wow

i recently visited my parents in texas. while i was there i came across this interesting piece of work...

my dad's neighbor is responsible for this, uh, thing. it is, according to him, a hurricane shelter.

now, for starters, this piece of poured concrete is definitely in the middle of his backyard. it is also only about 4 feet wide on each side (i know what you're thinking- perfect for all 4 members of his adult family to fit comfortably while they wait out the many many hours of a hurricane). i also haven't yet mentioned that, aside from the concrete, nothing about this is hurricane proof- no special windows or roof or anything.

now i know that the houston area has suffered a lot these last few months and has lost a lot because of hurricane ike, but is this really the answer?

(side note: this is a sneaky sneaky photo taken through the fence :)! )