Scow Schooners of Texas

Back in the 1800's the scow schooner became quite famous in the US as a boat that could handle the very shallow waters of the back bays of harbors such as Port Arthur, Galveston, Matagorda, and possibly even SPI. I have not found any specific documentation of them being here but will ask the local historians. They were log-planked completely flat on bottom so if the did hit a sandbar, they would just wait for high tide and move on. Centerboards were used as portable keels that went up and down.

The above picture was a scow schooner in Galveston Bay. It is obviously lightering cotton, hay, or some heavy load for a large ship. At one time there were reported to be many working the Texas coast because the big ships sometimes needed so much water they had to anchor outside in the Gulf - there was always a wicked sandbar to contend with in the sea channel. I wish I knew more about them but they look cool.


The above picture is the Alma of San Francisco, which is still sailing today thanks to conservation efforts. It is reported to be one of the fastest schooner barges ever built. At the heyday in San Francisco about 400 were involved in lightering, coaling, and garbage operations (urk!). They are tremendously stable and even when I was there in the 30-knot breeze, the Alma didn't even tip over a bit.

The folks in Galveston are building one and I thought gee, why not us?

Good day for a small wind turbine!

As I paid my last respects today in winds that were gusting to 48 MPH, I thought "gee, if I had even a small windmill I'd be doing great! " Here's a really cool new design from Helix Wind in the picture and the sure looks like less of a bird hazard than the usual salad-shooter technology with propellers. An HEB distribution warehouse somewhere in the Valley was also looking at a big one. The residential ones are more like 2 kW but hey, that's plenty for me.

I have no idea if our local zoning codes outlaw them or not - anyone have a clue? The only thing I'd worry about is taking it down in a hurricane. It sure would be nice to sit here working and blogging away, knowing I had some happy little green electrons jumping around.

Maybe Amazing Walter can help me make an artistic one of a similar design. I remember when I was a kid there was a sculptor who made ones that pumped pond water when the wind blew, and when the wind blew really hard this sculpture-man thing could pee 50 feet into the air! Come on I was just a kid then. The sculptor built quite a few in the Westbrook and Old Saybrook areas of Connecticut in case you want to check up on my sanity. I want some clean electrons folks, no need for alarm just yet.

Of Dirty Crocs and a Dying Dog

Shiffra our 14 Y.O. humane society mix dog told me she didn't want any pictures today. I had realized I don't have any pictures of her happy, after a few old computers went kaflooey. She is a cross between a cow-dog and a German Shepard mutt I am most sure. Well she herded everything including Lori and I, so I figure she had a little cow dog in there.

I took a picture of some our Croc shoes we cleaned today, as at least mine were pretty smelly and gross. I had no idea that if you cleaned some fish and then mowed the yard they could be such a tragedy. I have no idea what Shiffra would think because she can barely do more than keep her ears up, she loves hearing Lori so much. I don't think she would mind the shoes in the least.

Dang, almost had her on a big boogie board, a real sponger. Shiffra still is her name.

Update: By 9:30 she had passed and all is OK now except the puppy is very confused. We aired out the house real good because death has a particular smell. It is OK now.

Fish Friday

Well my inshore red snapper trip crashed today but I went to the jetties, and no game fish out there except people catching bait with bait: nada signor. Then I stopped at various places in the area and noted that if there was some kind of recession, the Winter Texans are down here jam packed and amazingly, for lack of fish, very happy. I cruised the old haunts and came to Sea Ranch were I took this picture.

This is not only where we brought in all the cold-stunned turtles a couple years ago, but where I have memories of doing a radical 360 slip on the slimy concrete during that ordeal - Crocs are not good ramp shoes apparently. But as I gazed out I saw many familiar boats, the greyhounds, battle wagons, and sailboats of the Texas Weekend Recreational Navy.

On the left is a very large Hatteras and behind that are at least a dozen shorter Bertrams. The boat in the center is a "playboy" boat because it has no fishing accoutrement such as a tuna tower or fly poles. Obviously, none of them were out fishing today and even the Osprey docks were quiet.

