Another Sunday

Well it's Heiny time, for me anyway. Another all work weekend (except for flyball practice this morning) of clearing fallen trees, and I am done for the day! I am working on my bonfire, it's not quite the Aggie size, but it's going to be a big one.

We started working on the pool yesterday. The leaves clogged up the filter so we talked to the pool place and it was going to be major bucks, so we back flushed the line, went out an bought a 2" water pump, and started cleaning. It looks so much better today, hopefully a couple of more days it'll be sparkling and clear again. I miss my pool. Also making plans on how to care for the pool in the event of another storm.



Yesterday was a bit of a bummer, Ethan Allen came out and picked up the sofa and love seat. It had a tear in the leather, and they were suppose to replace it (because they said it was not fixable), well then they send out a repairman and that was unacceptable. So we told them they could come and pick it up, which they did. I love their stuff but that didn't make us happy. So sofa shopping again, but this time we know exactly what we're looking for!



Making plans for an all week adventure of clearing more trees here and at the Mckinney house!



Off to make a grocery list, hope my store is fully stocked....... think Statefarm or Fema will pay for my manicure, my cuticles are a mess!

Yesterday and Today

Sunday we spent all day clearing the roof at the McKinney street house, clearing a path to get the mower with wagon to the back, and then start working on the roof. The roof does have damage, and I have a claim number. Sorry no Pecans this year! The poor squirrels are going to have to go for food stamps. The piles you see on the road are ¾ mine! You better be careful driving around, you will get Texas Pin Stripping done! Sam is the chain saw person, I am the pickup, haul and dump person, that’s why there are no pictures of me. We then came home to start clearing our big uprooted tree in the front yard, wait till you see how tall the burn pile is getting to be. I’ll be an expert bonfire maker before this is over!

Came home to no power, bummer, but for only 2 hours thank goodness. Mom had stayed home doing 12 loads of laundry, and cleaning house. So much for Sunday being a day of rest. I am bruised and scratched up. I either have hat hair, or “What about Mary” hair.

Mom went home to power this morning, now the cable guy has to come and replace a wire to the house, her tree guy has one big stump to remove, and repair the fencing he had to remove.
I didn’t want to go to work today, but hmmmm working at the desk or working in the field?

Awwww Man am I tired! We started clearing the pecan trees at the Mckinney street house, we had to make a path to get to the backyard, to start clearing the trees off the roof. And it gets really hot on the roof! I'm having a cold one!

Best of all we got POWER back last night! WOOOOHOOOO, party! The power came back on the Mckinney street house this afternoon, Mom is still without, but she's staying cool here.

The pool cleaner has come back on but keeps getting clogged with leaves, so it'll be a few days before it's bright and clear, sort of yucky right now. Looks like all my turtles stayed in the pond, I thought they might have left home after the storm, but once the pond went to it's normal level, the turtle couch was back in the sun. I don't know if you can see them, but there are 5 turtles catching rays.

Well another day ends.....TO

The Aftermath

By the afternoon of Saturday we were walking around and checking out what was left. We looked at the house and felt lucky. Roof damage, water leaked through 4 rooms. 10 trees down. But from where we sit, that is lucky. Seems funny to view the amount of work and the amount of clean up and use the word "lucky" but that was the feeling.

We checked out Terrie' Mom place.....trees fell the right way.....a yard full of limbs.....lucky. Our old place was peaking out from the pecan limbs and tree branches. A huge limb on the house but not through it.....lucky. My Mother's place where my daughter lived....1 to 2 feet of surge inside....not so lucky but she had evacuated.....luckily. In all we will be recovering for a very long time but we are blessed.

With the storm winds came the absence of electricity. Strange to look over the countryside at night and see nothing but darkness. Darkness inside and out. We were prepared with a generator so we started out building a personal power grid. What do you start first? Hmmm.
Refrigerator, fans, a light bulb. That should hold us till Sunday.

Then Sunday on to bigger and better things. Our well for water and the septic system. Good progress. Not everything at once but we can share. Then to the TV. Ahh the outside world.

I have to stop and say a thing or two about friends. Without them we would be still living in the dark ages. A Dog team mate came over and accomplished miracles. Wired the pump and septic system. Realigned the satellite dish for TV. Simply amazing.

