Never in a Million Years!

Never in a million years did I think that I would see snow here in southeast Texas!! Never!! Especially not enough to stick. Poor Maggie didn't even know what to think when we let her out this morning. She had never seen snow and wasn't about to step in it alone. E had to put on shoes and go out with her. We heard there was a winter weather advisory last night on the news and I completely ignored it. So this morning...Surprise!! If this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, you are a serious Scrooge!! (sorry about the pictures...of all of the days to leave the camera at work...so the camera phone will have to work)

Finally Home!

While our time away was nice and we were extremely appreciative of our family's generosity, we were definitely ready to get life back to normal. We stayed with my grandparents for about 10 days. We had only originally planned to stay 3 days and 2 nights so we washed alot of clothes while we were there. Maggie had a fenced in backyard with lots of squirrels and birds to chase. My Nanny babied her BIG TIME by defrosting steaks and ground meat for her, feeding her ham bones and ham and cheese hot pockets. Maggie even felt comfortable enough to crawl into bed with my grandparents. Nanny enjoyed having me there to cook new things with her. Papa even having E around so they could talk politics and tinker on the computers.

We got home on Friday afternoon after lunch. After several days, we finally had sewage and power so we knew that clean water wouldn't be far behind. Sure enough we got clean water on Sunday so all is back to normal, at least for us!! We checked the house and everything was fine. We do have a large tree branch on our fence but E should be able to fix that by replacing 2 of the slats on the fence. But OH MY debri was everywhere. Since I really didn't have maternity work clothes lying around the house, E gave me the OK to stay inside all day get things done in there. I felt guilty about not helping but once he told me he wanted me to stay inside, that made everything better.

Driving into town was very erie. It was still somewhat baron and lots of businesses were still closed. Lots of trees down, giant piles of debri in front of everyones home, blue tarps on every other roof, traffic lights out and homes still boarded up. Very weird!! Here's a few crappy pictures of what we saw on the way into town.

One of our neighbors a few streets over...we saw several houses like this or worse.

This is our street

Our house...with just a few branches down

The Backyard (The only damage we suffered was this limb on our back fence.)

E spent all day Saturday bonding with his new chain saw and using the car and several ropes to drag large branches from the backyard to the front yard. He worked incredibly hard all day. And then had to come inside do homework all night. I felt really bad for him. And just when we thought we came out on the other side unscathed, the kitchen sink started leaking. Well, to be accurate, it looks like it has been leaking since long before we bought the house. E went to make himself a pot of coffee to stay up all night and do homework when he heard the water dripping into the cabinet underneath the sink! So he spent all day Sunday with a major headache, stuck up under the sink completely redoing all of the plumbing under there. It's still not finished. It looks like I won't be cooking for a week or so until he can get a chance to pull the cabinet out, fix the leak and replace the subfloor. Sigh! With all of the homework he has with this last class he is taking and all of the debri left everywhere, time is something he doesn't have alot of. So for the next few days, I am using all paper and plastic ware and ordering out unless I want to wash dishes in the bathroom sink.

Just a Quick Update

Well, I know I haven't written in almost 2 weeks now but TRUST ME...I have good reasons and I will try to do my best to share with you all.  First of all, school was "supposed" to start last week and I was working like a dog to get everything ready for the first day.  

Second, what you all are probably wondering, oh, a little storm named hurricane Ike.  Wednesday we got the call that the University where I work was closing for Thursday and Friday.  We got the county's mandatory evacuation at 6am on Thursday morning and the military FINALLY called it around 9am.  Luckily, all of supplies were already packed since we had just evacuated from Hurricane Gustav 2 weeks earlier.  E went into work to find out what was going on so I took that opportunity to get his suitcase packed and then pack the car for evacuation.  We left Thursday morning once he got home and went to visit my grandparents for the weekend.  Well, what we thought would be just a weekend, turned into a indefinate trip.  Saturday, after the storm hit, a friend who stayed stopped by our house to check everything out for us.  We got the all clear, at least from what he could tell.  E had tight locks on the back gates so he really couldn't see the backyard.  Some of our neighbors weren't as fortunate though with trees through their homes, debri through their windows and roofs that may or may not be fully intact.  

