Juss Workin'

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

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

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

Bay People

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

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

Sounds like we're crossing the Rockies or something.

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

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

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

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

See you on the beach in 15!

It was a dark and stormy day

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

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

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

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

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

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

What to do with your rebate

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dominant waves and surfing

I learned something new over the last year. There are waves and there are dominant waves. The teckies that measure waves get all convoluted about this, but the fact is not all waves are equal. I learned this real good one day when Gene Gore said to expect primo conditions in the ship channel by the jetties, 8-seconds at maybe 12-15 feet.

Well I went out with my trusty body board, not being a real stand-up surfer, and swam right off the beach at the Gulf end of Oleander Street. I ate a lot of water, went a mile down the beach on the riptide and shore current, and swore those waves were pummeling me every two or three seconds. Not good and I was exhausted, not a single good ride. Not even big waves because the big ones broke on the 4th sandbar too dangerous and too far to paddle.

So then I drove down to Dolphin Cove and nursed my hurt psyche and sore back with a Tecate. Dang if smooth waves weren't coming in, about 12-15 feet tall and one every 8 seconds or so. These were true swells, rollers, or I guess dominant waves with all the other chaff filtered out.

This was strange to me because the "apron" area off the jetties is the worst chop in the Gulf, standing straight up and down with waves maybe ten feet apart. But after clearing that choppy area, all the sudden a huge blooming wave would grow and crest, like I said maybe every 8 seconds but sometimes more. Monsters, cloud-scratchers, whatever they call them. Holy cow, the geeks were right!

Save the Whales

After a rocking good storm from our coastal low which will pummel the East Coast on Friday, lots of excitement as the Surf's Up T-shirt shop nearly burns to the ground here on SPI, big news. But today's topic are the whales, which has received a lot of attention in the news, lately.

One involved the Sea Shepard, a conservation group that literally stormed a Japanese whaling "research vessel" in the south seas. I'm not going to advocate piracy in order to save the whales, but it certainly does make the international headlines.

The other is a closely watched court decision in California courts regarding protecting whales from very strong mid-frequency sonar power used by the Navy for hunting rogue submarines. A judge recently imposed an injunction against all such sonar training where whales were either spotted or known to gather. However, President Bush just signed an order to allow the Navy to be exempted, saying that the sonar exercises “are in the paramount interest of the United States.”

So I guess our Bushie-Boy is a certified whale killer like the Japanese, how cute. Of course, the conservationists and scientists are livid about the recent developments, which are certainly headed for more litigation.

The effect of high-power sonar waves such as those used by the Navy have been conclusively proven to cause whale strandings, such as 16 whales that died in the year 2000 during Navy exercises off the Bahamas. Scientists claimed that the decibel level of the underwater noise was 100,000 times that of a human voice. A common thread is that the impacts on other sea creatures such as turtles are not fully known, although some research indicates "deaf turtles" and possible impacts on loggerhead turtles off the Carolinas.

I'm all for national security but I still think we should be mindful of endangered species such as the Right Whale. It should be pointed out that whales such as the Sperm Whale and Melon-Head are indeed relatively common in the northern Gulf of Mexico (a melon-head, similar to a pygmy killer whale, washed up on our beach last year and we tried to save it). It should be pointed out that such sonar testing is (1) experimental and (2) that even is it works great at finding "silent submarines," it must be towed behind a ship with about a mile of cable. My second point raises the issue that one must know there is an enemy submarine in the area before even sending a ship to find it.

Sounds like more Star Wars gadgetry to me, a good way to blow a billion in the name of being tough on homeland insecurity.

SPI Coastal Surface Low

click map to enlarge

I’m writing this posting a little bit in the dark – literally, because it’s cloudy and I haven’t turned the lights on yet. But the subject is a weather condition known as the coastal surface trough, a rather persistent feature that grows right off our waters and just to the south. Let’s get down and dirty with the scientific forecast:

ALSO...AS THE 500 MB LOW MOVES IN FROM WEST...BOTH THE GFS AND

THE ECMWF DEVELOP A PRETTY STRONG COASTAL SURFACE LOW TONIGHT AND

TUES WITH THE FEATURE ROUGHLY MOVING PARALLEL TO THE TX COASTLINE

INTO EARLY WED. THIS SURFACE FEATURE WILL ALSO HELP MAINTAIN GOOD

MOISTURE ADVECTION OFF OF THE GULF OF MEX AND LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE

OVER THE BRO CWA ENHANCING RAIN CHCS. THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES IN

THE MODEL SOLUTIONS SHOW UP IN THE TIMING OF THE MOVEMENT OF BOTH

THIS MID LEVEL AND SURFACE SYSTEMS.

