Sam, Sam, the programmer man

That's a picture of an original Jim Franklin poster for the 'Thirteenth Floor Elevators,' one of the first real hippie bands that played at a cool place called the Vulcan Gas Company up in Austin, late 60s ("Conquero"). Jim went on to Armadillo fame later but these old posters are quite rare. I never got any prints but I do remember getting a bunch of cheap copy paper to staple them onto telephone poles downtown, which made for some rather unusual telephone poles.

But I digress, at the same time these hippies were blasting out electric rock 'n' roll, folks were programming on computers. I think this had something to do with the hippie movement. In essence, kids were making up any entire new language to communicate more effectively. I will never forget when one of the UNIX originals told our training class that "disk slash dollar dot splat" was the ultimate insult ... well you had to be there but the training was at the UT think tank technology incubator facility, millions of bucks and chaired by Admiral Inman himself.

So getting onto my point, since those days programming has changed, and boy has it. RegularHTML and SQL programming has gone nuts, and no telling what they do to jack up all those freaking graphics. It's amazing. DO YOU KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO PROGRAM IN FREAKIN' 'TWITTER'?

Ahem. I guess I am old school and went into a kind of statistics programming language called SAS, which was strange for a former English Major like me. SAS started in the 60's too, by a couple of hippies who left Big Blue (IBM) to work on applied mathematics, including such stuff as linear regression to analysis of variance and quality control. Unless you "sex up" your SAS output it looks like it was printed on one of the first linotype mainframe printers you ever saw.

Me I don't mind it a bit, and while I'm not getting rich I can make in the low six figures in the little job niche I wandered into. SAS has been berry, berry good to me. I guess I'm graphically challenged but viewing data in different ways, formats, and structures has always appealed to me, and a picture or movie is always better than reams of data. An emerging consensus is that when you really view data and visualize it, many of the common urban myths and old wive's tales turn out to be completely false!

So there I am, like the "best of 1998" and these mainstream programmers today are really hot. It's OK and it's all good, and as more people use computers communication will increase. I did put in a major plug for data programming, which can always use sexing-up. Just like them good old boys and girls did down on Congress Street at the Vulcan in Austin, Texas, light show and all.

Frumpy Hibiscus Effect

As spring keeps rolling into South Padre Island, the mind turns toward assessing the damage from the hurricanes, cold fronts, bugs, and plant diseases. This poor, stunted Hibiscus was a very expensive hybrid with double flowers, obviously never to amount to much. I got to looking around the island and many are in the same condition. Unfortunately, the only thing to do is to throw them away, dirt and all.

Salt might have something to do with it, but I noticed that after a plant gets stressed a little the bugs such as aphids will move in. Then some kind of ant "farms" the aphids. I think one or both help spread harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungus. For lack of a better expression I call it "frumpy hibiscus syndrome."

Interestingly, one common hibiscus I threw in the ground is going great, so how certain plants or varieties get sick is something of a mystery. But I'll be playing in the yard this weekend, trying to make sense of it all.

George F. Will and Global Smarmy

I'm temped to post about global warming and the recent torrent of pubic outcry out the last two columns by George F. Will of the Washington Post. I just posted a note on Grist, a very green blog, that they missed the point and inadvertently allowed George to win the argument.

We all think that George is something of a skeptic, although his antiquated views shouldn't be a threat to the effort to educate folks about climate change - which most everyone will say is happening. But his main point was that each side has a certain orthodoxy about what to think, and anybody who disagrees with them are considered insane. He brought up the media articles done back in the 1970s that in very alarmist terms, said the Earth was going to freeze over solid.

Naturally the "greens" responded with reams of information, studies, and "proof" that George F. Will was a lying, insane skeptic. Some of the responses such as by Joseph Romm were so rabid and over the top they were comical. The facts are, George F. Will might have a limited understanding of the science and got things slightly wrong in a citation (he proves where he got the information though), but his points about alarmism, extremism, and orthodoxy were pretty much right on target.

The mistake was the greens who went on the attack failed to convince anybody but themselves and only served to illustrate what George was saying. Instead of trying to work with folks to calmly educate them and lead them down the path to understanding how global warming works, they screamed, shouted, and revolted, nearly foaming at the mouth. It's almost like a "dictatorship of the nerds." It's was almost embarrassing to watch them struggle to reclaim the high ground.

This is important because while public opinion puts global warming at the bottom of the top ten national priorities, Americans are fairly divided about being for or against the concept of global warming, very similar to the recent Presidential election results. President Obama intends to float initiatives for low-carbon vehicle standards and a cap & trade program for large industries, ones that have to be voted up or down in Congress. That's why this fight is so important.

Perhaps things just aren't going very well for the greens these days. The economy dominates the media and a recession had put off some construction plans for clean power. Obama's plans for investing in mass transit and "green jobs" were drastically scaled back - which was as if it was a slap in the face. And George F. Will won the debate on his own grounds because he took the high road and acted calm.

I guess I'll leave you with my perspective. If you reduce energy consumption that will save you BIG BUCKS. If one can harness solar, wind, and water power and make that competitive, that will also save money, especially if fossil fuel costs race skyward again. The US could save about 30 percent of its power costs simply by improving efficiency and that saves a ton of money. Oh and by the way, when you do that, CO2 emissions will also go down about 30 percent, not a bad side effect. I think that's the right direction to go.

Springtime & the Dirty Crocks

It's funny but for us locals, Croc washing happens when the ocean water warms up. The surf here is fooling with the idea of 70 degrees. Let's just say that if you don't wear socks but you like life in them most of the time, your Crocs are going to look and smell a wee bit shabby. It's time to take my doggies to the beach.

Between the sand and the nice surf water - have to wade in for a few minutes and I like faking I'm "surf fishing" - the Crocs turn out pretty clean and the funkies are all gone. Now brush them outside using a little mild soap, scrub, rinse in the outside shower, and dry: that's a Croc's life for ya.

Now don't be leaving nice Crocs on the beach unattended. Last season some were growing feet and mysteriously disappearing, or possibly stolen. I'm sure that at over thirty dollars retail, they'd be worth at least five bucks in a garage sale. When "going nekked" meaning no shoes I bring my foulest, oldest paint-splattered, lawn-mowing, poop-scooping, offshore fishing Crocs, ones that could make a freight train divert to a dirt road. Trust me, they're still there when I come back from body surfing or walking. Just a suggestion, don't be leaving your brand new, prized Camo Crocs with the cool hunting colors down on the beach.

So spingtime rolls around again - we really didn't get much winter and knock on wood. I've tried the sink, buckets, and all kinds of ways to clean your Crocs but going to the beach and rinsing them really does the trick. I'm so happy I feel like another bonfire.

I Wanna Grouper Claypot

I really miss my fix of Vietnamese food sometimes, and nothing more than grouper claypot. Sorry for the rip-off picture, that looks more like chicken, shitake mushroom, and mung bean or some madness. Yeah you could even have vegetarian claypots and twice-fried tofu and it is wonderful, an essential ingredient of the mighty grouper claypot.

It's the king, the bomb, the best. I got to asking Hao the owner and chef how the heck he did those things. Aside from his wonderful brown sauce, a family secret, he said "it's all in the bowl."

