Afternoon, everyone.
I spent the day at a friend's mining operation in central Alabama. It's quite a deal he has going. I can't say much about what the mine is producing but let's just say it's a profitable metal and one that has never been mined in Alabama before.
Steve, the maddening thing with Marfan's is that it does skip generations, so you probably have some relative two or three generations back that had it. That's a hope thing for your children since there's a better than even chance they won't have it. If it makes you feel any better, I've been slowly falling apart since I was 40 too and I've made to 62 so there's still hope.
Chris, I dealt with a lot of people that showed up at work and just wanted to get paid. They were called burglars.
There's always a second career opportunity there. The lawn mower makes a perfect cover story.
Rex, congratulations to your grandson and I hope he stays safe. It takes some guts to go into the Army now. It looks like Houston will be fine except for some tropical storm force winds and some rain. We actually has .25 inches of rain here yesterday from a solitary thunderstorm. Ike may give us some blow-off moisture depending on his exact course but I'm not counting on much right now.
Corey, if my wife ever suggests riding a tourist train for fun, I'll know something is seriously wrong.
OTOH, she doesn't like NASCAR either. Her hobby is shopping for shoes and purses. I have exactly three pairs of shoes. She's working on beating the Imelda Marcos record.
Ray, you must have gotten the same line of thunderstorms that went through Cleveland. My brother said it was the loudest thunder he's ever heard. It looks like an early dose of fall for you guys. Sorry about those CD's. It seems like every CD I ever make has something wrong with it. CD's and me don't get along.
Jeffrey, I saw the pics of the hoppers. They look like nice models.
Ken, just make sure you use the medical grade super glue.
There really is such a thing and it's about $70 an ounce. I have no idea what makes it any different than the normal stuff we always use.
Ike is now out in the Gulf and has reached cat 2 status again. There's some dry air in front of him but he's now becoming so large that he should suck that in with very little effect on intensity. By this time tomorrow, he should become a cat 3 as he passes over a warm loop current in the Gulf. He'll be passing over some cooler water and come under some wind shear before landfall so I don't think he'll get to more than cat 3, which is bad enough. The central pressure is dropping rapidly and he is expanding in coverage. Almost the entire Texas coast will experience tropical storm force winds, with areas as far inland as Dallas also feeling these wind effects. The cone of error is getting smaller and landfall should take place early Saturday morning. It looks like an area 50 miles on either side of Corpus Christi is the most likely site for landfall. My guess is either a direct hit on Corpus or just slightly east. The storm surge will be between 18 and 22 feet, which will wipe out some of the barrier islands on the coast. I'm hoping everyone within 10 miles of the coast around Corpus up to Galveston is getting out now. Ike is going to do major damage to the power system infrastructure and much of coastal and central Texas is going to a miserable place to be next week. If I lived in Texas and had some vacation time, this would be good period to visit Colorado.
Rain and flooding are also going to be big stories as Ike moves north through Texas and then hangs a right into Oklahoma and Arkansas, still as a tropical depression. Should be interesting after that as some models now want to take the remnants of Ike straight east over Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and then back out into the Atlantic. It's way to early to give any credence to these models but I think Ike will still be a story for the next 10 days.
I told them that the deal was I show up eat my lunch they hand me a check for ungodly amount of cash and I return home!
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