Hurricane Gustav heading for Louisiana's Gulf Coast

To follow what I am following to keep up with the status of Hurricane Gustav, I recommend the following sites: National Hurricane Center; BoatUS (shows current wind fields); WDSU (New Orleans TV Station) videos (especially "Forecasting Hurricane Gustav").

As of 4:00 p.m. (central time) today, Terrebonne Parish, where we live, is under a mandatory evacuation order. Those of us who stayed beyond 4:00 p.m. are entirely on our own. At the same hour the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch to Gulf Coast residents in eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, meaning that residents within this cone are potentially within 36 hours of hurricane conditions (winds & storm surge), with the projected path currently aimed slightly west of Houma. If the path holds, almost all of Terrebonne Parish could be under water, since we would be on the bad side of the storm. With continuing coastal erosion, much of Terrebonne Parish is under water to begin with.

I have been debating whether and where to go to get out of harm's way all morning, and there are several options that I vexed with. Needless to say, it probably seems pretty crazy that I would wait this long to make up my mind. Remember the uncertainty of the storm. Officials don't have the luxury of last minute guesswork; they are under obligation to play it way safe, especially after the Katrina fiasco.

1. I could stay here, and weather out the storm. Upside: I would know exactly what is going on at home, and could possibly lessen damage at home, such as moving critical items to the attic, if necessary. I know I have neighbors who are brave or dumb enough to stay put that I could lean on, since several have indicated they are staying. Downside: If the hurricane causes extensive damage to the house, my life would be in jeopardy, or at the very least, pretty much unbearable over the next several days.
2. I could stay at our LDS Chapel. Upside: It's only 1 mile away, a very sturdy building, and on slighly higher ground from where we live. Downside: No one else is planning to stay there as far as I know, so I would feel pretty isolated, and have the potential problem of being without electricity & water, and not able to go anywhere for several days because of extensive flooding.
3. I could stay at a friend's house who lives less than a half-hour away, but in little safer area, someone who is well equiped to cope with the storm. Upside: It's still close to home, I would have friends to be with, and life probably wouldn't be as extreme, as long as they have electricity, even if with a generator. Also, I can wait an extra day before deciding whether to leave Houma. Downside: Not too much, but obviously this option requires someone to extend the offer. (As it turns out, our newly-called Bishop, Chris Diket, offered his home for me to stay at, which fits the bill. He lives on at one of the highest elevation areas in Thibodaux, a college town (Nicholls State Univ.) located about 30 minutes from Houma. At the moment, this is the option that is most appealing to me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate his offer!)
4. I could stay with friends further away. Upside: Still with friends, less hardship. Downside: Greater distance from home. Several have offered, and I appreciate greatly their offers.
5. I could stay at one of the New Orleans Louisiana Stake designated evacuation shelters, namely either at the Alexandria Louisiana Stake Center or the Jackson Mississippi Stake Center. Upside: I would be with other saints in the same situation. Downside: Considerable distance from home, lack of privacy, still pretty much fending for myself.
6. I could stay with my nephew Blaine Tew. The only relative I have living within 5 hours from Houma, extended an offer for me to stay with him and his family. They live in Crestview, Florida, near Pensacola, just barely outside the cone of danger. While this offer has great appeal, and while I know they would be wonderful hosts, the distance is pretty extreme. All of the contraflow will shortly be going in the wrong direction, both on I-10 and I-12, so at this late date, this option doesn't look very viable.

From vacation to hurricane watch

Judy and I just completed a two week vacation out west (Utah and Idaho), which explains the blog break. Judy went on to Indiana to spend a few days with Julie, Matt and our grandchildren. As it turns out, her decision to extend her stay away from Houma couldn't have been more timely. As everyone knows by now, we in southern Louisiana have the eminent threat of a hurricane (Gustav) to contend with. Terrebonne Parish may have a mandatory evacuation in effect by noon Saturday. Terrebonne Parish is one of the most vulnerable counties/parishes in the U.S. to storm surge, which is the result of being on the bad side of a hurricane coming through. To illustrate, though Katrina was much closer to Houma exactly three years ago to the day, it was Rita that did by far the most damage because of the extensive flooding that resulted from storm surge. We are even more vulnerable now than before Rita, and this one could be closer, so a lot of local people are getting very nervous. Good thing Judy bought me a kayak last Christmas. And just think, Judy and I were picking wild huckleberries in Idaho's mountains near Cascade (where Judy grew up) with hurricanes being the last thing on our minds on Monday this week. What a change!

Professional interests outside sugarcane

In high school, I imagined myself someday becoming an airplane mechanic. Toward the end of HS, a shop teacher who I respect greatly, taught us how to make blueprints of what we were going to build (the classic top view, side view, and end view concept). I really fell in love with making blueprints, and enjoyed art generally even though I wasn’t all that good at it. By the time I went off to college, I was determined to be a draftsman, and took a number of relevant courses the first year. Somewhere along the way toward the end of my freshman year, I realized that being a draftsman would mean that I would be in a union, and the thought of being in a union really turned me off. I wasn’t smart enough to be an architect, so I turned to my roots, namely agriculture. Thinking back, I’m somewhat surprised that I didn’t discover landscape architecture along the way. I’m almost certain that if I had, this would have been the direction I would have gone.

