Hurricane Ike - Back to Normal Yet?

The first question is: are we back to life as we knew it before Hurricane Ike? The second question is, “What was normal for us?” 

Well, the answers are “Yes”, “Yes, for us” and “No”, if you count the tree limbs at curbside awaiting pick-up and the trees resting on some house roofs. There are still a few extra people here, some who had nothing to go back to, and a few children registered with our local schools. So, as before, we have probably increased our population somewhat. 

There are extra service trucks and there will be plenty of them to do all the clean up. 

Most of us are back into the routines we were used to before the storm. Because we are “retired”, perhaps Hubby and I do not have so much of a routine as some. 

A few of us have some residual aches and pains which may or may not be psychosomatic. 

My friend has an ongoing headache. Sinus headaches are very common in East Texas and they are probably weather-induced. So, I conclude she is sick over the hurricane, or climate change. (No, she did not have severe damage, just the same inconvenience we all had.) 

Today I am finally going to see my doctor about my back pain. Now, I have to tell you my G.P. is a Canadian, eh? So, he will not tell me that I am a hypochondriac. He will come up with some uncommonly simple solution for my pain. He is a very down-to-earth type of fellow, graduated from University of Alberta who practiced in Northern Ontario. 

So, I have dispelled the thought for you that I am the only Canuck here! (And there are a few more . . .) 

Why is my back hurting so much? Well, it might be that big stock of water I pushed in the cart from the back of the Wal-Mart store before Ike. Or, could it be an immense tote box laden with heavy stuff marked “Crawl Space” that I pushed from one room to another? 

What is the significance of “Crawl Space” written on the box? Well, it means it came from Ontario, because we do not have any crawl space at this house. For all my Texas friends, let me explain. I was living in a four level back-split which is truthfully, a house with four levels and lots of short sets of stairs. On the bottom of it all was a final level – accessible by children, dogs, and you on your knees – for storage: CRAWL SPACE! 

So, like most of us, I kinda left something aside that I should have sorted through – oh, maybe 10 or 11 years ago. 

And, my doctor will know that I simply did too much at the last minute, won’t he? 

On the “do it now” side, we did take the tidy clear bag of gently used clothing that they were calling for at Goodwill. (I confess that bag had been sitting in the garage for about five months.) Fortunately the newspaper headlined that they needed more clothing for evacuees. 

On the clean side of the slate, except those with generators, most of us now also have very tidy freezers! (We put frig contents in coolers with ice, but alas the freezer contents had to be tossed and of course, any residual ice melted.) 

Should I tell you that yesterday morning, the power went off again while I was here at my computer? Accompanying the outage was a giant pop or crack out on the street. Fortunately, we were soon up and running and then, only then, did I print out some hard copies of work to be edited. Oh, when will I ever learn? 

So, shall we conclude that some of our pains are beyond our control – like headaches, and some – like other headaches and backaches, may well be caused by the old procrastination? 

Are we back to normal? Well, yes, no, and maybe!

The Calm After The Storm - Getting Back into Routine

There are signs all over of Hurricane Ike's wrath but in our immediate area almost everyone has their power back. We are all trying to catch up on laundry and general household chores. We have pretty much assessed any damage and many of us are very blessed not to have too much other than downed tree limbs. Those of us who really just had disruption of our routines are very thankful.

People are feeling perhaps lethargic, a little down, because we have all been through a lot of disruption. 

Some evacuees are still here and worse, some have nothing to go back to. Most of them feel they have been treated well and we have tried to make them feel at home. Perhaps some will re-locate to East Texas!

In other areas, particularly the Texas Coast, the various services have been tremendous and Gov. Rick Perry has had teams of people really on top of the situation. He commented that Texas will be a role model for other states going through disasters. Of course, "THIS IS TEXAS!"

Centers for help here in East Texas are shutting down and hopefully, schools will re-open on Monday so the children and their teachers can get back into routine. "Buddy" the Lhasa has very much missed the School Bus at 6:45 a.m. and 3:25 p.m. that stops for our neighbor's granddaughter.

Yes. Routine! Good old routine! We like it a lot more than we are willing to admit!

Hurricane Ike - Still Causing Misery

There is a very old expression, “After three days, fish starts to smell”. Hubby and I try to live by the motto. When we visit, we try to be there three days or less and when someone visits us, we try to make their visit last only three days. (With due respect, surely they would want to visit Houston, Dallas or Shreveport while they are here!) 

It is a simple fact of life that when we invite those from outside our immediate family to stay in our home, it wears very thin or as they say today, “It gets old”. We all do our very best to get along with our spouse and if we have children at home, with them too, of course. We have our quirks, our routines, our own ways. But we get used to each other. Or, we divorce. 

So, when people – either out of the kindness of their hearts or because they felt it was the “right thing to do” – invited friends and family into their homes to be sheltered from Ike, they learned. 

Hurricane Ike turned off the power in this area on Saturday and today, Thursday, in our own East Texas town, just about one-third of the population are still without electricity. Since those evacuees came here on Thursday or Friday, in some cases, “guests” have been here for one week now. 