Some locals would recognize this as being a forecast for sloppy seas, high winds, and definitely rain. The big driver is a mid-level low pressure zooming in from the west, although our friend the coastal low will drive it all the way to High Island on the Louisiana border. And the long-range forecast is for another coastal low to form later in the week as well, a rarity having two of them in one week.

Back to the map I posted above, it is very interesting because it shows a bunch of northern Mexico in good detail. Our friend the coastal surface low always forms parallel to the beach. The surface low usually forms as if by magic about 10 miles off the coast, mostly in the top two-thirds of the map where it looks like a bow. Nobody really knows why it forms, which makes it really cool.

Or at least I can’t explain it. My research has taken me to studies about the mountain effect of the Sierras, which didn’t seem right because SPI doesn’t have any, to gravity waves, but those satellite pictures didn’t resemble our friend in the least. Stuff about sea-breeze front was disappointing as well, although sometimes in the summer you can actually see the coastal surface trough because of the morning thunderstorms you can see way off to the east.

But enjoy the map, as at least I still have much to learn about the Mexico coast to our south. Note that the Laguna Madre down in Mexico is huge. Hurricane Emily bashed the entire area around San Fernando on the lower left. Dang coastal low can be downright ornery sometimes!

Plastic Bag Wars

I was going to title this one "ban all plastic bags" but after researching it a little, I think we can do many other things to reduce the number of plastic bags in the area. You probably already know that we use over 100 billion plastic grocery bags a year and that all those are not good for the landfills or blowing away in the environment. In fact, much of the blowing litter is plastic bags, with their amazing ability to be able to fly long distances. When the Guadeloupe River flooded downstream of Canyon Lake several years ago, you could tell the flood mark because of all the plastic bags stuck in the trees.

Plastic bags take thousands of years to decompose and are made from crude oil. Being in a maritime area, they also are a hazard for animals such as sea turtles ... I won't be graphic here but after last year's sea turtle rescue, I happen to know in intimate detail that they ate a bunch of plastic bags.

Many towns and cities have considered outright bans on plastic bags, although it should be said that those that oppose a ban have some very good points. Making paper bags involves more paper mill pollution than making a plastic one, and the plastic ones cost about one cent as opposed to five cents or more for paper. Plastic bags are very easy to recycle, although at best only one percent are ever turned in, even in areas with a three-cent rebate.

However, places where they started charging people for plastic bags caused a huge drop-off in their use, usually 60 to 90 percent. People all the sudden get religion when they find out each plastic bag might cost an extra 20 cents each, similar to the "Plas-Tax" in Ireland. The grocers even loved the idea because they didn't have to lose money on paper bags.

This might seem to be a foreign idea for our area, and even for it to work one would need to catch the stores in Port Isabel as well. But think of it, most of the bags come from three places: Wal-Mart, HEB, and the Blue Marlin. We can always work with the smaller convenience stores such as seeing if the Stripes stores would provide paper bags (a similar approach was used to help lower glass beer bottles on the beach last year). But my proposal is to have the "Big Three" charge for plastic because they dispense millions them a year.

Let me know what you think.

Gold at 900?

Instead of talking about how crappy the economy is, let's talk gold, a fascinating subject. The value of gold, as we see above, is fairly constant except for some major features such as WWI and the recession of the 1980's. Don't let the vertical scale fool you, that is logarithmic, meaning the peak value in 1983 was possibly $600 per ounce (and about $2,000 today) . Sorry about the graphics but they were free. But the idea is that gold has an intrinsic value and all currencies respond up or down compared to that value.





The second graph shows that since the year 2000, the US dollar have been worth less compared to the value of gold, since it costs more dollars to buy the stuff. But even if a dollar was worth less in 2000, if you bought a bunch you could have sold today at $900 per ounce, tripling the money on the table. Nice work if you can get it.

