Wonderful Normal Weekend

Losing a week at work made last week very hectic and long. So Kevin and I were very glad when we got to Friday and could look forward to a “normal” weekend. We had the whole weekend to ourselves and no hurricane to prepare for. We took full advantage and had a great time!

Friday night we went to check out the Thai Cottage restaurant that recently opened near us. We split several dishes, and fell in love with the green and red curries. I think the green curry is my favorite! Then we hurried home to watch the first presidential debate. It almost didn’t happen, since McCain was saying he wouldn’t come so that they could concentrate on working through the financial crisis, but in the end he did show and they had a good debate, never really talked to each other like they were supposed to, but still interesting to see. The topic was supposed to be foreign relations but went all over the map, especially with the Wall Street crisis in the front of everyone's minds. Aside -- the crisis became the top news story while we were still dealing with Ike, so for a while we didn't even KNOW about it!

Saturday we did our chores (grocery shopping, mow the lawn) and then grilled our dinner. The sky was a clear blue, and since its starting to cool off we decided to take advantage of it and eat outside. The patio, with the canopy above us, makes for a great outdoor dining room! Later, we decided to check out a pub we’ve driven by for quite a while and never gotten over to, The Maple Leaf. What a great idea (all credit goes to Kevin), we stayed there much longer than expected because we were having fun just hanging out and they have board games so we played Trivial Pursuit 80s. For growing up in the 80s (and loving trivia), I know surprisingly little about the decade! I blame some of that on my being so young for much of it, though Kevin isn’t that much older so I think it has more to do with me not being as informed as I should be.

Sunday we watched football and again grilled and ate dinner outside. The Texans played a better game than I expected, but lost in overtime. Later in the day, we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood and into the older part of the neighborhood that connects to ours. There are lots of piles of branches and debris, and tarps on a large number of the roofs. On the way home, I felt like my bike was riding weird and yep, I got a flat on our ride. So I need to get that fixed, but am so glad the weather is finally cooling off to where I want to ride the bike. That night we were watching a movie and suddenly the power went out! We went and sat on the patio to enjoy the cool night, but were wondering how long it might be out for. It came back on after about 40 minutes, so we think they had to bring our power off to bring someone else’s power back on, but I really don’t know. The power going out makes me think about those people who STILL don’t have power back since Ike. I hope I never have to experience that, but know that it can’t be easy. How quickly I take for granted that I can flip a switch and the light comes on or the cold air keeps coming out..

Light is Good

My parents and in-laws got power back last night, yay! They each had generators, but like all of us were so glad to get electricity back - must remember this when I take for granted I can just flip a switch and I have lights, a/c, etc.

Keith and Julia are going to stay with my in-laws today. Kaden can play with Nana, and maybe even swim! Hopefully they'll get power back soon, its been 11 days since they've been home a long time for anyone and a lifetime for a 3-year-old. It will be a very quiet house when I get home tonight. Its been good to get to spend time with them but I hope they get to go home soon because that is a long time be gone from home, and frustrating since Julia has all this time off but can't get any of the stuff done she'd like to at the house since she doesn't have power. Patty and Smokey (the dogs) are probably going to go into mourning, they've had the most fun being together. Its also made me wonder if I really want two dogs (we'd been considering it). This week has been a good trial run for that, they definitely keep each other company, but I'd be concerned that they'd tear up the house playing all the time, and Smokey never leaves Patty alone, good thing he's fixed - he's always trying to get on top of her, trying to dominate and/or play with her, but its just embarrassing.

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I was very pleased to see that my office is just as I left it when I left early on Thursday, 9/11, to prepare for Ike. We got permission to move our reporting day to Friday since we were closed for a week, but that makes us lose a week in our already busy fall, so it'll be hectic..I think right now is the "calm before the storm", I was busy but nothing like I will be once we hit 20th day.

At lunch, I walked over to see Julia's building, and it is a mess. They are doing a LOT of work on it. Most of the windows facing the Chase tower are gone and there are large yellow tubes coming out onto the sidewalk, trash chutes or wet/dry vacuuming is my guess. The sidewalks all around it are taped off, on travis because of all of the work going on and on the other sides for safety I guess. The streets around it look like they're open. Pretty much every window on the Travis side of Chase tower for 15-20 stories up is boarded up. Since I was there, I ate at Azuma (sushi), good but expensive.

