Riding Out The Island Storm

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well and coping with this typical south Texas August heat we have been having. As has been the case since last month, I continue to do my outside chores and projects during the early morning and late evening hours. It’s just too dang hot and miserable trying to work in this scorching heat and high humidity. Thank goodness for the shaded front porch and Gulf of Mexico sea breeze.

Well, a few Saturdays ago, July 25th to be exact, Hurricane Hannah made landfall about 100 miles south of me, and I am very thankful that it made that south turn. Coming in as a strengthening high end Cat 1, sustained winds of 90 mph, I wasn’t overly concerned about it, and stayed in place on the island.

I spent the day Friday picking up and securing all the loose yard items, and took down the flags, hammock and wind chimes, as the winds would be in the 30-40 mph range. I also moved my boat over and secured it with extra lines to neighbors Britton and Susan’s dock, knowing their dock was higher and much stronger. . . I’m very glad that I did this.

As far as riding out a storm, this one was not terrible, except that the tidal surge was higher than I expected. After becoming a strengthening hurricane, the predicted tide rise for our area of the coastline was 3-5’, and with my house being at a 4’ sea level, I knew there was a chance I would get water into my downstairs kitchen/bathroom. And sure enough, during the 12 noon High Tide time of the day, while sitting at my kitchen table, I saw water start coming inside under the front door and along the baseboards of the octagon house. DANG!! That’s not a sight that you ever really want to see. Not much to do at that point except start picking stuff up off the floor, and hope it doesn’t get higher than several inches and damage the propane fridge. Luckily, just under 2” of Matagorda Bay water came inside, so I was slowly able to sweep it out the front door as it receded. My cat, Jetty, certainly did not enjoy walking in the water on the floor, so she jumped up on the table and spent the afternoon there.

These storms, even minimal hurricanes, have so much power and opportunities of destruction behind them, you really have to prepare and plan for them. I had very minimal damage, mostly consisting of some boards on my pier coming loose from the surge and washing away This was the fourth time in my 20+ years on the island to have water downstairs, so in that respect I am very fortunate.

As of this writing, the wooden floor in my 12’x26’ tractor garage is almost finished, needing only seven more boards to complete the job. Yay!! All projects out here are a slow methodical process, bringing out a few materials at a time on my mainland supply runs. I always say that the latest building project will be my last one. . . but it has yet to turn out that way, after the two-story house w/decks and porch, and now seven outbuildings. Geez!!

Well, that’s it from the island for now. Everyone please take care, stay cool and have a great day.

WOW, we have really had some Hot Days! This means that King Fisher Park & Beach has had many visitors. What with all the issues, our Chamber has had many calls asking if our beach and launching ramps are open, as many around our area has been closed. I hope all have at least driven by the beach and perhaps stopped to walk down to a table, sit and enjoyed the piece of paradise that we have. So many families are getting out and enjoying themselves, which is great!!

Seems fishing has been very good in our area. Lots of fish being cleaned at the docks.

The County donated face masks to the Chamber for July 4th, there were many left over, so if you are a member and would like some, please contact us, there will be baggies of 5 each, at the Senior Luncheon on Tuesdays. Also, you can pick them up at Beacon 44 Seafood on Sunday or Monday.

Our next meeting will be September 14th, 6:30 pm, Port O’Connor Community Center. Everyone is invited

New Members:
POC Liquor
Bay Flats Lodge Resort
Junek Consulting LLC
Sea Isle RV Park
Red Snapper Round Up

The first POC Farmer’s Market was a great experience and I am looking forward to the next one. Thank you, Sue Glover, for putting it all together, and thank you to Joe and Eloisa for hosting at Josie’s!

I have been inspired by requests, so I am working on my baby onesies with my original art on them, as well as other art projects.

See ya’ there! Dawn Ragusin, Local Port O’Connor Artist

The next Farmer’s Market is set for September 12, at Josie’s from 8:00 a.m. until noon.

POC Farmer’s Market is tentatively scheduled for the second Saturday of each month. For more information, please go to Sue Glover’s Facebook.

We sit here now in the twilight of Summer and I have to admit, I am one of those kinds of people that cannot wait for Summer to end and the cooler days of Fall to take hold. Maybe it is because being born in October I am a ‘Fall baby,’ maybe it’s because I tend to sweat like a dripping faucet whether I was skinny as a rail or as huge as a overfilled water balloon, but there is something about the cooler weather that appeals to me.

It might also do with the fact that as far as air conditioning goes, cost and the effectiveness of the air conditioning unit in my apartment means that Willis Carrier is not the great inventor others think he is by bringing AC into existence, not as long as the only tastes of his marvel I get is when in various public areas.

Schuyler Skaats Wheeler and Philip H. Diehl are my true heroes, for as much as I am forced to dismiss air conditioning as something out of reach, without the electric fan Summer would be even more sticky and unbearable, and I draw a limit to my being behind the times to the late 19th century. Beyond that, you have to hang water soaked reeds in the windows to try and stay cool or perhaps poke holes in walls for air flow, waving a manual fan at my face all day, or switching my current mattress for filled with corn husks…needless to say none of these ideas exactly fills me with joy.

Now that does not mean I hate Summer completely, after all I have spent most of my life in Illinois, and have seen more snow in real life than most born and bred Texans have seen in Christmas films and television commercials. For Winter temps to be less than ten below zero is uncommon in my meteorological past, but not impossible by any means.

Summer is indeed where all the exciting stuff is supposed to happen, from Summer romances to Summer vacations from school filled with more fun and less responsibility, but for me it always seemed that more occurred in the Fall months or during Winter. If anything my internal seasons are reversed, as Summer always seems to close chapters of my life, not open them.

I know I am not alone in this as I have seen many people prefer the Fall and even Winter (although not as many who will speak ill of the golden laden Summertime openly), some for the cooler air, some because they love Halloween and the others holidays coming soon once it rears its spooky head.

Others still will call us crazy, Summer has longer days (on this I agree), warm air full of promise and life, days that come to mind from Summers long gone, but there is something about the Fall that no other season seems to match for me, and as August winds down around us, I know it will soon be here.

Concerned about the rumors posited on Facebook about the cause of the July 25th boating accident that caused injury to three and death to one boater, a reader has found a plausible explanation of the event. The reader suggests that the accident was no fault of those involved, but of a ransomeware attack on the Garmin company.

Garmin, manufacturer of tracking and other devices used for marine, aviation, and fitness applications suffered a cyber attack on June 23. Sources at Garmin have confirmed that the company was the victim of WastedlLocker malware, used by a Russian group of cybercriminals called Evil Corp.

The sinister collective is headed up by 33-year-old Russian playboy hacker, Maksim Yakubets. Mr Yakubets is wanted by the FBI and has been accused of stealing at least $100million since he began his life of cyber crime in 2009. A $5million bounty was put on his head in December 2019 by the American authorities as he was named the world’s biggest cyber-criminal.

So before counting on your GPS for accurate information, you might want to check it using a route you know, or look for up-to-date information on the company’s web site.

We understand the boating accident which occurred near The Sanctuary in Port O’Connor is under FBI investigation.

Please note: Dolphin Talk has a new phone number: 361-408-0807

You may call or text any time before 10:00 p.m.

Thanks for reading Dolphin Talk! Joyce Rhyne, Editor