Hurricanes and What Not

The past two weeks have been crazy. I discovered that I am much better on the preparing end of a hurricane then the aftermath. No power or water for 12 days makes this girl very cranky. You might be able to live without power but you can't without water (we are on our own well, elec powers the pump). I left for Big D (Dallas) up north of me two days after the storm hit. I have family there. I had somewhere to go to find electricity, food and shelter. I had options. Many in Houston and the surrounding areas did not.

Who knew that ice would become so valuable? Gasoline impossible to find? Grocery store shelves empty?

We were pretty lucky in my neighborhood - compared to Galveston. We lost about 12 - 14 trees just in my yard. None hit the house. The next day after the torrential rain finally stopped, the kids and I drove around. It was shocking. Huge, 80 ft. pines ripped out by the roots and laying on houses. Power lines yanked to the ground by aged oak trees. Cars crushed in driveways by fallen trees. We realized how lucky we were. Here's a pic of the hubs and the middle son using the chain saw (men and chainsaws - don't get me started!) That's my driveway and the street in front. A huge tree from across the road was actually blocking the road. It almost crushed my mailbox. Here's the thing to think about: I live 80 miles inland from Galveston. This was a cat 2 storm. I can promise you , I will never stay through anything any stronger.

We got the winds about 2:00am Saturday morning, the 13th, and lost power around 4:00am. There were gusts where I just squinched my eyes shut and waited for something to hit my house or the sound of breaking glass. Again, we were very lucky. My next door neighbor lost the tops of his chimneys. Bricks crashed through his roof. Water ruined his wood floors.

We threw out everything in our refrigerator and freezer. I hated throwing away perfectly good food but it would be ruined in days.

My son's teacher had a tree crash through her bedroom. Her house is unliveable at this point. Everyone around here has an "Ike" story. He will be remembered for many years.

Just this weekend the sound of generators stopped permeating the night. We don't own a generator but I have already written to Santa and requested one.