Many people who have come here from the Texas Gulf Coast have not been given the word to go back home. Worse, some have nothing to go back to. 

In some large parking lots, there are vehicles which look as though they are parked there with evacuees living in them.

Hotels were filled long ago, people are running out of money and patience. 

Today’s newspaper relates strife and crime. Our streets are still full with drivers from other areas unsure of how to get places. Of course, there were traffic lights out of service and that was a real challenge! 

We still have many evacuee shelters; schools are closed (some being used for shelters, meals, etc.) and we still have National Guard at various parking lots doling out ice, bottled water and meal packs. 

Everywhere there are service trucks – electric, cable, telephone, clean-up, tree services. 

Some of the advice is not getting through because people who need to know what is going on have no way to hear the messages. People should be leaving their front porch lights on so workers will know when power is restored. Garbage may be put in re-cycle as well as regular barrels for pick-up. If you need some water, here is where to get it. Don’t mix tree limbs with bagged garbage. The city is organized, but not everyone is able to receive the word. 

Grocery stores and restaurants are to capacity. 

So, people are starting to smell like the fish out of water on the beach. Some figuratively, some literally! 

Worse, people are starting to hate the situation so bad, they are causing harm to others, as in stabbing, and in one case, two pots of boiling vegetables were hurled at in-laws. 

Our physiologists, social workers, firemen and policemen, maintenance people and government employees are now very much overworked. 

A good place for all of us with power is inside our homes and going out after dark is probably a very bad idea. 

Please, Dear God, let this come to an end and bring us all back to “normal”. 

[Ed.note: Even in a power outage, gas burners may be lit with a match and used for cooking.]

After the Storm: Not Exactly Calm Yet

Hubby and I are among the most fortunate in the area to have power back to their homes. About one-half of city residents still are without. Some people have had their power come on only to go off again. In the surrounding area, the percentage of homes and business without power is much higher. Of course, other areas, including just one-half hour away will need complete rebuilding. Houston will be several days getting everyone up and running and of course, Galveston is really in bad shape. 

For Astro fans, we took an extra hit in that they went to Milwaukee to play their home games and lost. Now, if they had just called, I think they could have played during the day in Toronto and you know how at home they would have felt! 

We will tell you a little more about what we feel about this experience at http://grey-approach.blogspot.com when we post our story there. 

Utility and Law Enforcement vehicles have been going up and down in front of our home and we can hear the “outside voices” of children still home from school. (Some schools and churches are being used as Evacuee Centers.) 

Because evacuees have not been authorized to go back to the Texas Coast, or even worse, perhaps because they have nothing to go back to, we have about 4,000 extra people in town. Our population is about 33,000 so that is about 12% more people. That makes for a lot more traffic than we are used to and puts a bigger burden on our supermarkets and restaurants than usual. 

Water and ice has been offered at various locations but there were long lines and National Guard was on duty to keep things orderly. 

With tragedy like Hurricane Ike also comes crime. It is very important for all residents to keep their guards up. So, it is not exactly business as usual yet. 

Ike Evacuees Driving Up From Houston to East Texas for Shelter

Hunkering Down Waiting for Hurricane Ike

Well, it’s just after ten o’clock in the evening in East Texas and we are hunkering down, waiting for Hurricane Ike. 

Missed scrapbooking tonight and napped instead. All day we have been running errands, doing laundry, stuff you do when you think you might not have power or land phone service. 

At eight o’clock we drove up to the drug store and then swung around to buy lotto tickets. One gas station/variety store was closed; possibly they were out of gas. There are 4,000 evacuees in our area. 

The TV station is keeping us posted live and my friend has gone back to be there tonight while her family hunkers down at home. Our granddaughter was called out. Our representative, Louis Gohmert, is home from Washington. Everyone is at the ready. 

They are saying we are better prepared than we have been in the past and it looks as though we are. That, of course, depends upon how bad it gets. 

Our neighbors across seemed to have gone up to their church which would be an Evacuee Center. The folks directly across are going to sit up and wait and the folks at the corner have all their friends in for shelter and fellowship or as some call it, a Hurricane Party! 

Everyone has been calling to see if we are home and okay and our son was a little perturbed that we were not here when he called! It is always annoying when you cannot quickly locate the parents, isn’t it? 

Hopefully, we won’t have any damage, especially since I badgered Hubby to board up a side window. If you go back through my blog posts, you’ll find that we are hopefully just going to have another luxurious vacation! 

Gustav Update - Rain & Wind Coming

We are expecting lots of rain and wind to reach East Texas soon.

At home, outdoor items are battened down, flags and banners down, door ornament off; trash and recycle bins are in the garage.

Inside are provisions including spare batteries and simple food. What we anticipate is power outage. What we pray for is no damage to our house or fencing.

We are as ready as we can get and have a portable TV and radio.

Here in town are lots of evacuees and there is a feeling of shelter and preparedness.

Thanks for your prayers!