Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
recovering from a hurricane...
this is my second day back to work and i'm a bit pressed for time, so my apologies in advance as this may feel random and erratic...
the hurricane was scary, but tolerable. the aftermath will drive you insane. i mean that in the most literal way. we lost power around 3am on saturday morning during the storm. i took some pics of the minor damage on our property, which i'll post below. when i walked outside saturday morning i was just speechless. our fence was down (as well as everyone else's), shingles off the roof, vents bent, trees down. but then we ventured into the town, and it put things into perspective... pearland was torn up... power poles and lines down everywhere. just crazy. we checked out a couple more streets then went back home. our place wasn't so bad afterall. by saturday night i was ready to cut all my hair off... seriously... i think justin even hid the scissors because i can't find them anywhere. sunday evening we got word that justin's older brother had power restored so we stayed there sunday night. i can't thank betsy and brian enough for taking ALL of us in! total, there were 7 adults, 5 kids (ages 1-7), and my dog. things went more smoothly than expected considering we're all family. ;) we finally saw what happened on galveston... so devastating. since everyone's having so much trouble with phone lines right now too (the reason for this blog!), betsy's mother and sister, in mexico city, couldn't get ahold of anyone until sunday. her sister said her mother was literally on her knees the entire night before praying... since all she saw was what the news was showing, she was scared half out of her mind, poor woman! we stayed at brian's until last night... when our power was restored! oh the things we take for granted! justin's younger brother, aaron, lives two blocks down in the same subdivision but doesn't have power. they're staying with us (with their two kids). justin's mother is staying with us too. this whole ordeal has been a lesson in tolerance, and thankfulness. i think i needed it. it felt so great to sleep in my own bed. my poor dog was so excited to be home too... don't know if i'll ever get him in a truck again! geez... i feel like i just had shock therapy to remind me of what's most important in life... i'm very much at peace right now. :)
so here are the pics of our property and the retention pond kind of across the street the morning after the storm...
so that's it. on another note, danelle and i both use the same hairstylist, and she had her shop open on wednesday! so we both went in... and i got all my hair chopped off! i feel much better now... pics of that later. ;)
the hurricane was scary, but tolerable. the aftermath will drive you insane. i mean that in the most literal way. we lost power around 3am on saturday morning during the storm. i took some pics of the minor damage on our property, which i'll post below. when i walked outside saturday morning i was just speechless. our fence was down (as well as everyone else's), shingles off the roof, vents bent, trees down. but then we ventured into the town, and it put things into perspective... pearland was torn up... power poles and lines down everywhere. just crazy. we checked out a couple more streets then went back home. our place wasn't so bad afterall. by saturday night i was ready to cut all my hair off... seriously... i think justin even hid the scissors because i can't find them anywhere. sunday evening we got word that justin's older brother had power restored so we stayed there sunday night. i can't thank betsy and brian enough for taking ALL of us in! total, there were 7 adults, 5 kids (ages 1-7), and my dog. things went more smoothly than expected considering we're all family. ;) we finally saw what happened on galveston... so devastating. since everyone's having so much trouble with phone lines right now too (the reason for this blog!), betsy's mother and sister, in mexico city, couldn't get ahold of anyone until sunday. her sister said her mother was literally on her knees the entire night before praying... since all she saw was what the news was showing, she was scared half out of her mind, poor woman! we stayed at brian's until last night... when our power was restored! oh the things we take for granted! justin's younger brother, aaron, lives two blocks down in the same subdivision but doesn't have power. they're staying with us (with their two kids). justin's mother is staying with us too. this whole ordeal has been a lesson in tolerance, and thankfulness. i think i needed it. it felt so great to sleep in my own bed. my poor dog was so excited to be home too... don't know if i'll ever get him in a truck again! geez... i feel like i just had shock therapy to remind me of what's most important in life... i'm very much at peace right now. :)
so here are the pics of our property and the retention pond kind of across the street the morning after the storm...
so that's it. on another note, danelle and i both use the same hairstylist, and she had her shop open on wednesday! so we both went in... and i got all my hair chopped off! i feel much better now... pics of that later. ;)
Friday, September 12, 2008
hurricane update...
