As the entire world knows by now 
… we are in the process of “ Overcoming Ike ” - KHOU News has done [and continues to do] a great job of reporting and keeping those without power knowledgeable of what is happening here via their simulcast on the radio partners - I listened to 104.1 KRBE.
KUDOS to KRBE, 104.1 - they have done a marvelous job with their own coverage too when they were not broadcasting the actual simulcast-being on the radio, they KNEW from personal experience [their lights were off and when home they were listening to the radio for info too!] just how important it was to us to have everything read completely to us.
We could not access the Internet to view list upon list of POD locations or school closings - they read them … over and over and over WITHOUT boring us silly … they told us simple things like what time it was often … I had a working cell phone and I charged it in my car every time it got low … but that was the only clock I had with the lights off … I am going to get a large battery operated clock for the living room in the near future though :D.
Coastal communities were hit hard as expected … but not nearly as hard as they could have been … if the storm had hit 50 miles or so to the west of us … the storm surge could have been much higher which could have wiped more coastal communities off the face of the earth.
Hurricanes have their place in nature … it is a man-made disaster waiting to happen for us to build and live so close to the beach - when Mother Nature cleanses the hot tropic air from the coast using a hurricane … that is not a lot of fun for coast residents. The oil slick from the hurricane is another problem … that is killing animals, birds and fish too.
My electric went off in the middle of the nite - 3 AM then tried to come back on at 6 AM Saturday morning … it flickered several times before going back off and staying off. CenterPoint Energy is and has done a tremendous job - 2 plus million customers without electricity and as of last nite, about half were back to watching TV, cleaning their refrigerators and wondering how they were going to afford to refill those newly cleaned refrigerators.
I was lucky enough that my electric came back on late Tuesday afternoon so I could go to the grocery store for food … BUT the power went off Tuesday nite sometime and luckily was back on early Wednesday morning. It has flickered several times as if it might go back off again which concerns me but if it happens … I will take my meager amount of new groceries out of the refrigerator and take it over to my daughter’s house. $50 does not put much food in the refrigerator and I am still waiting for my unemployment to begin … I am broke and cannot pay my bills at the moment but I will not starve for a couple weeks …. unless the power goes back out again.
I do not have any small kids living with me down here for this storm but I do know first hand just how difficult it can be to live without electricity having kids in the house … I lived in Iowa and had small kids when the power would go out for days because of either a tornado or an ice or snow blizzard went thru and would take the lines down. No it was not a lot of fun but you take care of your kids and you get them involved in doing something - cleaning your yard, cleaning your house, rearranging the furniture, volunteering to help their neighbors, being supervised while playing out doors, playing board games, playing cards or reading books. Luckily the weather has been gloriously gorgeous down here after the hurricane followed by the Saturday thunder boomer that added to the flood misery here.
My mortgage loan officer son-in-law [ask for Shane if you call needing an experienced loan officer to help you buy a home] fixed my roof for me Thursday - my roof is steep so it was not a lot of fun for him - his friend came and helped him do it - thankfully it is now done [and so I can quit worrying about what happens if it rains again] and it looks very nice - they did a great job but roofing is not their job specialty … LOL. My son-in-law is a handy guy with a hammer - he made a really nice set of benches for my grandson’s football team last year, then repainted them this year for the current team … my grandson won’t be playing in this league next year so they are donating the benches to the current team for them to continue using next year. My grandson started 6th grade this year … so next year he has to try out for Junior High School football … I think, if I understand correctly.
I am going to go be Grandma this afternoon … time to get ready to leave for my daughter’s house … so her 4 dogs can pounce, bounce and jump on me plus whine shrilly with their happiness and excitement that Grandma is there to see them - they believe they are the reason Grandma comes to their house - to see them - they definitely do make me laugh at their silly antics even if I feel as if they are going to flatten me in their excitement.
Sometimes … it is not good to be loved too much … LOL … not when you’ve got about 250 pounds of exuberant puppy dogs trying to bounce off your forehead, nose and chin all at the same time.
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Posted under Texas
This post was written by Barbara Burns on September 20, 2008
… it is expected to only get to be a Category 3 now but it is not traveling very fast yet … the tropical storm winds & possibly isolated tornadoes are expected to start here tomorrow [Friday] morning …. they think anywhere from 60 mph and up Friday and hurricane wind speeds on Saturday and probably Sunday too. I live in Katy - I’m NOT in the storm surge area - that means I am not in a coastal area - so I do not need to evacuate. We expect lots of wind, maybe isolated tornadoes … we may get some flooding depending on the rain and how fast it comes down … it’s been dry so the bayous are expected to be able to handle the water coming down.
