Here We Go Again

Update--Saturday, May 26: Bud has melted like an ice cube in the sun. My flight looks to be on time. Thanks for your comments and emails of concern. San Pancho and Puerto Vallarta received around half an inch of rain over the past 24 hours, and no wind to speak of. See you next week!

✈    ✈    ✈

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and women so often go astray.

I must remember to send a thank you note to Robert Burns for being right yet again (and for letting me paraphrase him so poorly), as soon as I'm done rearranging my plans and preparing to cancel carefully wrought reservations.

I have all the reservations printed out and paper-clipped together and tucked into a nice new file folder. I have a flight scheduled (five of them, actually) and my itinerary aligned for the coming month. I have my suitcases nearly packed and everything in the house fairly well organized. Good friends who live here in San Pancho are ready to come and stay while I'm away, to have some extra space for their visiting family and as a change of place. All the ducks in a row, one might imagine.

Except for the hurricane.

Which pretty much came out of nowhere as far as I'm concerned.

The latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows this hurricane's center right atop the Puerto Vallarta airport on Saturday afternoon, just about the hour my flight is leaving. Or was leaving. Whatever.

I write this Thursday at 9:41 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Usually I'm finished with my blog post by now, but today I was packing and not packing, hovering over my computer to check the latest forecast, moving art and chairs inside, dithering around more than accomplishing much. The complete advisory update is due on the NHC site in eighteen minutes or so.

In the meantime, I think I'll show you some pictures to distract us. Lots has been going on around here. We had an eclipse. You probably did, too.

Here in this latitude and time zone, the sun was scheduled to slip beneath the horizon just as it approached full coverage. It did set as scheduled (some things happen as planned...) but the sky was hazy and a thick cloud band prevented us from seeing the last half hour or so of the eclipse. Robert Burns strikes again.

I also took another Dr. Seuss photo for you. (See last week's post if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

There are few things as ridiculous looking as a gecko, in my opinion. Remind me to tell you in a future post about the research being done in nano-technology to replicate their sticky feet for the rest of us.

And then yesterday, Dinah (or possibly one of her offspring) came to dine on the basil just off the main terrace.

See her in there? She's hiding. But not very seriously.

She doesn't eat much of it. Just a leaf or two, perhaps as a delicate starter salad or maybe a light dessert. Her main dinner is usually my bougainvillea blossoms and hibiscus buds. 

Being a conscientious blogger, I decided to find out what the heck she actually is this time. The locals call her kind garrobos, not iguanas, but it turns out she actually is an iguana: ctenosaura pectinata, I believe from my research, or the Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana.

It's kind of fun having your own private dinosaur. She's around thirty inches long from nose to tip of tail and is as big around as my forearm. I'm going to tame her and teach her tricks eventually. She already knows how to climb up the walls.

Well, that was fun. But let's go check on the update from the NHC, shall we?

Oh, lovely. Bud the Hurricane (what kind of name is that for a hurricane? Bud?? ) is now a Category 3, with wind speeds of 115 mph. 

RAINFALL...BUD IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF 5
TO 8 INCHES ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF MEXICO IN THE STATES OF
MICHOACAN...COLIMA...JALISCO...AND SOUTHERN NAYARIT...WITH POSSIBLE
ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 12 INCHES.

I cribbed that right off the NHC report. Do they not understand I have a plane to catch? People to see, places to go, things to do?

I imagine I'll still be sitting right here on Saturday afternoon, or maybe inside. I'll let you know how it goes over the next few days with my own updates, if we have power. Don't worry, the NHC also said that Bud had likely reached its peak. We'll be just fine.

Hey, wait a minute. Bud??

I wonder if I could teach Dinah to eat it...

 ☁☁☁

Update 7 a.m. CST, Friday: Not a breath of wind this morning. A few interesting clouds in the sky. According to the NHC, Bud seems to be weakening, but now is forecast to bring in even more rain to some areas. Maybe I'll get out of here after all. Better go finish packing, huh?

Comments

[Gretchen Goodliffe]

SO good to hear your travel plans came through and Bud Butted Out. I was watching that storm before my computer went down and thinking what a HUGE thing it was... and suddenly POOF it was gone. I LOVE your sinking sun pictures, in spite of the lack of an ecliptical look they are gorgeous shots. By the way, we, up here, have some rain to share if need be..... more than HAPPY to send it your way!

[Fred Feiibel]

you think in an expanding universe Iguanas were once much bigger relative to their surroundings. Maybe they just did not expand with the rest.

[Jeanne]

Wonderful that you are able to get out! Safe travels!

[Sheri]

I have been watching this storm like crazy. Thank Dios it looks like it's slowing down. Stay safe and as dry as possible but the path that water makes is always sacred. The land is rejoycing.

[franny]

traveling mercies, amiga...or stay-at-home mercies; whichever mercies are required, let them be yours. xo

[Char]

Well, good luck! C U soon I hope.. xoxo