And darn if he didn't show me. Those clay bowls have a snout at one end to insert a 2-foot wooden handle. The pot is lowered into a circular opening in stove top, like an old coal stove or something, sitting about a third of the way down. All of Hao's clay pots had brass wire on the outside: "Sometimes they crack or blow up and make a big mess," he says. Comforting, eh? Serving was a matter of bringing the claypot to the customer with a side of Jasmine rice, hopefully in non-exploding mode but still sizzling.

Basically it's just a vegetable stew with Chinese ketchup and some meat if you want it, I know, but I want one again. Interestingly, the mushrooms such as the Shitake, Oyster, and Morel came out perfect this way (I'm shakin' like Elvis). And I know, grouper is getting to be an endangered species, but there is none finer than a real grouper claypot.

The North End

That's a section of what I call the "North End," about two-thirds of the way between the Shores development and the end of Park Road 100. This piece of land is about exactly 6.45 miles long. The Gulf is on the right, with a white beach and then a skinny black line that is the park highway. To the left of the road you'll see some blobs that indicate large vegetated dunes, some mudflats, and weird stuff due to the resolution of the picture.

Except for a few high dunes on the beach side, the beach is about 600 feet wide between the roadway and the dark sand (see the little red dots?). The brilliant white color indicates a lack of vegetation except in small places, and most of those dunes are small coppice dunes or larger, shifting "air dunes."

I didn't get the best shot here but see that "fan" effect on the bayside at the very top of the picture? That's an indicator of a very large and powerful washover zone. So there are a lot of dangers and risks in building up in this area. Unfortunately, a complete Google Earth satellite view of the entire length of the island in dispute looks like spaghetti so short sections such as this picture are the only way to gain an appreciation for the area.

Let's talk set-backs from the wet sand now, a nice surrogate for the high water mark. We now have 600 feet to play with, and the vegetation line is nowhere near obvious. I'm not a coastal expert by trade but you can drive for quite a while and not see any continuous vegetation line anywhere. That's important because the area between the vegetation line and the waterline is considered a public beach.

Then you has a "building line" which is usually a setback from the waterline of maybe 200 feet to 400 feet depending on the area (the Shores went with 400 I think). That's interesting, since the erosion rate in this part of the island is about 10 feet per year! Does that mean in 20 years there won't be anymore public beach? Gee, I hope to be alive to see that one.

Perhaps I'm being Captain Obvious here but it is clear to me we have major problems just figuring out how to plan that part of the island. I would prefer if nothing was developed up there but that just isn't going to happen. What would you do?

SPI Bees

Okay, not my best picture with $99 automatic but that was supposed to be a close-up of my Meyer's Lemon bushes which were - until I got close - were covered with all kinds of bees. There were at least five kinds of bees. I discovered that aside from a typical honey bee or bumble bee, I had no clue about the bees down here.

But I think you get the message that a bunch of stuff is flowering, including my lemons and some Huisache trees, and when it gets over 75 or 80 degrees the bees are quite active.

There's little teeny bees of several kinds, regular bees, bees that look like wasps, brown-black bees, and a huge black bee that looks like a flying B-52. My online sources such as Wiki, Google, and the Texas Handbook of Insects are totally useless. They like to talk about regular honey bees, some carpenter bees, and the dreaded Africanized bee, which we know are really from Brazil. Useless!

I find it fascinating to watch all these bees play on the flowers, some incredibly small and some large as a nickel in size. Maybe somebody knows? Until then, let's sing along with some Frank Sinatra:

Do bee-do, bee do bee,
Do bee-do, bee do bee do ...

More Beach Graphs

Here's something I believe we need more of down on SPI - beach transects. Imagine if you sliced the beach due east and measured the distance to the beach as well as the elevation. This transect was done in 2005 or so on a place called "SPI02," which I have no idea where that is. But with the new dredge stuff, constant erosion, and probably storms, it's nice to graph these over time and see how things are changing.

In this graph, the sea wall is where measurements are taken. You'll see a hump for a nice dune or two, and then a hump in the middle called the fore-dune. The vegetation line is on the right side of the fore-dune. The rest is all public beach down to the water line.

The horizontal scale is not perfect because I'm a dummy with the new Excel software but that's 300 feet from the condo seawall (historic building line) to the waterline, not bad. Note that this was before the erosion events that occurred later in 2005 due to Katrina and Rita, which would be cool to compare.

I also backwards engineered this graph to show that it is almost exactly 7 feet from the waterline to the top of the seawall - usually the survey numbers are negative and in meters, which are a little tough to read. The 300 feet is a magic number though, as erosion will cause that to dramatically shorten.

Think this is tough stuff requiring professionals? They have students trained at Point Isabel High School who do this all the time!

On Building Dunes

click the pic to enlarge

For the record, I am not a coastal biologist, scientist, or engineer although all three interest me, so be careful about using my words against anybody else. But I think folks may have lost a bit of common sense about "how to build a sand dune." And to learn how to grow dunes, you have to learn how the winds affect the shifting piles of sand.

So that ugly picture is a wind rose from Corpus Christi - the closest one I could find - that show wind direction, wind speed, and wind speed frequency. This one was for a 30 year average of days in January. What you see are two long barbs going to the northeast and the southeast. Other months such as July only has one barb to the southeast because there are no cold fronts with north winds in the summer.

But this means something, chiefly that building a "continuous dune line" will be frustrated from winds coming both directions, not at once of course but that significant dune shifting will result in the winter months, always eroding the face and creating a long slope behind the lee side of the dune.

To me this has two implications: that a "herringbone" type construction is needed instead of a linear one, and second that the idea is to build onto already existing humps, coppice dunes, and mature, vegetated dunes rather than piling sand and seaweed. In other words, any new dunes must grow naturally.

The herringbone construction is essentially a "vee" that slows down the wind from the northeast and southeast during the critical winter dune building months. Either wind direction, the project design works. Other designs, either laterally (north-south) or perpendicular (east-west) will both fail from either wind direction!

But human nature being what it is, folks want to "fill the gaps" with artificial dunes that to me, just won't work. All dunes have a certain wind flow around them and we will never have a true "continuous dune line" no matter what we do - and the air effects around tall buildings makes it even worse in the urbanized part of South Padre Island. We will always have dune gaps and wash-overs - and as long as condo roof drains are allowed to drain onto the Gulf side (a violation of the Clean Water Act), we'll have a horrible problem.

Not many people see things the way I do. I'm not going to get into what did and didn't work so hot. But using some common sense, one can build onto robust, mature dune and make them move up and down the beach. I'd use a ton of railroad vine roots and clippings, is my idea.

Finally, I wrote this because of an article in the Island Breeze which mentioned something like "if we don't vegetate the dunes, we'll get horrible hurricane damage." What a crock. Vegetated dunes were cut down like a butter knife by Hurricane Ike waves. The idea is just to slow down the damage a little bit. All I want is to bring some common sense to the table, no rocket science.

The Stinky Cheese Wars

Ah, who would have thought that such a perfectly foul smelling, wonderful French cheese would be the subject of a global trade war? Nobody really knows. As reporting the the Washington Post, the Bush Administration slapped a 300% import duty of Roquefort cheese in retaliation for the EU prohibiting importation of hormone-injected beef. Why Roquefort? Maybe I need to watch some more Monty Python movies.

If that's not existential enough, take the Stinky Cheese Wars being fought over the Town Lawyer on the SPI Forum. Like Roquefort cheese or the hilarious Flying Circus 'Cheese Shop' we simply have no idea why the idea came up, other than some old farts on the island must have gotten into some ... well some really stinky cheese or too many beans or something. We have no clue why people are mad at the poor lawyer, other than he has a helmet hairdo and drives a fancy Porsche 911 turbo. Hmm, hard to tell really.

