TX epilogue
Lake Jackson, TX is the town in which OD and family reside and though it is nice enough, it does have some problem areas, at least what I see as such. The first and main thing is that it is just a little bit over a thousand miles away from our home. Then it is hot and humid, just right for the mosquito population to grow and prosper. And prosper they do, with certain seasons worse than others.
As you might have guessed, the time right after hurricane Ike was one of these bad seasons. When one had to go outside, it was necessary for it to be a quick passage because even going to the vehicle was a fight. These flying bloodsuckers seemed to station their entire air force just outside each door, waiting for some unsuspecting, slow moving victim on which they could feed.
If the young ones wanted to go outside to play, they had to be sprayed down with repellant or suffer the consequences for several days. The lay of the land is very flat and one would normally think that it would flood in the heavy rains they get at certain times of the year but such is not the case. The founders of the town thought ahead and put a very good drainage system in place.
Something that was not a problem but was amusing to me was some of the street names. Circle Way, Center Way and Winding Way were not too odd but they also had Parking Way, Any Way, That Way and This Way. This Way was one of the main downtown streets and on one corner of it was a Subway – which could have been on the way to heartburn city.
They even had a Success Street and a Lazy Lane – I surmised that it would have been hard to move to Success Street if one was happy on Lazy Lane. Due to the odd names they have the intersections of That Way and Any Way as well as This Way and That Way. Most other streets not ending in Way were named after some form of flora. They even used Jalapeño, Tangerine, Mango, and Habanero.
Mr. Dow of Dow Chemical was responsible for this plan for street names when he layed out the town in the 1940s and it was formed to preserve as many trees as possible. The primary damage of hurricane Ike was due to Lake Jackson’s love of trees - 95% if the power was taken out by falling limbs and trees. In spite of this only 80 homes were majorly damaged.
The U. S. Census of 2004 gives the population of Lake Jackson as 27,022 – hopefully this did not include some of the large mosquitos that lurk about the area. They have a fair amount of restaurants and shopping areas plus Houston is only an hour away. That still leaves them there and us here but such is life. God was good to them (and us) during the hurricane and for this I am grateful. ec
As you might have guessed, the time right after hurricane Ike was one of these bad seasons. When one had to go outside, it was necessary for it to be a quick passage because even going to the vehicle was a fight. These flying bloodsuckers seemed to station their entire air force just outside each door, waiting for some unsuspecting, slow moving victim on which they could feed.
If the young ones wanted to go outside to play, they had to be sprayed down with repellant or suffer the consequences for several days. The lay of the land is very flat and one would normally think that it would flood in the heavy rains they get at certain times of the year but such is not the case. The founders of the town thought ahead and put a very good drainage system in place.
Something that was not a problem but was amusing to me was some of the street names. Circle Way, Center Way and Winding Way were not too odd but they also had Parking Way, Any Way, That Way and This Way. This Way was one of the main downtown streets and on one corner of it was a Subway – which could have been on the way to heartburn city.
They even had a Success Street and a Lazy Lane – I surmised that it would have been hard to move to Success Street if one was happy on Lazy Lane. Due to the odd names they have the intersections of That Way and Any Way as well as This Way and That Way. Most other streets not ending in Way were named after some form of flora. They even used Jalapeño, Tangerine, Mango, and Habanero.
Mr. Dow of Dow Chemical was responsible for this plan for street names when he layed out the town in the 1940s and it was formed to preserve as many trees as possible. The primary damage of hurricane Ike was due to Lake Jackson’s love of trees - 95% if the power was taken out by falling limbs and trees. In spite of this only 80 homes were majorly damaged.
The U. S. Census of 2004 gives the population of Lake Jackson as 27,022 – hopefully this did not include some of the large mosquitos that lurk about the area. They have a fair amount of restaurants and shopping areas plus Houston is only an hour away. That still leaves them there and us here but such is life. God was good to them (and us) during the hurricane and for this I am grateful. ec
posted by mreddie | 8:51 PM
5 Comments:
I've been fortunate that my children live nearby. My oldest daughter lives in Little Rock but I can get there in less than 2 hours and that's not so bad.
I remember driving through Arkansas several years ago and spending the night in a motel in a small town. There was a sign on the outside of the door of all the rooms warning people to keep their doors closed and spend as little time outside the room as possible due to an outbreak of West Nile Virus. I have never since then taken mosquitoes lightly.
Hi Mr. Eddie ~~ Some of those street names are funny. I liked Any Way.
Glad the plus and minus signs were a help. My son told me that ages ago. It is handy to read posts at night with.
It is a shame your OD lives so far from you. My daughter Julie lives a great distance from me also. Take care,
Regards, Merle.
Sounds a bit confusing! Interesting to hear how things are elsewhere.
We had our first frost of fall last night, so no more mosquitoes here!
Take care...
brenda - We miss them like crazy but talk to OD most every day and are looking forward to them coming for Thanksgiving.
SSN - Those little critters carry more diseases than we probably know - or even want to know.
merle - I'm sure you can relate to the feelings we have about having these loved ones so far away. Seems to be the damands of this fast pace life - don't like it though.
kila - I thought we had mosquito problems until we visited Texas. We still have several weeks before our first frost. Good and bad in all locations I guess. ec
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