Hurricane Ike Heading Towards Alma in Port Aransas?

Incoming from Alma, way down in Port Aransas on the South Texas Gulf Coast, regarding the possible visit to her town by Hurricane Ike.

It's an interesting Alma account of the mood of the locals as they fear the worst and hope for a good outcome for all of the coast.

Wow....here we go again. Please remember we live here because it's a wonderful place to live. I moved here about 3 months ago and have not been happier. It's not problem free, but I love walking everywhere, the clean air (my allergies have all but disappeared) and the fact that I already know so many of the locals and feel like I could retire here. It feels like home to me. Maybe I lived here in a past life...who knows?

I opened Sips Coffee & Wine at 7am today just like any other day. I had one weird, crappy customer first thing, so the mood set was not a good one.

He must be a local. The locals are um...different here. Mostly, you'll find they are rednecks, hippies, or pirates. There is a particular personality type that tends to move here. You have to be a little bit pirate to fit in. I mostly am old hippie and just a smidge pirate. But, I do love my old country music. Hank Williams and Patsy Cline rule.

St Jo's Island just on the other side of the Channel was in fact, a pirate cove and there is legend about a dagger buried with Jean Lafitte's treasure to guard it. Neither have been found. I believe many of those pirates' descendents have settled in Port Aransas and their families are the town founders. There is a Port Aransas accent I've noticed in the locals' men folk. It's a little bit Spanish, Texan, and something else I can't place. I've met some fo' real pirates and they talk with that "arrrrrr" sound you hear in cartoons and caricatures. I like them. They are true originals and have been nothing but nice to me. Make no mistake these people are survivors and no one wants to hear any whining. I'm a whiner.

Yet today, all the customers had the same question (as if I had an answer). "Well, what do you think it's gonna do?" We look at each other with worried faces and say, "well, it doesn't look good. All we can do is pray". It was the same everywhere I went today. I rode the local trolley car to the Post Office (remember my car died about 2 weeks ago) and the lady trolley driver asks me, "Well, what do you think it's gonna do?" I gave my standard answer.

After I mailed a payment, I walked down to the IGA Grocery Store in town, bought a few groceries and another pair of those $5 sandals they had on sale after the busy summer season and the woman at the register asks me...well I think you know what she asked. I gave my, by now, standard answer.

As for me, I am fixing to (that's pretty Texan of me to say) see what I can do to reserve a Uhaul or Budget moving truck, the little one. If that fails, maybe I can rent an SUV or some other kind of truck in case I have to evacuate. I have to bring my 3 chihuahuas, my music gear, my computers, clothes, and as much as I can load out of this little "cottage".

So, I am writing to ask each of you to please say a prayer for me, my dogs, and Selena the cat. We, here in Port A, are praying for it to go way south to some uninhabited part of the Gulf Coast. No one here wants to wish it on anybody else, so we are praying that it goes way south. If it hits north of us, rain (flooding) will not be so bad. If it goes far enuf South, the same results are expected. But it looks like it's headed straight for Rockport (a very cool, picturesque place to live just 10 miles from here) based on the latest maps. But as we know from all the recent storms, the damn thing could do many of a number of things. So, we are trying to stay positive as some of the town has already started boarding up buildings. The trolley lady has already made arrangements for her trailor to get moved to Corpus. Oceans of Seafood (the restaurant and fish market across the street from Sips) is having a Hurricane Seafood Sale. I may go get me some of that. There's a front headed here which could divert the storm. We just don't know.

So, I'd be grateful for any positive thoughts, prayers, chicken sacrifices, whatever you can do with your most powerful thoughts to help me and the boys and Selena.

Thanks in advance and I'll keep you posted on this latest misadventure.

Take care....
love,
alma