Having come from a dairy farm background, my orientation was more animal science than plant science, but my coursework gradually shifted, as I really enjoyed botany and plant genetics. Not breaking entirely away from animals, I did research projects in forage legumes (sainfoin) at a B.S. level, then forage grass (reed canarygrass) at an M.S. level, and finally, barley at a Ph.D. level.

Somehow, in spite of all this, I ended up working on a sugar crop. The final choices were sugarbeets with Northrup King in North Dakota with the enticing opportunity to spend the first two years in Germany, or sugarcane in exotic Hawaii. Dr. Heinz, my future mentor at Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), picked a day when it was about –10 F at the University of Minnesota, and asked if I had made up my mind. I pretty much had anyway, but I have since wondered if he had been tracking the temperature, because the timing of his call couldn’t have been much better.

While in Hawaii, I took a side interest in turfgrass after I discovered how fast, easy, and profitable it was to grow sod on black plastic. It was an accidental discovery, not something I read out of a book. My interest in turfgrass led me to spend weekends establishing people’s lawns. Before I left HSPA in 1990 and joined Southern Turf Nurseries (STN) as their Hawaii GM, I had established close to 100 lawns. STN was in the golf course grassing business, so joining this company was definitely going from the minor league to the major league…going from 1/5 of an acre per project, to 270 acres on our first golf course grassing project, which was the Hawaii Prince Golf Club at Ewa Beach (see GoogleEarth pic above). My stay with STN only lasted a little more than 2 years, when project opportunities dried up as a result of Japan going into a depression.

While at STN, I established the largest sod farm on Oahu from the ground up, meaning that it was my job to clear the land (dozer), set up the irrigation system, create separation between beds (tractor trencher), build a fence, and purchase temporary buildings and appropriate farm equipment. To this day, the 40’ wide black plastic beds with 6” width trenches (up to 3' deep) between them can be seen on from space within the city limits of Kahuku, Hawaii (see GoogleEarth pic above). We only had about 10 acres to work with, but we could turn over sod every two months by growing sprigs sandwiched in ½ inch thick mulch on black plastic. The soilless sod was mainly used for lake banks and areas difficult to establish with sprigs on golf courses. Sprigs used directly on golf courses to establish fairways and greens were obtained on site from prior-established driving ranges or other features.

While I have returned to sugarcane research again, I still enjoy messing around with turf on the weekends. I brought a zoysiagrass variety to Houma that I bred and selected in Hawaii (from a cross between El Toro and Emerald) even before joining STN. I am extremely pleased with how it looks here, but I really can’t do any more than fool around with it as a hobby for the time being. Because it is fine leafed, it is ideal for small areas where people want something that is deep green, looks elegant, keeps weeds out, and requires very little maintenance. It actually looks better in moderate shade than in the full sun, which is a plus. When I returned to Hawaii after being away for 12 years, I was stunned and gratified at how well this zoysiagrass looked on the lawns that it was established on some 15 or more years earlier. I would say that it has stood the test of time. It was eventually given the name, Links by someone I had worked with in Hawaii…not a name I would personally selected, but nevertheless the name it has had over the past 15 years or so. Apparently, it is still being sold in Hawaii.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!!

Wow, it's hard to imagine that our youngest daughter, Julie, has been married to her husband, Matt, for six years, and that they have three children. Time does fly. In a conversation between Allison and Lauren, their two older children, following a funeral, Allison told Lauren that people don't die until they get really old, like 50. Well, at age 60, let's just say we have rather different perspectives on whether 50 is really old. Another thing that is hard to imagine is that my brother, Fred, when he was my exact age, had a house full of kids and a 3-year old as his youngest. I get tired, just thinking about that one!

I wish Julie the very best on her birthday. We're very proud of what she has accomplished thus far in her life. Again, happy birthday, Julie.

BP and Verenium strike a $90 million deal

Verenium is back in the news again, this time after having formed a partnership with British petroleum giant, BP. As part of the deal, BP agreed to provide $90 million for rights to Verenium's technology and to fund research and development until 2010. Beyond the 18-month announced alliance, the two companies said they will establish a joint venture that will build and operate a full-scale production facility. Quoting Sue Ellerbusch, president of BP Biofuels North America, "We believe energy crops like sugarcane, miscanthus, and energy cane are the best feedstocks to deliver economic, sustainable and scaleable biofuel to the world." Verenium just built and started up a 1.5 million gallon per year demonstration-scale cellulosic plant in Jennings, Louisiana. President and CEO Carlos Riva said on Wednesday the company hopes to begin building a commercial plant next year and to start producing fuel from that plant in 2011. I assume this will be a 30 million gallon per year commercial plant when completed.

Tropical Storm Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard came up rather suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico. It is taking aim at Galveston, Texas, but will definately affect the coastal areas of Louisiana. Terrebonne Parish, where we live, is as vulnerable as any coastal parish, and those living further down the bayou than we do, will be impacted, not so much from the wind, as from the storm surge and heavy rains. We are on the bad side of the storm, but it is not intense enough to do the kind of damage that Katrina and Rita did. Those in extreme SW Louisiana near the Texas border could possibly experience hurricane force winds, considerable storm surge, and torrential rains as they did with Rita, but not likely as damaging.

Speaking of bad storms at inconvenient times, it appears that the Beijing Olympic events, only days away, may experience lightning, thunder and rain on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony and possibly typhoons disrupting events in other host cities, according to weather forecasters.