I'm headed over to Zeste to see if they have any ugh ... stinky killer cheese balls!

Now that's a beeg plane!

This caught my eye, the biggest commercial jet plane in the world, the Airbus A-380. Quantas Air flies them mainly West Coast to and from Australia. It is so large that Los Angeles Airport (LAX) must stop all plane and ground transportation movements when one approaches or takes off. The local LAX officials like the business but treat the A380 as a royal pain because the wing span intrudes into all of the FAA safety zones.

Four Rolls Royce turbo-fans each output 70,000 foot-pounds of thrust and share a 80,000 fuel tank system. These engines are so large they required special sound dampening controls, or the passengers and crew would go deaf on a take-off. It creates such a turbulent wake effect that other planes must stay at least 10 miles away from it - smaller planes even further away.

Need to hit the restroom or make a fast destination when you've landed? With 500 to 800 passengers, the aircraft takes over 45 minutes to unload unless a third gate is added. Other US airports are looking to allow the A380 to land there (Kennedy does already), but the expense for taxiways and terminals is over 100 million dollars.

Ah, now that's living large, huh? I wonder if Sandy Feet rode one of those to Aussie Land or not.

Sustainabllity Part 4

One more post on the topic and I'm taking a break until the some inspiration (or brain fart) happens about the topic. I would like to say that unlike the early days of the island, SPI was indeed a sustainable place, and there are doubts about the future. Yes the economy will be here, but what kind of economy and quality of life? This is in recognition that the only industry on SPI is tourism.

As stated very broadly on the Center for Sustainable Destinations, there are 5 aspects to geo-tourism and sustainable communities:

1. Sustains tourism
   
2. Protects the destination
3. Conserves the resources
4. Respects local cultures and traditions
5. Promotes quality over quantity

Some of these concepts are being discussed around the island grapevine, without knowing they're talking about big concepts such as sustainability and geo-tourism. For example, Items #2 and #3 are about eco-tourism and the need for recycling and electrical conservation. Item #5 is misleading to many because they often think we need more rich visitors and residents on the island, which simply is not true. While the kinds of tourists that are more educated, stay longer, and spend more money do indeed have some disposable income, it could apply to any type of tourist. More on the topic will follow after a brief hiatus.

Happy Inauguration Day, 2009.

Sustainability Part Three

That's a 1957 postcard picture of the old bridge, also known as the Queen Isabella Causeway. Since that time a new causeway was built in about 1973, the present one linking Port Isabel and SPI. A third proposal is underway for yet another causeway to be built somewhere north of the existing ones. And interestingly, it would be a tollway exactly like back in 1957.

The stated reasons for a second causeway is that additional capacity is needed in case of emergencies or in case a barge takes out one or the other, and plus the existing causeway is quite old (although there are no plans to remodel it). The unstated reason for a second bridge is because developers want a bridge to the North End of the island, so resort travelers would not have to drive through the towns of Port Isabel and SPI. The concept is to create additional capacity (discussed in the last blog entry). One wonders how sustainable the whole concept really is, especially given the estimate of about two hundred million dollars.

The North End is roughly defined as the land between the Shores and the end of Park Road 100. It is also the wild end of the island, relatively thin, and known for hurricane wash-overs and high erosion rates. To construct the huge resorts - a few residential lots have been sold but it is mostly resort - the fragile dune systems would have to be flattened. While there might be some restaurants eventually constructed in the area, it is expected that the business and entertainment zone would be in SPI. The grocery stores would probably remain where they are, the Blue Marlin downtown with the Wal-Mart and HEB over in Port Isabel. So there are a host of gambles, what-ifs, and relationships with the old SPI town core that haven't even been addressed yet. Those relationships turn out to be very important.

Many assume that self-contained mega-resorts or even casinos would be constructed on the North End. However, knowing human nature, they will want to fish, shop, dive, see dolphins, go to Sclitterbaun, see the fireworks, and so forth. So I don't trust the "self-contained" resort paradigm in the least, and building up on the North End will only make our town less sustainable. Further, one would expect very few long-term residents to move into that area, as it would be mostly casino-like resorts for shortime visitors and a few very rich folks who can afford second mansions. I know I sound negative here but there is no plan to accomdate such kind of growth to the North End. In truth it would be best developed for mixed uses that were low-rise dwellings - but development will happen and there's nothing we can do about it.

And on the same subject, I will not dwell on the "leaning tower of SPI" which was supposedly constructed to the best engineering available, yet it failed and will never be inhabited, a stark reminder of the conditions at the "wild end" of the island. So my take is that building up the North End is an incredible risk that will not improve upon sustainability one iota, and would probably ruin the wild beaches and the access to them as well.

In the next section I'll talk about "geo-tourism" which is very different from eco-tourism although they are related. The concept of geo-tourism is directly intertwined with sustainability.

Sustainability Part Two

Sustainability can be differentiated from the town vision statements and comprehensive plans. A sustainable community might be one that is over-developed. The concept there is called "carrying capacity." The easiest example is to compare when the island has exceeded its carrying capacity, such as during:

• Texas Week, Spring Break
• Memorial Day
• Fourth of July

The threshold could be about 50,000 people on the island although numbers are difficult to pin down, other than we know when it happens because the bridge, main drag, and parking become so congested it takes hours to travel a few miles. There are 17,000 taxable residence units on SPI and perhaps about another 6,000 hotel rental units; in addition there are "day trippers" that leave each night, at times estimated at over 10,000 on peak days. There are very serious questions if the island could handle more people even with another causeway constructed to the north, as well as additional dwelling/rental units on the North End. What are all those people going to do?

This is an interesting case because during the off season, SPI can be considered a rural area having a density of less than 5,000 people per square mile, but can have a density of 25,000 per square mile on those peak weekends and holidays. One has to design the city for the peak activity, however. Once a threshold has been exceeded, the "island experience" becomes a negative due to crowding, congestion, and conflicts that create accidents and incidents. This "out of control" situation indicates that the study area is clearly not sustainable.

Yet at the same time, there is an acceptance that more and more houses and condos will be built on the island, which would increase loads even more. Some experts like to call this "managed growth" so as to minimize the negative impacts we already are seeing. Others call it bad names. I'll take on the proposed second causeway and North End development next.

SPI: A Sustainable Town?

Most folks tend to think of "sustainable" in environmental terms, such as reducing energy and vehicle driving and promoting walkable neighborhoods. There are many examples with many of the advanced ones being in Western Europe. Others view it as an economic plan, such as for improved small town and rural areas, such as for expanded education and health clinics in Pennsylvania and Colorado. And for a coastal resort area such as South Padre Island, some would view it in the context of sustainable geo-tourism as opposed to mega-developments and high rises.

The concept of sustainability is simply one that says that rapid growth is not as important as being able to weather adverse conditions over the long term. A town that was built in a boom and became a ghost town was obviously not "sustainable." It's a fascinating topic and there is a ton of information about the subject, but nothing that is really comprehensive - which is why I like to write about it sometimes.

