Originally Posted By princesscyndi I looked & didn't find this topic. If it's a repeat, please forgive. Our move to TX has included now 3 hurricanes & Ike was the one that went right through where we live! Compared to others, we were blessed. We live in a brand new house & it survived quite nicely. Being new also means there's only a few baby trees. They were flattened, but we stood them back up. No broken windows. We only went without power for 24 hours. The few gas stations open have LONG lines! We still haven't been able to find meat/dairy yet. A handful of stores have power & are trying to get restocked. Some stores have generators & limit how many can go in. Where we live was where they "eye wall" went through after hitting Galveston. We got it on both sides. 100+ mph winds are very noisy!! At 2 AM we went to bed. I was back up at 4 AM & rechecked the house by flash light. We only lost a shed. We'd tried to buy another house & the deal fell through right before time to move here. So last minute we had to lease this one. I was broken hearted at the time. The house I'd wanted was flooded out in the hurricane plus had huge trees on every side. I'm sure at lease one crashed into it. People kept saying "things happen for a reason" but this time it seems God let me know what it was in a hurry!! Our little subdivision is nearly untouched. There's destruction all around us though. No yards without downed trees. Many sheds are in pieces. I've seen houses pancaked. Garages ready to fall they are leaning so badly! The owner of this house lives on Galveston. He found out that it MAY still be one of the few standing. He's going to go see it today. He's been staying with his son, our neighbor. Right now I'm suffering from some survivor guilt. There's families without homes or jobs. Last count was 20 dead, it's sure to go up as they explore more of Galveston. I haven't heard from some others I know in the area. Many left. We aren't in a flood zone, so we were not evacuated. My husbands work place is still standing, they have no power so he hasn't been able to work yet. Each day they managed to get a few more of the 3 Million without power back on. To any other members on here that went through the storm, I wish you luck & blessings!!
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD I am glad you checked in as I was worried about you. Since I live in the DFW area, we didn't get anything. I am glad you came out of it relatively unscathed. I am so thankful that you didn't get the other house.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 My sister'n'law lives in Clear Lake. they were evacuated and when they returned they only had roof damage. I have not talked to her in a couple of days, they are really busy so I don't know if she has power or not yet. I'm going to talk to my MNL and see if she has heard anything. (both of us are here in OK.) One thing though she was to some up here if things were to bad. I'm glad to hear that you and your family are ok. God always knows what is best for us even though we may not see it at the time.
Originally Posted By princesscyndi Clearlake is where we'd hoped to live. Parts of it did get water. My husband works in Webster, just south of there. The weirdest part about 100+ mph winds is the way it sounds. Like a kids screaming on a roller coaster. Then sometimes it would be oddly silent & you could hear the house moan under the pressure. I'd do it again.... I'd stay home when a hurricane was passing through. Any future trees will be planted away from the house. A future shed will be better constructed! I thought the garage was crowded before, now all the yard equipment is in there too. We managed to find meat today!! Yea!! Did you know that here fly swatters are seasonal items?? I didn't bring one & have regretted it. I asked in stores today & they thought I was nuts. I guess when the kids ask what I want for Xmas, it will be on my list. My prince teased me & said we're in TX now, they shoot them!! LOL!! So far people in my circle of friends have come out OK. Some fences & shingles, but nothing serious. We've been having a few of those "God knows best moments" lately. My husband considered taking a job in Galveston. I'd planned on buying a riding mower...now I wouldn't have any place to put it. His paycheck was given out early, but the banks were closed by noon so I couldn't buy much food before the storm...it would've spoiled. I feel like God's kinda slapping me around & telling me to trust Him more. I knew my faith has been at a low point, but sheesh....Alright already! I get it!! Something we've noticed here. The people that live in the track homes seem to be sitting & waiting for the insurance or someone to set their fences back up & clean up the trees. Out here in the country everyone just got busy. Neighbors out helping each other with chain saws & hammers. I really LOVE living way out here!! That reminds me....I need to go take some cheese to my neighbor. I tried to buy her some yesterday, but no one had any yet. I found some today. Still no eggs though. Better run!