So me and E are staying with my grandparents for a while.  We thought about going home to check everything but with the price and limited quantity of gas, we just thought that we would let someone else use the gas that needed it and save our money for who-knows-what will come our way in the coming days.  We will definately have a refrigerator problem when we get back though.  But the word so far is that our city doesn't have clean running water, sewage, or power at this time.  Sewage is supposed to be working again at the end of the week and power?  Well, let's just say we aren't holding our breath for power.  The estimate at this time is 3 weeks!!!  We have had a tough time wrapping our minds around that fact.  

I feel like we are stuck on Gilligan's Island.  We just thought this weekend was going to be our three hour tour.  But for all of those that have called to check on us, thanks for your concern and we appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers during the past week.  Boy did we need them.  But there's nothing we can do at home once we get there except sweat and not bathe so we are staying in Mobile for indefinately and enjoying the air conditioning and the lights for current time.

I will write more and post pictures as we get more information.

Hurricane Pro / Con List

Pros:
-Paid days off of work
-R&R for a few days in a cool city
-Spending quality time together
-Lots of rain during the dry season
-Finding the opportunity to finally clean out the fridge and the freezer
-All fresh food in the grocery store once you get home

Cons:
-It's all anyone talks about for the next 2 weeks and sometimes 2-5 years if it was bad enough and they all compare it to the BIG ONE a few years back
-The news talks repeatedly about how well the city did compared to the response to Katrina
-Yes, there's fresh food in the grocery store but try finding it because everyone is buying groceries at the same time
-Playing catch up at work for the days missed
-Sitting in traffic trying to get to a safer location at least 3 times longer than it normally takes you
-All of the laundry that has to be done before you leave because you have to pack
-All of the laundry that has to be done when you get home because you have unpacked
-Watching people roam around the streets while you are sitting in traffic because they want to see what the holdup is all about! (IT'S ABOUT HURRICANE EVACUATION!)
-Loosing satelitte reception because the wind is blowing all of the tree branches in the neighborhood
-Unloading the car
-Coming home to a ghost town where everything is closed
-The dog acting like a crazy pooch cause she's been cooped up in the car and in a hotel room for a few days
-The fact that you can't breathe a sigh of relief because you may have to evacuate again next weekend as another hurricane starts making the trek towards the gulf coast again.

Hmmm...I think I am rethinking my love for natural disasters.

Hurricane Gustav Update

Well, there is so to tell everyone and yet...none of it is about Gustav!!

It all started on Saturday when we got the car the packed up and the house readied. The hurricane was supposed to hit on Sunday night so we were going to leave at 3am on Sunday morning for Austin to try and miss the traffic. (evidently, so did everyone else. It took over three hours to get to Houston and it normally only takes about an hour. )

We were finally finished and starting to settle in for the night when we noticed that Maggie was at the back door AGAIN! She had to go to the bathroom yet she had just come back inside. We watched her through the window and she kept squatting to go but couldn't. She had been SUPER clingy that day and had been quite moppy thirsty. She never did go to the bathroom so we called her inside to go to bed. She roamed the house for about 30 minutes trying to get our attention to let her out and go to the bathroom and we were ignoring her hoping that she would go to sleep. UNTIL...she couldn't hold it anymore and pee'd on my carpet. Sigh!! So we got the address for a vet that was open on Sunday in Austin and took her first thing when we got there. Tuns out, she's a big FAKER!! They couldn't find anything wrong with her at the vet but still charged us $140!!

We booked a hotel in advance expecting the hotels to be packed and we were right plus we knew we would have a hard time finding a place for Maggie. Our room wasn't great but they didn't care that we were bringing in a 75 lb dog. It smelled a little funny, like a hotel that takes pets!! Maggie spent the whole time with her face glued tot he window watching the kids down below in the pool.

