Family

Hurricane Rita

Chris Jefferies — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 22:30:00 GMT

I went to Houston last week. While many families were trying to leave town but instead were stuck in traffic on one of the freeways, I was flying into the path of, at the time, a category 5 hurricane. Felt like Major Kong riding the bomb down...

Me as weatherman at the Museum of Natural Science

I had agonized over going to Houston for a day or so and by Wednesday I was sure I should go. I had spoken to Mother a few times that day and she was adamant about not leaving her home and was discouraging me from coming to “rescue“ her. Annalee was in Hartford performing in a play so she was unable to get away without disrupting the show.

On Wednesday afternoon around 4 PM I decided I must go and help Mother evacuate, if it came to that, and all indications were that it would be necessary. By 7:30 that evening I was at the airport checking in a big duffel bag full of rescue things I've collected from my days with a search and rescue group, the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit ("a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff...")

I called Derek and Lisa from Las Vegas and arranged to catch up with them early in the morning for some good coffee. I also called Bob Webb to let him know I would be in town and he admonished me for coming into town in the face of a dangerous hurricane. I suppose I didn't really get a sense of danger and Katrina "panic" until, as my airplane flew over the north bound highway 45, I saw the endless trail of red tail lights heading out of town for as far as I could see. I called it the trail of tears.

I landed about 3:30 in the morning and picked up a rent car that Aurora had arranged for me and then headed south to Bellaire where Mother lives and nearby, Derek and Lisa live. On the way I stopped at a Walmart, the only store I could find that was open, and bought some supplies. They were rationing bottled water and only 2 cases per person were allowed. I wanted to buy some wine to calm our nerves, but in Houston you can't buy alcohol before 7 AM. Had to put that back. In general, the food shelves were trashed and mostly empty.

When I arrived at Derek and Lisa's house, Beth was in her truck getting ready to head farther North and Derek met me with a great cup of coffee. Beth was in a state of despair as her house is in Galveston about 6 blocks from the gulf. She had, in her truck, some of her prized art pieces and 4 cats. The rest of her treasure was left behind and it's fate was now in the hands/winds of Rita. I gave her a hug and she pulled out of the driveway and off into the dark, muggy, Houston morning.

Derek, boarding up the windows

How to weather a storm

As daybreak approached, Derek and Lisa proceeded to prepare their house for the worst. I helped Derek put some plywood up on the front windows while Lisa gathered plants into the garage and collected important papers in case the house and all belongings were lost in the storm. Around 8:30 AM the phone rang and I answered because Derek and Lisa were busy. It was Beth calling in a panic and even though she had taken a path out of Houston that should have been relatively clear, she was at a standstill in traffic near Sugarland. The weight of everything she was experiencing had caught up with her and she was in an awful state of mind. I talked to her for a while and she seemed to calm down. A little later, after I left, she returned and decided to stay and weather the oncoming storm at Derek and Lisa's house.

By 9 AM I called Mother and announced that I was in town for a “visit“ and while she was happy to hear my voice, I could sense tension in her voice. I waited a little while and then went over to “visit“ her. We talked for a while and I told her of my overnight adventure and then I started discussing the possibility of a necessary evacuation. She finally, although reluctantly, admitted that she would be willing but doubted that it would be required. At that point, Thursday morning, Rita was still a category 5 hurricane and still projected to come ashore somewhere near Galveston with winds of 165 miles an hour.

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around...

I spent Thursday afternoon, prepping Mother's house. Gathering potted plants, removing items that might become projectiles in a high wind. I also went to some of the neighbors who were not leaving and checked on their status and collected their information. One of the neighbors mentioned a nearby church which was going to act as a backup shelter and I took note about that; just in case.

My general approach was to hold until we could no longer stay safe and to make sure that at any point, we might have enough lead time to evacuate. The storm was due on Saturday morning and on the news programs we heard story after story of people trying to leave, getting nowhere only to finally turn around and head back home (one of the “jokes“ about the evacuations was to wonder about the asshole at the beginning of the line that was slowing everybody down). Ben and Judy Rice took back roads to Austin and it took them, I think he said, about 9 or 10 hours (update: 14-15 hours). Gasoline was also a huge problem and I had an almost full tank of gas (maybe 250 miles worth) but with delays that was doubtful. Those that persisted seemed to average about 12 to 15 hours to get out of harms way. I figured we should watch the news and leave no later than Friday, mid-day.

Friday morning's “cone of uncertainty”, which was what they called the range of possible trajectories that the hurricane might take, revealed a slight drift to the East and a weakening of the storm's eye and that trend continued throughout the day, so we never had to make the decision to leave, but it was always a tenuous situation.

As Rita drew near it's path turned more and more to the East and finally came ashore about 3 AM around Port Arthur. At about 2 AM we started feeling the winds and around 3 AM the power went out in our neighborhood. I sipped whiskey, watched the trees get thrashed by huge gusts of wind. Finally around 3:30 I settled into a restless sleep in a house in Houston, Texas with no power AND no air-conditioning...

Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of a house alarm going off because the power was out and the batteries were dying. One of the neighbors had contacted us the day before from out of town and had asked that I disarm it if it started up; gave me detailed instructions and codes and hints about how to disconnect the batteries. I'd had perhaps a bit too much bourbon the night before so the alarm was a bit painful; my face was greasy from the lack of air-conditioning and my eyes were puffy from dog allergies so with a startled heart, I got up and dressed quickly to do my part and save the neighbors from this intrusion. As I approached the front door, the alarm went off and I was in a state of confusion... windblown and confused. We finally got power back on after about 28 hours in the post hurricane Texas heat. What a pleasure to get air-conditioning back on in Houston.

The next 3 days were spent cleaning up the debris from around the house and replacing all the things I had put away. I also took the opportunity to fix up some things in Mother's house and to visit friends. One afternoon I spent with Elena and Tyler, Leila and Carter at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. After the normal tour through the main museum, we went through the Cockrel Butterfly Exhibit, and saw an IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon. What fun.

Elena, Tyler, Leila, Carter at the Museum of Natural Science

Mother and I had a lot of time to reminisce about our family adventures in Laredo and Australia and she told many stories about her childhood memories.

A few nights I had dinner with friends. Derek was “frying chickens in the barnyard!“ or was it turkey burgers? Derek and I played some music to fend off the hurricane spirits and one night we watched the first episode of Martin Scorsese's Dylan documentary.

On Sunday night I visited Bob Webb and saw how he was going to weather the storm. He had created a sheltered zone in the middle of his house and because plywood was in short supply he had to use piece of art he had painted onto a sheet of plywood.

Bob and his art shelter.

On Tuesday evening I flew back to the cool of the Bay Area, glad to be back and glad that the hurricane was not as devastating to Houston as it might have been. My heart goes out to those in and around Port Arthur as Rita was indeed still at category 3 when it made landfall there.

The way I hear it, there are perhaps more hurricanes due this season... I suspect "We'll Meet Again".

Wackydoodle...

Skype Me!

Chris Jefferies — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 18:22:00 GMT

OK, I've been using Skype for a while now and I see only one downside (mentioned later) to using it as a telephone replacement. I'm eager for all my friends to get on board so I can talk for free.

If you have a computer and an Internet connection, you can upload Skype onto your computer and we can talk for free. You may need to hook up speakers or a microphone, if you haven't already, but that's pretty easy to do.

I went to Radio Shack and bought a really inexpensive headset with a microphone for less than $3. I see that there is an online version for about $15, but look for the $3 version.

I have set up the SkypeOut service which allows me to call out from my computer to people who don't yet have Skype so I can talk to them on their regular phones. It costs me 2.3 cents a minute to use this service to anywhere in the continental US (land lines and mobile phones) and I have to pay in advance (in chunks of 10 Euros, or 25 Euros). I think that's still a better deal than most folks get on their home phone service. Overseas calls cost more. For example, calls to our friend, Zsuzsa, in Hungary, cost about 4.6 cents a minute. Still a good deal. Click here to look at the rates.

Downside: Outgoing (SkypeOut) long distance international calls to cell phones cost substantially more. A call to Pace's cell phone in Italy cost 33.5 cents a minute. Not such a good deal.

I have also set up a SkypeIn account. My number is: 415.578.3309

Notice I now have a 415 area code . The SkypeIn account allows my friends to call me at my computer. And as I AM very often at my computer, you'll be likely to catch me there. It includes an answering service as well so you can leave me a message that I can hear on my computer. The SkypeIn service costs me 30 Euros per year or 10 Euros for 3 months (including the voice mail service). It will cost my friends the same amount they would pay to call my house phone.

I may eventually disconnect my home service and settle on a mobile phone and Skype. If most of my friends get Skype, then most of my calls will be free.

I recommend that you check it out: www.skype.com

Talk to me at my computer for free; Skype to Skype: chrisjefferies
Talk to me at my computer via telephone: 415.578.3309

The Red Christmas Pants

Chris Jefferies — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:08:00 GMT

I'm not sure when or how this family tradition started, but I remember the raucus uproar these pants caused during the alcoholic eggnog laced Christmas gatherings at my grandmother's house when I was a young boy. The tradition had slipped out of memory until my sister, Annalee, conspired with my Aunt Nellie to bring this mortifying ritual back from the depths of family lore.

The tradition is that the pants are given to some unfortunate soul and when recieved must be worn for the duration of the day... The recipient is then at liberty to pass these pants on to the next unsuspecting dupe.

As can be seen, I am adding a new twist to the tradition by performing an Irish jig in front of the Christmas tree. I did wear the pants until just after midnight.

A good laugh was had by all at my expense.

Have a happy day of superstition...