In classical Von Thunen terms, a city or town was a circle in the middle, surrounded by a fringe and then rural lands; the rural lands were cheaper so that is where the farming occurred. As cities grew with population increases, the cities expanded outward along with the fringe that pushed farm and ranchland further away from the city. This theory is still very much alive today with concepts such as a downtown, city limits, an ETJ, and surrounding areas that were under the control of counties, states, or the federal government. It meant a need for constant annexation as far as one could go - in the American West, seemingly forever.

The reason for annexation is because people who lived on the fringes enjoyed some of the benefits of the city, and therefore should eventually be taxed for that enjoyment. Plus in many cases, if the central city did not absorb those lands, other cities would claim the land and thus tax the residents and businesses, a net loss in revenue. Nowhere is the situation more evident than the cities of Port Isabel and Brownsville annexing all the land around South Padre Island.

If you look at sustainable areas such as those in Europe, population growth is fairly flat and the cities have grown all they can because of boundary issues. Our little SPI is remarkably similar, except for a few miles that can be developed and annexed to the north. However, our economic view even here on SPI requires growth for its future, a contradiction in terms. I'll write more about that in the next installment.

Global warming and another cold war

Now that's a big diesel engine. Sucks down about 1,600 gallons an hour! There's a little guy standing in the picture with a yellow suit. About 100,000 horsepower, to be used in a containership to brings us all kinds of crap that says "Made in China." Who would have thunk it possible?

Eric Proposes!

Looks like my son Eric and Cari are getting married this coming September. Here on the island! And she has a huge Italian family, like over 50. Lori got "the call" today and we're real excited. Does this mean I have to wear real clothes though, and leather shoes too? A tuxedo monkey suit? Ugh-oh, but I sure I have plenty of time to practice. But they're so happy, and that's what counts.

Tweet-Up No. 2

I thought the tweet-up at Joni's was great, and it wasn't all that freaky like I thought it ... well I have a fertile imagination. Hm, "tweets"? Had a great time, good crowd, had a beer, and made some friends.

Here's an example of long text, a little different from the 140 characters for Twitter. But it almost makes sense, and has some weird lingo from NOAA and the National Weather Service (evening forecast 8:50 pm CST Sat Jan. 3)

Marine...buoy 20 reported south winds at 15 to 20 knots and seas of 4 to 5 feet with a 7 second period early this evening. Observation on the Laguna Madre were light to moderate from the south. Winds will continue to mix down offshore tonight in the presence of a weak low level jet. Only when high pressure pushes into south Texas from the north Sunday morning to relax the gradient will winds weaken from moderate to light. Winds will remain light most of Sunday...slowly backing to east and then northeast as high pressure works its way into deep south Texas. Winds will become northeast and increase Monday morning once colder air arrives. Exercise caution to borderline Small Craft Advisory conditions are expected offshore Monday. Low overcast clouds with some light rain will be the rule Monday. Loaded new nawave4 grids which initialized the current lower sea heights well.
&&

Bonfire Update #1

OK, I realize I was confusing in my original post. The bonfire is still on for New Years Day, Thursday.

Weather-wise, a mild front is due to come through this morning with fairly strong NE winds. On Thursday, the wind is expected to switch back to the South. The question is the timing of the wind and rain right at about dusk when we want to light the fire. So far, so good.

Calling All SOBs - Bonfire!

Wednesday is the 31st and we're hoping for a good evening for a pachanga at the end of the road again. You know the drill. I'll bring the wood, and hopefully Sandy Feet and other have some contributions, and y'all just bring your chairs, ukuleles, kazoos, marshmallows, or whatever. Oh, some wine and beer is completely acceptable by the way. Food is gud. End of the road, face right due East, and walk about 150 yards and you'll see us.

When? Well we'll have to watch that because nobody wants to go up to the North End in 40 degrees of weather and drizzle, or worse. We want nice. Stay in touch with the SOBs and no problem.

Help needed? You betcha! We lost some of our most venerable surf trucks and Jeeps, so we'll most likely need some help hauling gear and firewood from the street. My back will thank ya.

What time? Well once we get the "go" from the powers that be, including the weather gods, the early crew is out there about 4 o'clock loading wood and stuff so it's still daylight. The sun goes down and we light a small camp fire. The fire gets bigger after dinnertime. One time some locals came by with a ton of wood and old pallets and it was quite spectacular.

What should I bring? The usual stuff plus a flashlight for walking the dunes in the dark. Trash bags are good, since we haul off all our waste plus some more beach trash. We're asking people not to bring fireworks because some dogs will be there, and it scares them.

When? The extended forecast shows New Years Day being OK with a high in the 70s with a low in the 60s but a 10% chance of rain. Looks like a cold front might come in after that, not sure. After a Polar Bear plunge, might be nice! -sammie

Merry Christmas

'Twas a South Padre Christmas and all down the beach,
White sand stretched as far as it could reach.
The flippers were hung on the balcony with care,
In the hopes that Santa soon would drift there.

The Texans were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Key Lime pie danced in their heads.
Bahama mama in her grass skirt and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long tropical nap.

When out in the night there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my hammock to see what was the matter.
Away to the screen door I flew like a flash,
Tore open the curtains and let out a gasp.

The moon on the water, how it did glow,
Giving a luster of midday to palm trees below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature yacht out past the pier.

With a little old captain so lively and quick,
I thought for a moment, "Could it be St. Nick?"
More rapid than the waves, the dolphins they came
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

"Now Flipper, now Moby, now Sebastian and Willy,
On Flounder, on Orca, on Jaws and Charlie -
From the end of the pier to our port of call,
Now swim away, swim away, swim away all!"

And then in a twinkling I heard on the beach,
The chirping and chattering and splashing of each.
As I redrew the curtains and was turning around,
Through the front door St. Nicholas came with a bound.

Dressed in his trunks with a beer in his hand,
His feet were all covered with snow-like white sand.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a tourist just opening his pack.

His eyes - how they twinkle, his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were sunburned, his nose like a cherry.
His droll little mouth cracked a big smile,
The goatee on his chin, showed he could be kinda wild.

The snorkel he held tight in his teeth,
The mask it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a red face and a sunburned belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

Trunks and a cold “Gold”, a strange old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A flash of the peace sign and a nod of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the flippers, then turned with a jerk.
Now laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, out the door he goes.

He sprang to his yacht to his team gave a call,
And away they swam past the lighthouse and all.
But I heard him exclaim as he traveled out of sight,
"Christmas in South Padre, now that's doin' it right!"

-adapted from "Christmas in Abaco" by Nick Campbell and Debbie Midwood circa 2004

Half Shares in a Shrimp Boat

That's a picture of a massive crane barge lifting what is left of an 80-foot shrimp boat that got stuck on the end of the South Jetty. Photo credits go to Dennis Barrett and his Sandslave blog.

A bunch of us - maybe nearly 1,500 - were watching the Sky Cam yesterday, which had remarkable zoom ability from several miles away. It appeared that the stern of the shrimp boat broke off, perhaps after the recent heavy winds and high seas. Both sections of boat seemed to dangle and be smashed on the jetty, a horrifying sight! Dennis grabbed this picture once the crane barge was in smoother waters of the Brownsville Ship Channel.

So it was a neat day for watching the waters yesterday, as the shrimp boat was dangled and mangled, and workers were moving 500-foot sections of dredge pipe down the beach. Heavy action to say the least.

Shallow and Cold

For the last hour I've been watching as the sun struggles - finally - to burn through the clouds. This was very strange, as the wind was out of the north yet the clouds were trucking to the north about 20 miles an hour! Obviously, the weathermen called it right as a shallow cold front even though they botched the last three day's forecast pretty bad - the front was originally supposed to stall north of here.

