Rain Rain Go Away

It has rained ... and rained .... and rained some more. We have begun work on the arc but we aren't quite done yet.

Seriously ... I'm thinking that I'll need to take back the Traverse and ask for a speedboat.

With the reverse camera, please.

My friend, Katy, and I got caught in the rain on Friday night. We had big plans for a girls night on the town. No husbands and no kids. We should have known that it wasn't meant to be.

We started off at the Olive Garden. As we were leaving, the heavens opened up and it rained like I've never seen it rain - until again today!

Katy and I ran to the car, even though a passerby who was noticibly more dry than us told us that you get less-wet if you walk. We ran as fast as we could. After we got in the car, we noticed that no one else was as wet as us. We didn't have a dry thread on us. The more we looked at each other, the harder we laughed. We were a mess.

However, instead of spending 1:40 looking at Zac Efron, we spent 1:40 shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond and Kirklands. It was a fair trade.

And, we didn't see anyone we knew. Thank goodness.

Hurricane Survivor

Before & After picture of Crystal Beach, TX

We survived Hurricane Ike ... something that I hopefully won't have to say again. Since the last "big one" was in 1900, the chances that I'll endure another one are slim. I'm thankful.

I will admit, however, that it was a tad exciting - all the leading up to it. I love weather so I was a little anxious to see what it would be like. All of my work friends have made fun of me because I've known the exact track of the storm since before it hit Cuba.

Our home was not in a mandatory or even voluntary evacuation zone. No matter how curious I was, if I was in one of those zones, we would have left. Even as astute as I am with the weather, I still believe that there are people wiser than I... and had I seen "77494" scroll across the bottom of the TV, we'd have been to the car before you could blink!

The church shut down at 2PM on Thursday, Pro-Mark just before that ... which allowed us amble time to prepare. Don and I divided up duties for the way home. He stopped to get batteries. I stopped to get ice (dry and bagged). School didn't dismiss early, but I was able to meet Avery as he got off the bus at daycare and grab Piper to head home. Avery asked why I was there early and I told him that a hurricane was coming. He said, "Mom, hurricanes kill people." Good grief - who told him that? I told him about all the fun stuff we would get to do with this hurricane, like possibly sleep in the closet and eat fun food that we don't get to eat normally. That pacified him.

Piper's teacher had, evidentially, talked to them about the hurricane. Her teacher told them that there was "time to prepare and time to ask questions." That sounds good in theory. Heed my warning ... never tell a three year old girl that there is "time to ask questions" or if you do, please specify that it only applies to questions about the hurricane!!! Piper nearly drove us crazy with questions about everything in life. When we would ask her to please give us a little break Avery would respond "But it's hurricane day, she's allowed to ask questions."

We were told by all weather outlets that the rains would begin at noon on Friday and that the eye would make landfall in Galveston around midnight. Some of that was true. We spent Thursday evening and Friday morning preparing. We cleaned out a closet that leads under our staircase for our "safe closet" ... we dug out all the candles, matches, flashlights and batteries, we took baths and naps in case we were up all night, we moved patio furniture into the garage and tied the grill to a post on the back patio. We did, really, all we could think to do.

Both kids were totally put out that the hurricane took so long to get to us. They were ready by dinner on Thursday night. We were told, as I mentioned before, that we would begin receiving rain by noon on Friday. We got our first drop at about 1 AM. Granted, that helped with us not getting the flooding other places received, but I know two kids that thought this hurricane business was all hype!

One of the oddest things about the storm occurred at sunset. Our family room and kitchen windows face the back of our house. We had the shades open so that we could keep an eye on the weather from the two rooms that we are in the most. All of a sudden around 6:30, I looked outside to the brightest sky I have ever seen. No picture that we took has done justice to the pink that was in the sky. There was a line of the brightest fuchsia right at the horizon. Above it were rolling black clouds. It looked like something out of a movie. Words can't even describe how beautiful and scary it was all at the same time. I've never seen anything like it.

We finally put the kids down around 10 PM, they were so wired up and excited. We didn't have them sleep in the safe closet because there isn't an air vent in there. I'm sure it would have been stuffy even with the door open. Instead, they slept on the floor. Each wore a glow bracelet to (1) help us find them if the power went out and (2) help them be able to see something cool if the power went out.

Don and I had pillow and blanket and each grabbed a couch for the long haul. Here's my two-cents: If a hurricane is heading your way, don't rent the movie "The Perfect Storm" because it's nothing like that! There was no thunder, there was no lightning - just rain and the most stunning wind you've ever imagined. And, it wasn't like the wind just kicked up every now and then ... it roared continuously. Then, when you thought there was no possible way it could blow any harder - there was a gust 30 mph more than that. It was one of those things that you wanted to stand at the window and watch, but you were afraid of what might come blowing through it at any moment.

Around 2:45 AM, our cable went out. This was the biggest scare of the whole thing. It's one thing to know that a hurricane is right over your house, it's another to suddenly not be able to see what's next on a map. We knew that tornadoes were a possibility so that was an issue and with it being the middle of the night and pitch black - we were totally dependent upon seeing that weather map to know what was going on. We also lost all means to tell what was coming next - were we in a break, was the next band of wind 5 miles out from us, was it over??? The radio stations were only talking about Galveston. Hello! We know about Galveston ... total devastation, now on to the people sitting in their homes. Us, the non-evacuation zone people. The people you said didn't have to flee!!!

