hit the timing right so that as Trey put down his foot, he wasn't able to put it down. His other foot was already in the air, so he got some air time on the fall. Not a lot, but some.

Aftermath: None of note, a good evening. Ibuprofen afterward.