Kevin's offices were messed up, they're in a temporary office space for 30 days and after that they'll figure out what they want to do. He'll be working at home since they only have space for the office workers (he's a consultant). Hearing about all the damage to office buildings, I''m lucky we only missed a week and a day here.

Volunteering after Ike

Yesterday I volunteered through Catholic Charities to help with distributing food and water in La Marque. I got to their office at 7:30, and it took us a while to get going - but there was a great turnout of volunteers! We got down to the church and unloaded the truck by 10 am. We set it up so that people drove in a U-shape around the parking lot and got the items on the far side. Word spread quickly (based on the line of cars we had) with signs put up around the church, announcements made after they knew we were there, and some cops who stopped by to ask us what we had spread the word. I also think that word of mouth spread the news that we were there. We had food (commercial ready-to-eat meals and green beans), water, and baby food. We didn't have ice, which many people wanted, but had an entire truckload of the water, food, and baby food.

For the first hour I directed traffic to get them to come in the correct driveway and get into the line as needed. After I was relieved from doing that, I helped to load the items into cars.

We ran out of meals first and then just gave out water and baby food - as the day went on we gave larger amounts of baby food and water to those who came by since we had so much of it remaining - we even got extra water since a man came to donate a pickup truckload of water! The Catholic Charities kept track of how many people came through and how many are in their families and estimated that we helped 350 families with 1000 children!

The deacon at the church provided lunch to us, so nice of them! and we loaded the remaining water and baby food in the church hall so they can give it out to people later and loaded up to leave about 1:30, I got home about 3. I'm glad we didn't stay as late as they did the day before - they didn't get back until about 7! I don't think I'd have made it that long, I drank water and had a hat but was wiped from the few hours I was in the sun on my feet. I'm glad I could help and it makes me appreciative even more so of having power and grocery stores with food and water near me. It could easily be me that needs to get food and water donations to feed myself and my family, and these people truly are my neighbors. A woman made a comment that she's been on mission trips to other countries, and its surreal to be doing a mission trip this close to home, very true.

All of the people were very appreciative to get what we had, and I only wish we had more items to give them - beef chili, chicken cacciatore, green beans, and food is all we had, but it will help them.


We actually were able to go to a restaurant last night - Johnny Carino's - it was SO good. I don't think I've ever been that excited to go to a restaurant. Driving around afterwards many stores close early or aren't even open yet. I'm actually surprised so many restaurants have re-opened, they have to have the staffing to do so and have gotten new shipments of food to have something to cook and serve. It was nice to go out, and Kaden ate all his spaghetti and even got ice cream!

Hurrication

My school is closed the rest of the week, someone in the neighborhood called it a "hurrication", kind of a funny word for a very serious situation. I am glad to not have to use up gas to get to and from work, but know that its going to take quite a while for everyone to get back to normal, and I'm very lucky to be even able to partly think of this week as a vacation. It will take many people weeks and months to get back to normal, and some will have to find a new "normal".

My parents got home yesterday. Kevin and I picked them up at the airport and visited his parents’ house while we were up there. His parents don’t have power so they’re using a generator, and got it working again. It took us a while to get back to the airport from their house because the traffic lights are all four-way stops, and at one point we were in a gas line without realizing it - the right lane leading up to almost every gas station is stacked up with people trying to fill up their cars.

My parents were glad to be back in Texas, and went pretty quickly on to Lake Jackson to see their house. They have branches all over their yard and one branch on their garage, but the house is ok. As expected, they don’t have power, but they own a generator and have gas for it and the tractor to begin starting the cleanup. They were lucky to get on the first flight out from Nicaragua and my brother and sis-in-law flew back today.

Laura was able to go home yesterday, she has power and was able to get gas. She's been working from home for her job and will be more comfortable at her own place, and without a 3-year-old wanting to play with her while she works. Kaden is doing well, but really just wants to go home (understandably).

I saw on the news earlier today that we are in an area that still needs to boil water (after theyusi told us earlier that all houston water was safe to drink). I'll need to remember to do that if I use tap water to drink, been mostly using bottled water.

Watching all of the coverage of the devastation is really depressing at times, but we want to keep up with what all has happened and all of the people who are affected. and we see how lucky we really are.