All in all, once morning broke and the sun began the rise, the worst of the storm was over. We have damage in our neighborhood, but nothing like the other areas of our little town. We are very lucky and very blessed that we were safe and sound through the night.

We have decided that Category 2 is our limit on hurricanes. (Actually, Ike lacked 1 mph being a Category 3. Ike had winds of 111 mph, and at 112 mph it would have up'd the class.) So, should a Category 3 or higher be headed our way - we are headed to Disney World. We almost went this time, but hated to leave the house not knowing how it would hold up.

We took a lot of video footage beginning Friday, so I'll post that soon! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers and messages! It meant a lot to us.

Ike

We are sheltering-in-place, although we are starting to second guess that choice. We definitely have enough food and water to last at least a week, but the lack of electricity seems to be a real threat. Should that happen, we will attempt to leave and go elsewhere.

We have an interior closet that we will be cleaning out completely tonight and using that as central base for the kids to sleep tomorrow night. The biggest thing for us is that the eye is due to come directly over our suburb which means that we could also have tornadoes.

I'm hoping that with it projected to come on land during the middle of the night, the kids (inside the closet) will be able to sleep through it. Hopefully, by daybreak, the worst will be gone and we can begin to access the damage.

The church and Pro-Mark have both shut down. Pro-Mark has planned to reopen on Monday; the church will be closed indefinitely. Our office building is glass covered on the front and back, so it will be very vulnerable to damage from the wind.

Since I have one of the glass offices, I had to take down all of my pictures of the kids and house them in the studio. It was weird to pack up my stuff - I felt like I was quitting or being fired!

I'll do another update tomorrow. We very well could decide to leave - we're at a real wishy-washy point.

Tropical Storm Let Down

Well, Edouard fizzled out. He was headed straight to Galveston and expected to be a Category 1 by the time it made landfall. Somewhere along the road, it made a turn north and landed a little early.

This morning before I left for work, the weathercasters were predicting 5.8" of rain at our house. I went into work to get done a few things that were necessary for others to do their projects, and then left right before it was supposed to hit. I did hit a few deep places on the way home, so it was a great move to come on home.

However, it's now late afternoon and the whole thing has fizzled out. I'd say we got 2" (I realize that 2" is a good amount of rain), but it's nowhere near 6".

I think I'll "try out" for weathercaster. I think I'd be great, and obviously, could do just as good of a job as the yahoo's we have around here!

Tidbits of useless info :)

(1) Here are pictures of the hairbows that I got for Piper at Sam Moon. I'm so excited for Piper to be "Bows Gone Wild" ... These are a big enough size that they should last for a while.

(2) The smoothie recipe that I posted the other day. If you want to make it even better, add a banana. I had one banana that was on it's last day and tossed it into the blender last night. It made the best smoothie in the world EVEN better. I didn't think it was possible.

(3) There's a tropical storm headed my way. I'm a little excited, because I've been afraid that I'm going to screw up watering our yard. God must have realized that and decided to take some pressure off of me. My sweet friend, Diann, knowing that I'm a Hurricane Novice bought me a battery-powered radio and some batteries this morning. She's filled me in on all the do's and don'ts of living in a tropical zone. I'm just ready for a break in the heat. And, calling off work would be great too!!!!

Question of the Day

I had a wonderful time in San Antonio at the DCI show. It's always great to catch up with friends and former students - this show is one of the highlights of my year for that exact reason. A lot of times, for me, it's totally refreshing to be with familiar friends.

It's definitely summer in Texas. I think it was 98-degrees yesterday. Saying it was hot would be an understatement! However, I noticed that everyone kept asking me, "How do you stand the heat down here? It's so (add adjective here) hot!!!"

Here's my answer friends ... I don't make a practice of standing out in parking lots or on asphalt much. I retired from teaching marching band when we moved to Houston for this reason! I go from my air conditioned house, to my air conditioned car, to my air conditioned office that is so cold on a daily basis that I run a space heater 365 days a year!!! On a non-work day, I go from my air conditioned car to the pool. Standing outside for prolonged periods of time isn't on my daily to-do list, therefore it's really not much of a thought.

Here's a comparison from about 10 minutes ago between Nashville and Houston:

Temperature - Houston: 95 degrees; Nashville: 93 degrees
Humidity - Houston: 34%; Nashville: 40%
Dew Point - Houston: 63 degrees; Nashville: 65 degrees
"Feels Like" - Houston: 97 degrees; Nashville: 95 degrees
UV Index - Houston: 3; Nashville: 1

As you see, it's not a lot different from home! People at work are always saying "How are you dealing with the humidity?" I try to explain that Nashville has high humidity too (today it's higher THERE!) ... people look at me with disbelief when I try to explain that we have a true summer in Tennessee. The difference in weather comes not in summer, it's in winter! While we're enjoying weather in the high 60s in February, people in Nashville are bundled up to the hilt!

So, to answer the question once more ... "How do I handle the heat?" My answer is ... "the same way I have for the last 34 years!"