Here an Ike, there Ike every where an Ike, Ike

We survived

I did a pre-post before the storm because I somehow knew electricity would be an issue and it has been and now the Ike saga.

So the on 9-10 I cleared my desk at work and we prepared the office as best as we could. I was able to leave there about 4:00. That was after the evacuations started which made me nervous as it took me 7 hours to go the 34 miles home during the Rita evacuation, that was a tragic joke which is still a thorn in my side. Any who because the cities south of us only issued mandatory evacs for the flood zone zip codes, the islands and immediate coast line the trip home was not too bad, only 2 and half hours. Yea!
We keep supplies on hand as we have been through a couple few of these already and we have a generator. We had stocked up on gas due to the Gustav scare a couple weeks prior. My beloved had to go into work Friday the 11th to prepare stuff up in Livingston as the eye was expected to curve that way and pass over there. He was home by 1. I was able to batten down the hatches as they say. Get in everything that might fly and kill someone, fill the bath tubs with water, in case the water plant lost power or it became contaminated. I’ll have to tell y’all my tip on how to keep water from leaking out of bathtubs one of these days.
About 3 o’clock we got a call from one of Beloved cousins that lives in Seabrook/Kemah area. She and her son evacuated Friday morning with some friends, but they didn’t feel very comfy at the place they went. It was the friend of a friend’s place, which was in a mobile home in the middle of the woods. She called and asked if they could come here. And our reply was HELL yeah what’s taking you so long. They arrived and we waited and watched the TV and distracted the kids and took turns sleeping. It didn’t start raining until the winds picked up.
Because it was hitting us at night that made it a bit scarier. You can hear the wind and trees snapping and falling but you cannot see them. We kept electricity for a long time. I think it went out about 5:30 am. The sun didn’t rise till the eye was passing. That meant, for us, the winds died down for a couple of hours. It kept raining and got lighter outside. We napped and I woke up when the wind started getting bad again. The rain was sideways-no thunder but lightening would flash. We heard a couple of tornadoes and thank God they didn’t touch down here. Usually in a hurricane the tornadoes only last a few minutes because of the shifting winds and varied wind gust. Of course bear in mind it only takes a few seconds to wipe you out.
We have heard of some deaths in our area but noting too specific as in whom or exactly where. One was a 10 year boy on Friday before Ike hit. Please pray for his father as he has must be totally devastated. The father was cutting down a dead tree and the boy wondered out and it fell on him. And a lady who had a tree fall on her house and it crushed her.
The hardest part for us is the not knowing what happened in the different areas and we don’t know if cousin has a home and car any more. But we so thank God that we have cousin. We have heard from family in Amarillo and the panhandle area that the other family members here made it through ok. I write this now on my laptop, go generator, and don’t know when I will be able to get it posted. God truly blessed us with an awesome cold front that has kept it from being hot. I’m missing you my dear Internet and am writing this on the lap top powered by our awesome generator. Cell phones do not work, we suppose the cell towers don’t have power.

Please drop a message up to God to watch after the lost souls and all the folks whose lives have been touched from this hurricane. I have heard about 19 deaths in Galveston and about twice as many missing who are thought to have been swept out to sea. And Thank Him for the weather, it has been lovely since the storm.

I’m posting this from work and have an UPDATE: Cousin’s home was spared, she and son have returned there and here’s the kicker they have power. Thank you everyone for you kind words, thoughts and prayers.