Inside the Moon...
Christmas Island Style A2
Travel A11
Rare Bird A7
FREE
The
Historic Flag Collection A11
Local Music A16
Free
Island Moon
The Island Newspaper since 1996 Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
January 3, 2013
Happy New Year from the Island Moon Monkeys
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Well folks the Christmas season has come and gone and the world didn’t end, so we got that going for us. And maybe it’s just we Moon Monkeys but isn’t the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s job to protect the country from incoming missiles? So if one of those villains from a James Bond movie wanted to attack the U.S. wouldn’t Christmas Eve be a good time for it since NORAD is so busy keeping local Television Weathermen up to date on the whereabouts of Santa Clause? And we got to say NORAD’s simultaneous sighting of Mr. Clause in Sweden and Australia doesn’t exactly speak volumes for its accuracy in tracking ballistic missiles. It’s a long way from Helsinki to Perth friends and if NORAD had him in both places at once, well, how are they ever going to track little bitty old missiles? We’re just saying.
Coyote Ugly Last time we ran a photo of a coyote on the front page along with a story about a man trapping them on The Island. That prompted an angry phone call from one guy who didn’t like that so we posted an apology on our Facebook page at theislandmoonnewspaper. Turns out he was a Lonesome Coyote Picture Hater and the folks who responded thought it was okay. So there you go and we’ll leave it at that.
Gravitational Pull If you’ve been to the beach lately you may have noticed that the water is coming way up on the beach near the dunes. The Moon Orbital Science Department can’t decide if it’s just the full moon, or maybe it is the orbital milestone is known as “perihelion,” which marks the time when the distance between the Earth and the sun is at its smallest at any time during the earth’s orbit. This happens every year in early January and this year the exact moment was at 11 p.m. CST on Tuesday night.
Frostbite Betty is Back
Photo by Miles Merwin Next Publication Date: 1/10/2012
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Welcome Winter Texans
frostbitebetty@gmail.com Happy New Year everybody and welcome to the first installment of Frostbite Betty’s Winter Texan Round-up for 2013.
Frostbite Betty is in the house… When it was time to leave Minnesota, the Frostbite Falls Bank sign said 25 degrees, and my toes were itching for that Port A sand. How many tank tops will fit into the back hatch of the little Honda with the crock pot and the rice cooker? Did I find Grandma’s recipe for the Black-eyed Peas? If I go now, that Nebraska blizzard will chase my tail all the way south (and that’s 1700 miles, mind you), and I’ll make it to the ferry by Christmas Day. I did have some help driving. My pal Bert from Port A had flown up to give me a hand, so I had some company. And when we finally did get to Port A, it was a balmy 78 degrees… that’s why we came. That, and there’s so much cool stuff to do down here. In the next eight weeks or so, I will be running around Port A and Padre Island looking for neat things to do that won’t cost you much, if any, money. If you have any suggestions or just want to tell your story, email me at FrostbiteBetty@ gmail.com or visit my Facebook page. Also, I’m always looking for pictures, so send those, too. Frostbite Betty continued on A3
101 Reasons You Might Be An Islander… (or not)
We Moon Monkeys tried standing an egg on its end at 11 p.m. but that thing rolled over like a Bus Station Romeo with no tread left on the tires. It may have had something to do with the fact that it is also the point in its orbit when the earth is spinning the fastest.
Photo by Miles Merwin
If Your Birthday is This Week You Might Want to Read This! Moon Astrologer W. Lance Ferguson says that if your birthday is this week, from December 30 to January 5, you are entering a powerful period of time that is like no other as Pluto now travels through Capricorn and has come to the spot in your chart where your Sun resides. This happens once every 250 years and brings a time of transitions and life-changing events to most folks. This conjunction or pairing of these two forces is the dominant theme in your new Solar Return, the chart of your new year. Pluto asks
The Winter Texans are starting to trickle in so we are starting up our Winter Texan section this time. You can judge the amount of Winter Texans who have arrived by driving by Island Italian on Sunday night and checking out the parking lot. When Tony Tag brings in his bluegrass band for the season the Winter Texans flock like Tony is giving away free samples.
