Hurricaine Ike...the aftermath

It has been 8 days since Ike made landfall here in Houston....probably the longest 8 days of my life. The pix you are seeing is just some of the damage to my home. I'll give you a play by play.

Friday: We closed the pharmacy at noon. I headed home to finish preparing. Randy got all the projectiles brought in or tied down. We moved Jordana into our room and settled in for the night. The rain and wind started around 6 pm...not enough to worry about. We lost cable around 10pm, and switched to our little camping tv. We finally went to bed around 1 am. According to the clock in the kitchen, we lost power at 2:52 AM. During my many trips to the bathroom during the night, I heard the wind and rain. Although it was very loud, I wasn't too concerned by it.

Saturday: Randy woke up and took the dogs out. I stayed in bed, not realzing that what woke Randy up was the sound of a tree falling. By 8, Jordana and I were up, trying to get breakfast. The rain was still coming down and the wind was still blowing. I turned on the mini tv to see where the storm was. At this point, it was a category 1 and the eye was almost non-existant. We were expecting it to end around 4pm. Around 9am, I was in the bathroom in the master, when I heard a loud screeching noise and a thunk. Randy was still outside surveying the damage. I didn't realize what was going on until now. I peeked out the master window.....and saw branches....that were not there before. I also saw a guyser of water. Jordana and I got dressed and ventured outside. We could not walk out the front door...there was a tree laying on the path, our neighbors tree. We went out the side door and walked around the front. I saw 2 trees down, one laying across the front yard and into the street, blocking traffic, and one laying parallel to the front of the house. There was water spraying everywhere. Turns out that the first tree that fell, the one in the street, took the sprinkler system out with it. Randy and our neighbors desperately tried to find the bypass to shut off the sprinklers....but discovered we did not have one. We were forced to turn the water off. Luckily, Jordana and I took a shower on Friday night with the anticipation that we would not have power on Saturday. We went over to a neighbors house (aaron and Sharon) for a bit so Jordana could have some play time with Chloe and Alyssa, and the boys could survey the damage. They had a tree that was leaning and holding on by the tap root...and hovering over their master bedroom. They also had a flood in their backyard..whick I promptly fell in and twisted my ankle. We stayed for a bit and had some food and then went home. Turns out our new neighbors who just moved in a few weeks ago....are tree experts. Mark was already out there with his chain saw, clearing the road. He was just grateful that his tree didn't crash through our house. I put Jordana down for a nap and took one myself. At this point, Randy had the generator up and running to keep the fridges going. He had also installed a window unit air conditioner in the living room, which was turned on low at this point. The generator was in the backyard under the patio covering to keep it dry. Half way though our nap...I woke up to this beeping noise. I got up to investigate...it was the CO detector...the one I forgot we had. The air conditioner was pulling the CO from the generator into the house. Without that detector....I don't want to know what could have happened. I texted Randy (cell service was very spotty) and told him to get home....he was across the street. He moved the generator and we got out of the house. At this point our amazing neighbors had started the clean up, even thought it was still raining. We all helped with each others yards...Mark with the chainsaw...cutting up the fallen trees. I took pix for the insurance co. Marks tree ripped up our front walkway, the sprinkler was totally shot and I found a water leak in the window box on the kitchen. We had a neighborhood BBQ for the evening, Jordana and I took a shower at the neighbors house (thanks Clay and Suzanne) and called it a night. Luckily....there was a cold front moving in.

Sunday: Randy worked hard with the neighbors to get the sprinker pipes repaired. We had the water on by late afternoon. Thank goodness. We won't be running the sprinklers anytime soon.....We spent the day sitting around, hanging with neighbors and watching TV. Jordana watched movies on a little TV hooked to the generator. We discovered that a power pole in our neighbors back yard (we share a backyard fence) had fallen and was leaning on the fence. Ceneterpoint told us that they would fix the pole by Wed.

Monday: more of the same....no power at work, no daycare....more movies, naps, BBQ's with neighbors....Randy watching football at Rob's house on Direct TV with our generator. Centerpoint delivered out new pole.

Tuesday: more sitting around, watching movies, learned the store had a generator but I had no employees...so I didn't open the pharmacy. With the cold front, we opened all the windows and turned off the air cond.

Wed: back to school for Jordana and back to work for me. Closed the store at 7pm...not a peep from Centerpont about power pole. Jordana was "cold" so we sent her to bed with fleecies.

Thursday: Supposed to be my day off..but since I missed Mon and Tues...decided to go in. Jordana woke up HOT! She had a mild fever (99)but I thought it was the fleecies. She was in a good mood. Took her to school and barely made it out of the parking lot when they called me to come get her. Her fever was 102. I took 2 load of laundry to the wash and fold (not going to be done until Sunday!!) and went back to get her. Took her home and went to work. Filled almost 700 rx's....second busiest in the district. Beat all the 24 hour stores. Came home...still no power...parents got theirs on thurs night. Was told by centerpoint Monday was our day.

Friday: Jordana still had fever. Randy took her to the md and I went to work. Jordana has strep throat. Randy took her home and her fever spiked to 105. He managed to get it down after she cried her eyes out for 15 minutes. Work was a bit better....the chaos was more controlled. Randy got a second generator so now we have more power, but are burning more gas.

Saturday: Jordana still has fever but in better spirits. Randy went to do some work....discovered traffic is HORRIBLE when half the lights in town are out. Jordana had a meltdown after a 30 minute nap and cried for over an hour. Then she was fine. Daddy came home and played outside with her while I napped. Found out we will not get power until AFTER Thursday the 25th. Not ON Thurs...after Thurs. Parents got cable back today. The cold front is leaving....and I am slowly losing my mind.