A Novel-length Update

I don't even know where to begin. It has been a long time since I have had access to the Internet to write a post and a LOT has happened in that time. I will attempt this, but I can guaranty it won't cover everything.

The trip back home from west Texas was an adventure in itself. The day before, I told everyone that I would drive first because I am most aware first thing in the morning. Around 2pm is when I start to drag. Because I said I would drive first, I didn't drink too much to avoid a hangover. Everyone else went in the opposite direction, hence the car full of cranky hungover people the next morning. Because we had so much to carry - 4 humans, 3 cats, 3 dogs and all our luggage - we had to pack the large stuff on the roof rack. We were fine during the first 30 minutes. Everyone was sleeping and I was going 4 miles over the speed limit to make good time. Our cat Bella was sitting directly behind me, filling her kennel with saliva and urine. She has behavioral problems, ergo urination. Because of the behavioral problems, we gave her a little Benadryl to calm her for the ride home. Unfortunately, that resulted in a ridiculous amount of drooling and foaming at the mouth. It made me gag a time or two.

Besides that, it wasn't a miserable ride. That is, until one of the roof rack ties came loose and 4 of our bags went tumbling onto the interstate. Naturally, when I looked in my rear view mirror I realized with horror that I was followed by three semi's. They all swerved to avoid the luggage and the resulting tilt of the trailers was terrifying. In the meantime, I screamed obscenities, swerved onto the shoulder and slammed on the brakes. All the sleeping humans in the car were quick to jump out and run down the interstate to our luggage. All the sleeping, hungover humans. I proceeded to go in reverse whenever a vehicle was not speeding by, giving myself a cramp in the calf. After narrowly avoiding being smashed by multiple vehicles, and with the help of a polite driver who stopped to help, we had all our luggage on the side of the road. I off-roaded the Murano onto the feeder so we could safely retie everything in place. Nothing but a few scrapes to our luggage, thank goodness. Travis and Robert tied those straps so tight the second time around that I had to throw away the bent up kitty litter box and we may never have a normal cooler again. But at least we made it home without another hitch.

When we got home that evening, 8 days after the storm, my home and neighborhood was still without power. We had several offers from friends to go stay with them in their electrically-enhanced homes, but it was SO GOOD TO BE HOME. We decided to stay for a couple more nights and then maybe rethink that. Luckily, the following afternoon our power was restored. After turning on the AC and starting a load of laundry, the power went off again. An hour later it came back on and has not faltered since. JR and Sara came back that night also. Sadly, our elderly neighbors across the street did not get power until the end of that week. They were living off the generator, so I can only imagine how expensive that had to be. Speaking of expensive, have you ever had to refill a refrigerator?

JR cleaned out our fridge and left just a box of baking soda and a beer with the phrase "hunker down bitch" taped to it. Thank goodness for friends to lighten a situation.

Travis went back to work at the plant the day after we got back. He quit the plant the second day after we got back and went to work for his old boss doing residential and commercial work. Basically, he was unhappy and felt unwanted at the plant. I understand his want to move, but it has still been a stressful change for us. He has been working about 60 hours a week doing demo type work in Galveston. I'm glad that he's been able to help (with pay) down there. I have a feeling though, that the reason he is home sick today is probably a combination of overworking and being exposed to who-knows-what down there. I know sanitation has been a problem down there, I just hope he hasn't brought anything strange into our home!

I am still not working. No idea on when that will change. Maybe we'll go back next week, maybe we'll go back the following week. It's all dependent on working fire alarms and AC. I will be glad to get back though. I do nothing with myself. I've cleaned the house twice and I started making beaded jewelry again. I've also been taking full advantage of our DVR. Speaking of, it seems that our power probably went off around 6:30pm on September 12th, according to some shows that were recording that night. =)

Ariel and Robert went back to to their apartment the Wednesday after we got back. We had gone down to see Galveston and decided to stop by the office at their apartment complex. Turns out, they had power, it just hadn't been turned on in each individual apartment yet. They were doing it as the tenants returned to prevent fires from shorts in the wiring and possible gas leaks. The still do not have clean water to drink, but Walmart has been supplying free ice and water to whomever is in need. Which is pretty much everyone on that island. It looks like it will be weeks before part of the bar Ariel works in is reopened and it will be months before the restaurant Robert works at opens back up. In the meantime, they are both doing what they can for money gutting houses and businesses. There is enough of that needed to last them for months.

For a week there, I referred to our house as The Hotel. Ariel and Robert stayed with us until their place was re-powered. The night before they left, a couple of their friends and their dog stayed the night. Then that Friday, we had a friend of ours and his dad stay the night. The random friends are people who evacuated further when they realized the area would be without power for days or weeks. In order to check out their apartments in Galveston, they needed a place to stay for the night. Instead of trying to drive here, check out their place then drive back all in one day, the opted for a night's stay at The Hotel.

From what I have heard from friends and family up north, I have been a little disappointed to find that the media coverage on the devastation from Ike has been nothing but crap. People are still without homes and sanitary living conditions and no one seems interested. I understand that the economy is in a crisis and the presidential elections are just around the corner, but my family has been anxious for information on our surroundings and the only place it can be found right now is on the web or by calling us. Our cell phone bill has already doubled from all our daytime conversations, so we have to be a little more aware of how much we are on our phones.

All I can say about the day to day is that it is LOUD. There is always some noise maker driving by - ambulances, police cars, helicopters, street sweepers and trucks picking up the debris that everyone has moved to the side of the street. And that's just at my house, miles from ground zero. I was thankful to see the street sweepers this morning though. There are large amounts of crushed leaves and saw dust from all the branches that have been cut into smaller pieces that lines all the streets. When I mowed the lawn on Tuesday of this week, I had non-stop sneezing fits from all the dust kicked up at the street. I am thankful that there was not much water damage to any of the houses around me. I've seen the piles of drywall, furniture and appliances outside of homes in less fortunate areas.

It's bad, but we're getting through it. (PS - I added a few more photos on Flickr.)