Blooming Up High

It's been hot, hotter, hotter'n Hades here lately. Not much rain either. It's been a little disheartening to look at the fields and see the light brown, dormant grasses, but more wrenching that that, are the trees you see that were damaged in Ike....but had survived, only to succumb now to heat and drought.

There are a lot of the younger trees that had been planted the Spring before, and blown almost out of the ground by Ike. People were able to reset the younger trees and they seemed to have survived and were doing well, until recently. Now, many of them are just standing. Brown monuments to the harshness of the last 12 months.

No one plants a tree, even those who are paid to plant them, without thinking about what will be growing there in the future. Sr. Medina, who used to be the main help in my garden, was one of those men, and he would point with pride towards the exact trees that he'd placed in the ground. I've been watching those trees, and have seen that most of them have made it, so far.

Still, life surprises you. I was going through a hamburger chain's drive-thru (Whataburger for those who know the chain), getting some tea. I'm choosy about where I'll buy my tea these days, as too often the owners have put in the (shudder) reconstituted tea from the soda fountain. Y'all...that stuff is horrible. Whataburger brews their tea and brews often. Ahhh, iced tea...the nectar of summer days.

After I'd placed my order, I glanced to my right and followed with the rest of my head. As I smiled in delight, my eyes were treated to this sight:


The palms were blooming, great, extravagant sprays of flowers held out to the passing winds.


As I looked closer, it occurred to me that the palm flowers reminded me of anemones, combing the ocean currents for food, these flowers were sifting through the air, for just the right pollen.

I'm not sure what kinds of palm these are, but I was glad to see them, blooming.

Valentines

'Pup surprised me last night. No, he didn't buy me jewelry , which is just as well, as I'd rather spend money on something else. Instead he proposed a...mini second honeymoon.

I'm going to have to think about it. He suggested going back to where we'd had part of our original honeymoon, but I think I'd rather go somewhere else. I'm thinking that I'd like to go somewhere a little closer to home and where there might be more to do...sightseeing, dining out.. those kind of things.

I'm thinking it might be time to pay a visit to Kemah. It was terribly damaged during Ike, but it's slowly rebuilding and a couple of weeks ago, it started advertising that it was "back". We've never been down there, as a lot of the activities were geared towards families, but I think, it's time we went down there and help the recovery by doing what the area was built for...tourism.

Galveston and many of the coastal communities aren't anywhere close to being rebuilt enough to be classified as recovered. Even this far north and west of the coast, we still have blue tarped roofs waiting for insurance checks and roofing contractors. There are even quite a few signs up here that aren't repaired, and fences still down or in dire need of repair. Things are happening, but it's going to take some time.

Meanwhile, I think it might be a good thing to support what HAS been recovered. Time to go to Galveston, Kemah and anywhere else who says "come on back", and help them celebrate their survival.

See ya on the coast.

Hurricane Ike Syndrome Hits Plants

After Ike, a lot of the plants in the area suffered damage of varying severity, ranging from lost leaves to uprooting to whole trees goin' DOWN (too often taking power lines and roofs with them).

Very soon afterwards, people noticed things blooming when they shouldn't.

What I've noticed recently is that, in spite of 3 cold fronts, where the temperatures when below 40 degrees....the trees are still green. Some of them are still putting on new leaves.

The juniper is putting on new tips, even as the berries are ripening.

These trees are usually the first to show color and usually turn as soon as night time temperatures go into the 50s.

The neighbor's tree had leaves on its west side blown off...so it put more on. It, also isn't about to drop the leaves.

Still.....the weather has been nice.

Goin' Down the Road

I got very irritated at 'Pup last night. As I left work, I called him (as I usually do), and got no answer. Called again, thinking that perhaps he was outside with the Wests, working on the fence...still no answer. After about 14 more calls I was irritated and annoyed and a bit concerned.

Turns out, I didn't have to worry. He had been helping out with a fence, but not ours. Seems that 'Pup had been passing by one neighbor's house and had noticed some very slow progress towards rebuilding all three of her downed fences. Last night, he saw the gent who was doing the work and stopped to say hello and, yes, be nosy.