Ah, more sun. Anyway that was neat with the cool wind one way, and the clouds and mist at about a thousand feet going the other. I mean those clouds were trucking, probably meaning a major warm-up is on the way.

I also think it is neat that in these heady times when we think we know everything, we still can't get the weather right. Obviously we don't know very much, do we?

We're Too Darned High

The subject for this post is real estate and the the theme is whether SPI really is cheaper than other places in the US. This conversation came up during our "Alternatini" gathering because we weren't invited to Martini Night, and how a real good business simply couldn't find anything on the island that was remotely workable.

So I hit the books and did a little research. I can't compare condos yet, as they have zero land, but I was able to compare land lot prices in terms of dollars per acre.

• Block Island, RI: $0.7M per acre
• Martha's Vineyard: $0.8M per acre
• South Padre Island: $1.4M per acre

I know I have avoided the California issue but places like Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Long island NY, and Nantucket are the cream of the crop, the highest land prices on the Eastern Seaboard. The fact is, our prices are double theirs.

This came as quite a surprise because the prevailing logic that SPI is cheaper than most other places. I can do some more research, although it involves putting numbers into a spreadsheet, but I don't think the answers would change much. The prevailing logic was wrong. Face it, we're trying to screw the market and the potential home buyer knows it. Here are the chief reasons:

• The average home lot is only 0.14 acres in SPI, a small postage stamp
  
• Other places offer land at in terms of 1 to 2 acres, with small lots being 0.25 acres, lots of space that people really value
  
• The Town of SPI isn't nearly that great or pretty to offset the very high cost of land

What is truly baffling is that many people bought land down here when it was only $200K to $400K per acre or even cheaper if you'd been here since the early 70's. How did we end up adding a million to those kinds of numbers and get away with it?

Until recently we did. That all stopped about two years ago when the housing market dried up. The only moving down here are condos and townhomes and they aren't doing too great either. It is simple math: we're too damn high.

To tell the truth, I moved here for quality of life and knew about the costs and did my research. But I wouldn't expect "zoomers and boomers" to fall from the sky because we're totally upside down on our land prices. I can tell you why islanders move to Port Isabel or Bayview though: you can get an entire acre or more for the price, including a $250,000 house on it.

Best and Worst Jobs

I think building sand castles is still one of the coolest jobs on the Earth. But what's the worst?

"Anal gland expresser."

Wish I was making it up...

Santa is a witch!

I knew it! Old Saint Nick move over, the real "Santa" is a witch called Befana. See the story here on Spiegel.

I never did trust some fat boy with flying reindeer, anyway, I mean you've got to be kidding. Women know the good kids and the bad kids and do 90 percent of Christmas, anyway. Hey, what's a little broomstick action if they want to get around town, anyway? It's much more believable - and yes, I used to watch Bewitched when I was a kid, too.

Nick, face it, you're getting rather worn out, the North Pole is melting, and nobody's buying much in this stinking Madoff economy. Come on down to South Padre and lose some weight. I betcha Amazing Walter would let the elves stay in his garage workshop until ya get a nice condo thing working.

I know Santa really was and is a woman because my dad used to come home from work in December and ask if the kids were any good that day. Sheesh, mom had the dirt on everybody, all six of us, no fooling that lady! Badda-bing, badda-boom, badda-boop, list them off one after the other. Gosh we were stinkers sometimes, talk about a multiple listing service!

No I'm not saying my mother is Befana, no way. Befana is a real witch in Italy, really nasty and dirty and crooked and sooty with bad teeth and torn rags. Now come on, the job pays about ten Euros an hour so you have to look the part and get into it. But it's a neat story.

And Old Saint Nick, you're always welcome at our beach bungalow, brother. Just no Ho-Ho-Ho around the old lady, OK?

OK, that's enuff

I put out double rations of birdseed today on account of the cold weather but ugh ... looks like these fellas were still hungry. How they tripped the trap latch is a mystery, since they don't weigh but a few ounces. Funny thing, they just stood there and we cooed at each other, and then I opened the gate and off they flew. No mas. I called the town to get the trap and please "no mo." The score:

• 15 tequatche possum
• 1 yearling mapache raccoon
• 3 very stupid neighborhood cats (released)
  
• 2 really cool pigeons (released)
  

I wish that was a list of all the offshore fish I caught this summer, but oh well.

Toasty 2008 Number 3

What a beautiful day Sunday was down by the Wanna-Wanna. We got to help Sandy Feet as she carved another Toasty the Snowman. Jerry Wilson took the picture shown above and Island Princess took the one below. Me, the dummy in the crown, I forgot my camera.


Lots of visiting families, Winter Texans, islanders, and a large group from Monterrey stopped by for a picture or six. Oh yea, and Sun Clay, Amazing and Laurie, and many more. It was very fun. Thanks, Feets!

Great Googly Moogly!

As you can see in today's picture, it's a windy, cold, and damp day on the island, more like that Connecticut Yankee weather I grew up with. So the mind wanders to other pursuits, such as Oogedy Boogedy and such irrelevant things.

But first let's start with the boogies, from which all these terms arise. The boogie itself was inspired by black history and their blues form of music. It had a dual meaning of a scary, mean, ghostly bad man ("boo") but also having a very good time with some music and some booze and some fun. In fact, the terms voodoo chile and boogie chillen are almost interchangeable, since their music came over from the tribes such as in Mali, Africa. The important concept was the mixture of extreme danger and extreme fun, all at once: be afraid and smile.

Great Googly Moogly dates back to exactly the same concept, although perhaps more fun and more extreme at once, if that is possible. The Wikipedia entry fails to grasp this duality very well although it does have some nice references to both the blues artists of the 50's and current humor. It is a difficult concept unless you know a little about the blues and what "the boogies" are.

This is all leading up to Kathleen Parker's editorial about oogedy-boogedy. In this she conveniently lays out as an attack on the over-religious right in the Republican Party, and it perhaps her third editorial about their problem with the "God squad."

Not so fast, Kathy!

The term originally comes from ooga-booga and while its origination is unclear and does seem to be associated with superstitious beliefs, it is basically a parody on dumb people who are depicted as living like apes. Ask a kid about how cavemen or tribes in Africa communicated, they will probably say "like oogabooga." In a sense it was a deliberate slam on black people, perhaps the same people who celebrated the blues: one can almost hear a KKK person saying it. But significantly, notice the b-o-o-g part on the end, which should mean something to us now, both linguistically and etymologically speaking.

So Kathy's column today invented another variant of that slam-phrase, twisting its meaning in a very sardonic and sarcastic manner. I'm sure she has no idea of what she was saying with those words. Ho-ho-ho, you bad girl, Kathleen! Oogedy-boogedy, girl chile!

Steal This Picture

This is a very famous aerial photo of SPI during Hurricane Georges waves of 1998, done by Richard Stockton. Yes it is copyrighted but Gene Gore has is on his website, easy to download from there too. I use it for my deck-top graphic and not the screen saver: it's too good.

What I like is how you can see the current flow past Barracuda Bay and the rows of waves that indicate the sandbars on the beach. On a jet plane you can see those rows of waves from about 25,000 feet - well, maybe on a good day but you know what I mean.

