White Christmas - 2004

	South Padre Island Gets Snow for Christmas - 12/25/04 According to today's Valley Morning Star, the last time the area received any significant snowfall was in 1895. And it was not just in time for Christmas. Sure, you can't help but feel bad for the tourists who came all the way down here to get away from the white stuff; but the locals should be forgiven for considering the perfectly-timed windfull to be nothing less than a full-blown holiday miracle... A miracle so inspiring that everyone had to get out first thing in the morning and shoot lots of pictures to document it. Here is a sampling of mine and Fred's shots, as well as a few sent by friends and well-wishers. Thanks to all who sent me photos! Fred shot this one early Friday (Christmas Eve) evening, when stuff was just starting to stick. Forecasters had predicted the snow would melt as soon as it hit the ground.... not the first time they were wrong, I reckon. Our buddies Don & Edie over at Seabreeze forwarded some shots of a couple of nutcases who stripped down to swim gear and take a dip. Hey guys - the polar bear club doesn't meet until New Years! Don Miguel - a regular contributor to these pages - came through with some nice santa and bayfront contributions: And then of course everyone had to make snow people. Below is a very rudimentary snowman made by Fred & I Christmas morning. You will notice Fred is stubbornly wearing his flip-flops. Like the sun being out somehow made it warm enough. Wrong. Sharon and Jim - resident surfer buddies of ours - built this hatted model for your enjoyment (see more of Sharon's snow shots here): And here is a hand-held model - we understand it was/is being preserved in a local freezer (thanks to John Throckmorton for submitting) And our good friend Dennis Barrett showed up at my Christmas brunch with a whole wheelbarrow of the stuff, which I and my guests carved on for much of the afternoon. Dennis also sent me this photo of your humble webwiz trying to carve snow. Thanks Dennis! Earlier in the morning, Fred, me and our buddy Wags took a little walk. Locally born & raised Wags had never seen the white stuff before and was highly suspicious of it. But what he _really hated was the frozen slush. At one point, the morning dog-walk became the morning dog-carry. The beach renourishment equipment - which has lain untouched for nearly 2 weeks now - looked even more abandoned then it did before - if that is possible. The tide came up really high, re-locating pipes that had been sorta-neatly stacked, burying the treads of at least one of the big cats rusting in splender there, and taking what little material that had been dredged before the project shut-down back out to sea.. If I had a nice jeep like this one, I would definitely take better care of it. The re-positioning of the portapotty set up at beach access #16 for the renourishment workers gives you some idea about the strength of the wind that blew through here Friday night. It takes a lot to knock one of those things over (don't ask me how I know this.) I am still worried about all the little lizards and frogs that used to call my backyard home -- and what happened to all the butterflies that were entertaining me back there just three days ago? Today - 12/26 - it is sunny and warming but I find no traces of fauna in an area that was so recently teeming with life. The good news is that most of my plants seem no worse for the experience -- and the very best news is that I have not seen (nor heard) a single mosquito since. Good riddance, say I. sandy feet's backyard ~~sand~~snowbox And last but not least is this really lovely shot of Corpus Christi Bay - submitted by our good friend on the other end off the island, Mark Landrum. (Yes, we know it isn't SPI but it is too pretty not to share!) Update 12/27/04: The temps are back int he 70's and the butterflies are merrily fluttering around the sand box again. Seems like yet another miracle....	<a href="http://www.spirooms.com/cgi-bin/adsv.pl?banner=NonSSI" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.spirooms.com/cgi-bin/ads.pl" alt="Click Here!" height="180" width="110" border="0"></a> <a href="http://www.spionline.com/cgi-bin/adsv.pl?banner=NonSSI" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.spionline.com/cgi-bin/ads.pl" alt="Click Here!" height="180" width="110" border="0"></a>
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