Friends. Our dogs were captive to this storm also. I can't imagine what they must have thought. A bit scared by the wind and darkness. Because of another dog team member we were able to send two off for a break from all this. They got a vacation while the others had to live through. Friends....thankfully.

Friends. Terrie's brother had evacuated to the south so he brought back much needed gas for the generator. Gas is gold around here. No power to pump it even if the station is open. So getting a special delivery of 25 gallons is a real up lift. Three days of creature comforts.

Friends. I also know that many just stopped in by phone or by e mail to ask how we were doing. If you have never experienced a storm like this you won't know that just hearing from the outside world and hearing a friendly voice can make your mood change from bad to good. You live so "hand to mouth", so ruggedly that you only see the world that is in your immediate neighborhood. No news. No outside contact. When a friend writes or calls, it lifts your spirit and makes you smile because you are not doing this alone. Thanks everyone for your contacts. Much needed.

So by the end of Sunday we have enough to live on. Stored up food and water. A resupply run accomplished. And friends helping us make life better.......life is good and we were lucky.

A word in edge wise

Today is the first day that I have had any time to write so where do I start. Friday was the beginning. It is strange to sit and listen to the roof coming apart. You don't like the sound of clanking but then when it leaves you realize that no sound may be even worse. As the eye wall approached you could hear the roof parts fighting against the wind. Any longer and the story would not have near the happy ending that it has.

The eye wall took two hours to pass. Quiet, calm and no rain. Our poor dogs were able to get out for a walk during that lull but they were not the happy canines they usually are. I took time to pick up tin flashing from the roof so it would not become more destruction when the back side of the storm hit. And boy did it hit.

In all it's fury at 5 am Saturday morning it hit. It was thankfully from the opposite side and the roof that had been damaged held and the trees that were weak had been blown down away from the house already. With each howl and gust you say to yourself.....it IS getting better.

Dawn came about 7 am and that helped because you could see. The night had been pitch black and you only had your ears to tell you what was going on. With dawn your eyes could reassure you and comfort you that something worse was not happening. Through it all the wind was bad and scary but you lived in fear of the rising water. Down here we have the saying "Run from the water and hide from the wind." Saturday was too late. We were already hiding and we could only wait and see if we should have run.

By 11 am I began to breath again. The storm was passing and no surge in sight. I had no clue I could hold my breath that long. Now it was time to roll out the generator and hug your loved ones. It was releasing it's gripe on us and the clean up was about to begin.

SAM

9/17/2008 Wed

Yippee the office is operational with real power today! Chris the Coast Guard Son said they have to replace all the navigational buoy’s in the Ship Channel before they start bringing in vessels, barge and tug traffic is moving. Customers started loading trucks, and are having their shore tanks inspected for damage.
Mom was off working on her yard again, Sam to the office, and I drove out to Waller to do laundry and kidnap my white dogs back! I get to go to work tomorrow, my office manager ran both our departments today! Almost a full crew.
Still loving the cool weather, hope it stays till the power comes back on. Dinner comes early around here, you have to cook and clean the kitchen before dark. You also have to try and get your shower before dark, it’s really hard to shower with a flash light.
No new pictures taken today, it’s just everyone cleaning up. So I’ve posted a picture living room rug and couch.
Pray for cool weather & power!

Tuesday - 9/16

Day started out about the same as yesterday, I can’t believe how cool the weather is! It’s almost cold sleeping with the windows open. Didn't take pictures today, this one was my heron that I took 3 days before the storm, I think that is the scene I'm going to use for a stain glass above the fireplace, or something like it.
Worked at Mom’s again today, then I left her to go to a meeting at the office. While I was gone Red Cross drove by and gave her a hot meal and water, they felt sorry for her because her daughter had left her alone to work. Chloe ate the Red Cross meal for dinner, she was happy. My brother worked clearing trees at his house, and then went and picked up Fema water and MRE’s, woohoo your tax dollars at work. I think I saw George fly over, I saluted!
Chem Coast started back working in the field today, inspectors having a hard time finding gas, but we’re starting back! We picked up to 2 BIG generators to start the lab up with, and then we’re going with some type of mobile home system for Dispatch to work out of. Tomorrow I’m out to a BF house to do laundry and then head off to work. More work at Mom’s is needed, but that will start later. Sam still won’t let me use the big chain saw, which I don’t understand because I’ve used smaller ones!
Stores are starting to open up around here, and we’re starting to see power around, which is a good sign, but I’m thinking we’re still on the bottom of the list. Sam went out tonight with the diesel cans to fill up, and the gas cans, so we’re good on power for a few more days. Our field is drying up so I’ll get to start using the tractor to start a new burn pile, I’m becoming an expert operator! Now if I could just get hold of that chain saw!
Later, time to turn off the computer and plug in the TV!
Life on the farm…

