Out there in the Gulf the wind is blowin' like a bandit. I'm talkin 'bout a hurricane, your riggin' will not stand it"

-Asleep at the Wheel (from: Blowin' Like a Bandit)

Well, actually Tropical Storm Erin didn't give us squat....until this morning when we had a torrential rain storm with a nice display of lightening and thunder. There was a bit of a surge too, but I just adjusted the lines and went about my business.

However, it certainly sent the goods inland over Houston, San Antonio, Austin and other areas where already saturated ground turned deadly for a number of folks.

Now it's Dean that's got us all on edge.  The projected path looks right on our nose, so we'll be biting our nails and playing the waiting game into next week.

Maybe it'll make a turn and make landfall over some unpopulated jungle region along the coast of Mexico

This place has almost no hurricane holes, and here on the Island where I am presently moored is the first landfall after the thing enters the Gulf. And it is a tenuous and ephemeral strip of sand with no protection offered. I do have a several alternatives should this thing become reality. 

First, I might run up the Brownsville Ship Channel (about 14 miles inland) and hide Olivia in the shrimp boat basin, against the Valley Fuel and Ice dock, which is owned by the husband of a good friend of mine, take my chances with all of those big old shrimpers side tied throughout the place or...

Second, I could steam north about 20 miles and turn west, way up the Arroyo Colorado, and look for a suitable place to spider tie and anchor the boat....

And the last that I have considered is to chug out into the middle of the open Laguna Madre (which of course averages only about 3-4 feet deep), set out anchors and hope that the storm doesn't blow me ashore.

What to do?.....What to do?......

In any event, and I reiterate, I HATE hurricane season. It is of course, the price we pay to live in this tropical playground, and it's like going to Las Vegas to gamble, only here, most of the time you win.

But when you lose.....you really lose.