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove {{{princesscyndi}}} Your reports have been so very touching to me. Thank you for letting us know how you are. A former boyfriend lives in the Houston area and I was so happy to hear from him, as well. Trust...lean not unto your own understandings...what an excellent lesson, huh? ♥
Originally Posted By LuLu WOW! Take care, PC. That doesn't sound like something I'd like to experience!
Originally Posted By princesscyndi There's good news today!! A friend finally made contact & they're fine. They lost a fence & shingles, but no REAL damage. Also our landlord found out that not only is his home still standing on Galveston's west end, but his truck was actually still there & drivable! The lower floor is full of muck, but the living area is fine. They can't move back with no utilities, but at least their damage was slight. Down side....still no work. It's going to rough for so many financially. We're luckier than most since our landlord will understand. Some may end up homeless that still had a structure to live in! Texans have such a neat attitude! Our second outing today showed some much more of our area getting back to normal. If it weren't for the stacks of debris waiting to be picked up, you'd barely know what we went through!! People repairing their roofs, fences, yards.... just "git 'er done". It's hard to explain. No complaints, just helping the ones in need. Other than the usually red cross donations, if anyone has the notion, the SPCAs could use animal food. I'm not sure HOW to so it, but there's got to be a way! Locals can just haul a bag of food to one. The cheese was well received. I need to find SOMETHING for the kids. I have tons of Disney stuff. I think I'll see what I can part with. They're going nuts being out of school. (so is mom) Maybe just have them over here for a while & they can play with it all. I sure wish I'd moved the princess dress up stuff I had. Our grand daughters are too old for them now, so I gave them away. There's a 4 year old girl next door. I bet she'd like a tea party! Um, a tea party with tiaras on! I have LOTS of sparkly Disney tiaras. The gears are grinding....
Originally Posted By sun-n-fun PC - glad all seems to be well (or as well as it can be) I respect so much anyone who is able to live in areas that can be and sometimes are hit by such devestation. I guess you just handle what God gives you. You are handling it well. I live in western NY where the taxes are the highest in the country and people move away after HS graduation and it snows and snows and is cold 5 - 6 months a year. Fortunately, if you stay in and have food it is very rare to see the type of destruction hurricanes can bring, no matter how bad the blizzard may be.
Originally Posted By mele Glad you're okay, cyndi! (I've heard the wind scream like that. It's terrifying.)
Originally Posted By princesscyndi Thanks. I honestly feel blessed. I think stressing out now would be wasting a perfectly good blessing! We were able to buy meat the day after we'd eaten our last meal with meat. When on a bread hunt post storm we found some when we couldn't before. There was also one lone box of crackers left just sitting there begging for my tuna on them. This may be a once in a lifetime thing. Who knows. Somehow we were basically untouched by CA's earthquake in '89. We shook, we rattled. We lost power & phones for a while. We were fine & so was our house. My kids were safe & we actually were able to have 4 of the 5 of us in sight at the time & discussed the shaking & proudly doing the right thing. They stood in their doorways while we watched them from the kitchen doorway. We spoke calmly. They were 12 & 13 at the time. My "baby" was outside playing. Guess what I did as soon as the shaking was over!! She was fine too. No point in stressing when it's over. Moving to TX was very good for us. I miss my grandkids, but they want to follow us here soon. I'll help them look for a hurricane resistant house!! LOL!! Now I'm a pro!
Originally Posted By Tinkeroon Sure glad you were all right! Sounds like an awfully scary ordeal to go through. Good to know you were being watched over. Can you feel the love? We had a similar experience in San Jose, Ca. when we lived there back in the early 80's. The levees gave way and the mobile home park we lived in flooded badly. The home next to us had mud all over inside and the porch was missing all it's aluminum siding. Then on the other side of us it was more of the same. But we stayed dry. One or two of the siding pieces came off but we just retrieved them and put them back on, hosed off the mud from the sides and that was that. All around us everyone had interior damage. But we seemed to be on this little island oasis and had very few problems. We were very surprised but really felt His blessings. I imagine you must be feeling much like that.
Originally Posted By princesscyndi The feeling keeps giving me an overwhelming awe....& a few goose bumps!!
Originally Posted By princesscyndi No power is expected sat work until AFTER Thursday! No check for 2 weeks was getting us pretty panicked. Then this morning the boss called to say they ARE getting paid for last week. So maybe we'll only be one week short!! That's a BIG relief!!
