Babe's Gets a Makeover

It was an empty, abandoned building. It was shocking pink. It used to be a strip club. It was Babe's.

Now, fortunately, somebody is doing something with it, definitely a pastel green and possibly office space.

According to the locals the building is not all that old, and was first a movie theater where you could have munchies and drinks - a concept now mainstream in hip places like Austin. Then after a metamorphosis, it became Babe's. The Town frowned as questionable folks snuck into the black doors of the shocking pink building.

Myself, I never went in those evil doors, having heard one or two contractor friends of mine blow their week's paycheck and get a DWI courtesy of Babe's. "Skank" was how they described the talent, "Skank but good at what they do." No need to go there, folks!

This was all pretty coincidental because I snapped a picture the same day Frank Bruni of New York Times wrote about how good the steaks are at some strip clubs. I think that's where they get the term "New York Strip Steak."

No wisecracks about the buns, hear?

A Big Week on de Island, Mon

After being on Monday’s turtle boat excursion, the busy week continued, in between office work and all that. Tuesday was Bay Area Task Force day, when we had a presentation by a “master naturalist” regarding acceptable plants for the bay ending planters, which really are 4-foot round sewer pipes (the irony is there …). The list was about exactly as I thought, even for a newbie like myself … but apparently a big cat-fight broke out when I had to leave early. Sheesh, folks, we’re not building a submarine here; we just want to green flowery stuff in the planters, for crying out loud!

Wednesday was my presentation in front of the Board of Aldermen in a public meeting. The topic was historical preservation and we had some Power-Point slides – we even got all practiced up. I had a wee bit of stage fright and can’t remember everything I said, but I had the audience laughing, smiling, and slapping their knees. The Aldermen passed three resolutions, anyway: (1) create a historical commission, (2) save the Coast Guard “shack,” the oldest structure on the Island, and (3) to celebrate the Town’s birthday.

After that I left in a hurry to meet the wife for dinner. My sources say the town police chief came on after my presentation and commented that his presentation wasn’t nearly as funny as mine … he winked and nodded at two cops at the front door and everybody thought they were after me! Did I sneak a bad word like “boobie” into my presentation? Anyway, no handcuffs ensued.

Thursday was dentist day, which although I dread them I got some crowns on my front teeth and I look tons better in the mirror now. Big checks were written. It was worth it though.

Friday I learned I was going to be a grand-daddy. Eric called and said his girlfriend was kinda pregnant (what son, like 40% or even more?). I think he was having one of those “deer in the headlights” moments but I was very happy, and promised to embarrass the new parents and spoil the kid to no end, of course. Grandfather for me, great-grandfather for my dad!

Then Sandy Feet had her beach-shack house warming party, which couldn’t be beat. Lots of youngsters like us between 40 and 70 banging away on drums and drinking pink tuna margaritas. LOL, the tuna here is a fruit of the prickly pear cactus, which can also be made into jelly and jam but makes quite a tart margarita, no doubt there.

In all, a week on the Island to remember.

Nine Rescued Turtles Released

One of the best parts of saving turtles is throwing them back in the bay, which we did today with 9 Atlantic Green Turtles. This is the only boat/turtle launching in the entire US, since the federal government has all these rules and bureacracy ... that fellow there is named Jeff George and yes he has a federal permit to do this. May I repeat, nowhere else can one do this, just right here on South Padre Island.


This fellow here, known as "RRR-451" was released in 59 degree waters up north on the Intra-Coastal Waterway about marker 93, slightly south of the Cullum House. Young master RRR-451 is about 3 years old and quite handsome, looking like a little astronaut or something.

It was a great day. Thanks to Sea Turtle, Inc. and American Diving for making this possible.

Manana Time

Lot's of catching up to do, but here's a good one - the US Congress decided it would be a good idea to change Daylight Savings from April to early March - that's March 11th this year, right around the corner. Well, that ought to screw up all the time-conscious people and half the computers!

Out here on the Island, such matters are almost laughable. You ask for a contractor bid and the fellow might be there in five minutes or five days.

