Day 5 Ike Aftermath

Here are a few pictures from our neighborhood. The truck went across raging water behind our house.

We have WATER! That is so exciting. You take for granted the things your have.

The first two days were miserable. Raining, hot, windy (can you say hurricane?), miserable. We got out the day of the storm and cleared the 3 big tree branches from the driveway. Actually one is a pine tree that snapped in half and is hanging over the driveway. So I got my loppers (Fiskars is the best brand) and cut enough of it off so we can get out. The day it falls, we'll be late for work.

The water actually went out the day before Ike and came back on for a couple of hours, then out again. The power is still not on. But the weather is nice.

We do find ourselves turning on the light switches even though we know there is no power. It's habit!! I bought a new grill at Lowe's so I was able to have hot tea and a toasted bagel. I had purchased propane but didn't check to see if the grill worked. Ooops! The old one didn't.

We left Sunday, drove to Austin, did a load of towels, took showers and came back to the rug rats. Monday the weather turned nice and it was much better!! We put buckets out in the rain to catch water so that is what we used to flush toilets and wash our hands. We had bottled water for our faces.

We have battery backups for the DVD player and when the laptop would die, Bill would go to the car for a while to charge it. Our phone worked for 2 days and our cell phones worked for 2 days. Finally my iPhone is now sporatic and my Verizon (work) phone is working perfectly. I understand in town people are having problems with Verizon.

My coworkers and I were emailing back and forth after the storm for updates on everyone. Technology is so nice. I was also able to email family and friends.

My office has brought in supplies for people to take home. We also have showers here, which makes me very happy.

Bill got all the bird feeders back up immediately and we have been swarmed with birds.

Power is getting within blocks of the house, we have high hopes!! I will post another blog on hurricane preparedness.

Bill's family was not as lucky as us. His sister Diana had a tree come down and do structural damage as well as wiping out the gas line. His nephew Jeffrey house flooded.

Everyone is safe and we are all well!