The neighbor's son was doing the work by himself, after work, and before he would go home to his own home and family. Because the neighbor behind our neighbor was also an elderly widow (our neighborhood is about half older couples/widows and half young families), the son was also trying to fix HER fences too....for a total of 5 fence lengths.... on his own.

The world is full of unsung heroes, like a good son who extended filial duty to include a woman who had no son of her own to help her.

As he drove on home, there was a nagging voice in his head. (NO, not MINE--not this time)

Now, most people don't know this, but 'Pup has a soft spot for...well, to tell the truth, he has a lot of soft spots and he's a lot more generous than you'd think. By the time he was home, he had decided to go back. He grabbed a hammer and West Jr. (after making sure West Jr. had no girlfriend plans, no homework to do and was off for the evening) and went back to the man on the job.

Something very cool about West Jr.: he thinks chances to do people a favor or a good deed are "neat". (dang, I like that kid!)

So, off they went, and 'Pup and Jr. carried things, 'Pup held tape measures and, no doubt, cracked bad jokes, they got a lot of work done.

By the time I was home, 'Pup had been asleep for an hour after it got too dark to work. I saw Mr. West and West Jr. working on West Jr.'s car. They're fixing it up, for West Jr. to drive when he turns 16. I suspect they'll be looking at auto insurance quotes very intensely. The long term plan is for him to drive this car for a while, then sell it and get a motorcycle. (gulp... a teen on a motorcycle in Houston traffic--- I hope he keeps the car for a while.)

Ike was an "ill wind", no doubt of that. But, like a lot of "ill winds", some good came of it. 'Pup and I are very blessed in our neighbors.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

This is a tale of two neighbors, one good and one...not so good.

Excerpt from: Mending Fences, by Robert Frost.

..........

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say, 'Elves' to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

by Robert Frost

And sometimes, it isn't good fences that make good neighbors, but rather good neighbors who make good fences.

What didn't like fences was a nasty storm named Ike.

And I mean to tell you, he REALLY didn't like fences.

We got an estimate from a fencing company for fixing half of the back and half of the side (all that we THOUGHT was damaged), came to $1100. Ouch.

Then the Wests came over. Mr. West had a proposition...he wanted to rebuild the fence together as he didn't have the money to help pay for the fence. We'd not even considered asking him for anything. We owed him... we still owe him. We made a proposition of our own: instead of paying $1100 to a company, use the money we'd have had to pay them for materials to rebuild our common fence, and the other two fences the Wests had down and the back (North) fence of ours.

So, we went shopping.

May I interject here to say that a bag of Quickcrete has got to be one of the heaviest things that can actually, almost, be picked up by one person?

After taking down the old fence (which took quite a while), we...by that I mean Mr. West and wife and I and 'Pup tried to dig post holes with no post hole digger. Those things were harder to get than ice after the storm, and NO ONE was giving them away. We did get to borrow a neighbor's, but we got another one special order from Ace Hardware.

As it so happens, while we'd thought we'd only lost half that side fence, it really turned out that all 8 posts had to be replaced. So much for the $1100 estimate. It would probably have been closer to $2000. We considered reusing the old pickets, but then decided to just do it up right. We did reuse a few of the older pickets in the back corner, where bushes and a fig tree and some trellis will be hiding the color difference.

As you can see, Mr. West still has his back fence to get to... but his neighbor to the north is promising to help out. Eventually.

And it's all done... and Ah Heyallped. I really did! I pounded in most of the bottom course of nails....well I pounded in a lot of them. It's remarkable what you can do sitting down. All in all, it's a pretty good deal for the Wests and for us. For far less than $2000, we're replacing 4 complete fences, not just 2 halves. And we're getting some time to spend with some good neighbors.


When we got back from Chicago, Mr. West had not only finished his western fence, but had also started on the new posts for the north fence in our yard.

Since he didn't want the dogs to be let loose, he kept the old fence up... easy to do as it had been blown to the North's yard.

We considered tearing down the old fence before we put up the new pickets, but we didn't know how long it would take to finish, and we didn't want to leave the back yards unsecured. We have dogs, and so do the Norths.