Full House

We have a full house. My sister came over on Saturday, and my brother-in-law, his wife, our nephew and their dog came over yesterday since none of them have power. We picked up Laura's cat and some more of her stuff (and food) at her apartment yesterday. We realized the only one of us with their own room is the cat! We're very fortunate to have power and are glad to share that luxury with others that we can, we'd planned to go to someone else's with power if we didn't have it back. Much of the city is still without power (the Chronicle says 1 in 4 customers have power), and people are waiting in line for hours for groceries, gas, and at "pod locations" (FEMA supplies). My university is closed through Tuesday, and I'm guessing it'll be closed longer since so many people are without power and its tough to get gas, etc.

My parents are now supposed to fly in on Tuesday, and they'll probably need to stay with us too. Lake Jackson is telling people not to come back yet, so we'll wait and see when my parents can go back and then assess what is going on there. Keith and Julia saw my in-laws, they are fine just have no phone service, so no one could get hold of them. They have a generator to run the fridge and a window a/c unit. We are glad to have finally heard from them, we were all getting worried.

I posted some pics of damage to our neighborhood. We were very fortunate to have just our fence and a tree to fix. The fence will have to wait til it dries out and we can add sand to make it stay straight up. our neighbor and lots of others have roof damage and a few have siding damage.
http://picasaweb.google.com/minut78/HurricaneIkeDamage#

The weather is cooler today, good for everyone still without power.

Keith and Julia were even able to get some groceries - we saw a Kroger on the news that didn't look too crowded, so they went there and got some food for all of us.

After Hurricane Ike

Kevin and I are safe after the hurricane. It was a very long night. We lost power about 10:30, and were able to sleep a few hours before being woken up by the wind and rain (about 3:30 am). The wind was vicious, howling and just very loud and with lots of rain. I actually hunkered down in the hallway for part of the night to be away from the windows and the noise of our bedroom. Since its an interior hallway it was quieter there. Smokey ended up under our bed at one point, and we tried moving to the living room to get some sleep but without much luck. We also saw a very bright flash twice during the night, still not sure what it was. While I was in bed I reached up and felt the wall behind my head and could feel it flexing with the wind. It was very scary.

We spent much of the night just listening to the wind, and occasionally looking out the window to see how things were holding up. Most of the morning was still very heavy winds.

We lit candles and had our radio on most of the day to find out what had happened and where the storm was. With cellphones we were able to text friends to let them know we're ok and find out how they are, but service is very spotty (overloaded and with broken coverage I'm sure).

We haven't been able to get hold of Kevin's parents, and my parents are still in Nicaragua. I just checked and their flight for tomorrow is cancelled. We will keep trying to get hold of his parents. I haven't seen any coverage of my parents' area, but I know that they have large oak trees all around their house and its a very low-lying area and closer to the coast. I have no idea what they'll be going back to. We think K's grandpa's house may be underwater but he is safe in Dallas, and the rest of his family in other parts of the Gulf Coast are all accounted for and fine.

My sister is fine too, I was able to speak to her today.

We are very fortunate. We had only very minor (and easily repaired damage) to our fence and a tree. This afternoon, we rode our bikes around the neighborhood and saw a lot of fences and trees blown over, and some siding and roof damage. We are actually lucky that we have no significant trees around us. The bayou near us is pretty high but within its banks. We were also able to prevent water from coming in around the door by putting duct tape up around all 4-sides.

We got power back about 3:30 pm, much better than the 2-4 weeks they'd told us it could take! The water pressure is still very low, but by and large we are back to normal.

I know that not everyone was as fortunate as we were, that there was a lot of damage from the storm and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who went through this storm with us.

Nicaragua

I've finally had time to write our trip to Nicaragua and upload pictures!

The trip was, in a word, an adventure. I was excited, but nervous about the trip – it is the first time any of us (except my brother) have been to Central America and I knew it’d be worlds away from what we’re used to. Once we got out of the cities, I could see how beautiful the countryside is, and love the exotic plants, flowers and animals, but could not get over how chaotic and busy both cities we were in were. It was also eye-opening to see the poverty and the different standard of living that the people have there. I’ve heard often that people in many parts of the world live on $3 a day, and seeing Nicaragua I now have a better understanding of that, though we only saw it from the outside. My brother and sister-in-law chose the nicest hotels available (even that varies by place – the rooms got smaller as we went, and the hotel on the island was nice but had no hot water. but they had a/c units and running water, yay!). It really does make me appreciate what I have, but also realize how much we have that we really don’t need, and I have to wonder if people with more wealth and stuff are really happier. I did feel fairly safe the entire time that I was there, even so I didn’t wander off anywhere by myself and was aware of my surroundings (good practices wherever you are).

