Hurricane Harvey

This idiot is almost to coast to board up windows and get headed back home before dark.

I go to bed last night with predictions of 45mph winds. I wake up and they are saying 115mph.

Crazy day.

All done. Heading home. Ill get to see what evacuation traffic looks like.

For those of you (humans and all living creatures) impacted by this storm, you are in my thoughts and I am praying for your safety. 💚

We were in the evacuation of a hurricane, 2006?.  People were stranded on the side of the road and at gas stations without gas.  We were going the opposite direction so there was not much traffic.

We have a 40% chance of rain today so we will see what happens. I live where it floods during rain storms, so I hope my empty pond will fill up and not flood my property.  Maybe the hills will slow down the wind.

I wish everyone the best and please stay safe.

"Hurricane Harvey: The storm of the decade is about to hit America

Texas is preparing for the worst storm to strike the state in 12 years.

Hurricane Harvey, which has now been upgraded to a category two storm, is expected to make landfall in the southern United States late Friday, bringing torrential rain and potentially life-threatening flooding to the region."

It took 4 hours to get there,  5.5 hours to get away.  That extra 1.5 hours came in the first 100 miles. After that it was normal traffic.

It seemed that the main traffic leaving were people that went in to pick up their boats and rvs. Today is probably the big evacuation day. It will be dreadful for anyone involved.

Thursday morning was the first notice that Harvey was gonna be HUGE. This leaves 24 to 36 hours to get in and out, or just out.

My middle name is Harvey.  It means bitter. A bitter wind is blowing.

Dale, that sounds about right. Ive been building a home there since january. We spent our first weekend there 2 weeks ago. Was planning to go for a week during labor day next week.

600 sq ft house. Incinerating toilet and gray water system. Had planted kumquat, orange, grapefruit trees.

Oysters , red drum, and blue crab plentiful in the canal in front of house. A person could  feed himself all winter between the citrus and fish.

I hope your house is still there after the weekend. Good luck to you.

I remember seeing an article about a beautiful architecty house on a Caribbean island, airy and natural in effect and materials... I wonder if that one still exists.

About once a decade, there's a big storm. Not a bad trade off to live with that abundance most of the time. Good to put most of your efforts into the land,  rather than buildings. Plants can be damaged, but the land can't blow away entirely.

Everyone stay safe out there, and for those of you that (like me) are considered delicacies by the mosquito population, get ready.

My brother is trying to find a minimally toxic repellent/preventative for livestock, his farm is outside Bastrop; anyone have advice for these salt marsh skeeters?

Stay safe. I have been in winds in excess of 100 mph. No fun. (I still have sand imbedded in face and side of arm)

It looks like Houston is going to get flooded, a friend sent me a link update on where it's going. Update from Apple News...

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/hurricane-harvey-path-texas-louisiana-gulf-of-mexico-2017-8

It looks like it is going to make landfall then run around for a while and head for Houston as a tropical storm dumping tons of water. About Wednesday of the coming week it will be over Houston.  

(edit including my bad humor removed. I am sorry about that).


As for salt marsh skeeters? Move. If there is one skeeter within a mile or snuck into the house she will have me for lunch.  Someone did mention eating seed stalk of a plantain.

https://permies.com/t/69454/Mosquito-alarm-clocks  Near the end of this we veer into seriousness about getting them to go away.

In the Louisiana Bayou they swear by Avon Skin-So-Soft and that product can be bought in massive bulk if you ask your Avon person. I had mentioned such to my Avon rep and she said she'd noticed that you could buy it in really large quantities and wondered about that (in her wholesale order stuff).  However, to me, the mosquitos consider it 'flavor basting' and lick it off and lunch. I swear they do.

Skeeters. Down on the coast i wear pants and sometimes long sleeve shirt while everyone else is in shorts and sometimes shirtless.

Its worse at sundown, when we are usually kayaking back to shore. my clothing suffices.

Be safe!! Hurricanes can be so fickle. Prayers for saftey and minimal damage to everyone in Harvey's path....

Wayne, I'm glad you are safe and didn't have much trouble getting in and out. I hope traffic is moving smoothly for others to evacuate as well. I am sad to think that all you have worked for thus far and dreamed of doing may be lost (for now). This is going to be the story for so many there. I know how I felt when a tornado flattened 3 of my barns (one held a dog I was trying to locate the owner of, he survived), ruined all my gardens, knocked down trees, rung the chimney off the house, damaged siding.... I had to find my inner strength that was somewhere under the tears and covered in sadness, rally together with family, friends and neighbors and get busy. I know my story doesn't even come close to comparing to that of so many others who have survived much worse than I could imagine. For those in Texas and Louisiana,  their strength, too, will be summoned in the days during and after Harvey. These are hard and trying times, but wonderful, beautiful people come together, rebuilding gets underway, plants and trees will grow again. The Earth and the people will heal.

