I have officially had enough of Texas. We live over 3 hours from Houston but when I went to the grocery store this morning they were out of water… the panic has set in. I’m trying to be sensible but panic is a fairly contagious little bugger and I can feel in my tummy the beginning rumblings of panic. It’s at the early stages but I have to admit that I’m getting worried.
I’m out of my element, you see. I can tell you what to do in a snowstorm, I can tell you what to pack in your car for a long journey through the bush, through moose infested pine trees…but I know jackshit about hurricanes. Although it’s looking like the worst we might see is tornadoes (holy crap! tornadoes!) I’m still counting my children and trying to find my passport…it’s around here somewhere.
The thing is that I’ve lived here for over 6 years and I still don’t understand why they don’t have basements. Some days I go into my closet and fantasize that there are steps to a magical basement there where the washer and dryer and the cat box can live without being just off my kitchen causing my kitchen to be come the sorting area for laundry and slightly stinky from cat shit. Why are there no basements? Why does the guy up the street from me have his truck jacked up 10 feet off the ground? Why does the guy on the other side have a ‘Texas Terrorist Hunting Permit’ sticker on his car….has he caught any terrorists? I think not. Why don’t women around here have their own nails? What’s the deal with engagement rings being bigger than people’s fingers….it’s not practical. Why is it still 37 fricking degrees on the first day of Autumn? Don’t get me started on fahrenheit….
So because there was no water at the grocery store I got beer…and chocolate. Hey Rita…bring it on.
your rant made me think of this song. Stay safe lonestar canuck! I’m not opposed to returning to Mexico after the state of things here in the U.S. or perhaps I will start a petition to move the border back to its spot prior to the Gadsden Purchase, hmmm.
mmm Rufus Wainwright – he’s got style. I’m starting to think things will be okay…maybe it’s the beer. Thanks for your thoughts,
As a native New Yorker the daily activities of Texans remain a mystery to me. But perhaps you are far enough away from the coast to avoid the effects of the hurricane? Beer and chocolate, sounds like a good plan to me! As to basements, I too live without one but always had one growing up. I suppose that it reduces the cost of construction. Anyway, good luck and keep us posted.
Thank you boran2 – the basement thing is a major source of frustration for me because with little kids I keep trying to send them to the basement to play and since we don’t have one they’re always looking at me like I’m a crazy woman. Maybe I am a crazy woman but I’m counting on their future therapists to sort that one out.
When i grew up in Eastern Washington, everyone had basements. For one thing, there’s nothing like a basement in the summer when it’s hot — 100 degrees some days.
In our last home — my mom and dad built three homes while I was growing up (too eager to keep up with the Joneses, they were — we had a daylight basement, and that was quite nice. It was still cool but had the advantage of light.
However, in hurricane country, I’d want a basement dug deep in the earth.
I hope you get back to Canada soon … it’s a much better place than this country.
Hey, K!! Will you take us with you?? I am about to run out to the store (again)…I’ve been feeling pretty ansty myself, my hub thinks everyone is overreacting and I now have a Japanese family coming to stay with us from Katy (very good friends of my mom’s)….I am going batshit loopy and I think I’ll get some beer and chocolate too…
PS I have lived here for 11 years and I still don’t get it either, but I try to stick with people who make sense to me!! Call me if you get too crazy!
(((hugs)))
I hope your friends get in okay – it looks like a hellish nightmare to get out of Houston right now. Even with the forwarning it’s still pretty awful. I know people who were going to leave but saw the line of cars on the highway and decided to stay put. I can only hope that Houston doesn’t flood – I know it won’t flood like New Orleans but it does have some major flood areas and can be pretty bad.
It looks like we’re just going to get some entertaining thundershowers and rain but the brunt of it will miss us (if the current forcast holds out and Rita doesn’t pull a fast one on the meteorologists)
hang in there
Makes you wonder…can’t they do a graduated evacuation by lottery or something ie. neighbourhood A leaves first, neighbourhood B leaves an hour later – to avoid all of this traffic congestion?
I think they did try that – I know Galveston was ordered out before Houston but most of Galveston has to go through Houston to get to Dallas or Austin. I don’t know why they didn’t make both lanes of the highway go one way before now – they’re ordering one of the highways to do that now but they’re still thinking about it for some of the other highways. People here (I’m close to Austin) are saying it’s taking family 12 – 15 hours to drive what is usually a 3 hour trip.
