Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ike's Aftermath

Well as the sun makes its downward descent on the fourth day after the eye of Ike swept through Galveston and Houston, things are far from back to normal but still considerably better than they've been. We did finally get power back last night, which was a relief, but that good news was tempered with the realization that our refrigerator had been fried either in losing power or regaining it. So...today we went shopping for a new one. One of the stores we tried didn't actually have electricity but they had a veritable crowd of associates on hand to escort people around the dark cavern of a store with flashlights. Little tip: it's mighty difficult to try and pick out a fridge with the use of only a standard flashlight. It didn't take us long to abandon that option. We ended up buying a floor model from Best Buy and my husband just brought it home in his truck. Now he needs to corral some neighbors to try to help him move the old one out and the new one in. What I'm missing most is my cold drinks and ice.

Despite the boys' school not looking too bad from a cursory, drive-by inspection, a recent district website update indicates it requires 'major renovations', and school will not be back in session till at least next Tuesday. That will be almost two weeks of missed school. Our house did pretty well, which amazes me, considering that Technicolor swirling mass we watched inching closer to the Galveston coast late Friday night (right before the power went out). A few shingles have detached themselves from our house and we've had a bit of water leaking in...and then the refrigerator. But it could have been so much worse. I'm very thankful. We went up to stay with my mom, and they had no damage--just a lawn littered with pinecones. Still, trees are down everywhere and power is still spotty all over the city. Lines for water and ice are long, and grocery stores and gas stations are swarmed. I haven't even tried to deal with that yet. One day at a time.

10 comments:

Eileen said...

So glad to hear you made out okay. Take care and enjoy the fridge and those cold drinks

Sarakastic said...

So so sooooo glad to hear you are ok

Unknown said...

So pleased you made it through.

mslizalou said...

So glad to hear y'all made it ok.

Lucy said...

Glad to hear you are okay - I was thinking about you! I'm still out of state but have heard the damage to my house is minimal - thinking about heading back tomorrow. We'll see.

Unknown said...

i feel your pain. we still don't have power back--neighbors a couple of streets away do, but not us. frus.tra.ting.

glad to hear there was no major damage. we had the usual, downed fence and trees, etc. spent a couple days in victoria with family to get a break from the unrelenting heat and got back into town yesterday.

back at work today which is the only reason i'm online. :)

Trish Ryan said...

Thanks for the update--it's great to know that you're okay. It's kind of stunning how something like this can change so much so quickly.

Angie Ledbetter said...

We fared about the same here in Louisiana with Gustav, but were prepared to the hilt b/c we knew we'd be housing a lot of others. After an extra two weeks of three teens being home, yeah, we were all ready for things to return to quasi-normal. Here's to a speedy end to the 08 hurricane season!

Barbara Martin said...

Glad to hear you're fine. Cleaning up after a storm can be tiring.

We received some blustery winds last week combined with heavy rains as Ike worked its way up here.

Beck said...

I'm so glad that you're okay!