Some party boats were parked by the long jetties in hopes of some kind of fish elusive nibble, although from what I saw the fish were "tourist trout" of doubtable edibility or fighting potential. I did spot a bay dolphin or two and considered myself very lucky, so I went home.

Thank goodness Lori brought home a pound of wild shrimp.

An Explanation and Apology

Due to unpopular demand, I have taken some heat for my comments regarding "grumpy old people" and rightly so. I must explain, but first let me apologize to the good people, residents, and visitors in advance: I am sorry.

Shortly after we moved down here there was a very contested election which ended up as basically a mud-slinging festival. In one corner was Rick Ridolfi, a man I really like and did support, and in the other corner were challengers backed by what was called the Laguna Madre Business Association, something like that. It was horrible, with personal attacks on Rick and his wife, Gloria; he was even accused of grabbing his crotch while speaking in front of another woman.

Honestly folks, I didn't want to bring up such negativity but those were and still are the facts. I retaliated by calling them all a bunch of grumpy old [expletive deleted]. It was too much for what I thought was my idea of paradise, laid back people, and beautiful beaches. The business coalition was able to elect several to the Board of Alderman in a crushing blow to Mr. Ridolfi, for reasons I cannot fathom today. It was evident that Islanders believed all the mud-slinging, lies, rumors, half-truths, meanness, and invented failures.

To make it worse, we ended up with a BOA having a majority of votes that seemed quite receptive to whatever the developers wanted in the way of special variances, larger buildings, exceptions here and there, and ways to profit more from the construction and condo industry. It became clear as night and day what was happening. The group that was somewhat behind Rick Ridolfi went ballistic ... rather grumpy if you get my drift. You can still see some of these folks, who are not necessarily old (although many had pro-retirement sentiments), over at Jason's SPI Forum. But I called both camps "grumpy old people" because they didn't like it - I wanted a more moderate approach to Island matters.

It didn't work.

Both camps jumped on me like Richard Simmons chasing after ladies trying to get them to exercise. I started withdrawing from Island politics about then in complete frustration. Thank goodness I did not agree to run for the BOA or anything stupid like that. These days I just want to enjoy the Island, not make any enemies, and start saving for a nest egg after a bunch of large expenses like moving down here, having kids in college and needing money, and stuff like that. I literally can't afford to be negative and cause a ruckus.

So I won't use the phrase again but you know why it is a sore spot in my conscience. Again I'm sorry; I like everyone from little babies to those 80 year olds with those cool historical tales - don't think they didn't have fun back in the old days! I really don't know any "bummer" people that I've met down here.

Not a single one.

Sea Fog 2.13

You really can't take a good picture of sea fog but that's what we had today, and a good 'un. Midday you could see the stuff lined up right at the surf-line at the beach. Then it moved back in at dusk. Wow, this was better than what they call "Nantucket Pea soup." Anyway it was foggy most all day. Still is.

But ... there were those outlines of the palm trees and no matter how scruffy they look during the day, look fantastic at night. Back-lit in the fog. In the shadows. Hey I just opened the door and the palms are there but I can't see the water tower 1/4 mile away. There should be a bright red aviation warning light on the top of the water tank and ... goners, even used glasses this time, not visible. No zoobie (aren't new words fun?).

My old bloggy profile says "onward through the fog" but maybe a bad idea when the stuff is so thick you can cut it with a butter knife. Please don't go onward, whoa Trigger! Down boy.

But SPI always amazes you, five minutes later I check outside and there was a break in the clouds and this giant moon was there ... the giant water tower zoob was back, and the wind had freshened up one notch, nice. OK, fog's still there but let's go onward, slowly.

Society Against Grumps

After divorcing myself from a particularly ugly forum exchange yesterday I suddenly feel the freedom of not having to deal with grumpy people anymore. It was quite inspirational. Apparently I said something bad somewhere and that means I am a bad, bad, dog. So to save my sanity (with for goodness sake no Sean Hannity), I went back to happy and decided we needed an army to patrol the Island against angry people. I'll call it the Society Against Grumps for now while waiting on a better acronym.