We flew into Managua (the capital city) and took taxis, buses, and a ferry to get to the places we went.

I was surprised to see that they use old school buses from the U.S. as public transportation and the bus stations (basically a parking lot with buses painted with their routes) are even more chaotic than I could’ve imagined. As soon as we got out of the taxis, guys came up and were trying to get us to get on their bus. There were several competing buses going to the city we needed and we chose one based mostly on how full they were. Adding to the chaos, once the bus was moving people would get on and off not only because they’d reached their stop but also to sell food, drinks, and other items. On one leg of our trip, Kevin got a Pepsi and they needed the bottle back so he drank it out of a bag! We also drank water out of sealed bags, cheaper and easier to carry than bottles. I did get to practice my Spanish a lot on the trip, but still struggle with basic communication, thankfully Gene and Mache were with us and helped us get everywhere we needed to go.

We traveled there to attend my brother and sister-in-law’s church wedding. The wedding took place at a Cathedral in Leon (her hometown) the day after we arrived. It was wonderful to see them get married in front of her family and friends, and to be able to share it with them. I helped her get ready at the hotel and it was quite special to help her put on the same dress (made much smaller for her) that I’d worn in my own wedding. We walked from the hotel to the church, we were VERY lucky with the weather that it wasn’t raining when we walked there or when we went to find taxis after the ceremony to go to the reception. The reception was held at an open-air restaurant. It did rain during the reception, which cooled it off a bit and was at the perfect time – after everyone had arrived and it stopped before it was time to leave. My brother didn’t feel very good all the day of the wedding, but made the best of it and we all had fun. Mache even sang a few songs with the live band, and we all danced. At the reception, they had bottles of rum at each table, and with that I discovered a Nicaraguan rum that I like - Flor de Cana. We saw it everywhere the rest of the week and drank that and a local beer we also liked, call Tona.

On Sunday we saw some of the sights of the city of Leon – including a market, and a Sandinista museum, visited with Mache’s family, and watched the happy couple open wedding gifts at their house. It rained much of the day, so they were lucky that they did NOT get the Sunday wedding they’d originally wanted. This time of year is their rainy season, so it rained most every day – and on the island rained all night most nights.

Monday was a travel day to go down to Ometepe Island (in Lake Nicaragua) where we spent the rest of our time. We took two taxis, two buses and a ferry to get there. If I never get into another school bus, I’ll be happy! The island was much more relaxing than the city had been, and we were right on the beach. I had to keep reminding myself that we were on a lake, not an ocean, since there were lots of waves crashing.

On the island we took hikes, visited a natural spring they’ve turned into a pool, and took an all-day tour of the island. At the end of the tour, we saw two museums that a man created all on his own. The first is his collection of coins and money of Nicaragua that helps to tell their history. Each leader changes the money – its completely an ego trip, they want their face or their family/friends’ faces on the bills, and when a new bill or coin comes out you have 6 months to use or trade in the old one or it becomes worthless. Can you imagine having to trade your cash in every time that the president decided they wanted their buddy on the $5 bill, or even the quarter? And Nicaragua is a much more cash based society then ours, only a couple of places we went to accepted credit cards. Their money is called the cordoba, and the exchange rate is about 20 cordoba to $1.

The other museum was of artifacts found, mostly on the man’s property, from the indigenous people, including burial urns, stone tools used by the people to prepare food, and all manner of other items. I cannot get over the fact that he did this all on his own, and one of the museums had just opened in july! We were lucky that a man who worked there (his cousin owns it), is from LA but back in Nicaragua, so we got a bilingual tour of both museums.

At the hotel, we saw monkeys in the trees! I loved watching that, they are so fun to watch and so human-like in many ways.

Friday was another travel day, this time back to Managua for us to fly out on Saturday. This was the worst for me. I was very fortunate not to get sick most of the trip, in fact most of us (except my brother) did really well, partly because were fairly careful about what and where we ate. And came prepared with medicine. Kevin, Laura, and I even had an anti-diarrhea medicine that we took each day as a preventative. But I did feel sick on the bus coming back, a combination of motion sickness and impending diarrhea. Thankfully the bus finally did stop (and waited for me!) to use a roadside restroom before reaching Managua. It was not fun, and quite a way to end the trip. That night, I stayed in and rested (with Kevin staying with me) while the rest of the family went to visit Mache’s aunt and uncle. We actually had a pizza delivered, was nice to eat something different. I like their food, but was glad to have a change from rice. I do have to say rice with lime juice is really good!

