I am sitting on an ice chest, my laptop's on a dog crate, and my feet are on a cat crate. My broadband service is intermittent at best and I'm semi-patiently trying to ignore the horde of f*ck-bugs (I believe nice people call them "love-bugs" but here in Texas... they are the little stinkers that plaster themselves into the front end of our cars, most likely saying, "Oh f*ck" at the last second). A tiny, tiny neon green spider just crawled across my hand. BUT....
I am on my FRONT PORCH so it's ALL GOOD.
*removing bug from coffee before continuing*
Y'all, the weather here is gorgeous, which is nice because we have no power. I guess this is our (collective) reward for handling this storm with grace and civility. As rewards go, I'll take it and say, Thank You.
Ike was a real humdinger, I'll tell ya, and we seriously dodged a bullet. Thankfully "he" was nice enough to push a little farther East at the last minute. [Hah! I just picked off a bug from my leg and tossed it... Shaggy's dog, who is napping next to me flipped his head to the side and caught it in his mouth!] Anyhow, the 2nd to last track had the eye going directly over us, which - Most Definitely - would have been the demise of our house. As it stands, we lost around 20-25 trees, none of which hit houses, and only one of which hit our fence. We got lucky.
Wahoo's house is only about 15 minutes from us and slightly south. The damage there is about the same as here. The stay was... well, it wasn't quite fun. It was difficult. There was a lot of drama and a house full of kids and dogs. Let's just say I don't have any funny stories.
Our initial drive back home (just Mr. Clean and I), to check things out, was... Holy Cow. The road out from Wahoo's was littered with trees and snapped power lines, along with rising waters from nearby creeks. The smaller road leading to our house... Lordy. We serpentined around trees on the left, then trees on the right (all of them big enough to block the view so we couldn't see if someone else was doing the same from the opposite direction). And then the road disappeared completely. It looked like it was just Wiped Out. No road. As we drove a little closer, we realized, it WAS still there but under a veritable SHAG CARPET of leaves and debris. To say the least, we took a different route back to Wahoo's - longer but much, much safer though we still had to drive over multiple power lines. I'm embarrassed to say I was so nervous about seeing if we had a house and whatnot, I failed to take pictures. Sorry y'all.
Still. We're home and a cold front has blown through so we're comfortable. We got our well hooked up to the generator last night so we have water, though only COLD. Wooo hooo cold showers! The kids are out of school until further notice and I'm currently using my vacation time from work. Not quite how I envisioned using it but... you know.
I can heartily say I am officially SICK of burgers and hot dogs. *laughing* Last night, C-Boy and our new neighbor (R), came by to have burgers and tater tots with us. They brought four huge filets of SHARK with them (R's freezer was defrosting). What a relief from grilled COW that was!! Yum!
I am also VERY thankful. My Dad's house is near Kemah and his new boat is IN Kemah. If you've had the chance to see pictures of the Kemah Boardwalk on the news (under water and trashed), his boat is VERY close to there. We pass the boardwalk every time we sail out into Galveston Bay. When they evacuated, the expectation was 1-5' of water in their house and a total loss of their boat (valued at about $400k alone). They called yesterday to report that their house is FINE. No water.
They were not allowed into the marina. Being determined, they found a way to the other side --- [I just squished a bug between my boobs... Accidentally! This is REALLY annoying. And gross]. Anyhow. They went to a different location and were able to see the boat with binoculars. It appears to be OKAY. It is above water and does not appear to have any visible damage. ALL of the boats around theirs... catastrophic. Most are under water. Dad went back to that boat FOUR times to tie and re-tie it, and at the time we sort of giggled about the OCD of his repeated trips. Apparently, he knew what he was doing and the extra trips paid off. BIG sigh of relief for them. I was really worried.
The sad thing is that a lot of Galveston landmarks I grew up with are now gone. The Seawall looks like a disaster zone with the debris. Crystal Beach is gone; it was one of the most gorgeous beaches out there. The Kemah area is... geez.
But you know what? We Texans are hearty stock and we'll Cowboy Up and get through all of this JUST FINE. We always do. And that, my dears, is why I love it here so much. Even things like Ike aren't going to make us stray from our way of life here. We'll help each other clean up and start over. No Big Deal.
Be back sometime soon. When power and connectivity are restored completely... or at least a little more dependable.
I am on my FRONT PORCH so it's ALL GOOD.
