Let's see, thoughts/reflections on hurricane Ike .....................................

Number one - the folks who came from all over to re-connect our power lines ROCK!! A special thank you and Bravo Zulu to the gentlemen from Tampa, FL TECO operations - there were FOUR of their trucks lined up on one little dirt road, less than a half mile in length, getting the branches removed and replacing the lines to the 4 households on that road.

Number two - when preparing for a hurricane, EMPTY refrigerator.

We gathered Friday, 12 September, at the home of friends who had stored our generator after Rita in 2005. By that evening, there were 17 {7 children, 10 adults} of us there, just waiting on Ike. We were collectively antsy, but dealt with it - the FodGuy went to the Neon to get away from the rugrats - he tried sleeping there, but was unable to really do more than doze. I went into the passenger side of the Jeep, moved back/reclined the seat, to try to get comfortable, but couldn't. Our hostess, S., absolutely insisted that Mike & I either sleep in the house or the RV her father-in-law has parked there - we elected to go to the RV. Long about 0200, there was a LOUD crack, and the alarm went off on my Jeep {of course, waking EVERYONE} - S.'s first thought was that I was still IN the Jeep, but then she saw me standing @ the passenger door, unlocking it to turn off the alarm.


T., S.'s husband, had his Ford Ranger parked so that the tree hit IT, too, so there were 2 vehicles. The tree missed FIVE other vehicles {including the Neon, thank God! ;-) }. It also took down the power line to their house, as a lot of properties around here do NOT have buried electric/phone/cable - it bent the standpipe on the roof to a 90 degree angle, & lifted some shingles, but did not do too much damage to the roof.


Later that day {Saturday}, we got out to assess the damages {pretty much during the "eye" period} - per Mike, the Jeep is totaled - it bent the door, bent the roof, cracked the windshield, blew out the driver's side window, took out the {NEW} side power rearview mirror, bent the door itself, and blew out the left front tire.


T.'s Ranger fared worse; it fell right on the driver's side, crushing the roof to where unless you're REALLY vertically challenged, you couldn't sit in the driver's seat to drive it.


The fun REALLY started with keeping the kids {ages 2 years-15 years} AWAY from the downed power line, the tree laying on the two vehicles, and the glass from the vehicles. I know, the power was OFF, but you don't let kids play with/around main power lines at ANY time - it's a safety thing. I finally got the youngest full-grown man & one of the teenagers to "sling" the line on some branches of an intact tree, thereby raising it sufficiently that the kids couldn't get to it, and us ol' F@%TS Brigade could maneuver our {functional} vehicles without someone having to hold up the {unelectrified} power line. {Damn things are HEAVY.}

What was good, post-Ike, is that a cool front accompanied it, so we weren't drowning in our own effluent & unable to take showers to remove some of the surface 'goo'. We weren't able to take showers, but we weren't sweating copious amounts, either. Nonetheless, something like Ike DOES make one appreciate "mod cons" - showers, flushing toilets, just turning a tap & getting water! :;)

The FodGuy tried to go to work that Tuesday after, but traffic was such that he turned around & came back. He was there @ the house when the repair guys from TECO began their efforts, so he & 2 other men sheltering there fixed the pipe on the roof,
so that, when the TECO guys had worked their way up to us, there wouldn't be any question about hooking S. & T.'s house back up. The guys from Tampa were awesome - so often, you see workers standing around, apparently getting paid for doing nothing - NOT THESE GUYS - they wasted NO time fixing everything {one of 'em even offered an extra lunch they'd been served} - they were polite, professional, and by God were there to get the job DONE.

The evenings after the storm passed were some of the loveliest I've ever seen - calm, quiet, with gorgeous sunsets. It was as though God was comforting us, after having been through the turmoil & tumult of the storm.




Of course, no hurricane down south would be complete without a 'hurricane party' - here's the Texas version




This past Monday, the FodGuy was a man on a mission, to get another set of wheels for me; we were LOOKING for another Jeep, bu-ut ................................ meet my 2004 Buick Ranier:






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