Traditionally, gold was a hedge or investment for when times go bad, economically speaking. This usually means the US economy has gone to pot again. But over the last two decades different parts of the economy have become decoupled, the first being the peso devaluation in the 1980's that impacted our area possibly the most:

Gold bottomed on June 21, 1982 at $US 296. This was the climax of the collapse from the $US 850 level which had been reached exactly 29 months earlier - On Jan. 21, 1980.

Gold took off when the Fed lowered U.S. rates in response to a threatened debt default by Mexico. But this time, and after having been flat since late 1976, so did the Dow. In fact, the big up move which constitutes this Gold "buy signal came in the same week as the start of the "Reagan Bull".

What also became evident was that the DOW Jones and other large trading houses were losing their share of the US economy to ... people like you and I, consumers. We multiplied, got baby boomed, bought houses and cars, and spent a ton of money. The consumer contribution is now a tremendous portion of the US economy as compared to agriculture, industrial, and financial markets. The disconnect between gold, Wall Street, and the economy can be traces back to Richard Nixon who took us off the "gold standard" and the rise of the Euro currency.


The Euro is considered a more stable currency these days, so as the US dollar weakens it becomes less - from 80 cents on the Euro to 68 in the last year, a bad trend since the dollar used to be priced much higher than the Euro (1:1 or better). Let's just say a hamburg and a coke in England can cost 15 USD on special. World economists don't mind such bizzare things happening but there is a growing move to stop trading in US dollars:

• All gold is traded in dollars per US dollar on international markets
• All crude oil is traded in dollars per US dollar on international markets

So I guess the answer is, hold onto your SPI property and think about some market strategy. Like I said, I'm still learning, and my brother has been burned buying gold before so always get a professional opinion before buying the stuff.

But how about the CVB putting up advertisements in England so we can enjoy some of their economic success? Their hamburg and coke would only cost a few Euros. /sam

Sensation of Cold

South Padre Island can really mess with your internal thermostat. It all depends on if the wind is blowing or not. The classic case is a nice summer day on the beach. Before ten o’clock in the morning the sea breeze hasn’t kicked in, so it feels hotter then at 84 degrees than when the afternoon when the wind is blowing and it is 94 degrees. This is a difficult concept for many to grasp.

In the winter, when the wind finally veers from north to south, it can feel warmer at night even though it the temperature says it is cooler than during the day. Much of that is thanks to an abundant tropical moisture plume that returns on the southeast trades, but lack of wind certainly helps too. The humidity and dew points actually can make it warmer at night in some conditions, often resulting in astounding winter fogs, as thick as Nantucket or San Francisco has to offer any day.

South Padre Island taken together with a few minor allergies, perhaps a dose of Ciguatera, and possible Lime tick disease, my internal thermostat is almost haywire. I walk outside in blasting northers in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt, and shiver some summer days when it blows over 25 miles an hour. But SPI “ain’t for sissies” so I never complain, other than I can tell you the water temperature to the degree just by walking in it.

In short, 76 degree water is cold, 78 is cool, 80 is warm, and everything else is frozen or blazing hot.

Sun exposure can have some interesting effects, too. If you stay outside in the sun for hours and hours for several days, you can get “sun fever.” This makes you feel very cold and the air conditioning a complete nuisance. It happens no matter how much sun screen you use. That’s why you’ll see many locals keeping their houses at over 80 degrees in the summer.

The tourists and renters in the summer, however, turn down the A/C to 65. The funny thing to watch is when all the Islanders and Winter Texans turn on their heaters in the cold spells. More smoke alarms and fire trucks than you can imagine. Happy thermo-regulating, folks!

Abaconian Thoughts

This May we expect to travel over to the Abacos for a May get-together with my folks and a bunch of crazy people on a different forum. You can see the Abacos in the upper-right hand side of the map I stole off the Internet. There are several hundred little islands, very puny indeed compared to how large Cuba is. In case you know the area, my folks like near Man-O-War Cay on the outer islands (Cay is pronounced "key"). That's a ferryboat ride over from Great Abaco Island, which actually does have an international airport.

