Rita, Red Tide, and Cloudbusters

Rita, red tide, and cloud-busters – that’s a mouthful! First things first, Hurricane Rita ignored most of Texas and barreled up near Sabine Pass and pretty much hammered the area up through Lake Charles and Vinton, as you know; last it was up near Shreveport where brother Matt lives. Of course, the cell and landline phones are always down when you want all the gory details, and I hope everything is OK.

The red tide has been nothing short of incredible, the worst that the locals can every recall. Previously, I was hoping that the huge waves would send it elsewhere but I guess all the action stirred up the nutrients, oxygenated the water, and viola: instant gas-mask potential! I tried to drink a beer down at our favorite Tiki bar and after coughing, sneezing, eyes watering, and doing the “Gumby” dance, couldn’t handle it any more. Hopefully it will clear out because the post-Rita waves ought to clean up pretty good.

Cloud-busters? Well, those are waves to big you can’t see the clouds, like over 30 feet. Less than that size are mere “horizon-busters.” Apparently we had pro surfers from all over the world, like Spain, South Africa, and so on, but it was too rough except for the more suicidal ones with a crash boat. Tonight ought to be fun, and maybe Sunday will be better for the more sane types like me. By Monday the waves will probably be flat as a mill pond.

What do I want? Well, less red tide and maybe some more offshores. That’s when the wind is out of the north and west – mainly to drive the red tide fumes away. As luck would have it, the wind will be onshore out of the southeast on Sunday. But the heat! There’s not a breath of air and it is almost 100 degrees here. Tonight is our Rita Party but it looks like the porch is out of the question, with all the heat, no wind, and mosquitoes. Man, these mosquitoes have six-guns and spurs they’re so big! Make all that go away and bring on the nice surfing waves … and protect brother Matt in Shreveport … and I will be a very happy person.

By the way, the birds are back! Hundreds of them. Dozens of hummers, yellow-belly sapsuckers, Peregrine falcons, ruby-breasted thrashers, finicky finches, greedy grebes, and don’t forget the noble titmouse. I guess they have the Weather Channel too, and figured out the coast was clear.