Chris Jefferies — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 02:40:00 GMT

New Genealogy site

Chris Jefferies — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:10:00 GMT

Over the last week I put up a new Genealogy site. It is written in PHP (with MySQL as the data store) and I got it from TNG. It cost me $27. I'm not much good at PHP but here it is, an entire web application for tracking genealogy and it includes the ability for users to edit the data and upload images. I'd like to try to rewrite it in ASP.NET, but lets see how much time I have to work on that.

Here's the new site: www.jumano.com/genealogy

I-Neighbors

Chris Jefferies — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 23:18:00 GMT

This looks interesting for community building...

Use I-Neighbors to:

Meet and communicate with your neighbors.
Find neighbors with similar interests.
Share information on local companies and services.
Organize and advertise local events.
Vocalize local concerns and ideas.

Who is I-Neighbors for?:

Individuals
Families
Local Governments
Tenants Groups
Community Organizers
Neighborhood Associations

http://www.i-neighbors.org/index.php

Jumano Forums

Chris Jefferies — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:30:00 GMT

I've set up a web forum for discussion threads at: http://www.jumano.com/Forums

Please visit the forums and start up or join a discussion.

Adams Ranch has been SOLD

Chris Jefferies — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 12:49:00 GMT

We knew this day would come...

Adams ranch has been sold to some folks who are from central Texas. We don't know much about them, but Derek called Lee Roberts, the previous ranch manager, and he is no longer employed as the ranch manager. Lee didn't have much to add except that his impression was that they would most likely discontinue allowing us to camp there over the New Years holiday.

So it could be time to move on.

There are alternatives, always:

Take a river trip and camp along the way
Try to get into Black Gap Wildlife Management area. I've heard that they have eased up on the “Hunters only” rule.
Bargain and plead with the new owners
Camp at the Stillwell campgrounds
Give up

I'll be following up with some contacts in the Big Bend over the next few months and I'll see what we can arrange for our New Year's Party.

Lets discuss on the new forums site at:

http://www.jumano.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=11

Fahrenheit 9/11 - in their own words

Chris Jefferies — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 15:28:00 GMT

Aurora and I saw Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. While I can't confirm all of the facts presented in the film (who can?) I can say, that what you see is George Bush and his administration officials presenting the case for Michael Moore in their own words. Sure, the quotes might have been taken out of context, but the quotes nevertheless stand on their own. Like George, saying to a group of supporters, “This is an impressive crowd, the 'haves' and the 'have mores'. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base.“.

One of the things I learned, and was quite shocked by, was the treatment of black representatives who went to the senate to protest the disenfranchisement of black voters right after the 2000 election. The resolutions, required a singnature from at least one senator, and not one senator stepped forward. Not one. Pathetic.

The last moment in the film points out the slow witted Bush stumbling over a common saying, and should leave all viewers with a resolve to do whatever they can to help voters understand that we need George out of the whitehouse.

Here's a link to the trailer for the movie: http://www.fahrenheit911.com/trailer/windows/large.php

I urge all of my friends to see this movie. Soon!

Great Sierra Weekend

Chris Jefferies — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 00:37:00 GMT

Aurora and I took a trip to the Sierras this weekend. We drove up on Friday night and slept at a campground near Obsidian Dome just north of Mammoth. We slept late and got a late start on our planned hike so we didn't get started until about 1:15 in the afternoon.

We hiked from Tuolumne meadows, past Soda Springs and down toward Glen Aulin. At about 2 miles in, we turned north on a trail to Young Lakes. After a short distance we started a steady climb for about 2 miles with occasional spectacular views of the Cathedral Range. Then the trail leveled off and we hiked through the tranquil open forest with wonderful flowering ground cover. At the juncture of the Dog Lake trail we started a disappointing but easy descent (hate to lose the elevation gain). The last part of the trail was a short but tiring ascent up to the first of 3 Young Lakes. Overall it took us about 4 and a half hours to get to Young Lakes. We never actually got to the lakes because it took me a while to find a suitable place to cache 4 bottles of wine and a bottle of bourbon on the northwest side of the first lake. It's amazing how heavy 5 bottles of liquid weighs. We didn't get started back until about 6:30 but we retraced our steps and got back in about 3 hours.

The image above, of the middle Young Lakes, was taken over 5 years ago during the morning sunrise and highlights Ragged Peak. It was originally a 35mm slide and I had it scanned because I liked it so much. It should look OK in medium resolution.

Sunday, we drove over to the Sonora pass. On the way we stopped at the Latte Da Coffee Shop and met a woman named Kathy Day who takes 3D images with a specially made Nikon camera. She had some of her images on display with these 2 machines that she set up in the shop. Really fantastic.

In the Sonora area and took an alternative back road route through the pass. It starts right behind the Marine Training center and ends up about a mile below the top of the pass. Besides taking the direct route we tried lots of side roads and had loads of fun exploring. One of the side roads was to a place called Grouse Meadows. As we approached a ridge in the car we surprised a baby black bear (he was brown) just as he was squatting to poop. He froze in position for about 5 seconds and then, in a total panic raced off into some brush about 30 yards away.

What a fun weekend.