But Lori had plans ... she wants to teach college, work on a PHD, and continue working for the school district. Whoa, schools don't get out until like June. So I'm kind of in a quandary here, since by the first week in June my parents will be headed up to Maine. Me, I'm thinking about working part time as an editorial assistant for our local paper, in addition to about a thousand hours a year as a high-flying consultant.

The weird part is I hate flying now and rarely even go out of the country anymore, even Mexico 22 miles away from my doorstep. Don't kid yourselves, the word "Abaco" really means dropping about five to ten grand in a week. Then I got to thinking ... hey, aren't I already in paradise?

Well I still have my mind made up to go to the Abacos, don't get me wrong. It's just become an uphill battle. We'll see what happens.

Ask a Pendejo!

In the past we've seen columns like Ask Sandy and Ask a Mexican. It is 2008, baby, it's time to Ask a Pendejo! Me. I'll help get you started.


What's pendejo?

A pendejo is considered a Spanish friendly, almost-cuss word for something like an "bumbling idiot," which generally means being the third fisherman on a two-man bay boat. It's a fishing tournament technical thang with many applications in real life.

Why on Earth call yourself that?

I don't own my own boat yet, and plus falling off other people's boats right at the wrong moment is so much more fun, especially during an official fishing tournament.

OK, what's biting on SPI right now?

Dang if I know, other than a few fleas and no-see-ums the dog drug into the house. They won't let me on their boats anymore unless I pay big money now.

Did the pendejo go to the Polar Bear Dip today?

Wish I had, at least they wouldn't have to fish me out of the ocean like usual. It was very cold today, and I know for a fact that a 5-millimeter wetsuit wouldn't be allowed, especially with my Mexican wrestling mask. May I mention my zoot suit says "Qué tipa pendeja!" on the back.

What does that mean?

No huyas, pendejo!


Please send your questions, anything about SPI or whatever, to Ask a Pendejo

Random Musings

I was going write more heavy stuff, like how selling off the two streets by the old fish camps was a stupid idea, but decided to take the lighter side of the road...

And usually this time of year I write about the "state of the environment" on SPI and you know, it's not very fun either unless you find a new kind of bird or fish or something.

So on the lighter side:

Sandy Feet had a fine Christmas Day "Feliz Navi-Doo-Dah" party again for the umpteenth time, threatening this would be the last but we'll fix that in eleven months for sure.

Thanks to the Beerman for his extra-kick dark ale. We were pounding a few shots of it and I appreciate the advice not to drive - got about four people lit on one beer.

Happy Birthday Anne (with and E) Weiss, who looked wonderful in a cowboy hat with a queen's crown on the brim!

Never would know it, but in deep water there are spiny lobsters out there in the rocks and oil rigs. Who would have thunk it? Wish I was a diver but my ears would implode.

There are several New Year's events this year, including maybe some fireworks bay side and a big bonfire up the beach. I fear however, that on Monday the First of January, a huge norther gale might come through.

More people seem on the Island this week, I suppose signaling the end of the November and December dead-as-a-doornail season. Some of those folks drove through some of the worst snow and ice in years, they say. Good to see 'em.

Now all I need is a Mike-A-Rita and to fire up the BBQ. See you in a few days!

Shrinking Padre Boulevard

For many years, the emphasis of urban planning was to create large, wide roads, even if they went right through the middle of a town. By installing extra lanes, the thinking was, roadway capacity and safety could be maximized at the same time. And if you look at what the Texas Department of Transportation did to Padre Boulevard, it is now well over 100 feet wide not including all the asphalt and sidewalks. What I’m proposing today it to literally shrink the width of the road.

I know, a horrible, insane idea with no traction, and almost universally opposed.

But let me make my case. In the future there will be a second causeway to the north, thus reducing a need for capacity in terms of thousands of vehicles per day. Second, narrowing the road, while perhaps delaying traffic a little, could make the roads safer. Thirdly, a narrower road would allow for more green space, sidewalks, turnouts for parking, and be more in keeping with the Vision Statement and planning goals of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Board – not that I can speak in any way for the latter.