South Padre is supposed to be a happy place and to heck with all this contention and negativity. Instead of troops of elderly retired people checking for "bad behavior" let's parade the streets and beaches with clowns, bicycles, strolling musicians, buskers, surfers carrying banners, and merry maids throwing flower pedals. We've done it before and will do it again. The funny thing is that even the grumpy people think it is fun.

In these gloomy, horrible times of wars, economy, and elections, it is time to get a break every now and then to have some fun, help others have fun, and Unlitter.

An Esoteric Hot Tub, Aye?

If you can't read the sign on the bottom it says "Heated Pool & Esoteric Hot Tub." I know La Internatcional is an OK place and have stayed there a time or two, but esoteric? I mean, if you jump in the pool will freaks like Timothy Leery, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, James Joyce, and a Chupacabra materialize all the sudden? Yikes!

Heavy Weed Floated In

Wow what a difference a day makes here on South Padre. Yesterday I walked the dog here and the beach was clean except for some old marsh grass fragments that washed up from the Rio or Mexico, very light. Today there is a few hundred tons of Sargasso seaweed that came in overnight on the northeast winds, Some of the piles by the water were over a foot deep.

A Good Saturday

I didn't get to all the events last night and today, but the happiness factor was very good. Ditter Dog was a success and Rob over at Surf Riders reports that his fest raised enough money for not only one but TWO college scholarships. Lots of other stuff going on but no fishing because the wind was 25 to 35, with a maximum gust I saw of 48 MPH.

For folks who don't know, we have three seasons down here on SPI: weather, no weather, and the chance of a Cat3 hurricane. For over six months a year we have 85 to 95 degree temperatures and sunshine, nice but boring if you're a weatherman. The rest of the year we have weather. We have not had a hurricane in many, many years.

More people are here these days although it is hard to day more or less than in previous years. The winter has been especially bad up in Minnesota and those northern tier states ... our neighbor said at one time it was -40 F up yonder, no wonder a few are down here. Things seem to being coming to life in what is a nice winter down here. The huisache has started to pop little yellow flower balls, forecasting an early spring. Soon those plants will be covered in gold and then the yucca and mesquite will start blooming. Allergies are already here if you didn't start sneezing already.

For you policy wonks, the comprehensive planning committee is about to revolt and go home right as the May local elections start happening, probably a bad combination but few seem to care except some elderly folks still having "visions." I drink a bunch of beer but visions, that takes something really good. It's like blah-blah-blah who cares, so what the old folks are into the Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test now. This is a very strange town, ya know.

Almost as surprising as anything is what is not happening on the sand spit we call South Padre Island. No big development up north other than the ugliest condo tower I have ever seen, up from the Convention Center and The Shores. No progress on a second causeway because the state agency says it lost all the money on the way to the bank.

The really big news was that down by Saturn and Gulf Boulevard, the Town put in a drainage ditch across the road (Neptune Circle access, which always floods). This ditch was worse than the border fence and looked like it could cause some serious damage to even a big pickup truck. So today the barricades went back up and they're doing another experiment we ain't figured out yet. When I get the inside word I'll pass it along. I never did get to get airborne off the last version so I'm kinda bummed out.

Haven't been way up north on the beaches this year but I', sure them Winter Texans got it all packed down right nice - some of them have duelies ya know. A little more rain coulld help because the more you go north towards Mansfield Cut, the more sugar sand there is. Sugar sand don't pack down but these old-timers seem to get through it fine. If I can stand getting in the water, some Florida pompano are to he had - even Earnest Hemingway would agree than pompano rocks for good tasting fish.

Less Spring Breakers are on the local Internet boards and forums than ever, and no telling if this year's mild riot is the same or much smaller than last year. It seems like a lot of kids didn't like the combat zone mentality down here, like they hired special Ops to kick butt on anybody below the age of 25. I wish I could find that picture I took when the town had cyclone fencing down all of lower Padre Boulevard ... it looked like the DMZ in Vietnam or something. Welcome, uh, kiddos.

The fishing really sucks down here as compared to other years but them Winter Texans are always happy. Ain't no flounder tho', I mean what's up with that? I haven't seen an honest bucket o' local blue crabs in years. The trout are small and few. You can cruise for redfish but often you have to cover tens of miles and most are out at sea now. Some big black drum are being caught along the ship channels, nice ones, perhaps a sign of early spring. The offshore has been rough, and the window of opportunity to get offshore is usually once or twice a month in the winter.

