Gulf Shore - Not Hill Country

[LeoinSA]

As usual, your mileage may vary from this simply 'cause we all don't do or react the same way.

Back near a year ago I wrote here: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=7935.0

What I wrote there is no longer applicable.  Too much water over the dam and under the bridge, as will be explained below.

A couple days ago Muldoon the wise enunciated a profound truth: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9547.0 

"After much thought on this subject the conclusion I reached was that it isn't broken.  The machine is operating exactly as intended, there is no desire to change it because from the perspective of those in power it is not broken.  There is nothing to fix. 
This is the way the world works. It's been this way for centuries. None of what we see today is new in any way, whether it was the railroad barons, the financing of the the hoover damn, the sinking of the lucitaina, 80's s&l and junk bond crises, untold drug policies and maneuvers, guns, wars, world wars, booze, poppies and tulips ..  whatever.   It quite literally goes back to the times of Jesus and the money changers.   You cannot blame Obama for it, or Chavez or Stalin for that matter. 
It cannot be "fixed" because it is not "broken".  This is the way the world works.  The last three decades the world has seen over three dozen countries collapse because of the same mechanics of debt and credit.  People are blinded by the politics around the event - who gets what piece of the pie is always going to make people argue, but the fact remains the event is mathematically guaranteed by the system.  It isn't broke, and therefore it cannot be fixed.  It works as designed to do so.   
You can join in and profit from it, stand back and profit from it as just an observer, stand proud and remove yourself from it, outright fight it, or just bitch because your not willing to do one of the above.  change is not an option."

What a concept!  Human interactions and the way our world works today is exactly how it's supposed to work as designed by those friggin' power elites.  And as it works to their benefit, screw the rest of us – so as long as they benefit, it ain't broke and despite what our politicians pontificate, it won't be fixed.  Profound truth.

Then, John posted about Lloyd Kahn's video here: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9556.0

The take-away I got from the video is having butter still requires having a cow – whether it's yours or someone else's.  We can't do it all, and we can only do the best we can at any particular moment. 

So... I've stumbled and bumbled through this life of mine from (supposedly) well thought out decision to (supposedly) well thought out decision.  I've always thought of myself as a bit of a non-conformist, but it now seems that I've been doing pretty much what other folks do and are supposed to do; (at least from the larger perspective of the power elites that are actually in control of the macroeconomics that each of us, in our individual microeconomic way, live within).

Sucks big time to have the non-conformist and independent myth busted so casually.

Now, getting to 60 in a few weeks with recently discovered (after the 11/09 posting mentioned above) chronic health issues needing regular professional consultation and management seems to narrow the (supposedly) logical, well thought out choices available.

In that earlier post I mentioned the idea of getting away from San Antonio to the WNW.  Discussed this with my doc and his strong suggestion is to be no more than 30 to 45 minutes by car from a major medical center.  His reasoning seems sound in that should my chronic health issues take a nasty turn for the worse, the energy needed to travel to competent medical care may be too taxing and actually worsen the condition.

As much as it appeals to my sense of adventure, I probably shouldn't plan on buying a sailboat and spending time in the far reaches of the Chilean fjords.  ☹  Nor should I plan on a small west Texas town that is two or more hours drive from a major medical center.

So momma and I have had several discussions, and the (avoided and mostly unspoken) gist is she'll outlive me by some X number of years (the exact number will be beyond my concern then) and where would she prefer to live out her end years?

So a complete 180 seems in the offing.  We're gonna go from dry-ish and hot to wet-ish and hot by finding some property on the Texas coast (Rockport/Fulton) to build a modest retirement cottage.

Yeah, we know – hurricanes, snakes, gators, skeeters, cockroaches the size of your hand, and more.  But momma really likes the shore and easy access to the beaches of the Gulf coast.  And it's only 30-45 minutes from Corpus Christi and medical care.  And yeah I know I whined about the humidity in that other thread.  Still sucks the energy right out of me.  But...of late I've been working outside for a few hours in the morning and while rivulets of sweat stream off me, the heat of the afternoon hasn't struck and I can tolerate it till noon-ish or so – then it's shower and siesta time!  Who knows, if I get out of cubicle land I might even become acclimatized and be able to at least tolerate 90º and 80% humidity.

Besides, I might learn how to actually catch edible fish instead of just wasting bait.

Still and all, the cottage won't be significantly different from what would be appropriate for hot & dry-ish climate – we'll still have well insulated (at least) 6" walls, cross-ventilation capability for those months where the heat and humidity is not stifling, along with generously sized roof overhangs to minimize direct summer heat gain.  A nice sized screened porch will allow some 'outdoor' living without need for gallons of DEET.

A major difference will be the building codes.  Out in western Texas they may have been a bit lax, but in hurricane land they are pretty stringent and the buildings must meet the code or they will be not be allowed to be finished.  I'm told even exterior remodeling is closely monitored by the hurricane police to ensure it meets code.

There's a lot to learn about that area – particularly where the places without homeowner associations are located, how to build a hurricane resistant structure, learning to cope with the heat & humidity.

Baby steps next.  Prearrange suitable financing and then find that suitable chunk-o-land.  After that, we'll see.

Even though it seems a majority of the places documented on the forum are not semi-tropical in clime, anybody got any pearls of wisdom that might be worthy of consideration as I embark on this journey to the hot and humid?

Leo

[glenn kangiser]

Hey Looks like you are thinking things over pretty good.

Does the BP disaster affect that part of the gulf any?  That may end up being a dead zone as I think there is still more to be seen but don't know if it reaches Corpus Christi or not.

There are many reports on alternate news of lots of health problems around the gulf.from the oil and dispersants used.  Lots of the oil is being sunk by the dispersant so just because we don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

Looks like some think it may get there so worth considering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAiG-TPYIFM

That said I suppose it's a big gulf.

http://www.rense.com/   has a good collection of articles - scroll down on the left side for lots of them.

Dahr Jamail is doing some good non-mainstream reporting down there.  http://dahrjamailiraq.com/

[MountainDon]

Sorry to hear of the health issues. Those can sneak up and surprise us at times.    Our family genetics and actuarial statistics would forecast my wife outliving me too. I'm going to try to prove otherwise, but who knows. I've done a few things in recent years with that in mind. It seems like the 64 th birthday was just here and I know 65 will be here too soon (hopefully at least).

I believe the hurricane codes have made it possible to have a new building make it through most anything but a more or less direct hit.