The bottom of house is 7ft in the air. There are 2 weather stations, one 10 miles to the left and one 10 miles to the right.

Left one got the biggest sea elevetion at 7.99ft high. The other hit about 3ft.

It shows to be tapering off.

wayne fajkus wrote:It shows to be tapering off.

That's true. That bad boy Harvey is now a tropical storm, but the rain is, unfortunately, going to stick around for awhile.

We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I'm certainly hoping for the best. For you all!

For those of you who don't receive emails from http://thegrownetwork.com/, I received this message in an email last night from our dear friend, The Grow Network founder, Marjory Wildcraft (written by Heather,  the new Managing Editor of The Grow Network, in Marjory's absence):

"Here inland in Red Rock, we are planning for 20 inches of rain and several days of sustained 40 mph winds.

Uh, that is more than two-thirds of our annual rainfall coming in one weekend. 

Dave went shopping yesterday and he told me the grocery store was in pandemonium. 

I have no idea how the tomatoes will fare, but I am taking down their cages so the hardware doesn’t go flying off into the next county.

Now, we are working on the rest of the farm, which needs things tied down, gutters cleaned, windows boarded, tractors put up, etc. And we’ve been broadcasting seed for the fall planting of the pastures’ cover crops (yes, the time to plant is before the rains or your likelihood of germination goes way down—you never know if/when it will rain again).   

Farm dog and the cats will stay in the house with us.

We have a low water crossing before getting to the main road, so we may be holed up here for a week or so. Hopefully the power will stay on."

We know Marjory is a smart, resourceful and courageous free spirit. We hope all is well with her, her family, her livestock and property. She is certainly in my thoughts and prayers. I hope we hear good news soon.

There are several more of our Texas/Louisiana Permies family that I am so hoping we'll hear from soon. When and what you post is entirely up to you, friends. No pressure here. Just know that we are thinking of you. God bless!

Houston getting heavy rain right now.

In my area, the sea level is still 4ft up. No way to get their to assess the damage.

Will be thinking about you and sending good thoughts your way, Wayne.  Please keep us updated.  I'd love to see a pic of the house, once you can get there.  Hopefully it will show it in good shape.

We thought our earthworks and brush dams would get a test but we've had relatively little rain, and some gusty winds.

Ludi, Good to hear from you. I'm glad you are safe. This is a brutal storm.

Wayne, I know you're anxious to get there. I would be too. Please be careful. It may be wise to wait awhile longer. I don't know. 50" rain totals are expected in some areas by Wednesday. Have you had contact with anyone in your area?

The area where Marjory Wildcraft is was showing 22" of rain on the map I saw midday.

A friend reported just north of Houston, they have three feet of water and are expecting four more..... mercy.

May everyone be safe and sound.

I just got back. 2 minor things only. I lost an ibc tote that was plumbed into gray water system, and the bottom landing to the stairs.

There were a couple of total losses in the area, but mostly minor damage.

Ill post pics tomorrow.  I have to resize them

Happy for you! What a relief!!

Heres the road to the house. A mix of washouts, floods, and sandbars

Some pics i snapped. These are from magnolia beach and Indianola.  Both areas are considered part of port lavaca, tx

Wayne, those pictures are incredible! Do you have electricity in your area?

This just came in this morning from http://thegrownetwork.com/ newsletter:

"My family and I had prepared our homestead for the worst, and we're okay because of it." - Marjory Wildcraft

This is why I love and admire her! Check out Prepare for a Natural Disaster , by Heather Dakota (The Grow Network's Managing Editor and Contributor).

Water is on with boil notice. Electricity probably days away. Plenty of dangling electric lines and leaning poles.

On the way back we saw "fleets" of electric crews on the way in. boom trucks, etc.

It was pretty awesome to see that. All the background preparation that is happening while the event is happening.

And I was wondering how much of this was going to happen ?  There are all sorts of industrial plants down there and this one is about to explode apparently. That water is going to be so polluted, it kills me when I see the videos of folks walking around in it.

Chemical plant may explode !

Hating All the Rain Venture Elsewhere You #@π&+!!!

My heart goes out to all those people.

Terrible time for all in those areas.  I look forward to better days for all!

Gas stations running out. This is 200+ miles inland from where it landed

And, the prices are starting to jack up everywhere else, even though we have huge reserves throughout the country. What are these reserves for?

Times like this it is not always popular to be a gas and grocery owner.  Or any type of job that is affected by such disasters.

Sometimes dominos fall and knock down other dominos that some do not realize are affected by others.  Then sometimes people just take advantage of situations.  It is not always so cut and dry.