But know what? I forgot to fish today and walk a mile on the beach and shame, shame, shame. Lord, please don't make me take up golf because I was a bad boy.

Sandy Feet's Walk of Fame

Word on the sandbar is that Sandy Feet was nominated for the Walk of Fame that includes notables like the Turtle Lady Ila Loescher. I say it is time, after all these years, to recognize Lucinda for all the great things she has done.

Al Gore didn't invent the internet and Sandy Feet didn't either but she was the first to market our Island using computers with her sacred Macs and Apples. Not only that, with Amazing Walter she invented Sand Castle Days, which has an interesting history dating back to 1989. Nobody has sold this Island for so long and so hard as Sandy Feet, other than some very good real estate agents.

Sometimes we need to celebrate our locals as really making a town or city what it is, and each town should recognize the people who somehow added a good reputation, and almost become legendary. Camden Maine has "Cappy" the schooner captain. Austin has Leslie the cross-dresser to keep Austin weird. One town in Colorado recognizes "Bob the Bridge" because I guess they were tired of the locals and really liked their bridge. We were and still are blessed with Sandy Feet, professional sculpture artist.

As William Blake the poet might say, the soul of a city is equally important as it's inns, taverns, and economy. You can't measure the soul of a city but Sandy Feet shines here pretty darn good. 'Nuff sed.

Happy Valentines Day, girl!

Time to Water the Plants

I was setting a plant or two in the backyard and noticed that even two and a half feet down, the soil was pure powder, completely dry. So I filled each hole with water, which took a while to drain, and then top-watered really good, including some of the other plants. I hadn't seen it that dry in several years, as I guess we were blessed with heavy winter rains last year.

True, I did see we hadn't had much rain except for an inch or so here and there since last October, and it has been 60 days since a good rain. An article in today's local Harlingen paper said that the farmers cannot plant dry-land cotton at all unless it rains. It makes sense now, after all that digging today.

Hopefully we'll get some needed rain on Tuesday with the next front but the last update from the weather geeks is only a 30% chance. I'd deep-water some plants if you don't have a sprinkler system for sure.

Computers, Sheesh!

With one click of the computer mouse I managed to wipe out my entire blog lay-out, which might have been boring but it worked. So this is what happens when you push the "enhance" button, huh? Suffice it to say, I started over and I'm not real happy about this format but it is time to give it a rest. At least I could enlarge the print size because the default was teenie-weenie.

Nice weather with open doors and even naps on the beach continues. I heard from some folks up in Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee and while damage reports were truly awful, given the storms and tornadoes, all were safe. We could use some rain but not that kind of rain.

Political season has started here on our sandbar although not in high gear, and I won't bother you all with that noise unless you really want some Sturm and Drang.

Open Door Days

Ah, when it gets over 65 degrees the door is thrown open in typical South Padre style, rarely ever seen with a screen door. You can tell when the locals are happy because they have their doors wide open. No need for air conditioners or heaters, nice.

And we have plenty of happy open door days on SPI. In the summer it's mainly in the morning, and in October the mosquitoes can be bad all day long. But other then a few fronts and storms, an open door policy is always good while your home.

When the wind gets up in the afternoon you have to be careful, though, because if you open the back door as well your house could become a wind tunnel, as papers and linen flies its merry way out the door. One open door at a time is a good idea in high winds, trust me.

After all those years of working in sterile offices with no open windows, this surely is a treat.

My Existential Grist Posting

Dr. Andrew Dessler wrote a nice posting on the Grist blog about climate change and hurricanes, and I was feeling good, liked what he said, and decided to post him a comment. Basically he said the science is divided ... and some of the people who publish "definitive" and alarming studies on global warming causing hurricanes are full of hot air. Nice!

[p.s., Andrew and I do agree the air is warming.]

* * *

[new] Thanks Andrew

Thanks

I breathe a sigh of relief as somebody tells the right story about ocean temperatures, climate change, and greenhouse gases. If it was a simple topic, the scientists would be mostly in some kind of agreement now like the IPCC recent findings.

