I like Ike, so far

Last night the weather channel suggested that this storm called Hurricane Ike may eventually hit the Texas coast and then, in a weakened state, roll the hundreds of miles up to north Texas and deliver us flooding. This prospect is of course interesting and yet merely in the prognostication stage.

What I liked about this forecast is that the predicted path of Mr. Eisenhower looked more than a little like that of a bowling ball making its parabolic progress towards a strike. This had a kind of Saturday morning cartoon "rightness" about it. I don't put much stock in Tuesday predications of what Saturday storms will bring, but it gives us something new for which to watch on the news.

We have a distressingly cozy relationship with Gulf storms here in north Texas. Each has the potential to help us out. When a hurricane hits the Gulf coast, the accompanying rain comes to us and ends both heat and drought. It's an object lesson in how the same weather that brings devastation to one place is a gentle blessing by the time it reaches another. Yet Hurricane Ike, if it brings us flash floods, will be less of a blessing.

I signed up my young friend and I to go bird-watching on Saturday. The birdsong is not as vivid this time of year, as we are between nesting seasons. Yet I'm hopeful we'll see some cool things we can enjoy.

I was amused to see that next year, when I turn 50, I will be eligible to take classes at the Allen Senior Center. Can discounts at restaurants be far behind?

I'm thinking about input imbalance in communications.

pre-storm

The Queen of Asparagus, originally uploaded by gurdonark.

The rain fell today like postponed parades. I arose early, to see Andy Hardy in an old movie get to re-take his aunt's English final and achieve his high school graduation after all.

After lunch at Boston Market, I loaded up the National Weather Service website, and realized that the breadth and depth of the likely hit upon the Texas coast by Hurricane Ike is potentially breath-taking. Although the hurricane may well go west of it, Galveston has an historic vulnerability to hurricanes that gives me pause. I hope that things do not turn out as badly for the coast as things now look.

Over the years, we've seen lots of similar hurricanes veer off and hit rural places in Texas or Mexico that caused limited damages. Yet this one looks as if concern is appropriate. The current forecast is that while it "might" make a difference way up here in north Texas, it may well have the minimal, light-rain effect to which we are accustomed.

Perhaps Friday the seagulls will arrive. When a really serious storm threatens the Gulf, the shorebirds and marsh birds swarm into our lakes. "Seagull" is a bit of misnomer for many birds already, as many spend their lives on lakes.

Tonight I ate Vietnamese spring rolls, as well as shirmp and chicken and vermicelli. I read Urban Animal magazine, and daydreamed of campaigning for a a holiday season in which all the animals got adopted.