Well, nothing happened at home. We called a friend who stayed behind and got the word that it was sunny and hot at home so we headed back home on Monday morning. Our motive was to get there before the storm turned west and started flooding our area with rain and plus we wanted to miss the traffic of everyone coming home. It rained for a few minutes on Monday night but nothing to write home about.

So there's our hurricane evacuation story! Big Time Exciting!!

Human Race 10K

Well, I really didn't think when I signed up for this race several months ago because now it's here, I am fourteen weeks pregnant and we are expecting a hurricane that same weekend (possibly, too early still to tell where it's going though). I signed up for the race the day before I found out I was pregnant. Talk about timing! So I think we are going to head to Austin but for completely different reasons. I may go and cheer the girls on and pick up my t-shirt (for the race I didn't run HA) So what was a girls weekend may turn into a family evacuation plan with E and Maggie. But those are my holiday plans for the weekend.

The race isn't until Sunday night but it will be nice to spend the weekend in Austin. We went this time last year to visit with my grade school best friend and her family but we haven't been back since. What a mistake! There are so many cool things to do and see there! Maybe I will go to California Pizza Kitchen...ahhhh...I feel the cravings already!! If their Jamaician Jerk Chicken Pizza was large enough I would move into it!!

Eekkkk! It's Getting a Little Too Close!!

My stomach has started churning with every weather update throughout the day. Every time I look, the cone of hurricane uncertainty seems to be broadening closer to my house...and I am supposed to go out of town for a girl's weekend/10K race (don't worry, I am not actually running it, just walking it slowly with a full Camelbak)!! So I am really nervous! The university and the military are already starting to make plans so that means that I have to start making plans too. I just think it's too early still. Seriously, it's not supposed to hit until Monday. Oh well, I guess time will tell. It's much scarier now that I actually own a house. The last few we have been through, it was no big deal because we rented the house and all of our other stuff was covered through renter's insurance. I guess it's time to grow up!! Hello Gustav! (yeah, about 5 of those lines are headed my direction!) If you want to see where I watch (intently) the weather, go to www.kwtacts.com. It's a website we used for work when I lived in Key West.

Hurricane Edouard

Well, here we go again. At least it hasn't been bad yet. Both of the storms we have had were category 1 or only a tropical storm. We were really expecting alot more wind and rain. So much so that E had me unload the garage so we could actually fit our cars inside. Now my house looks SO CLUTTERED with bikes and leaf blowers and weed eaters everywhere. Yes, we have a 2 car garage, but it only fits 2 cars and nothing else.

Where are we located again? Locate the eye of the storm!! There we are!!

Back to Edouard...the rain and wind started about 3am and at 7am when I got up (yes, we were both exempt from work yesterday) the eye of the storm was only minutes away. About that time we lost power for about an hour. We ate a bowl of cereal and played games on our phones and Nintendo DS consoles until the power came back on. The rest of the afternoon, it sprinkled and the wind didn't blow too hard. We got a hard rain again about 4:30pm and lost power again for about 30 minutes. And that was the end.

All that unloading in the garage for nothing!!!

Hello Dolly!

Have I ever told any of you that I love hurricane season. I am just drawn and amazed by natural disasters. I know...that makes me a little heartless...but I love the excitement of it all. I can remember sitting on our front porch with my dad waiting for the tornado to hit or hiding in the church basement looking out the crack of the door with the adults trying to get a peak at a tornado. And honestly, that's always been one of those things that has been on my "Before I die" list..."See a real tornado!" Now that I am going to be a mom, it's probably not such a good idea.

But me and E had the best time sitting through our first hurricane together in Key West. Katrina was supposed to head north over night through Tampa, FL and ended up dipping south. We woke up about 4:30 that morning to some serious weather and found out that the eye of the storm was about 20 miles north of our house. Luckily it was only a category 1 storm...at the time. We sat through Humberto last year (Tropical Storm) but I am still waiting on my tornado.

Today, I am working through Dolly. We are a few hundred miles from the center of the storm but I love the weather these bring. I also love working the words "feeder bands" into my conversation. It makes me feel like a conversational genious. But here is a picture of where I am today and where Dolly is today. Look for the red and white arrow for my location here on the gulf coast.