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!

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.