So, we finished repairing the back fence without tearing down the old one.

We halfway.... well, more than halfway... joked about putting a sign on the fence saying "No one should live their life never owning a fence...Merry Christmas".

We're tired, especially Mr. West. I really have been helping where I can. 'Pup's hands don't let him hold a hammer, but he can carry boards and such, and I still do wield a fairly good hammer. We've provided the tools and materials, but it's wearing and Mrs West wants a little family time.

We want to replace the other half of the fence, to match the new one in a couple of weeks. The old fence can stay up until then, unless Ms North just HAS to have it down, and if so, she can do. it. herself.

I have little pity for her. She is not one of my favorite people. As a thumbnail sketch of her: she once owned a dog that ate through a former incarnation of the fence because he was afraid of thunder and fireworks and they'd left him alone in the backyard with some food, for a 4 day weekend. This was a beautiful Golden Lab who'd been hand raised and had lived inside a house with his young owner. He got lonely and scared and came visiting.

Brain (he of blessed memory) was always a good host. He showed Champ in and showed him where the food bowl was and where the people were... Brain always did like company.

For the rest of the summer, I replaced fence pickets as Champ ate through, broke through and went over the fence to get to us. Ms North even paid for half of the pickets..not the nails....but half the pickets.

She ended up chaining the dog to a large tree in the back corner of her lot. He was in an area of about 8' by 8'. He was never walked, so was forced to soil his sleeping area. Dogs hate that. He was never petted or kept company. He took to trying to climb over the fence again. And one day, he did it. There was just enough slack in the chain to make sure he suffocated slowly as he hung from the fence.

No, this is not my favorite person in the world.

She was and is not pleased about the fact that we've not yet torn down that fence. I got a phone call from her:

She's a Charmer, ain't she? When she got over here, she was yelling more and cussing and carrying on. We told her that if she wanted the fence taken down before we got to it, she was welcomed to do it. She indignantly told us that she couldn't do that, as she didn't have a truck. Uhmm.. neither do we.

Her last shot was a long wail about how useless her (eastern) neighbor was and that she was going to have to put in a WHOLE SIDE fence by herself.. and that now, she couldn't put her dog (a little white, fluffy barker), couldn't be put outside because he might get stuck in the old fence and DIE.

I am developing a real dislike of that woman.

More about my good neighbors next. This episode has taken me about 4 days to write. The good stuff is just a whole lot more fun, somehow.

News, Repairs, Updates

I said in an earlier post that some of the students I've been tutoring had been talking and writing about the hurricane.

This is the one I find most evocative...and a little amusing just for it's expressive values. I'm going to post it just at it was written. The student has been in the US for less than 6 months, so some of his grammar is a little....different. The words in parenthesis are my clarifications, as they took even me some time to...work out.
*********************************************************************************

Father and I were taking a shower and I done and I was wear shirt. The light turn off "beep, beep, beep, beep" sound of mucin (machine). Three minite ago light "beep, beep, beep, beep" sound of mucin.

"Yay! light is on!" I said.

I finsh the take a shower adn I was trying sleep. the second time of light off. "beep, beep, beep, beep" Sound of mucin. "Mama Mia, its second time for lights off!" (yes, he wrote "Mama Mia")

I said I was scared "beem, beem, beem, beem" sound of my tooth, it shaking. I was scared so go to my mom and dad.

So I sleep fast because I to scared it can maybe borke the window or crush a house.

then the next day there was still no light. So we use candle and flashlight. not in the moring we use at only night time or eat a food.

We wait two day but light dosen't come back so we go to San Anitino (San Antonio--but you knew that, right?) with my firend because we don't has air cumputer TV so that why we go to San Atonino so we stay there two day and we go back to houston T********d has the light not my friends house and

"I can only live they has a light!" I said loud at my house.

(Note whats' flying out of the little tornado under end....I didn't see it until just now!!)
*****************************************************************************

You know, I'm not at all in disagreement with the kid.

Wow

Those of us who had lost power during the storm are just now getting to see the pictures of what Ike looked like during the storm. Yikes.

