AGAIN...

We lost power again tonight for about an hour. The kids didn't know the difference - they were playing outside at a friend's house. Greg and I took the opportunity to take a nice walk and view the damage in the neighborhood. Looks like most folks came through pretty good. We saw lots of fence damage and a few blue roofs, but all in all very fortunate area of town. There are many folks who don't have electricity yet, so we count ourselves among the blessed.

Church services were held in Guyot Hall again today. The church sanctuary had 10 inches of water and it came in through the electrical room, so we will be without power until that is fixed. The water was pumped out and the carpet has been cleaned. Until we can use the church again, there will only be 3 Sunday masses instead of 6, and no nursery for the babies. Good news is that daily masses will resume on the 29th. The beginning of the CCE has been pushed back until the first Sunday in October.

Greg will return to work tomorrow, and the kids and I are going to do something artsy and creative to fill the time.

:)

Courtney

Update 9/21/08

Here is a YouTube video that someone else in our area posted. According to her, it was about 7 PM - around the time we lost power. As you can see, there was no rain yet, only really strong winds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfYaWB38ejg

Here is a link to one that shows that the kids in the area made the most of what they were dealt. (The kids on our street chose to play football on the deserted street instead.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72sq8usouXg

We've had some lapse in our power since it was restored, but it came back on each time within 4-5 hours. Our National Guard POD (point of distribution) that distributed ice, water and MREs has closed and been relocated to areas that are still without power. 1.1 million homes are still without power according to Centerpoint Energy. They are working non-stop to get everyone back up and running - we have even seen crews from Michigan and Indiana working on our electricity infrastructure.

According to the news, there is an extensive search and recovery going on in East Chambers county - the east coast of Galveston Bay. The storm surge pushed across the Bolivar Peninsula and into that area. They are in search of residents that have not been accounted for.

Side note: The tiger has been captured.

Looks like school will not resume until at least Wednesday, 9/24/08, if all the buildings have power. If no power, then no school. Houston ISD is starting up 120 of its 300 schools on Tuesday and bringing up others as power is restored.

Maw-maw's fence is in the process of being rebuilt, and they are tearing out the deck as well. We are going to re-sod the area before putting the house on the market. I think we'll advertise the house as "hurricane proof" since the only damage was the fence.

:)

Courtney

ELECTRICITY!!!!!!

As you all are probably aware, we had been without power for 41/2 days. Last night at about 11:00 we were watching Nanny McFee at the Kloesels', the family friends we have been staying with, we got a call from my dad who has been staying at home. he said we have electricity. Due to the time that we got the call and the fact that we were all in our pajamas, we stayed at the Kloesels' and left this morning. After dropping our items off at the house, we left for Maw-maw's. we cleaned out her fridge and got the leaves out of her pool. At the same time another family friend, Juan, and a friend of his decided to rebuild fences to earn a little cash since fences and roofs are the primary damage around here. He told us about his idea and we were first on his list. That's really good because Maw-maw lost all 3 of her fences. They took down the remainder of the fence that the hurricane hadn't already torn down and began rebuilding it. There wasn't much of a breeze outside which really stunk because outside of Maw-maw's house smells like seafood to the extent of when the neighbor drove around to find an open restaurant she couldn't stand the only restaurants open, the 3 seafood places. The gas lines are getting shorter and everything is nearing normalcy.

L.O.L.
Shea :D

Shea's Thoughts

What's up people? The hurricane was pretty harsh, so I've heard. I do know that my friends wrapped my other friend that lives on the end of our street's house last Saterday and the t.p. that had been stuck in their trees for 6 days had blown across the street and down to our house, 6 or 7 doors down. At least thats what my dad said, I slept trough the whole thing. The tropical storm winds were wicked hard, I felt like I might blow away, but i didn't.(That would be illogical) We lost power between 6:30 & 7:30 friday evening. The rain began pouring after I had fallen asleep. When I woke up everything was over and the neighbors were out playing football in the street and skating with a garbage bag taped to 2 poles. When I walked outside I saw that the hurricane hadn't done much damage to our street. I walked down to my friend Sarah's house (she's the one who's t.p. was in our yard) and looked at our street. It looked like the Amazon rainforest (that's a simile there was just awhole lot of tree limbs scattered across the street) sunday, Mom and I went to church in the felloship hall (it's like a cafeteria) the priest and decan and alter servers all held hankies and continuously wiped their faces. There was 1 mass. The chapel had flooded and there was no electricity, so a lot of people had on shorts and t-shirts. Yesterday, we went to get gas and had to wait in line forever and a week long but Mom said it was short. (Since when is 30 cars in line down Underwood to get gas at a Chevron short?) While we waited to get assigned to a pump we talked to officer M.S. Anderson who said that 60 % of Deer Park has electricity. We happen to live in the 40% that doesn't, so we're staying with a close family friend who does have power. Only 4 of the schools have power so we don't have school for the remainder of the week thus meaning that my I.P.C. and Algebra tests that were previously posponed until tuesday got posponed again. Other than what you have probably already heard about the damage to the house and my trampoline that is no longer jump-on-able, I have no further thoughts.