Difficult Issues

There are issues such as the latent energy of ocean water, ocean oscillation, and even the fact that as the ice melts at the poles that water is maybe 30 F. In addition, massive hurricanes can mix ocean water down to at least 600 feet, which results in colder water (see before and after SST of where Hurricane Dean came in). There are warm eddies and cold eddies and even deep trench circulation that can move extremely fast, such as during a tsunami. It's fascinating stuff and I'm glad I'm a student of it.

Frontier of Science

Back to the IPCC, we are just now starting to understand pole melt water such as from snow, glaciers, and sea pack ice, each different. Climate change oceanography is still in its infancy because nobody knows what to expect, as it keeps surprising us. Let's get the ice modeling done first and then work on the ocean dynamics. And folks, we're still learning about what an ocean wave is.

Global Warming and Hurricanes

I trend to agree that if you have ocean water over 83 F for a good while, you could grow a "super-cane" like Hurricane Katrina or Dean when they were at their maximum vorticity. The question is the timing and distribution of these relatively hot waters all over the globe, as well as the mechanism (e.g., easterly wave in the northern hemisphere).

Conclusion

If you look at maps of sea surface temperature (SST) and mixing depth you can infer the thermal efficiency of a tropical cyclone. The only problem is, there are hot currents and little hot-spots all over, slightly changing every year. OK, now does climate change relate to that, and visa-versa?

RTOFS

-sammie

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 11:21 PM on 06 Feb 2008
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Extreme Offshore Kayak Fishing

Well this was a new one one me. Seems like these kayak people wanted to try fishing 40 miles offshore on a relatively calm day and found a convincing captain to make the voyage. The story told on 2Coolfishing.net was that they first tried some small fishing on the bottom and caught some beeliners (Vermillion Snapper) and were extremely pleased. Then, it was Tuna Time.

Only one kayak hooked up on a large yellow fin tuna and it took the poor fellow for a two mile Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Two miles, folks! Danny here in the picture (peace out man) paddled like all heck to catch the pair and latched onto the first kayak to slow down the monster fish. Meanwhile the M/V Cherise maneuvered closer.

Dang if the 100-some pound tuna didn't break the reel holding the tuna so the crew frantically worked to splice the line onto a heavier fishing pole but it parted before the knot was nailed.

These fearless kayakers decided it was the time of their lives and want to do it more. I wonder if this would be fun off South Padre instead of way up the coast?

Juss Workin'

Not much happening, except another house caught on fire today (the third), you have to watch out for Winter Texans on bicycles, and the storm sewer truck was making hideous sounds once again. Been working mainly, a good thing because this place is expensive and I just bought some $7,000 software.

The days pass as I fill up the bird seed feeder for ravenous birds, thinking "hey, are these little twits taking advantage of me?" Oh well, having over 200 wild birds on your porch sure is cool, and some of the passers-by notice.

I was going to write about the "fish wars" and how about the federal fishing regulations are going to ruin everything, but after talking about it with some local captains, they suggested to forget about it, have fun, surf lots, and drink lots of cold beer. OK, sounds good enough for me.

Bay People

Well at least the wind died and the temperature got into the low 50's today. Even though the sun didn't make an appearance, things seem much better. The work came back in and the wife came back from a conference in Austin, so all is good. The mind wanders off to fishing, planting a few trees in the back yard, painting more of the house, having shrimp at the Wanna or Dolphin Cove, and maybe a BBQ on the porch.

You know its funny, here on SPI you either live east of Padre Boulevard or west of it. Gulf people live on the east side and are much more prone to walk the beach. Us bay people are more focussed on the Laguna and "go over" to the beach a few times a week. Isn't that strange? The Island isn't but a quarter mile wide!

Sounds like we're crossing the Rockies or something.