Now all this was so some yahoo politicians could claim they were saving the US of A billions of dollars in energy. Now wait a minute, won't is be dark if we "spring ahead" so we have to wake up an hour earlier? I'm clueless here - it sounds like more energy would be required but who am I to say and why do I even give a darn?

Maybe we need to pass a law that says it's five o'clock here all the time. I've never seen such hooey in many a year.

SPI History Updated

If you want to see where ZZ Top used to jam out, you'll have to go over here.

More Turtle Business

This Friday the Town will commemorate "turtle days" with this lovely flag created by Christy (left) and sponsored by Nancy (right). It is at 10:00 at the Island Visitor Center. Plans are that the flag will fly until the end of turtle season, when the egg-laying is finished. Oh, did we mention the Saturn Street Uke Band will be playing there?

According to Jeff over at Sea Turtle, Inc., a bunch of turtles rescued from the recent winter "cold shock" storm will be released on Monday. This is open to the public but does require a reservation on the boat, which is down by American Diving at Sea Ranch Marina. Be there at 4:30 if you've made your reservations.

Yep, we go pretty nutty about saving our turtles down here! It will be good to see them swim again.

Surfside Chili Fest

Yes, they do let me out sometimes and here I am getting an award up at a chili festival up in Surfside, Texas. I heard it rained cats and dogs down here for the Chili Fest at Louie's, but it was probably warmer than 46 degrees and blowing from the north at 20. But anyway, it takes real courage to make chili on the beach especially in those conditions - I'd love it if we did it that way down here!

Several dozen folks attended the gathering of the Coalition of Confused Coastal Fishermen and other than being cold as heck it was fun. Think of them as "Sons of the Beach" with a fishing rod. Naturally, my pose here was suitably confused, since I didn't even cook a batch of chili. Nope, that's the Trash-Talking Award.

I guess I started it all out by posting stuff about the Pink Tutu, which to a redneck means they're ... you know, pink tutu-ish. I even tried to get Christy down here to make a real Pink Tutu, although the timing wasn't right. Maybe I should have done the Pink Seagull Award instead. Oh well, I did shout "yay" when I came back over the causeway today, glad to be warm again, and back home.

Going Postal on SPI

Has anyone else had problems with the SPI post office? Sheesh, they've returned so much that we've had to call nearly all our accounts because our locals here. All the bills and trash mail comes at the end of the month and we missed clearing our box out one time and I think they started throwing mail in the trash.

Then I noticed something funny, a few letters that made it through the madness they call the local post office. The letter was crossed out on our address and said "not a valid P.O. Box" but it made it anyway. I'll have what they're drinking or smoking, because the local post master said to use our street address and the mail would automatically go to our cluster box on Lantana Street (Cluster 10, Box 1). The only thing automatic seems to be a cluster f**k.

It is so bad a local business asked me for my mailing address so I said the street address and he replied "son, you don't really live here, do you?" By now I'm about to go postal myself.

Funny, all this noise started when the Winter Texans came down to SPI to open up mail box accounts, and the poor fellows probably went over the edge. Really, the entire Island was supposed to go off P.O. boxes for real residents over a year ago - I mean I signed a piece of paper twice (and two times again!) to prove it. In the back of the cluster box it says our names and our street address. How hard is that?

Sorry to say it, but when I need important stuff like goods and money, I use a real mail carrier. No offense, folks, but I've had stuff turned off because of the poor service. Plus, all the UPS and FedEx drivers are like way cool people, fun. I don't get that from the local U.S. Postal Service.

Miss Ya, Molly

Molly Ivins died today due to breast cancer. She was one hell of a lady in addition to be a great journalist, and was possibly one of the very few who could talk with Ann Richards and call her "Annie." You might not care for her brand of politics, but man could she write and be funny, all at the same time - something I aspire to. We'll miss ya, girl.

Those Amazing Roach Coaches

Don't call the copyright cops ... but I simply had to share this picture of a Roach Coach, this one from up by Austin way. You don't see many down here, where I guess they are bigger and are called a Taco Van or bigger yet, a Taco Trailer. Anyway, they deliver stuff to jobsites and for all the complaints and regulations, are quite good. The company that had the topless drivers were the best, of course.