Jerry Wilson also has some good stuff although I haven't seen his stills yet, but is the new "Stockton" of our island although I heard that Richard is still alive and kicking. You can double click the picture and it should get quite larger. I can barely make out my neighborhood - small island, isn't it?

A Word about those Pigeons

Well after conjecturing and postulating, it turns out that the pigeons are here for a reason - Peregrine Falcon food!

George Colley told me of the story that there was at one time some kind of "save the Peregrine Falcon" society and they imported 100 pigeons to SPI. This was back in maybe the 80s or so.

He said it was a good deal the the Peregrine Falcons were only here three months a year and got to eat, but the rest of the year the pigeons could live unmolested, a win-win situation.

No wonder why my pigeons have been spooky lately! A few seem to be MIA as well. But as for a story - which seems right to me now that I think about it - it sure was something.

Sailing South Padre

Went out on Thanksgiving evening for a wonderful sailboat ride to the jetties and back. It was supposed to blow over 20 MPG but it dropped to flat calm really quick. So relaxing ... our best Thanksgiving ever!

Being a wee bit snoopy, I asked about how much hs sailboat drafted and why we didn't get a lot of "winter cruiser" sailboats down here. The captain thought, and said "I draft about 4-foot eight, although the bluewater boats are deeper, like six feet or more. Even I have to watch the shifting bars and even I get stuck. Simply stated, we don't have any deep water unless you want to park in the Shrimp Basin."

I was rather shocked at the answer but then the captain continued "and what are the cruisers supposed to do, go to Sea Ranch and Louie's once and that's it? There's nothing for them to do here."

He mentioned a Galveston to SPI sailboat race where the large sailboats raced ... and had to turn right back to Galveston without even landing here at Port Isabel or South Padre. They were too big for the docks and too deep for the channels. Think of all that money just passing us by.

This was something of a revelation to me, although I've had my share of being stuck in the mud (many times) even with a motorboat that only needed a foot or so of water. I guess that's why the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit goes to Bimini, the Virgin islands, and other Caribbean destinations becase we don't want them. I wonder if we can change that ... sailing is the "green" thing to do, right?

Uncle Buggies Gone

I drove to the bank today - I love putting money in the bank and I saw Captain Al Stewart putting money in the bank there too - and was watching for all these hideous, damaged T-shirt shops, of which I only found four. Four out of maybe hundred shops on Padre Boulevard. I was thinking that the Town Vision Gestapo was maybe getting a little carried away ... when all the sudden I noticed that the letters had fallen off the Uncle Buggies sign.

Nope, somebody had purposely taken the letters off the sign, shuttered the store, and put up a "For Rent" sign in the front door. The property was empty, clean as a whistle. Bummer!

It's just another casualty of history I suppose, like the Dolphin Cove Oyster Bar, Josephs, Kelly's and all kinds of time-hallowed places that made the island what it is. In fact I had listed it in my History Channel blog because it was a neat old building, possibly an old gasoline station. There's a really cool story about the young man who came here from California to set up shop, although he got sick a few years ago and died ... which I guess is why all the dune buggies are gone now, as the family didn't want to fool with it anymore.

R.I.P Uncle Buggies.

This is what will happen ....

This is what will happen to our town if we don't clean up that SPI Boulevards right now! Those T-shirt shops need to be repaired NOW! It has been four months after Hurricane Dolly, and if we don't fix up these old shops we're doomed. Cousin Jed shown in the picture will move in, and that shack has wheels, baby. It'll be squatter city before you know what hit ya.

Actually, that's a half famous Smithsonian picture of a Hooverville dwelling during the Great Depression, which was quite a find - and a popular topic these days as the economy lurches along, swooning. There were Hoovervilles all over the country and at its worse, 25 percent of working men were unemployed - they didn't count women in the working force back then.

Funny, right when many cities and counties are running out of money, we want to fix everything up all spiffy, spend a few million, and by doing so, people will shower out town in coins and hundred dollar bills. I really don't know who these people are, or how many there are, but they sure are vocal pests. Of course the Main Drag looks a little frumpy - we just had a hurricane here. Of course they're supposed to secure their property a little better. I think it takes time and insurance money but these folks are definitely chomping at the bits. I just saw three condo roof jobs being started last week, for crying out loud.

And that's exactly why I picked the Hooverville picture. The well-heeled, conservative, and richer townsfolk kept trying to run off the poor people, and the attitudes are just the same. Where is that compassion, that ability to reach out and help?

And gosh, now I think about it, I have about 3-4 months I can make it if I loose all my income and I'll be just like ole Jed up there in the picture. But let us not talk about how close we live to the dark side with the poverty, the hurricanes, and all that. We're on South Padre Island! Yay!

The Raccoon

It's not fair to take a picture of my first raccoon we trapped, they look so innocent and intelligent. The sad dog eyes with round masks around them, the "please let me go" whimper.

Finally the local animal control guy - actually two of them - came by to offload the critter way up the beach, since my dog was going absolutely nuts. Malia out dog is pretty easy with the possum now but the raccoon must be some kind of mortal enemy.

And a nasty one too, after posing like an angel for Lori and me. "Watch this," said the officer as he dangled a dog leash into the cage. The varmint yelled, hissed, spat, took a mighty swipe with a paw, and then bit the leash almost in two. "Don't stick your fingers in the cage." He used a six-foot snake pole to move the trap into his truck.

I asked the officer if raccoons were normal for the island and he said they don't see them for a long time and then they seem to be everywhere - I just started noticing them after the hurricane. Sure enough, another acquaintance says he say four down by the beach right next to a beach access.

One more tidbit: another islander who traps varmints now and then did an experiment and dabbled some nail polish on the possum that were taken up north by the town. Within a matter of two weeks, about half the pack was ... back in the trap again. Are you folks picking up some rather strange hitchhikers or what?

Beautiful November

Here's a kingfisher, a belted kingfisher like the kind that winters down here every year. We have a pair of them at the end of our bay-end street and they are a wonder to watch because they're true acrobats, sometimes diving and coming up with minnows. I wish my camera could catch them but they look fly specks - thus the stolen picture.

They're ornery bastards I can vouch for that, always arguing and I swear they swoop my dog to try to run it off - while I'm walker her. No wonder why they invented Thanksgiving at the end of the month, because November is such a bummer month, especially this year.

True, many fellow islanders have gotten sick or need surgery and many folks are down. I'm just recovering from a case of the flu that tried to morph itself into walking pneumonia, but thanks to Lori's Mexican drugs, that sucker is about gone. You folks still under the weather take care. Lori herself seemed like she was catching something just tonight.

But it is still wonderful on the island, very seasonable weather, and we got the kingfishers back in town. The kite and wind boarders are fun to watch. When the wind gets up there are about three or four locals that waddle down the street in their gear looking for that 40 MPH ride.

The kingfishers get to bark at them, too!

Pinkie Still At It

This is probably the last plumeria bloom of the season but as you can tell, "Pinkie" is still going strong. I've never had plumeria in November before so this is really something - I think she likes the island weather. Hmm, a rather delicate lavender smell.

When she goes dormant this winter, I'll have dig her up and reset the plant, which like many others is leaning with a 45-degree list because of Hurricane Dolly. Alas, several died, in addition to a natal plum and the citrus trees.

Anyway, all fixed up and a handful of fertilizer mixed in the hole, she should be back in business by next April or May, flowers and all.

Sam, Sam ... the Fur Trapper?