However evocative the pictures are, the best picture I've seen of the storm and the one that really allows you to feel what it was like....isn't a picture at all.

Well done Cap!

Just a Little Jumpy

The kids coming to the Learning Center seem to have taken the hurricane difficulties pretty much in stride. They're glad for power back to their house, and some of them are even coming to the Center when they've no power at home at all. Their homework has suffered a little, some of the younger ones seem to have regressed a little. Hopefully, as their lives get back to normal, their writing will come back to normal levels.

Not many of them have been writing about their experiences, but they do want to talk about them. I suspect the teachers in the regular classes, in the public and private schools will be having some interesting discussions and will be coping with some students whose lives are totally turned upside down, inside out and, in some cases, washed away. The counselors will be busy.

Underneath the seeming calm here, there still lies a little...jumpiness. At one point this evening, the lights flickered...just the tiniest amount, for a fraction of a second... but everyone gasped.

I think we may all be a little jumpy about thunderstorms for a bit, and most will never take the safety of lights in the darkness for granted, ever again.

Blessings Indeed

Remember the Wests?

Well, as 'Pup and I got back from work last night (yes, Boss did open the center -- about 8 students showed up, three of whom had 2 classes--math and reading), we both just went to bed.

Fortunately, before we'd settled in much, we had a knock on our door. Butch's and Charles' lack of concern told me it must be Mr. West. Indeed, it was.

He'd come to tell us that a friend of his had loaned him a generator and that if we had some long extension cords, we could plug in the refrigerator and perhaps run a few fans and a TV.

We did have the cords. Oh yes.

We're forgoing the fans in favor of some computer time. Yah, imagine that...hehehe.

The weather is good, partly cloudy, cool and with only a light breeze. We slept well last night, even with the sounds of the generators. They're a sound we can live with for now. Oh yes.

The Learning Center is opening again tonight. With so many schools closed for a while, some until Monday at the earliest, some opening tomorrow, some closed until further notice, the parents want the children to have some homework to keep up with things. Some of our students are only going to be in the US a few months, to learn English, and they don't want them to waste a week.

I can work, and so can one of the other tutors who lives fairly close to the center. Our math tutor can also work. I think we're about the only job he has that is open for him to work and earn some money.

Which brings me to a request. I've received a couple of emails about how people can help. I think, the best way is through the Red Cross. Other families, in Houston, if they have non perishable food left after this...inconvenience... I would ask them to join me in planning to donate our unneeded cans to a food pantry. There are going to be a lot of families who live from one weekly paycheck to another. They have no cash right now, and will be short of money for their bills for this month and possibly for the months ahead. That includes many of the support personnel for the closed schools. Janitors don't get a salary, and sometimes, neither do the aides.

The other great need is for blood. The hospitals need blood for some of the injuries that are occurring NOW, during the clean up. There are a lot of people out there with chain saws they're not really ready to use, but have to use. The people here in Houston are stepping up with donations, and I know at least one of the hospitals in the Medical Center, St. Joseph's, has received a shipment from Austin. They could use some more. 'Pup and I have asked before if we could donate. We can't. We're on blood thinners and that wouldn't help... dang it.

People in the neighborhoods are helping one another, citizens are clearing roads for utility crews, before the utility company can even send out crews to clear roads. People are waiting in long lines for food, water, and gasoline, and they're waiting with a remarkable amount of patience and even good humor. I can vouch for that, as 'Pup and I have been IN some of those lines, looking for ice and some batteries.

We're rebuilding ourselves and our lives.

Houston is coming back.

Oh my. Oh, my.

West Daughter just came to the door. They sent a plate of spaghetti, because they were concerned that we weren't eating...or had been eating only cold food. That is true for the most part, except for the two meals we've found at restaurants open. It's good spaghetti, but not as good as the Neighbors.

I remember my first memory of them as neighbors. They'd just moved into their house when Rita threatened us, and then shut down the city until everyone could get back. It was Sunday, and their Church hadn't opened for worship, so they worshiped on their back porch. They were singing and the sound came through the window as I typed. I had been glad.