So for us it’s like the hurricane hitting Calgary and we’re in Edmonton – we should be fine and just have strong storms but the downtown can and does flood occasionally because it’s on a river (they call it a lake but they’re not fooling anyone).
I hope you’re okay! This is one huge storm. 🙁
I can’t stop laughing. I have all the same questions and no answers that make sense. Beer and chocolate though brings me a very pleasant memory of my Uncle who I recently lost. I see him eating chocolate and drinking a beer together at 11:00 a.m. on Christmas and smiling and declaring that beer and chocolate is the Marine Corp Breakfast.
Your uncle sounds like my father – beer and chocolate? Sure! beer and orange juice? Sure! beer and peanuts? Sure! Beer and communion wafers? Sure! Quite a guy, my dad.
If I ever start a band, the name of our first album is totally going to be Beer & Communion Wafers.
Hang tough, lonestar canuck. We’ll all be pulling for you.
The really funny thing is we’re not Catholic so I don’t know how he figured that combination out.
That reminds me of the fellow who had a studio next to mine in graduate school. Every morning I’d see him in his studio, painting and eating M&Ms, drinking coffee and sometimes chasing it with a beer. He was always wired. Always talked a mile a minute.
Just remember beer is better than bottled water since it’s full of B vitamins, and chocolate is full of anti-oxidants. It’s health food! 😀
Maybe you have a high groundwater table that keeps them from digging basements in your area? Or maybe the depth to bedrock is less than six feet?
I think technically it’s because of the limestone – that’s the official story and they’re sticking to it.
I’m with you on the beer – although one lady I met in the grocery store who was looking for water didn’t find me amusing when I told her there was plenty of beer though and she could stock up on that…some people have no sense of humour in a crisis, eh?
I feel for you! Come home. I can guarantee you a good old-fashioned snow storm.
We tried to get out this past spring but the stupid house wouldn’t sell. We’re going to try again in the spring – hope ‘springs’ eternal…snort!
Hey, with all of those decorating shows I watched during my hiatus from blogging, I saw a lot of good tips to help people sell their houses. Maybe I could help you out. 🙂
This sounds so much like me it’s creepy.
I miss Cleveland so much for many of the same reasons! If the forecast calls for so much as ONE single snowflake that MIGHT POSSIBLY fall in the vicinity of Raleigh immediately the grocery stores fill up with frenzied Southerners buying up all the milk, bread, and, oddly, beer and Doritos. Last year the entire city was completely paralyzed by less than half an inch of snow!!!!! And then the schools were closed for 3 days! And then they had Saturday school to make up for the days they missed!!!
And basements, don’t even get me started on basements. Where the heck do you put the litter box or the out of season clothes or the water heater for God’s sake if you don’t have a freaking basement?!
Ok, the winters suck in Cleveland there’s no getting around that. But I sooooo miss the “north” and “yankees.”
Both of our cats do their business outside — I don’t think we even HAVE a litterbox….damn, damn, damn.
I am having visions of being stuck inside a house with no air conditioning and cat piss all over the place.
Ok, I’m done now!
😉
touring Scotland. Having cultural ties we prepared as well as we could, but one afternoon when very tired, tempers got short when we asked for several of the sandwiches on display and were told they were out.
Oh aye, you mean “filled rolls!”
Takes us north with you. We have a small but profitable craft business that will be mostly export trade for Canada. Our Canadian attorney says the wait is 3-4 years after submitting the application.
Get yourself one of these to help you along when you land:
That’s Toto!
Be safe. The damn storm may stall over Louisiana and Texas. Haven’t we all had enough of this?
My first reaction when I heard Rita was headed our way:
Fuck. Why did I move to Texas again?
Actually, I do love it (I’m in Austin) but my first year I got frozen in my apt during an ice storm, and then saw a killer tornado in my rear window as I drove home one day. (It took the roof off a grocery store about 4 miles away from me.)
If I never see that sight again, that’ll be just fine by me.
Enjoy your chocolate and beer. I went with chocolate and water, but I think I got to the store earlier than you…