Well after I sent a nutty complaint to our town using some whacky form, I got a call today. "I heard you had a raccoon that was attacking you, Mr. Wells?" After about a week I had forgotten all about that, how a mama raccoon and her baby had gotten all defensive when Lori was feeding the outside cats before dawn one day.

So staff was understanding and had heard of some raccoon on the island, and loaned me one of the larger sized Have-A-Heart traps. Whatever they're called, they're humane, just a cage and a trap door. And some kitty food.

First off all I caught every single dumb cat in the neighborhood, including my domestic part Siamese that should have known better. So I guess the trick is to run traps well after ten o'clock at night. I let all the cats go, since none were feral or bobcats.

Bingo, after reloading with another rasher of kitty food for bait, I bag a small possum. Not heavy enough to trip the trigger on the large animal trap so I dropped an old beach sandal on the trap from the upstairs porch, which made a nice "ka-chunk" sound as the gate snapped closed.

In case you are wondering, any trapped wild animals are unloaded about 5 to 7 miles to the north end of the beach, where they are released - the town insists on doing this. Domesticated animals go to the pound on the mainland to the south for an examination and such. My possum is taking the northern route, I expect.

Meanwhile I heard the raccoon because it was sniffing around when I dropped the shoe - it made a big ruckus running into the pepperwood tree where I think it lives. I know it is there but I have to fight through all these dang cats and possum first. All in a day's work, my friends.

I'm gonna huff and puff and ...

Much as I hate to see an old semi-historical house go down, this one really did need to be demolished. It is - or was - on Lantana Street on the bayside. About an hour or two after I snapped this picture, there was absolutely nothing left but a few piles.

The one thing you noticed right away is that all the wild animals ran off and the wild bees were everywhere - some very seriously upset bees. The crews had to keep their windows closed and I had to sorta run away!

I think that's where a bunch of raccoons and tequatche (possum) had been living. Anyway, parts of the old structure had been blowing off into the neighbors yards, such as Dr. Sher next door. It didn't take much for a 200 horsepower CAT 950 to make it fall down. No telephone poles, interestingly...

A nice gentleman walked up to take some pictures too and said that he could have bought that property 25 years ago, but that it was in very bad shape then. I didn't say he'd probably be a millionaire if he bought it just for the property, but back then such a lot was what, maybe $60,000 in the early 80s? Dr. Sher says that 12 years ago somebody offered $600,000 for it.

By then the bees had discovered us and we were, like the poor old shack, solid gone.

Us Islanders

I have lived on several islands and visited man in my days, and each was very provincial. You really had to be BOI - born on the island - to be considered a true "islander." Up north, some islanders can trace their local genealogy back 340 years, the families named Dodge, Littlefield, and Rose. Same for parts of the Bahamas where the Loyalists fled during the Revolutionary War - there were five settlements in the Abacos populated by families with names such as Albury, Lowe, Malone, Pinder, and so forth.

Here on South Padre, being an Islander doesn't mean a long genealogy or even being born here. It simply a state of mind, something that appeals to me. The truth is, most babies were hatched elsewhere anyway, Brownsville or Harlingen at best. But when I come to think of my friends, and what an islander is, I have the same positive thoughts. Not only do I know folks who live here year round, but I know a bunch of those folks who return like lemmings every so often, so great to see them after a long absence. We have out weekend neighbors and folks from Minnesota, Nova Scotia, Colorado (of course), Mexico, the Dallas area, and ... well all over the place, even a sand sculptor from Singapore.

In fact some folks ask if I am related to the Wells family on SPI - which I readily deny (actually there were two long-time Wells clans before we even got here). I just like the island, don't care for the mainland, and really love it here. That's what an islander is here. Short-timer, part-timer, or living here every day, it makes absolutely no difference. You can tell by the smiles.

I won't go into whether anybody else even would consider me an islander in their estimation, and frankly I don't care. But here's a kink: some people who have lived here for years ... well, they really just make it seem like they're not islanders. I don't know any personally, to be honest, although they seem to multiply like rabbits on the Internet forums. They claim to be "smart" but are negative, down, criticizing, dogmatic, and always in a black mood. Who are these strange people and why are they here?

Well they certainly are a minority and for now I am 100 percent blessed with all the good kinds of islanders. Spoiled rotten, more like. But for you newbies, if somebody looks troubled we always head to the beach, listen good, make eye contact, and say "I don't think it's all that bad." It works, never failed yet!

Sand Boils

Sand boils are defined as underground seepage that rises to the surface, and is oftentimes associated with levee failures (see this Corps of Engineers document). It turns out they are not uncommon down here on SPI, although perhaps the physics is a little different.

The simplest description is when a water main breaks and the water shoots upward to the surface with a pressure called "hydraulic head" (cool name for a pound puppy?). It's a powerful force that can blow asphalt and even concrete roadway apart. When sand and clay rise to the surface in a slurry like that, it is called a sand boil. The first sign of a sand boil is many pencil-sized dribbles of water leaking to the surface. Every year our water district gets about a half-dozen water main breaks, each resulting in a sand boil.

There are several spots on the bayside up the island to the north known as being "quicksand." Yes, quicksand is just another kind of sand boil, where water is rising up from the depths. We almost suspect that the Leaning Tower of Spizza might have been built on a sometimes sand boil.

To explain, there are various strata of sand which a large clay deposit fittingly known as Rio Mud. Under this layer is some unconsolidated sandy/shelly/shale and salt formations, not solid rock. OK, there is a shallow water lens on top of the Rio Mud, water is trying to seep from Laguna Madre towards the sea, and saltwater from the Gulf is invading at the lower levels - all the reason why water wells do not work here on the island. Given the differentials in clay strata and rising or falling water levels, sand boils can routinely occur at any time. So now you know why piers are put down as high as building it tall! We're floating on what is basically ketchup.

And just like ketchup, you never know when that buddy is going to pour out all at once.

If we lived along the Rio Grand or Arroyo Colorado one might be concerned about sand boils and levee damage, so here it is more of an occasional thing that is natural - unless the dang water main breaks again. Interesting phenomena, and if I see a good one I'll snap a picture for ya.

Our Economic Engine ...

Best Sand Castle Days Ever

What a wonderful day, after a cool front and dreary rain earlier in the week and mid-week. I'd say that the 21st Sand Castle Days was a roaring success, in spite of all the stupid hurricanes and souring economies.


Above, a shot down a whole bunch of sand castles. Those in wheelchairs could see the stuff perfect from the sidewalk. Those piles of sand used to be about 10 tons and now look!


Two of my favorite artists, Sandy Feet and her fellow friend sand sculptor, Kirk. Those aren't fake smiles there.


That's Fred's sculpture, another good friend, international sand carver, former alderman, computer guru, and boat tinker-er. He's standing in the very left of the picture as well. He won one of the top prizes, forget which one.

I can't do justice to the day I spent there because my camera batteries went kaflooie. There were several dozen cabana tents, an area for children (even 50 year old ones) to learn sand castles, vendors, food, art, and even a spot so you could adopt a dog from the humane society (we won't talk about the "puppy mill" mistake in another tent, which should have not been allowed). Gosh what can I say - it was fun.

