It’s walk time in Houston, we’ll be walking at Reliant Center on November 8th bright and early.  This will be our 4th walk in the 2 years (tomorrow) that Megan was diagnosed.  She is so involved and driven to do all she can to find a cure for this disease, as are we.  In just 3 walks she and her teams in FL and TX have raised $23,000+.  She is a JDRF Walk Ambassador again this year and Megan has also applied to be a representative in the 2009 Children’s Congress in Washington DC where she will have the opportunity to testify to Congress on the importance of funding for Diabetes Research. 

I am hoping that friends and family can support her not only with donations but with your prayers and help in increasing awareness about this disease. We are deinitelyfeeling the crunch of Ike and the economy this time around.  Her team is the smallest it has ever been and donations are coming in very slowly.  Remember that no donation is too small, we are incredibly thankful for every dollar we can put towards research.  

Unfortunately I am not able to upload Megan’s video but if you contact me I would be happy to send it via email.  To make a donation go to www.jdrf.org

Thank you!

Hurricane Education: What I’ve learned during our last hurricane . . .

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill.

2. No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don’t work without
electricity.

3. My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you can ask the people in
line who helped me push it).

4. Kids can survive 4 days or longer without a video game controller in
their hand.

5. Cats are even more irritating without power.

6. He who has the biggest generator wins.

7. Women can actually survive without doing their hair- you just wish they
weren’t around you.

8. A new method of non-lethal torture- showers without hot water.

9. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought.

10. TV is an addiction and the withdrawal symptoms are painful.

11. A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz beers to a drinkable temperature in
11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for 8 more hours.

12. There are a lot of dang trees around here.

13. Flood plane drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong.

14. Aluminum siding, while aesthetically pleasing, is definitely not
required.

15. Crickets can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14
generators.

16. People will get into a line that has already formed without having any
idea what the line is for.

17. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float, doesn’t steer well but
floats just the same.

18. Tele-marketers function no matter what the weather is doing.

19. Cell phones work when land lines are down, but only as long as the
battery remains charged.

20. 27 of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and
they are quick to point that out!

21. Hampers were not made to contain such a volume.

22. If my store sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators.. . I’d be rich.

23. Price of a can of soup rises 200% in a storm.

24. Your water front property can quickly become someone else’s fishing
hole.

25. Tree service companies are under appreciated.

26. I learned what happens when you make fun of another states’ blackout.

27. MATH 101: 30 days in month, minus 6 days without power equals 30% higher
electric bill ?????

28. Drywall is a compound word, take away the “dry” part and it’s worthless.

Thank goodness we did not have to learn these lessons the hard way, we were VERY blessed this time around.

We spoke with friends that live near us in Fairfield on Saturday afternoon and they told us the power had come back on.  They also mentioned the normal 1 hour drive in from their ranch took 3 hours and we needed to get gas before we got too close.  So Steve and I decided to head back late that night hoping traffic would have improved.  It did indeed and we got in a little after midnight.

Yesterday we had lunch with friends that still did not have power and also “toured” Fairfield to check on more friends that again still did not have power.  We feel very blessed to have escaped that nasty storm with virtually no damage to speak of.  I did try to go get groceries about 8pm and that was a bust.  The first grocery store I went to had a line waiting to get in (the day before there was a 2 1/2 hour wait to get in the doors), then I went to Kroger that was closing (an 1+ hours early), and finally went past Wal-Mart whose parking lot was absolutely empty and the store (normally 24 hours) was closed.  Gas pump lines were no better, so Steve and I got up at 2am this morning and went up the road to a truck stop in Waller to get gas.  No lines, but scary clientele.  This morning for breakfast we dined on tasty, prepackaged muffins Steve bought at the truck stop, YUM!

We’re headed out to get groceries in College Station today, about 45 minutes west of us.  I told Steve if it is this difficult to get basic necessities all the way out here where damage was minimal comparatively speaking, it must just be awful for those folks the closer you get to the coast.  They definitely need our prayers.

We were so thankful to have the Thewes family close by and provide us a fabulous shelter in the storm.  Thanks again!!  Here are some pictures I took while we were there.  Calvin and Sophie became fast friends and provided lots of entertainment for all of us.  We also got to see Jenna, Jason, and Jake (for our SRQ friends).  Good times!

We and house weathered the hurricane very well.  We are blessed to be 70ish miles from the coast so we had no water issues, just wind and rain.  Our power went out for good around 5:30 Saturday morning and is still out.  We had one little tree down but everything else looks good.  I wish we could say the same for some of our other friends in the neighborhood. 

We left yesterday around noon and headed to Austin.  Our good friends the Thewes’ are very gracious hosts and the dogs are getting along famously!! Had a little Buckeye football party and got to see Sarasota friends of old, Jenna & Jason and their little boy Jake.  I have pictures of everyone and promise to post them as soon as possible. 

School is cancelled through Wednesday at least so we are trying to decide when to return.  Right now there is no power so…

We’ll keep you updated, thank you for the many emails and calls to check on us!!!

Those that live in mandatory evacuation zones that DID NOT leave have been advised to write their social security # on their forearm so they can be identified later!!!  No sense mincing words!  Our zip code IS NOT an evacuation zone so we will not be digging a sharpie out of the junk drawer.

We did have a lovely sunset this evening, here are some pictures…can you tell I’m bored out of my mind?!

We’ve had our second call from friends in Austin urging us to load up and head their way.  We assured them if we lose power for long we’ll be on our way after we pack the fridge and freezer in coolers and load it up. 

Winds are beginning to pick up but no rain yet, not sure you’ll be able to see much from the picture.  It’s going to really get going after dark so my photo opportunities are going to be limited.  :0(

The webcam @ Mueshke I mentioned in an earlier post seems to be having trouble (The picture is not of that area now).  You can look at the 290 @ Cypress-Rosehill to get the best idea of what it’s looking like for us. 

winds are picking up

Here it comes...

Here’s a picture of the first clouds rolling in.  Taken from our back porch.

Here’s the link to our local news.  This channel has the best coverage and employs Dr. Neil Frank, former hurricane center guru.

www.khou.com

Here’s a link to Houston webcams:  http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cctv/transtar/by_roadway.html?mnu=freeway&rd=US-290_Northwest

The closest you can get to our house is the camera at 290 NW @ Mueschke.  Our house is about on the horizon line on the right side of 290.  That’s about 3-4 miles from the camera.

All is quiet on the roads now and the sun is shining.  The breeze is picking up and we should start feeling the outer bands around 2pm today.

The impending arrival of Hurricane Ike is looming large in Houston.  School and businesses have closed for Friday.  The mayor held a press conference this morning and urged residents to “secure their bar-b-que pits” and to “hunker down”.  For those of you that don’t speak Texan that means put your  grill away and shelter in place, don’t evacauate when you live 60 miles from the coast and clog up all the roads…only after you have gone to the store and bought all the water, batteries, and non-perishable food and left nothing for the native Floridians that are staying put!!!

Our plan is to stay here and it does look like it’s going to get nasty around 1am Saturday (gotta love a hurricane that strikes in the middle of the night!).  They are telling us to expect 8-12 inches of rain and winds from 85mph with gusts to 110mph.  I lived in FL most of my life and never got this close, what’s up?!  I guess we’ll see how well Newmark builds a house!!

Our  plan is to leave if power goes out and will not be restored within a couple days.  We have made arrangments to stay with our friends the Thewes’ (recent TX transplants from FL) in Austin and enjoy some good company over there.

We’ll keep you posted as best we can and maybe even throw in a few pictures.  Keep us in your prayers…