It's funny, I can walk to the bay in about two seconds, but to "go over" to the beach I have to load the truck and allow for 15 minutes. I am fairly sure that the 15 minutes is related to the Manana Effect, where time seems to lose all dimensionality or meaning here on our sandbar. I think I figured that one out too:

• It takes about 15 minutes to cross the causeway including all the traffic
• When you cross the causeway you gain 15 minutes
• The two forces cancel each other out and time completely goes out the window (remember to open your window, or this could hurt ya)
  

I have further proof. The Municipal Building is right on Padre Boulevard, which is why they set the clocks ahead exactly 7.5 minutes from official time. Thus the causeway and Padre Boulevard make the Manana Effect even more complicated. Suffice it to say is you head east it takes forever and going west is a snap, sometimes getting there before it's really "time."

Plan accordingly when making your rounds of the Island and remember it is not fashionable to arrive early, unless there is free food and drinks. Totally understandable; I feel your pain. Just don't wait until Manana, or it might all be gone ...

See you on the beach in 15!

It was a dark and stormy day

I have given my normally sunny disposition the day off today due to inclement weather. Yes, it’s dark outside, and cold and clammy to boot. Perfect weather for some real tablet-smashers, and boy have I got some wild ones for you today. The general theme is that people are lead to believe certain things because they are told to do so, without the benefit of their own thinking. It is a common practice these days, and a reason why I think the United States is in such deep trouble today, both economically and politically. With that:

The war on terror is a smoke screen for the global trade war with China, India, and the EU. Nobody is going to dispute that our country needs to pacify some radical Muslim elements in the Middle East, especially in light of 9-11, but the real war is an economic one … and China is winning hands down. Our country has become a proverbial Dollar General store where everything is marked down to sixty-five cents. Usually such massive flows of capital precede major intercontinental wars.

“Illegal aliens” as an issue has blind-siding people to the idea that the middle class is broke. This is a very popular platform that totally ignores that our society benefits from cheap South American labor. Nobody will doubt that there are costs associated with having such cheap labor at our fingertips, but the larger fact is that the great American middle class is completely broke: we forgot to save and we’re living on credit. No longer able to use our homes as a piggy-bank, we’re even in worse shape. Bye, bye American pie – and you’re all worried about some Mexicans.

Handing out $800 checks will make the economy worse. If we’re broke, giving us Americans a couple hundred is like giving crack to an addict, not to mention that we’re financing this with more international credit mainly borrowed from the Chinese. In the 2001 Recession, it was the so-called “dot-coms” that tanked; this time it is working American families. The universal love-in on Capitol Hill regarding this topic is the silliest political masturbation I have ever witnessed.

Protecting our fisheries has only made it worse. Ah, we knew it! This topic is so important I’m going to do a whole separate blog about it, since it does affect SPI.

The Comprehensive Plan is just a means for wholesale development of the Island. There was a presumption that the Vision Statement and subsequent Comprehensive Plan would limit development on the Island to a dull roar, beautify it, and make everybody happy again. All those assumptions were mistaken from the get-go. Early on, I was skeptical and advised against it, a view expressed by Alderman Fred Mallet and many others. It turns out that Fred was most likely correct, since nothing with any concrete substance is coming out of committee. It is actually some very good work, to the committee’s credit, but do not expect and hard and fast controls on development on this Island or you will be in for a major let-down.

What to do with your rebate

As you know, President Bush and his economic advisers are putting together a plan to rescue the U.S. economy. Most likely it would be an $800 check or rebate for every taxpayer, and double that for jointly filing family heads of households (whoa, sounds like the hippies, huh?). Many analysts are watching closely at this, so yours truly here has a suggestion:

Come on down here to SPI and blow your wad. Do it for the country. It's the only American thing to do.

You can almost see the President in this picture I posted saying "Why not SPI"?

Now we know not all of you American taxpayers like South Texas as much as other places, but it's cheap, beautiful, warm, no passports needed, and did I say cheap? Aside from Spring Break and its notable Texas Week, we're open for business, and will make sure your rebate will go to the proper authorities so as to stimulate all the right markets. Aspen or Key West will suck $800 out of your pockets before you even get to the hotel.

Oh, so that's why the tourists walk so funny in those places.

So come on down to the friendliest island in America and we'll fix you all up. If enough of you folks come, we can even get the fireworks lady to crank up the fireworks barge, just so you'll really know you got enough bang for the buck!