Watching & waiting

Hurricane Rita is moving closer and closer to Port Arthur, Texas. I'm in a house in San Antonio. We were staying in a hotel room but Nora's pretty well-connected and she knew someone from Houston who staying in town at a friend's, and they invited us to join them.

Within 10 seconds of my announcing to the hotel desk that we were checking out, someone had already reserved our room.

My mother's in Little Rock, Arkansas, because when she decided to head north, that was the only place that still had rooms available. Dad's staying in a hotel at I-10 and Hwy 6, my daughter's with her mother in northeast Texas. So we're all pretty spread out, and staying in touch by cell phones. Service is spotty and we don't always get through the first time.

I've seen the clips on TV of the hurricane rolling in and thinking about the Big One in 1900. I guess no one reading this remembers the hurricane that caught Galveston unawares at the turn of the century. No matter. We are busy today making our own memories of a disaster. I don't know how bad it will be, but I know that it will take the area a long time to recover. My family moved into that area in 1835 with a land grant from the Government of Spain, and they have been in the area ever since. It's crazy to think that people wanted to stay in a swampy, mosquito-infested territory, but the promise of cheap land must have been greater than the inconvenience. So I have a lot of history in that area and I hate to see it washed away overnight. Tomorrow we'll have a better idea of the damages.

As for now, Houston seems to be doing pretty well. I called my house and my answering machine came on, so I still have power. Nora and I discussed driving back early in the morning, but her sister reminded us of all the stopped cars along interstate 10, and how the eastbound lanes were opened to westbound traffic. If we tried to return in the morning we would likely find a number of roadblocks in the form of stalled cars, and maybe debris. So for now the plan is to just settle in and wait to see what the talking heads on CNN have to say.

Speaking of CNN, I have a few observations. First, what's up with the hot pink rain slickers? I've heard that Anderson Cooper is gay, but now they all look gay. Second, I don't want to hear about Katrina right now. Katrina is so last month. We have a hurricane now. Today. Third, "the area between Houston and the Louisiana border" has a name. Put Beaumont on the map and quit talking about the area as if it was unsettled rice fields. It was the site of the first oil well in Texas, and deserves at least a little respect. Fourth, WE KNOW THAT GALVESTON IS A GHOST TOWN. I am sick of hearing it. Talk about something else. No no, not the bus that blew up. We've heard that story as well. Ten times. It reminds me of the SNL skit where someone shot Buckwheat, and they keep showing the clip over and over. I do have say cheers to the CNN crew for hustling around and following the storm, and jeers to Da Prez for hiding out in Colorado to watch the storm from a safe distance. Loser!