One Week Ago Today...

One week ago today, we were sitting in front of the TV trying to decide whether to stay or to go. I had packed up my family keepsakes and photos and thought I was getting caught up on laundry (how could I forget jeans?). We finally decided based on the information we had at the time to stay since our hotel reservations were just on the other side of town.

One week ago today, we were sitting in front of the TV watching the waves already wash over the west end of Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula, essentially cutting them off, and watching the waves already crashing up over the Seawall on the east of Galveston.

One week ago today we were sitting in air-conditioning with lights and TV going without the overriding sound of a generator engine.

One week ago today we were worried about what was coming, but not too worried - after all it was only a Category 2, and I had rode out Alicia which was a Cat 3 without too much trauma.

One week ago today we watched the winds begin to come up before dark, but it wasn't too bad and there wasn't any rain yet. The lights started flickering, but would come back on - not too bad so far.

One week ago today we watched the winds start to really slam the area - we still had TV, so we laughed at the idiot reporters that have to get out in the storm just to show people how bad it is - we know already! You jkust look ridiculous!

One week ago today I started to get scared - this was not really like Alicia after all. Would the house hold? Would we have serious damage? Would the lights eventually go out altogether?

One week later - the lights did go out about 1:00 in the morning Saturday morning and haven't come back on to this point. We never had the eye go over the house so the winds never quit blowing all night. The roof held, although we lost some shingles and the turbines shifted off the standpipes, allowing rain to blow into the attic - as a result, we have some ceiling damage in the kitchen and in the hall bath.

The fence blew down in three spots - it's now held up literally with clothesline and tree stakes. If Jasmine ever chases a squirrel across that side of the yard, she will probably find out how secure the fence isn't. However, we probably won't have many squirrels in the backyard anymore since the one tree, a 15 year old red maple that I planted the week I moved in fell across the fence and is resting on the neighbor's elm tree. At least the fence on that side hasn't come down yet. The neighbors lost their pecan tree - it was probably 30 years old and huge. It come up from the roots - scary.

We are so fortunate - yes, we are still having to use the generator for lights and fan, and to keep the refrigerator running. Yes, cold showers in the dark are getting really old. The lines to get gasoline haven't been much fun either - but at least we aren't at the mercy of the ice, water, and food lines at the FEMA PODs. Yes, I worry that we will get thunderstorms coming in before we are able to get the roof replaced. But we have had mild temperatures since Ike passed through, we have a roof over our heads, we do have some electrical power due to the generator, gas lines are decreasing and restaurants are opening up - life is getting back a lot closer to normal.