h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

glad it's getting cooler for you. As you say heat is the last thing Galveston or Houston needs at the moment, at least not the sunny kind. I heard that somewhere else had been hit quite badly, but I can't remember where - that's the trouble with listening to the radio while working and being is probably a factor.

Websaior

Hi folks... I'm fine.

No power at the house but there is power at the motel next door.
I'm running on generator power (cooling beer in the fridge as I type).

I'll explain more in a journal posting shortly but in brief...

Bacliff faired decently as we're a bit more elevated than some surrounding communities. A friend's house in San Leon, just south of us on the west shore of Galveston Bay, was destroyed. I checked on another friend's house on a bayou on this side of the bay and had to phone him with bad news... His house is still standing. He was really hoping for a hurricane to make years of neglect irrelevant to his insurers.

Our house had no major wind damage and we actually had higher water on saturday night after Ike passed since the drainage ditches were clogged with debris. I noticed the yard full of water up to the foundation and grabbed a hoe and rode down the street in my bicycle until I found one drive way with a full ditch on one side and an half full ditch on the other... Within 20 minutes the water had subsided by two feet.

The cool front that came in behind Ike is wonderful. After Alicia hit us in August '83 we were steaming in 90% humidity and temps in the high 90's for weeks with no power (and no generator then either).

Anyone watching the news this week has seen how bad some communities were hit (there's apparently a pet tiger roaming the destroyed community of Crystal Beach across the bay on Bolivar "island" nee Peninsula.)

I now know that the best $900 I ever spent was on my super quiet 2000 watt Honda generator.

I was running a freezer, a refrigerator, charging my phone, running a 50 inch DLP HDTV and a Satellite receiver, a fan and two lights today.
Now that my parents have returned we have two of these running so I brought mine upstairs to my apartment for TV, Internet, Fridge (beer and ice) and later I'll plug in my run my bedroom A/C again.

Glad to know that you're okay and that you have your priorities well and truly in perspective

Tuesday - scorchio minus 14. Felt much more pleasant though in the reduced humidity. I shall probably have to wear something in bed tonight.

Picked up on CZ's other thread. Relieved.

Websailor

As I shine my torch at the digital radio synced clock above my head I see that it's currently 81F inside and 71F outside... I'm trying to decide if I shuffle some extension cords and run my bedroom A/C from the generator tonight.

The fan should be enough tonight.

81F is just a degree or two above what it normally is in my apartment at night during the summer. I turn off the a/c when I go to bed during all but the hottest periods.

Maybe that's why I haven't been sleeping so well for the past few months and why I've suddenly been sleeping like a log these past few nights

Wednesday - scorchio minus 17, no rain.

We've had some wonderful skies these past few days - and nights. Lots of high clouds with brilliant blue sky in between. Not thin, wispy cirrus clouds but something with a bit more body, and edges that catch the light of the sun and shine brilliantly. And a few nights ago there was an almost full moon (I think it was the Harvest Moon this week) with some of those jagged clouds passing across in front of it that you often see in vampire movies.

There was something else I wanted to mention and it's gone right out of me bonce

I was thinking about you CZ, glad to hear you've come through with only minor inconvenience.

Ike dropped quite a bit of rain on us as it passed. Didn't affect me too much, I was kind of expecting my office to flood but it didn't. Lot's of flooding elsewhere in St Louis, though. All the rivers are at flood stage, I believe.

I heard on the news the other night that if we got no more rain for the rest of the year, we would still be in the top ten years for rainfall out of the last 130!

It's been nice and cool since Ike passed, though. I don't think we'll have the air on all week. I keep waiting for indian summer, expecting it to get back up in the 90s any day.

I like the look of your tag broe

I'm beginning to think maybe my boss was teasing me, he told me that over a week ago.

And yes, it is the Harvest Moon.

Triffic! I think I'll harvest me another from the fridge

Speaking of sleep, I found some Valerian root at a local health food store a few days ago and bought a couple of ounces. It smells like sick (Wikipedia says "somewhat reminiscent of well-matured cheese or wet dog") but it doesn't taste too bad. I understand that it can often take a while for the sedative effects to work so I'm still putting my recent restful nights down to the weather.

Water has fallen out of the sky

Unfortunately it did it in the middle of the night and the accompanying thunder kept me awake Still, an inch of rain isn't to be sneered at. We need it badly. It feels a lot nicer out there this morning too. Maybe we won't keep hitting 90° like we still are (the average for this time of the year is 85).

Our HR person just sent out the first lightening alert email in three weeks or more.

It disturbed my sleep as well.

We had rain!!! Two days ago. Sorry I've been kinda preoccupied.

There was a little over an inch of rain on Wednesday in Austin, more in surrounding areas. The temperatures have been much more pleasant since then too - mid to upper 70s as opposed to near 90. Thank you cold front.

It was downright bloody cold when I woke up this morning - 52F/11.1C Felt like it too. We're almost at that time of the year (one in spring and another in the autumn) where it's too warm to put the duvet on when you go to bed but too cold for just a sheet in the morning. Daytimes are just wonderful though - upper 70s/low 80s (mid 20s C)

I've seriously neglected this thread, especially when I had the chance to report from the wilds of Devon The weather there was mostly warmer than I was expecting for the time of year, and although there was some rain it wasn't too intrusive.

Meanwhile, back in Austin, we're unseasonably warm. Like, 10-15F above average. We'll probably see temperatures somewhere between 85F and 90F today (around 30C). Upper 80s until next Tuesday when a cold front is going to bring temperatures down to something a bit more normal for early November.

And no rain.

Hi, Gosho,

Here in the middle of the UK we are having a real assortment of weather thrown at us. It changes from day to day. There is no such things as a winter wardrobe any more, it can be mild and sunny (short sleeves) one day, and freezing cold (thermals) the next.

Glad you enjoyed Devon. I read some of the 'goings on' as Hoo Too meets fascinate me, perhaps because I am not likely to get to one for various reasons.

Hope you are happy with the election results. I wish our voters were so motivated! I have to say the politicians in the US certainly have to work for their posts, at least 'before' elections

Websailor

It sounds like Chchch, Websailor 26C one day, 10C the next I spend my whole time having too many or too few clothes with me.

If I remember rightly the weather in Devon was dry and fairly mild on the Wednesday when I rolled into Exeter. The following day it was a bit colder, more windy and drizzling when I took off for Torquay. Friday was dry and slightly warmer again, so was Saturday. There was rain on Sunday morning which cleared up by lunchtime but it turned a bit chilly again. Monday dry and chilly, and when I left Exeter again at 6am on Tuesday we had to scrape the ice off the car windscreen

However, a few days after I left...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7700167.stm