ttyl byye! shea :D

Cody's Thoughts

I had a ton of work to do after hurricane Ike. It was scary but it was fun and funny. Shea, mom, and I are at a family friend's house because we have gone 4 1/2 days without power. Greg, my dad, is talking care of the dogs at home. The trampoline is on the curb in pieces but we are ok.



love. cody
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Returning to "normalcy"

We are still out of power and rumor is it won't be on for 7-10 days more. Our land line is now functional and Greg is holding down the fort, so you should be able to reach him via our home number. The kids' school district left a message today that only 4 of the 15 schools have power and it will be Monday at the earliest that they return to school. My district is closed indefinitely. We have over 45 schools and only 5 had power as of yesterday. A few leaks and downed limbs was the extent of damage at my school.

Our church is without power, but was able to hold mass on Sunday to give praise and thanks for our health and safety. The roof leaked on the new carpet that was installed a few months ago, but no structural damage per se.

Today, we ventured out to get supplies - groceries, gas, cleaning supplies, etc. We have run across very cordial and concerned people. Long lines and sparsely stocked stores are the only issues we've run across. Good news is that Greg's mom's power was restored and she is back with her independence. She will still come and eat with us at the Kloesel's, as her refrigerator still needs to be purged and cleaned. We knew Karla was a great cook, but now we know how good...Our 15 year old beagle, Bailey, finally ate for the first time since last Thursday (Karla's leftover grilled chicken).

Other good news is that the garbage man cometh!!! We cleaned out the fridge this morning and set the stinky yuck at the curb for them to haul off. Our city resumed normal trash pickup, but the debris removal is going to be overseen by FEMA. We are taking bets as to how long the trampoline and tree limbs remain by the curb.

It is comforting to know that most everyone in town is going through the same thing we are. We can commiserate with just about everyone we stand in line with. We are very fortunate though - things could be a lot worse. Bolivar, Crystal Beach and Gilcrest along the coast were completely obliterated..houses that used to be on the beach are miles inland. There is also a hungry tiger loose on the Bolivar Peninsula according to the news. He just adds a little spice of life to the snakes, rats and alligators that are also rampant on the peninsula.

Will post more tomorrow.

Courtney

Safe & Sound

Hello!

Since our land line is out, and cell reception is spotty at best, we have established this blog to keep family and friends informed of our health and welfare. Text or email seems to be the best way to reach us. (We have wonderful friends with power that are letting us bunk with them and use their internet!)

Just to let you know we are all safe and sound following Hurricane Ike. We were blessed in that we suffered no real damage or injury. Here is an account of what has happened over the last few days...

We boarded up on Thursday, 9/11/08 and helped the neighbors make sure they were ready as well. Greg's mom was under mandatory evacuation on Friday, 9/12/08 and came to stay with us for the duration. We hunkered down on and waited out the storm. We were able to follow the progress of the storm on TV until 7:30 PM when we lost power. After that, we had to get our info from the battery operated radio. We now have a definite appreciation for what the folks in England during WWII went through. The winds came first, and slowly built to hurricane force before we ever saw a drop of rain. The rain started late in the evening and continued throughout the night. Kids slept through most of it. The first part of the storm was bad, but the second part was worse - which is unusual for a hurricane. About 2 AM on Saturday morning, 9/13/08, our youngest appeared bedside to inform us his ceiling was leaking...on Maw-Maw. We got up to clean it up, find a bucket to catch the drips, and set up alternate sleeping arrangements. Meanwhile, the eye of the storm (giant eye) passed right over us, so we had 2 hours of calm before the second half of the storm. During the eye, Greg ventured out to assess damage in the neighborhood and help secure limbs and downed fences. About noon on Saturday, the rains and winds began to let up and we were able to truly assess our situation. We had lots of debris from the neighbors' trees, roof ventilators, shingles, and a variety of other projectiles that had landed in our yard. There was also a very tired dove that was sitting near the side of the house. We did not find any structural, fence, nor roof damage. Shea's trampoline wasn't so fortunate, as we found it straddling the back fence after the storm. It also took out Greg's lemon tree that he and the kids grew from a seed from a slice of lemon in a glass of tea. It had just started to produce fruit. (I guess they'll have to start over again!)

We are about to have dinner, so we will post more this evening.

If you want to see pictures, here is a link to the news station we watch/listen to: http://www.khou.com/

God Bless!

Courtney