Let’s take a look at the roadway as it is today, from where the median ends up to Morningside Drive. We have two highway lanes each way, a center turning lane, two emergency lanes, and then eight feet of curb and sidewalk. No wonder it is hard to cross the road! Not only is this highway design unsafe for pedestrians, it looks as if it was a giant rolling parking lot, a bleak black desert with huge telephone poles on each side. The center turning lane is especially dangerous when two or more cars want to occupy it at the same time, a fairly common summer experience – especially if you are standing right where the cars want to be.

Two lanes – one each way – and an emergency lane on each side are probably all that we need. There would be no center turning lane. This is a fairly common design for the older towns along Old Route 1 which connects lower Florida with upper Maine. May I remind the reader that Route 1 handles much more capacity than South Padre Island; residents in such towns don’t seem to mind it. Typically the road is zoned 30 MPH and crosswalks are located every block, not spaced miles apart. The sidewalk can be up to 20 feet wide and in places cafes are allowed to have tables under nice shady trees. There are benches, shaded bus stops, attractive light posts, nice-looking garbage cans, and even cigarette disposal cans so as to prevent litter. As a measure of civic pride, shop owners clean their section of sidewalk every morning.

And interesting concept would be to close off most access to the “roll-over curb parking” along the boulevard and allow controlled driveways accessing a true parking lot, instead of a free-for-all where parkers back into oncoming traffic. The sidewalk would cross these smaller driveway accesses with white lines and ADA curb cut slopes. There is plenty of space to work with, and aside from the obvious construction costs and improving the drainage – did I say improving the drainage? This model could and should be considered. Remember, the TxDOT doesn’t own that land now paved over; the good citizens of Texas do.

There you have it. Either you actually like the way Padre Boulevard looks now, or you want medians all the way down to Morningside (a holy mess if you ask me), or you’ll do something radical and different. My purpose is just to provoke some thought ...

Sugar Plums and Fairies

As I cruise up and down the Island for my last-minute shopping and errands, I still think how lucky I was to move here. I love it! I am SOOOO glad to be out of the Austin area.

And you now, the main drag still has its charm, although I can see the work of folks who want to turn it into a beige uniformity with chain stores. There are people who really want all the colors go away in favor of Brown #25. They even have the audacity to demand that all the electric cables be buried.

I laugh and continue down the road, knowing that these people who want to tame the wilder side of the SPI spirit simply will never win. Shocking, electric orange is back in fashion - about time, where ya been, buddy? Woot! And who ever said this town had to be "Clean and Neat and Right"? This place has always been half a wreck and if you don't like it, try the upper-US.

But enough of that, thanks to the Town and all the businesses along the drag that lit their stores up real nice with Christmas lights. I wish the Town could have been a wee bit more in the lighting department, as the decorations did look a little wimpy. But I'm happy, so ever happy, to be here now.

I'm a Celebrity!

Amazing Walter had his 67th birthday and we all went over for a swell time. I was wondering what he was doing with his mega-picture-phone and some goggle eyes ... but soon I was summoned to "sit right there, Sam." Eek!

Now this picture has really been digitally altered and honest, I only had one beer when there. But what the heck, it's funny and I'm not proud. Have fun and Merry Christmas, y'all.

Fit to be Retied

click picture to enlarge

This was too funny. Here's our recently retired assistant Town manager, fire chief, and EMS chief getting to ride as Grand Marshall in the SPI Christmas Parade. I told Clifford that I knew some people that would love to see him tied, like all tied up, but retied? We laughed, he took off to lead the parade, and a good time was had by all.

More Island Notes

WHAT'S ALREADY OLD NEWS:

Well after a beautiful evening last night at the Sea Turtle Rescue Rescue Center Christmas thing, the cool front came through. It's been one of those bloggy, hot soup days so far.

The Harlingen paper doesn't print my letters about global warming anymore, even though I try to be balanced and try to say "it's something to worry about." Nope, to them, global warming is a commie plot to take away your freedom. But in the name of freedom (the corporate name is Freedom Corporation) they're being tyrants - go figure.

The SPI Forum continues its downhill slide but yours truly here is still blasting with both guns, an equal opportunity thing. I have to give Jason credit to hanging in the game, even when my portable blaster is pointed at him!