UPDATE 8:29AM
storm is still here, weakening but still strong. we can actually walk out into it now, though some of the wind gusts make the rain feel like needles. we lost power shortly after my last update. still out and will be for some time. got a little water in the house from the high winds (fire place, weak spots around doors, etc), barely any really as we caught it quickly and put towels out. our whole fence is torn up. lots of peoples are. there's a stray german shepherd with tags walking around in my neighborhood, so i can only assume some heartless pet owner left it in their backyard during the storm and their fence went down so it got out. tried to get it to come to me but no luck. poor thing... i can tell it's scared so i don't dare approach it. we also have a shingle down (yes, 1 shingle), others appear to have been lifted, nothing too bad. both trees are down in the front yard. both trees are still standing in the back yard. oddly it looks worse than it really is... i was devastated to see the damage this morning... everyones. there's some high water in the streets. some yards have a little standing water in them. the retention pond is about a foot from overflowing into the street. very scary.
still so tired... working on 3 hours of erratic sleep. until next time...
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UPDATE 1:15AM
storm is going strong. pretty intense. kinda cool, but mostly it's just... really freaking scary. fence hasn't gotten any worse that i can tell... we can't go out the back door because all the rain comes in. one of our small trees out front is uprooted but not going anywhere. our power is on and off, but mostly on, so we are lucky. we boarded MOST of our windows. i can tell you based on what i'm hearing and feeling that we will board them ALL in the event of another hurricane. this will probably be my last post for the night. good night yall!
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UPDATE 10:57PM
stronger winds, heavier rain. we still have power. a section of our fence is down. i've smoked a cigarette. we're still fine. until the next update...
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UPDATE 8:29PM
we're still doing fine. wind has picked up quite a bit but still no rain (a little drizzle here and there). we're just chilling at the house watching a movie. just wish this storm were happening during the day so i could get some video! i know... i'm freaking crazy! i'll update later yall.
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i did not expect my 30th post to be a hurricane update... but that seems about right doesn't it?!
i told some fam n friends that i would try to post here to keep everyone updated since yall are having trouble getting through on the phone lines. yall worry to dang much... but i love ya for it.
it's 3:54 right now. so far, so good. we're as ready as we can be so i feel good about it. i was disappointed to find out a few minutes ago that about 40% of galveston residents did NOT evacuate. dumb.
i'll post updates as the day goes on and into tomorrow if necessary (or possible!).
storm is still here, weakening but still strong. we can actually walk out into it now, though some of the wind gusts make the rain feel like needles. we lost power shortly after my last update. still out and will be for some time. got a little water in the house from the high winds (fire place, weak spots around doors, etc), barely any really as we caught it quickly and put towels out. our whole fence is torn up. lots of peoples are. there's a stray german shepherd with tags walking around in my neighborhood, so i can only assume some heartless pet owner left it in their backyard during the storm and their fence went down so it got out. tried to get it to come to me but no luck. poor thing... i can tell it's scared so i don't dare approach it. we also have a shingle down (yes, 1 shingle), others appear to have been lifted, nothing too bad. both trees are down in the front yard. both trees are still standing in the back yard. oddly it looks worse than it really is... i was devastated to see the damage this morning... everyones. there's some high water in the streets. some yards have a little standing water in them. the retention pond is about a foot from overflowing into the street. very scary.
still so tired... working on 3 hours of erratic sleep. until next time...
----
UPDATE 1:15AM
storm is going strong. pretty intense. kinda cool, but mostly it's just... really freaking scary. fence hasn't gotten any worse that i can tell... we can't go out the back door because all the rain comes in. one of our small trees out front is uprooted but not going anywhere. our power is on and off, but mostly on, so we are lucky. we boarded MOST of our windows. i can tell you based on what i'm hearing and feeling that we will board them ALL in the event of another hurricane. this will probably be my last post for the night. good night yall!
----
UPDATE 10:57PM
stronger winds, heavier rain. we still have power. a section of our fence is down. i've smoked a cigarette. we're still fine. until the next update...
----
UPDATE 8:29PM
we're still doing fine. wind has picked up quite a bit but still no rain (a little drizzle here and there). we're just chilling at the house watching a movie. just wish this storm were happening during the day so i could get some video! i know... i'm freaking crazy! i'll update later yall.
----
i did not expect my 30th post to be a hurricane update... but that seems about right doesn't it?!
i told some fam n friends that i would try to post here to keep everyone updated since yall are having trouble getting through on the phone lines. yall worry to dang much... but i love ya for it.
it's 3:54 right now. so far, so good. we're as ready as we can be so i feel good about it. i was disappointed to find out a few minutes ago that about 40% of galveston residents did NOT evacuate. dumb.
i'll post updates as the day goes on and into tomorrow if necessary (or possible!).
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