Now I know, I was being blessed.

Blessed indeed.

Done, And Now for the Wait... or Embracing the Hurricane (with apologies to May Dream's Garden..)

This post may have to count as my Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post, as I don't know if I'll have power on Monday. If we do lose power (a pretty sure thing, alas), it may be several days until it is turned back on. Worst case... several weeks.

For good or bad, we're done outside. Our house is stuffed with garden stuff, but I had to leave a lot of the potted plants outside. I've clustered them together in a sheltered spot, and am hoping for the best. My back yard is pretty well protected from most wind by the tall trees growing in the yards behind us. The wind will be coming from the North East and from the North, and there is a house, a tree and a fence between us and a clear shot from the wind.

As we were putting the plants up, I discovered that some of them were JUST about to bloom. That hurts. The ones that I'm most bummed out about are the butterfly ginger and the flame lily.

I was trying to take the flame lily down from where it had climbed, but DANG, I broke. the. very. end. off!!!! And there were THREE buds. People, that hurts.

My poor lost buds...and a close up.

I got the picture from HERE. I know I have a picture of the ones that bloomed for me the year before last. Sigh. The rhizomes are doing well, multiplying and getting bigger, but no blooms last year or this one. Sigh.... (whimper)

The butterfly ginger, the first time it had put on a bud. Dang-it!

The hyacinth bean and a canna were blooming.

And even the cucumber had started blooming again. It had stopped blooming after it got so hot. The flowers are pretty, but it's never set fruit...and now...probably never will.

The Belinda rose was blooming. Sigh, I'll prune after the storm. The upside is that the hard pruning will get it to set a huge bloom about 2 weeks afterwards. I just love Belinda.

The Mexican heather was blooming too. This is where the lack of bees in my yard this year is most obvious. In years past, these plants would have been buzzing with hundreds of bees. This year... they are gone.

The Esperanza in the front (and back) yard was blooming, along with the Angelonica Augustifolia.

I think I may have lost my two big pineapple sage in the front yard. I was just so hot, and so dry, they were really struggling. They may pop back up. Alas, I did lose my 5 year old pineapple sage. It had never really done well this year, perhaps it had just reached the end of its life span. No problems though. These plants are easy to grow here and easily replaced.

I'm almost looking forward to tomorrow, being housebound, because I think I may need the rest. Sunday, if it's not raining, we'll put the yard back together..or at least start.

I might lose some plants, other's might be damaged and need time to recover. I guess you have to treat this as almost a new beginning.

We're doing just fine...

Winds Will Blow

If you're curious about how hard the winds will blow in and around Houston, there is a Site Here that will give you an idea.

Move your arrow over the different zip codes and the projected wind speed information will pop up.

We're slated for about 82 mph.

OHHHH......Goody.

Exhaustion...

Dear Teachers,

Owing to Hurricane Ike, we cancel all the classes of 9/13(Sat).

Have a good weekend!

Boss Man

Well. Imagine that.

I am just about done in, but we're just about done. We've got some help and some borrowed garage space for some of the backyard furniture. Still have to get some odds and ends and some bigger sticks put away in the garage. (I saved the larger branch pieces from the butchery of my poor Ash tree...I have plans for them)

I tiiiiiieeeeerrrrdddd.

We're getting some wind so far, no rain.. but at one point when I was outside about 10 or so, my ears popped and popped and popped.

Some how, I don't think that's a good sign.

Oh, go HERE to see some of the projected damage costs.

Ike is a bad, bad, bad critter.

I'm watching TV and there are actually some IDIOTS who did not evacuate Galveston Island. Folks.. they're saying the whole island will be UNDER WATER.... Several Feet Under Water. There are some people, including the reporters... (yikes, not a job I'd want) who will be riding out the storm in one of the strongest structures on the island. They've had to call the Coast Guard to get some people who were waiting on their roofs because... yep... STORM SURGE. There have been 150 calls for help. That's 150 people and families who made a stupid decision, and now they are putting others at risk so they can be saved. GRrrrrrrr.

The one good thing... the calls to the TV stations from some of those people calling for help (not on roof yet), do admit that they were stupid.

