Green Studio Blog

Sunny Outlook During Hurricane Ike

"Ike is coming to Houston and there is little chance that it will miss", a poetic paraphrasing of the message from my email buddy PHD in Meteorology from MIT, which gave me the inevitable news with one day to go before Ike made landfall. I was paralyzed with fear; so I worked, because work is therapy for me. I use artistry, pshycology, and research in creating and materializing my vision. My vision was cloudy that day.

After a full day of work, I put in a full night of preparing for IKE. I made my list; a sample of which follows:

#3- Pick up Bocci balls left on the lawn from the last party.

#12- Trash/recycle the empty cans of Pittsburgh semitransparent fence stain the painters disposed of 2 years ago behind the A/C units.

#15- Move the giant -and I MEAN giant at 2feet in length and 6inches in diameter- steel bolt that my friend Karen left me as a present, from the side of the pool into the herb garden so that it doesn't float into the pool

#20- Try to lock the antique bronze gates into the entry courtyard, dating from the Peron era in Argentina-with the original bullet holes to prove it- with the most random of antique keys which does not belong to the doors.

#21- Try to unlock the antique bronze gates in case we need to flee

#24- Find the smallest of phillips head screw driver to insert rechargeable batteries into my 4 Casa Concept solar LED lamps and place on the window sill while there is still sunlight.

Like my friend Karen said about moving to NYC, "you can't make this stuff up".
I kept my list, perhaps to laugh later, or to reuse it next year. It took me all night to come up with the 49 preparation items, but-hands down- it was the 4 solar lamps that made our life safer and better. With 7 hours of light every night, that saw us through that harrowing long night of IKE and through the next 6 days without electricity, we now swear by our lamps. Visit our webstore.

Hurricane Irene- how to weather the real deal

Not wanting to sound like a victim, but more like an adventurer, shall I count how many extreme natural disasters I've been through? Counting backwards: Hurricane Ike, evacuation of Hurricane Rita, Tropical Storm Allison, 4 major earthquakes in El Salvador and Mexico, draught and heat of 1980 and 2011 in Texas...I seem to be at the right place at the right time, except for Irene. I was almost there this time, but luck would have it that taking my son to University in the east is scheduled for a few days after Irene hits NYC.

Aunt Betty, from NYC, vacationing in the Jersey shore for the summer, didn't believe anything could happen in Bay Head. Her hosts said they will prepare for Irene by bringing in the outdoor furniture. I couldn't convince them that this is the real deal.

Karen, from NYC didn't take seriously my offer to fly to quake and Irene-free Houston while her house in the Village has 7500 lbs of steel scaffolding hugging the exterior walls.

I just realized why I'm glued to the TV and watchful of Irene: I've not processed the fear that gripped me, my family and my city as the 80 yr. old trees bent to the point of no return, as the wind created missiles out of the clay tiles on my roof, as the rain pounded on my windows and on the confines of my stressed mind.

I hope Aunt Betty doesn't have to experience this fear.

I wish Karen would just get out.

It's too late to tell you that you need filtered water for five days, and coolers full of ice for keeping food, as the power grids fail. Forget the duct tape, I still don't know what it's for. My solar flashlight was the high LIGHT of 8 days of total darkeness.

But I'm not too late in telling you to find the darkest place, furthest from the windows of wherever you chose to ride this monster out. Stay there and resist the temptation to look the beast in the eye. Stay, and if you know how to pray, pray.

Be well Richard in the Hamptons, Cornelia and Billy in Bedford, Karen in NYC, Aunt Betty in the Bay Head. I'll be watching, and praying.