Now see what happens when there is a small fender-bender and the cops show up? These here Roach Coaches do not like Johnny Law in the least, and this one decided to kersplode on two Officers of the Piece (pun intended). Pretty much got them with the ice and coke bin, eh? That Roach Coach does not look happy!

Probably it's grumpy about the weather, too.

Thermal Water Pollution

Sam writes as a guest columnist for Sphere, an environmental blog addressing his old stomping grounds. Some day we'll figure out how to actually make money doing this, but it was an honor to be included by a person who regularly gets in the New York Times. Check it out here.

The Round House

Wait a minute, that house isn't round, that's a square old Tiki beach house on Tarpon Street. For a round house you're going to have to looky here.

"Down on the Boardwalk"

Imagine strolling along the South Padre bayside on a beautiful boardwalk, a margarita or wine in hand, checking out the sunset, the cool art, the food, and just hanging out. The music is [relatively] soft; the lights are low; life is good. Why can’t we have that?

Good question. The area between Palm Street and Fisherman’s Wharf would make an excellent boardwalk, being in the commercial district. In fact, there are a couple of folks who have thought of it before although nothing has happened. There are a ton of reasons why not but let’s be positive.

Look what they did down there in Kemah, Texas, which used to be a sleepy old fishing town. What they did was a little extreme but that boardwalk brings in millions of dollars in revenue because somebody had the foresight to completely revitalize the area, being partly funded by companies such as the restaurants, amusement parks, and hotels. I think the vision for SPI would be a little more laid back than Kemah, and one would hope a lot more fun (sorry, Kemah).

What would it take? That’s a pretty good question because many of the local commercial establishments have built out over the water. All that would have to go bye-bye, including the docks, piers, and bulkheads. One of the more expensive parts of the project would be building a brand new bulkhead part of the way down the bayside, of course to some kind of design - curves, angles, and straight as an arrow are the main options. The boardwalk it then attached to the bulkhead and in some places could be free-standing. The boardwalk at the Convention Center is a fairly good model of the construction method, with its piers and cement boards that won’t rot.

While many communities provide for lighting and some amenities, the waterside can be leased or allowed to be developed as finger piers as well, a source of maintenance revenue. These waterside accesses are usually gated and locked because having people on leased or private docks especially at night is a major liability. I can see renting watercraft and having a charter fisherman drop-off and pickup area where possible, though, and maybe even a nature area.

The big attraction would be Friday nights in the summer, of course, when the fireworks go off at 9:15. Should be nice.

Save The Turtles!

Photo: Nancy Marsden

The turles need your help. Please call (956) 761-4511 at Sea Turtle, Inc. if you can make a donation. Donations would be used for medecine and all the other things that are required; the last count was slightly over 100 and more boats are out today.

I helped take a load of 36 over to Coastal Labs last night. That big fellow at the bottom of the picture weighed over 100 pounds. Thanks to all who have helped the cause already.

And hey, what's that big bright thing up in the sky there? Oh, so that's what the sun looks like, I almost forgot!

51 Degrees Farenheit

Here are some monster waves from Sandy Feet's SPI-Cam. This was Monday or Tuesday when the water was still in the 60's. By today the water temperature plunged to 51 degrees. The rapid drop cause about 20 sea turtle strandings, as reported in this link.

UPDATE: Nancy reports 8 more turtles rescued today by Scarlett. Very few dead fish were seen on the bayside of the Island, mostly 6-8 inch mullets. The air is warming but is still below 50 degrees, meaning that bay waters could still drop.

Insurance Be Darned

The real sleeper issue for 2007 could be getting homeowner and boat insurance. Not only are insurance premiums rising, but in many cases people are being downright dropped. All the large insurers such as Allstate, Nationwide, Metlife, and State Farm are pulling out of the coastal market, mainly on lowering their risks from hurricanes. All this is despite making billions in profit even taking Katrina into account (Allstate was reported to make 3.71 billion in 9 months of 2006).

All this really doesn’t matter, unless of course you want to buy or sell a dwelling, since the bank must have proof of insurance.