Now, some of them just mistimed their evacuations. But still...sigh.

Tranquility

Just a picture to meditate upon... Esperanza, my hopeful plant...

Sometimes I need to just relax and not get too upset. I can do this.

There were some funny things that happened yesterday. When I was at the grocery store, two friends met and greeted one another. One friend had a cart loaded to the brim and heaped over that with all the things one thinks one desperately NEEDS when one is shopping for conditions that might include a long time without power. The other was much more modestly and almost empty seeming, when compared to her friends massive Cart of Survival Supplies.

The friend with the CoSS (Cart of Survival Supplies), greeted her friend, and, after perusing her cart, commented upon how lightly she was shopping. Her friend, amused, said that her friend need not worry, after all, if she didn't have enough, we could all take the hurricane as an opportunity to diet....

That woman has a sense of humor I can appreciate. Her friend looked a little more shocked. She'd never considered a hurricane as a rival to the best diet pills .

The woman with the CoSS must have looked rather shocked (I was behind her), as her friend was quick to assure her that she'd done most of her prep shopping earlier and the day before.

Well, so had I, and yet, I too had a CoSS. Mostly some fresh fruit, ground beef and a few cans of veggies I knew we didn't have and would be good in a soup, along with crackers and some cookies. I'd also included some bags of candy. If we do have to be in the heat, both 'Pup and I will have to make sure our blood sugar doesn't drop.

In hot weather, you don't realize just how many calories it takes to even sit around, much less get anything done. Hypoglycemia can sneak up on you. Small candies are a quick boost that can tide you over until you go in and eat something more appropriate. One of the effects of hypoglycemia is a sense of disorientation and sometimes you feel sick and even get a feeling of " don't want to eat dang it leave me alone go away..." kind of combativeness. Hummm..

Maybe I can use that as an excuse for my grumpiness and grouchiness and the uhmmm sometimes less than patient temper. There may even have been some less than lady like words involved as we were trying to figure out how the plylocks were supposed to work. The fact that it was dark didn't help. I'd not eaten much that day.

Come to think of it, perhaps the lady was right. Unlike most parts of my life, stress seems to have taken most of my appetite away. Which means I probably need to go get some oatmeal for breakfast and get on with things.

First job is to wake up 'Pup. This is another result of stress, as usually HE has to wake ME up and I don't wake easy.

Ah.. dawn is breaking.
.

Our House, Without a View

Behind the plywood.

Looking towards the front window is a little...disorienting right now. I'm more accustomed to seeing the dawn light coming in our larger front windows in the living room. right now, all I see is wood. Soon, the other windows, well most of them, will be covered too. We do have a couple of windows, in my little garden room that we never quite figured out how to put the plywood on... Not the happiest of situations, as it's right off the master bedroom, but that corner of the house will probably experience the least strong winds.

The upside to the uncovered windows is that we'll be able to peek out now and again and see what's going on out there. I'm not sure it will always be a happy sight.

Our House is not a palace, nor is it a hovel... but compared to the new houses being built around us in the newer subdivisions, it is small, and as it was built in the '80's , by the area standards...it's old too. Still, we've been able to fix it up. We've some good furniture, Not the most contemporary furniture available, it I go by some of the more trendy furniture stores I've seen. We're more traditionalists.

I'm almost glad we got the ash tree in the side yard butchered. It is recovering, and has far fewer limbs that could break and fall on our house. The only one I'm a little worried about is the dead limb I had WANTED cut.. but, of course, it wasn't.

Ah well, sometimes ya' gotta take what the wind blows in.

Good Morning

The first outer bands of Ike are coming on land and we're told that we have some time this morning to get some things done. The front yard is picked up and the boards put on the windows. They're the south facing windows and we wanted to get them done. My stress level is such that I am not being all that patient and I'm having bouts of extreme sarcasm.

When we went to sleep, about midnight, the TV stations were reporting that Ike had actually powered down a little. While I was asleep, gathering strength, so was Ike. It's made up its previous losses and is going to be coming in as a Cat 3 storm.