Monday 9/15/2008

Work day! And thank goodness for the cool weather. Sam was off to the office, Mom and I started clearing her place, back home for a bit of lunch and met up, then Sam and I off to McKinney street house to clear the drive way and door for Mary to get in.
Later that day, Owen and Amanda brought over provisions of ice and food, and stayed for dinner. So again, another good day.

Remember just because you are hot, sweaty, dirty and tired that fashion is a must! Prada sunglasses, vintage overall's from Sears (20+ years old), and leopard work boots!

Day 2 - 9/14/2008

The day started out with 5” of rain in a very short period of time! The pond rose higher than we had ever seen it. But when the rain cleared….

Wow, cool outside! But best of all Macgyver Beans came over along with the family and fixed it where we could run the generator to the well and septic system! He’s the best! The kids climbed the up rooted tree.

Ike - day of 9/13/08

After seeing the pictures of the water come over the seawall in Galveston long before the storm hit we knew Ike was going to be bad. If you google our address you see we’re very close to a source of water, that is Cotton Lake a cooling pond for Reliant, we walked down there yesterday and it sits below about a 20-30’ bluff, in a distance you can see the barrier of the lake and beyond that Trinity Bay. So unless the bay breached the lake it still had quite a ways to go.
We lost power right after the news started at 1005, and with boarded up windows you know how dark that is! We all went to sleep but woke up when it hit, and it seemed to go on forever! Sam stayed awake and watched his weather station. His wind meter stopped working at about 70mph, thankfully when we checked 2 days later it stopped because it had a leaf in it.
The roof make this banging noise, and about 2:30-3 it all stopped, we found a few leaks in my pretty painted ceiling, we didn’t know if we had lost roofing or not at that time. No furniture was harmed, and we were still safe. We walked the dogs at 3am during the eye of the storm, which was really strange, and Sam took a flashlight and took a look around the house.
The back side of the storm seemed much worse than the front side! You could hear the wind come up around the boarded windows, and howling around the house. As it seem to go on forever, dawn broke, and it was raining sideways.
The pond wasn’t at it’s max, the storm had only brought about 6-7” of rain (sorry I don’t stare at the weather station). It finally started clearing so we could go out. The dripping from the ceilings was caused by the flashing on the side of the house being blown off, about 10 trees down, up rooted or snapped off, and 4 panels of the privacy fence down so not to bad. But praise the Lord it was over!
We pulled out the generator, started the fridge running and a couple of fans. Met with neighbors and looked around. We ventured out that afternoon to check Mom’s house out and she had 1 BIG pine tree down, up rooted and of course limbs and pine needles (you don’t want pine trees), but house only missing shingles so good news there. We drove over to my Mckinney street house and almost couldn’t park in the drive way due to the pecan trees, limbs everywhere and on the roof but as best I could tell they didn’t come thru.
Sam’s old house where his daughter lives did take on the water surge, so Mary will be living in my McKinney street house until she has something else.
Our nice marina, well the boats were sitting on the edge of Hwy 146. Really glad I don’t have a boat!
Hot sticky day is over, but the Lord came out with a beautiful sunset!

Pre-Ike

Saturday - 09/12 @ 6:07 pm

I was suppose to be on a flight to Amsterdam tomorrow. Not anymore. Sam will be flying out on Sunday (if he can get to the airport).

Well the window's are boarded, everything put a away and tied down! I got to number all the boards for next time! Bad thing about this storm is going to arrive about 2am, those are the worst!

I did fill the tubs, but DUH I have a pool!

We have tons of junk food & beer! A fun filled carb over load weekend! So Mom, Sam and I will give you an update after the storm! The first gust of wind came at 5:15pm only 25mph!

More later, if I have power! Peace-Out