I don’t know if this is an issue on South Padre yet. Anecdotal evidence is that it is not. Some homeowners have been dumped, reinstated, or actually received a discount. A particularly disturbing trend is to watch the deductibles rise from 1 to 2 percent or higher, in site of paying more. Such downward pressure on the market could be a factor in 2007, given the recent "softness" or whatever you want to call the curious condition we see today.

I’m still learning about the industry but one feature that bothers me is that if a claim is needed, it will pay out minus deductible but the original value of the dwelling when the policy was set, and not reflect the ever-rising prices of Island property. So if you bought at 100K but needed to rebuild at 250K, well, that’s too darned bad. You just got a one-way ticket over the Causeway.

The problem started in coastal Florida and is making its way up the East Coast and down the Gulf Coast. Boat sales are reported to be extremely slow in Florida, a major boat building region, since nobody can find insurance (Progressive will write some policies for boats less than 26 feet but has tripled its prices). It appears that the insurance industry could end up setting coastal policy more than any other thing, unless something shakes loose - and hopefully not a big hurricane.

Light Snow Reported on SPI

I saw some sleet while walking the dogs ... checked the weather service and sure enough they reported "light snow mist" at 10:00 a.m. and 37 degrees. /Sammie

Another Excellent Bonfire

Last night's Capricorn Birthday Gathering on the beach was a glowing success, complete with a tent, cabana (wahoo!), truckload of wood, and some really special folks. About six or eight Islanders and SOB's had birthdays this past week. It is certainly a tradition to remember.

Amazing Walter showed up with his very cool cooking grill, some heavy iron for heating up the beans in a real cast iron pot and some wok veggies. I've got to get one of those! A sausage at the beach beats any baseball park weenie I've ever had - and by the way, I hope that dog who ate all the delicious jalapeno sausage had one hell of a fire-hot crap today. And no, we didn't eat much sand, an account of the wind block and all. It looked like a modern-day cowboy camp out there, it really did.

And what great timing, with rainy winter coming back ths week, to drop 40 degrees off the temperature. There was singing, dancing, ukuleles, stories, drumming, and all kinds of great fun. You could even hear coyotes in the distance, howling along with us.

Blowing Up the Bay

According to a reputable source, an oil and gas company is conducting a survey of the lower Laguna Madre looking for oil and gas. The air boats are setting most of the charges so they can literally blow up the bay, and then measure the shock waves for suspected hydrocarbon deposits way down deep. This activity should be on-going through the month of February.

If anyone has any further information please pass it along.

I did ask my source about whether there was already some oil and gas operations in the lower Laguna Madre. The fellow looked at me as if I was stark raving nuts. "Just yesterday I was out fishing and almost ran into three well heads." I had absolutely no idea. Can you imagine hitting submerged oil field trash at 47 miles per hour?

No, the sky isn't falling; they're blowing up the bay instead!

Mad about Native Plants

I sure was perplexed by yesterday’s Bay Area Task Force meeting where we were going to approve a recommendation for about 30 streets to get concrete planters. Dang, the list wasn’t exactly right and nobody could agree on the kinds of plants, which was by default the Century Plant. Some argued passionately how utterly worthless the Century Plant was but I mainly just gave up, as most people don’t seem to have a clue about what is a “native plant” for South Padre Island. They don’t care, and were just angling for a good ole rumble at a public meeting, anyway.

Pictured above are two cuttings from Padre Island Mist Flower, or more simply Blue Mist (Eupatorium betonicifolium). From what I can tell it is the only plant named after Padre Island. It is a low shrub with tiny blue flowers that attract butterflies by the dozens. These starts were saved from the condos that are sprouting up all over the Island like noxious weeds. The magnificant Blue Mist on the left has been rooted for several months and looks great; the one on the right was just pulled from the ground a week ago and looks like heck. When these fellows flower this spring they will look quite beautiful.

The plant is not listed as being endangered but is considered to be fairly rare, similar to the Yellow Sophora which I also am saving from mass destruction. But heck man, those nasty Century Plants are everywhere, a dime a dozen, and to pay honest money for one is almost criminal – especially compared to beauties like the Padre Island Blue Mist.