But onto nicer things, I'm not feeding maybe 40 redwing blackbirds who found my stash of birdseed. Along with the cardinals and sparrows and bush tits (God I love saying that) it is quite a show.

The milkweed pods started busting this week and I left them where they exploded, hoping more would come up. Funny, these little 6 to 10 inch plants making huge pods of 4-5 inches long. See, THAT is why I don't put down broadweed killer and turf grass - I have lantana, milkweed, and all kinds of weird stuff sprouting.

The currents must have shifted because the Portuguese man-o-war started coming back in, after being gone all spring and summer. Haven't found any sea beans or sand dollars but it is now shell time on the beach.

Yesterday I finally took some off after working six days straight, but of course I missed the good fishing. I did go down to the Wanna one day and saw a few giant mackerel jumping, and there have been stories of some very large sharks as well. The water was warming up to nearly 70 but this cool front should knock it back.

It is still slow, with many businesses taking off much of the rest of the month. Dorado's closes until the New Year, for example. Some Winter Texans are here and I love the funny way they talk. Oh well, a little over a week and the solstice will happen, the shortest day of the year, and the beginning of real winter.

* * *

BUMMER UPDATE: Jesse's Cantina closed and is up for sale. Apparently the old man is getting older and wants to head to the mainland. Not everyone loves the food or decor but you have to admit it's quite an Island institution.

* * *

THIS JUST IN DEPARTMENT: "SPI is a drinking community with a serious fishing problem."

* * *

POSSUM SITING #488 and #489: I don't mind the Tequache Possum but they will look for food and they were eating on my porch tonight - seeds spilled by the hungry redwing blackbirds on my cheap plastic feeder in this case. So I was cool and shooed him or her off - plop, plop, right off the porch 11 feet. I really don't think we'll ever get rid of them.

Insuring for a Hurricane

The Houston Chronicle's SciGuy has a real eye-popper of an article about hurricanes and the insurance industry. Seems like the major home and commercial insurers made a ton of money even in the aftermath of Katrina and the last two years were exceptionally mild for hurricane landfalls in the U.S. Wouldn't that make the insurance rates go down?

Heck no, they're boosting them up more every year! The chart shows the Risk Management (RMS) prediction, some expert historical information from the thinkers, and what the industry actually paid out in 2006 and 2007. Note that the RMS is a whopping 40 percent over the historical or "realistic" levels. And they want more, while dropping coastal insurance policies like rocks.

I sure hope they're saving me some money in case I need to make a claim if the Big One comes to SPI. Yeah, dream on, teenage queen ...

Anyway, the global warming scientists or frustrated because we should have tons of more destructive hurricanes, like 2005. The predictors such as experts like Bill Gray got egg all over their faces for missing the boat so bad lately (while claiming he's still the best in the world, of course!). Just to show you that hurricanes defy all logic, we have a subtropical cyclone near Puerto Rico called Olga.

New Design for SPI: Tiki

OK, folks, here's the deal. After defeating the "beige-colored real estate system" the locals won and wild colors are back in vogue on South Padre Island. In fact, new businesses have to use pre-approved Tiki colors for trims, doors, and windows. These colors consist of deep ocean blue, magenta red, International orange, emerald green, and others as approved on a case-by-case basis. The base paint may be plain or a mural of any artistic kind, as long as it is not gang graffiti.

The paint should be applied periodically and no more than 5 years, and any murals should be redone or retouched at this time too. An annual award will be designated as to (1) best "beachy" mural, (2) best Tiki trim colors, and (3) special mention such as for whale-back roofs and other unusual architectural details, such as walking into a shark's mouth into a T-shirt shop.

Ordinances would only allow Tiki bars on the Island, and on the Gulf side only Tiki bars with palm frond thatching on the roof. No more condos can be built anywhere unless they show Tiki potential and some architectural significance. Post-modern and "unique" architecture (round, geodesic, and five-sided) from 1975 is allowed as long as the trim colors are suitably garish.

Beige-colored, two-story condominiums will have to be torn down and destroyed. Just kidding, Chris & Debbie! Come on, some hot pink or electric blue, it's just a little trim we're talking about here.

Kidding aside, I really don't see the problem with colors other than we need more. Be bold, man.