The Winds are Picking Up

Well, we had a good pre-hurricane block party. All of the neighbors on the street were outside watching the cloud formations blow by and letting the kids run out all of their energy. We know who will be here, who has what, and what we can do to help each other. We really are blessed to live on a street where we can know our neighbors and support each other.

It is around 10 pm right now, and as it stands, Ike should be heading right up I-45, which will put the eye over us sometime tomorrow mid-morning or so. We have lots of water, lots of drinks, lots of snacks and non-perishable foods. The local news is saying that we should be clearing out somewhere between 12 Noon and 6 pm. They are estimating that close to 4 million customers will be out of power through the storm, so we are planning to be without power. We have our water saved, we've cooled down the house (and with the windows boarded up, we're hoping it stays cooler), and we are praying for the best.

Several of our good friends have told many stories about how prepared we are and how we think of everything. It is just our engineer minds at work, but no matter how much you follow your checklist, you never feel quite prepared enough for a situation like this.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. We will weather this storm and will learn many things from the experience. I anticipate that I may be able to post one more time before we lose power, but since the lights have flickered a couple of times, it may be sooner than I think.