I think they want some help
Where's the House? 
Nothing left but the address! 
Odd place to park your boat!
Even the bird houses got hit!
Texas Prairie Chicken
These used to be mobile homes
Former Mobile Home location
Wow!
Another Wow!
This small community just south and east of Bacliff and right on Galveston Bay where I have been working was really hit hard. It is very low, with some areas that are actually below sea level. The results of this are obvious by the pictures I took there the other day. These pictures are one month after the Ike hurricane and most still do not have any utility services. A few of the businesses out on the main highway into town, 517, have power but that's all.
Still in the clean up phase after the storm, very little repairs are under way due to lack of utilities. This is going to take a long time and some will never be able to rebuild. Due to the location and conditions in San Leon, many could not afford insurance or the insurance companies will just not write a policy for any amount of money. In spite of all this destruction, the people I met were pretty up-tone and getting on with their lives. The mind set down here on the Gulf Coast seems to be Sh** Happens - lets just move on. I have to laugh when they find out I'm from California and the first thing out of their mouths is "Earthquake" I just tell them that after the earthquake, all your stuff is in one pile and dry. You don't have to ask the guy six blocks away if they have seen your car.
It looks like things are starting to slow down as far as work for me goes. I may be coming home soon. This will be the second weekend with little or no work. That sucks since the weekends are the best time to catch people at home with an "ambush inspection". I cannot reach many clients by phone since a lot of utilities are still out. The typical process is to call for an appointment, tell them what documents I will need to see and then go by the next day. This usually works on about half of the applicants, the others I cannot reach. When they make their first application, they are supposed to list several contact options. After the storm, the phones don't work, they have left the area and not returned and some have even blocked incoming calls on that line. Time to "ambush" them. LOL
I'm actually starting to like the Gulf Coast area. I'm getting used to the humidity and the weather has been pretty nice. The "beach lifestyle" is pretty strong down here. This is definitely Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney country. The cost of living is quite low, housing prices are a total shock to someone from hyper-inflated California! You can rent a nice house with a huge yard for about $500-$600 a month and buy a very nice house for under $200,000. Wow, it wouldn't be hard to consider living here. Of course the wage rates are a lot lower down here I would expect, hence the low housing prices. If I could create a business down here that made the money that I currently make in CA, we could live like a king and have a ton of room for all the dogs.
Ok, this is getting pretty long so I will cut it off here and say "Later"
Dana