Time to Bloviate about the Economy

I was born in 1956 and my parents have only distant memories of the Great Depression when they were children. But what has happened recently is remarkable - not a real depression, something maybe like a recession but not yet, but nonetheless ... interesting. Let's go over the last month or so, when all the "bail-outs" occurred:

• Bear Stern
• Lehman
• Merill Lynch
• Freddie Mac
• Fannie Mae
  
• AIG
• Washington Mutual
• 700 Billion US Congress Bail-Out
  
• 250 Billion Federal Reserve Bail-Out to Partly Nationalize Nine Banks

Impressive list, eh? I think I left a few out, including money used to shore up European bank trusts, maybe another bank or two, or to back some bank merger collateral. I can't say if it is good or bad, just that I am mystified by what is probably one of the largest transfers of wealth that I've ever witnessed.

I'm sure people will write books about it, when it's all said and done, with expert opinions, theories, insights, and the veil of sounding authentic. To the man on a little sandbar in South Texas, it sure sounds rather baffling right now.

But do you remember when this all started, and the bloggers got all over the Lehman bail-out, saying 85 billion should not be paid by the taxpayers, and doing so would be a socialistic, un-American thing to do; not only that, it would promote bad morals by rescuing a company that lost its butt, clear and simple. Free market, laisezz-faire economies envisioned by Ronald Reagan and most every American means personal responsibility. Government was supposed to be small and not intrusive. Gosh, now we have big government and some really big nationalized banks. And by the way, these nationalized banks and trusts are good for us! Been doing it since the days of George Washington!

Well I guess it beats working for a few bucks a day in the potato, rutabaga, and onion fields but gosh, that's an incomprehensible amount of moolah. That's a good question: if we didn't save this global banking community from their brand of wayward capitalism, would the economy be so bad we'd all have to become proverbial field workers?

I think the answer, as always, is "it ain't all that bad, Sam, but sorta."

Best Fajita Award

Well there's a ... well that's really a tacos al carbon. Many people haven't a clue what real fajitas are since it became a mainstream Tex-Mex food. It's just meat on a warm tortilla, nothing more, and for Pete's sake no onions, pico de gallo, cheese, and all that trash. The best I've ever had were from the Falcon Brothers up in Austin. It is pure heaven.

Real skirt steak is incredibly tough and comes in four parts on the cow: the outer skirts from the diaphram fore quarters, and two skirts from the outer flank of the hind quarters. The Falcon Brothers only use the front skirts (more taste, less tough). These are about 18 inches long and about an inch thick. The skirt is carefully trimmed and butterflied in half so you get 1/2-inch skirts.

What Sonny "the Fajita King" Falcon does it is to pound the steaks but no marinade is used - horrors! That tenderized meat using the "poking machine" is worthless garbage. Marinating and poking the meat usually ruins the taste and makes them like a wet sponge. Only a hot fire should be used, about 6-8 minutes per skirt steak, and repeatedly turned so it does not get any grill marks. No seasoning or anything.

These are allowed to cool for a minute and cut extremely thin with a razor-sharp knife, against the grain and at a slightly slant. It is served with a warmed flour tortilla and all you get is some salt and some fiery hot sauce. This style is fairly close to the true vaquero dish of the 1930s called "arracheras."

Meanwhile, another restaurant in 1969 owned by Otilio Garza opened a shop in Pharr Texas and began serving what we know today as fajitas with all the fixings, sometimes even sour cream and (yipes) corn. An outfit later known as Ninfa's used the same approach (Houston, Ninfa Rodriguez), although careful enough to call them "tacos al carbon" because that's the real name. At least Ninfa's was honest about it.

Nowadays, little being sold in the restaurants is really skirt steak, and many even have the audacity to sell chicken and shrimp as "fajitas." Flank and shoulder and other cuts are often sold as beef skirt. I'm going with the Falcon Brothers approach - but if you like the fixings like my wife does, well enjoy!

Oh and for the vegetarians who find all this meaty talk a little repulsive, I'm working on a new guacamole recipe. Nicaraguan style, with radishes and mint ... ooooh.

Is Global Warming For Real?

There's a fascinating blog article by the Sci Guy today about Roy Spencer, a noted global warming skeptic. As I've said before, global warming is something to be concerned about, but it a fresh breath of air to hear somebody question the prevailing wisdom that we're going to fry in the next century, and the oceans will swallow half the continents. Not so fast, Roy might say, a bunch of what is happening is a completely natural thing.

I appreciate being a skeptic about anything, since we have all these quasi-religions of group-think these days, fed like pap from the media. Let's start with the basics, that Roy thinks that we've only had good, reliable measurements of the Earth's surface temperature for about the last 7 or 8 years, with a couple of satellites for coverage. The old data cannot be extrapolated as to "mean global average temperature" because we didn't have satellites that could record temperatures covering entire swaths of the planet several times a day. Ouch, he's right on that one.

Then, over the last 7 or 8 years, his analysis can't find any global warming. This is to be expected because one really needs perhaps 20 or 50 years to really figure mean global warming. After talking about some technical mumbo-jumbo, Roy cuts to the chase: too many people are making money off global warming and it was one heckuva sales job. It takes several million dollars to create a slightly faulty model to predict future temperatures - but the naysayers might only get a thousand bucks or so for printing a skeptical argument in a professional paper or a few hundred for printing in a hack media outlet. So the people who get the millions of dollars have a vested interest in proving that their theory was right. You have to admit, Roy has a point here.

Ouch again!

So once more I have to rethink all this, although don't mistake that climate change can be a very, very serious thing to be feared. "All it takes is a 1 or 2 percent change in global cloudiness and you can get this warming and cooling for decades upon decades, for a century." Yep, he's right on target there.

Beware the Attacking Dragonflies!

It's that time of the year when it seems like some of the dragonflies go berserk. I think they get old and might be dying, after all that reproducing and egg laying. You may have seen them flying around the porch lights at night, banging into everything like a crazy Kamikaze. Normally the most graceful fliers in the sky, you can actually hear them go "splat" against the side of the house. But they keep going.

So we were at our favorite gourmet deli last night, a riotous good time, and one fellow says he tried to help one particularly wayward fellow out. He grabbed it ... and the dragonfly bit the sh!t out of his hand! It drew blood!

It turns out that the name "Damselfly" is completely inaccurate and the more colloquial "mosquito hawk" is a much better word. Indeed, the Latin species classification for Odonata means teeth or mandibles, as in "flying mouth of teeth." Yipes, I bet that hurt.

But there are so many here on the Island, and they truly help keep the skeeter population down. They only seem to go crazy about this time of year, fortunately. And uh ... don't try to catch one with your bare hands, even though you can now.

Down the Road

Well so much for my poetic abilities. I wrote exactly two good poems in my life and that wasn't one of 'em. Oh well.

Other than the mosquitoes, the weather is perfect and the water is cleaning up. The road was still blocked off at County Access 4 going north, so I haven't been able to check out the Ike trash. On out beach here in town, a dock floated up on last night's tide. I'm not kidding, a dock! Should be interesting to see what's up yonder.

You might see a total mess but I see opportunity! We'd clean up some bad trash and have one heckuva bonfire for the scrap wood. I haven't had a bonfire this year, and used to do one every month.

Please notice my restraint as well. I did not write about the caterwauling economy, the fishy politics, or how bad the fishing season was. I didn't even peep when I found out that the lawsuit against the proposed development of our 400-acre Isla Blanca park took a serious turn for the worse.

Maybe it's Beerman's leftover homebrew and BBQ ribs? That'll put a smile on your face. And in these semi-dark times, a smile is exactly what one needs. And yes, I'll post some photos soon!