*removing bug from coffee before continuing*
Y'all, the weather here is gorgeous, which is nice because we have no power. I guess this is our (collective) reward for handling this storm with grace and civility. As rewards go, I'll take it and say, Thank You.
Ike was a real humdinger, I'll tell ya, and we seriously dodged a bullet. Thankfully "he" was nice enough to push a little farther East at the last minute. [Hah! I just picked off a bug from my leg and tossed it... Shaggy's dog, who is napping next to me flipped his head to the side and caught it in his mouth!] Anyhow, the 2nd to last track had the eye going directly over us, which - Most Definitely - would have been the demise of our house. As it stands, we lost around 20-25 trees, none of which hit houses, and only one of which hit our fence. We got lucky.
Wahoo's house is only about 15 minutes from us and slightly south. The damage there is about the same as here. The stay was... well, it wasn't quite fun. It was difficult. There was a lot of drama and a house full of kids and dogs. Let's just say I don't have any funny stories.
Our initial drive back home (just Mr. Clean and I), to check things out, was... Holy Cow. The road out from Wahoo's was littered with trees and snapped power lines, along with rising waters from nearby creeks. The smaller road leading to our house... Lordy. We serpentined around trees on the left, then trees on the right (all of them big enough to block the view so we couldn't see if someone else was doing the same from the opposite direction). And then the road disappeared completely. It looked like it was just Wiped Out. No road. As we drove a little closer, we realized, it WAS still there but under a veritable SHAG CARPET of leaves and debris. To say the least, we took a different route back to Wahoo's - longer but much, much safer though we still had to drive over multiple power lines. I'm embarrassed to say I was so nervous about seeing if we had a house and whatnot, I failed to take pictures. Sorry y'all.
Still. We're home and a cold front has blown through so we're comfortable. We got our well hooked up to the generator last night so we have water, though only COLD. Wooo hooo cold showers! The kids are out of school until further notice and I'm currently using my vacation time from work. Not quite how I envisioned using it but... you know.
I can heartily say I am officially SICK of burgers and hot dogs. *laughing* Last night, C-Boy and our new neighbor (R), came by to have burgers and tater tots with us. They brought four huge filets of SHARK with them (R's freezer was defrosting). What a relief from grilled COW that was!! Yum!
I am also VERY thankful. My Dad's house is near Kemah and his new boat is IN Kemah. If you've had the chance to see pictures of the Kemah Boardwalk on the news (under water and trashed), his boat is VERY close to there. We pass the boardwalk every time we sail out into Galveston Bay. When they evacuated, the expectation was 1-5' of water in their house and a total loss of their boat (valued at about $400k alone). They called yesterday to report that their house is FINE. No water.
They were not allowed into the marina. Being determined, they found a way to the other side --- [I just squished a bug between my boobs... Accidentally! This is REALLY annoying. And gross]. Anyhow. They went to a different location and were able to see the boat with binoculars. It appears to be OKAY. It is above water and does not appear to have any visible damage. ALL of the boats around theirs... catastrophic. Most are under water. Dad went back to that boat FOUR times to tie and re-tie it, and at the time we sort of giggled about the OCD of his repeated trips. Apparently, he knew what he was doing and the extra trips paid off. BIG sigh of relief for them. I was really worried.
The sad thing is that a lot of Galveston landmarks I grew up with are now gone. The Seawall looks like a disaster zone with the debris. Crystal Beach is gone; it was one of the most gorgeous beaches out there. The Kemah area is... geez.
But you know what? We Texans are hearty stock and we'll Cowboy Up and get through all of this JUST FINE. We always do. And that, my dears, is why I love it here so much. Even things like Ike aren't going to make us stray from our way of life here. We'll help each other clean up and start over. No Big Deal.
Be back sometime soon. When power and connectivity are restored completely... or at least a little more dependable.
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Glad that everyone is ok. We had 65-75 mile an hour wind here in ohio and I NEVER want to go through that again. It never stopped., it just kept ripping up trees, tearing up houses, it was crazy. Keep in touch.
Yikes! I knew it had traveled north but didn't realize it had stayed so strong.
This was my 3rd hurricane but I have to admit the howling lasted far longer than the other two. It's crazy trying to sleep with that sound but eventually your body just quits. Of course, every time the wind changed direction, I'd sit up and say, "What? Who? Is everyone okay?" Not much sleep that night. LOL