1) South Texas Tornado Outbreak May 10th $3.75 Million
So welcome to town you guys and we’ll see you at the Belt Sander Races. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
When the Frenchmen Came… The Shrimpers Were Not Happy
Salty Sue and Island Mike have written a book entitled 101 Reasons You Might Be An Islander (or not). The illustrations are done by Wes Nyle and it is available at Isle Mail & More.
By Dale Rankin
You know that tent camping is best done in the summer.
You know you’re an Islander when… Your out of town friends call during Spring Break to ask where to go that’s not crowded and you have already evacuated The Island
You recognize the first hint of fall in the air and breathe a sigh of relief You’d rather go swimming with the jellyfish at the beach than the alligators in the lake.
Tornado damage in Portland A strong low pressure system and unstable airmass produced widespread severe weather across South Texas on May 10th, 2012, which included an unprecedented 16 tornadoes. The number of tornadoes is a record for a single day for a non-tropical event in South Texas. 2) Gregory Flood: Eight Percent of Homes in Gregory Flooded April 16th $5 Million
You’re not in a hurry.
You’re dog friendly and tolerant.
History continued on A7
You enjoy Winter Texans…
4) Laredo Floods July 27th and Sept 29th $2.5 Million
5) Drought Year Round
You see a vehicle in town with an Island residence sticker and feel an instant kinship with them.
When your family wants fish for supper, you jump in your boat not your car.
The tornado moved north through the Portland Northshore Country Club, producing mainly tree, roof, and fence damage. The tornado then moved north into the Bay Ridge subdivision and strengthened. It was there that the tornado damaged around 50 homes and several vehicles. Of the homes damaged, 8 received major damage and 15 received minor damage. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be near 100 mph in this area.
Flooding was first reported in the city of Laredo around midnight September 29th, with some locations receiving nearly 6 inches of rain in just a couple of hours. Rising water stranded motorists at several locations on the north side of Laredo.
Your idea of fun includes sunburn, bug bites, imbedded fish hooks, lacerations and general soreness.
You know that Spring Breakers can live on beer and Girl Scout cookies for a week.
was widespread heavy rainfall between 2 and 6 inches, with isolated amounts up to 15 inches, over eastern San Patricio and southern Refugio Counties. Spur 202 and Farm to Market Road 3284 were flooded in Gregory. The water depth reached 3 feet in some portions of Gregory. There were 8 families that were rescued from the high water. There were 28 people that were placed in a local shelter due to the flooding. The flood devastated the city of Gregory and the Tradewinds Subdivision 5 miles north of Gregory. In Gregory, 80 percent of the homes were flooded.
3) Portland EF-1 Tornado April 16th $2 Million
You find yourself hanging out with friends on this side of the bridge to avoid OTB.
It was the way shrimping had been done since anyone could remember and would continue
For Lance’s complete chart see page A5 of this issue.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Corpus Christi has issued the list of the five most significant weather events of 2012.
Winter Texans
Up until the 1940’s shrimping on the Texas Coast was mostly a family affair. Aransas Pass was the center of the shrimping industry in the Coastal Bend and the typical operation consisted of a captain who owned his own boat which was from eighteen to forty feet long and they worked close to the shore.
you to let go of poisons, people and things that are no longer essential to your growth. Luckily, Pluto is connected in a positive way to dependable Saturn in your new SR. That means you’ll have friends in high places and that the work you do this year will pay off in the future. It’s time to claim your mantle, Capricorn. Pluto has arrived, and now the Force is with you. As times change.
The Top 5 Significant South Texas Weather Related Events for 2012
Or it may have just been a screwed up egg, anyway it still tasted okay.
A Little Island History...
Year 16, Issue 455
A nearly stationary cold front along with plentiful moisture, an unstable airmass, and a strong upper level disturbance set the stage for the development of 4 tornadoes, heavy rainfall, and flooding across the Coastal Bend during the morning hours of April 16th. The result
As of December 20th, Corpus Christi has received only 18.81 inches of rainfall for 2012, resulting in a deficit of just over a foot of rainfall for the calendar year. Victoria has received 27.90 inches of precipitation, with a deficit also of just over a foot of rain. Laredo has received a mere 9.36 inches of rain, for deficit of over ten inches on the year. Combined with 2011, these are both staggering and sobering statistics, and the current drought ranks as the worst in South Texas history.