As soon as dawn hits, 'Pup and I will finish the back yard and put the boards up on the windows in the back. It's going to be a dark day. I like sunshine coming in my windows, but, I suspect that it's for the best that I look out and see plywood.

Some of my bigger pots are just going to have to stay outside. If we can move them at all, we'll move them to a somewhat sheltered corner, next to the fence. Other, smaller pots will be going into the doghouse (which is built on its own foundation and even INSULATED!), and the rest will be coming inside. Moving around the house might be a little problematical at times.

Have I mentioned I have a LOT of potted plants? Well, I do. The clay soil in the back is also invaded by a lot of tree roots. Thus, the pots.

I need coffee.

Oh, That's Good.

We'll be closed on Saturday. Boss man is composing a sign for the front door, just in case. See, he thinks that on Saturday, some of the students who live near by might think the weather is not too bad and want to come in....

Yes, I'm operating at extreme sarcastic level just now.. this is my ranting place, so that... well IF we get any students this evening, I can be a light hearted and kind and sweet teacher.

I have a headache.

Well, Isn't That Special

Boss man says he's CONSIDERING closing on Saturday. Today: Business as usual, even though the Mayor has asked that only people who MUST be on the road to go home FROM work, or work in emergency services be on the road, so that the people who MUST evacuate, can.

Stress? Why.... YES.


OH and 'Pup is ill.

Yikes, Ike!

Well. All schools have been closed for tomorrow, all of the school districts on the coast have been closed since yesterday. The City of Houston government functions will be shut down, except for police..etc. We have been told to expect winds between 80 and 110 as far north as Montgomery county (North of us), and the storm surge on the coast is estimated to be from 15 to 18 feet. That will inundate a lot of Brazoria County, where I used to teach. They've been evacuated.

Mom has left Matagorda county this morning. My sister S, and her family are staying put in Fort Bend county, my bro in law is boarding up. We'll be boarding up today as well. 'Pup's not feeling well, but we have a neighbor who will help us.

My Good Boss....still plans on being open on Saturday. You see, he's lived here for 9 years and a hurricane has never hit here. So one will never hit here. Today, we're open. I wonder if he'll notice that most of the students won't be there... I'm guessing. On the other hand, they are also Korean and may also assume that since Rita and Gustav didn't hit us, Ike won't either.

Sigh. I'm not even going to mention it today. I mentioned it all week so that he could gather the things he'll need for food and water. I can't do anymore. I can't worry about his family needing things.

Y'all stay safe. We'll be doing the same.

IKE is Gonna Rain All Over The Weekend...

Looks like Ike is coming in sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning, somewhere along the coastal bend of Texas, perhaps just west of Matagorda Bay. I suspect Becky and Jerry are going to need to be careful or think about evacuating. My mom is evacuating. Houston is going to be wet, no matter what, as it looks like we're going to be on the east side, coming and going, but there are no evacuations planned for the most part in Harris County. Galveston County is considering their plans I also know there are many people in Galveston county who have already boarded up and are ready to leave.

Since last night, the projected path hasn't changed all that much, though the hurricane is growing in size and strength as it goes across the deep warm water of the Gulf. There is a lot of energy stored out there in the water and As more and more of the models have the come into agreement, people are taking the steps needed to either ride it out, or to evacuate.

Brazoria County has mandatory evacuations ordered (my old stomping grounds..). They're reporting some gas stations are running out of gas, but there are stations who are selling even the premium gas for regular gas prices. All Brazosport schools are closed until Monday, and my mom and some of my family are evacuating from Matagorda county this weekend. There must be a lot of people doing the same, as my mom had to search pretty far north to find a room available.

'Pup and I are riding it out. We're ready, with a camp stove and a grill, and fuel for both, food, water, medications, cleaning supplies and tarps, etc for fixing things. We've got plywood for our windows, but unless the storm takes a drastic turn to come in at Galveston, we won't need to put them up. We'll probably not need all our supplies, which, believe me, is FINE with us.

Outside, it's warm and sunny and bad weather looks as if it should be a million miles away.

But looks can be deceptive.

More later.