This was the first time in years I’d been on a trip with my whole family, and the first time to go on a trip with my family and my husband, it was definitely a different experience but one I am very thankful for. It is definitely rare that we’ll all be able to take a trip together. We were both ready to get home, and I don’t know when it happened but I have bug bites all over my arms and legs. I don’t know when it happened, the only bugs I saw were flies.

All of our pictures are available on Picasa, at the link on the right and I've embedded a slideshow.

Ike

I watched part of the press conference this morning that the mayor and county judge held. They asked schools and businesses to close on Friday to prepare for the storm and to keep the roads clear so that those who need to evacuate can get through town. No one wants a repeat of Hurricane Rita (terrible traffic jams, and people died waiting in the hot cars). So I came to work knowing I’d not be coming in on Friday and the school has sent out two different notifications that we’ll close early, first at 4pm and now at 2:30pm. Kevin’s work closed at noon and I think pretty much every place is closing early today. Laura’s work is even closing tomorrow (they never close)!

We are staying put through the storm. I still can’t believe that ALL of Brazoria county has a mandatory evacuation! Most of the county, including my hometown (Lake Jackson) makes sense, its coastal and low-lying. But why did they include all of it which stretches up to Pearland which is only a few miles away from me? I was glad to see they finally decided to evacuate all of Galveston island – Pearland had orders to evacuate before Galveston, strange.

At lunch, I accomplished the preparations I needed to do that aren’t at home. I got cash and some instant coffee for Kevin. We have plenty of food, water, batteries, etc. at home. We’ll take everything in off the patio and find somewhere to move the grills tonight or tomorrow. Thats about all we can do, and I hope that its enough.

My parents are stubborn, but at least I know their plans. They are scheduled to come back on Sunday and, even though Continental will let them reschedule their flight, they're still planning to come back Sunday. They may end up spending the night in Dallas or Oklahoma City. If they do get to Houston, I’m supposed to go and pick them up. I found a way today to get flight status updates sent to my cellphone, so I signed up for that, since if we don’t have power I won’t be able to look online. I’d wanted them to stay there longer to avoid driving across town in the aftermath, or them possibly getting diverted because of it. I'm a big believer in, "if you don't have to be on the roadways - don't be" and my job and responsibilities rarely (if ever) put me into the category of I HAVE TO BE THERE. I have told them that if I see downed power lines I'm not getting anywhere near it.

Be safe everyone.

Take a Hike Ike

I saw that phrase on a picture on the news, related to Hurricane Ike. Someone had written it on the boards they'd used to board up their windows.

We got back from Nicaragua on Saturday. I plan to write about our trip (and post pictures!), but haven't had time yet. I spent most of the weekend getting caught up with all the stuff I needed to before heading back to work on Monday. Work is getting busier too since we're getting into the fall reporting crazy time.

We started watching Hurricane Ike while in Nicaragua and are keeping a close eye on it since it is headed towards the Texas coast. It is expected to make landfall early Saturday morning and could be a bad storm. We've got supplies and will just ride it out here at home. Its scary watching them showing a storm predicted to hit pretty close to my parents' house.

I feel better now, I was finally able to get hold of my brother - my parents, brother, and his wife are still in Nicaragua are scheduled to come back on Sunday. I'd sent a couple of emails about Ike and haven't heard from them at all. I felt like Chicken Little and a flip-flopper -- its coming towards us, no maybe Corpus, oh no us again. I tried calling them yesterday without success. Tonight I was successful. Luckily they are staying at the same hotel we stayed at, so I knew the hotel's name to find their phone number online. I wanted to make sure they are aware of it. There isn't anything they can do from there, but being aware of it they can be informed and make a decision if they need to adjust their travel plans. As of now they still plan to come back on Sunday, but they are well aware of it. Something funny - one of the first news stations they found to watch is a Florida station, so all their newscast would say is that Ike is headed away from them and nothing more, leaving my parents to be like -- where is it going??

EDIT (addition): I saw last night that all of Brazoria county is under a mandatory evacuation! Hard to believe, coastal areas makes sense but just a few miles away from me is Pearland, and its included too. The university where I work is still open, so I'll be on the road with them I'm afraid.
(addition 9/12): Kevin told me that later they exempted Pearland from the mandatory evacuation, makes more sense.