no man left behind

as i am still in cancun, i would like to congratulate my friends sara and shawn, they received power today and no longer have to stay in our tiny house :) i do not know if my other friend Robert has received his power yet, but i know that he is hoping he will soon. the chapter is almost closed on Ike. we just need to return the generator and the room air conditioner to our kind fantasy football friends that let us borrow it. i hope everyone else is doing ok. i will continue to blog, just not sure what i am going to talk about :)

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

hi gang! as of 10:45 today, we have power at 1725 viking!!! can you believe it. i am so happy, the lights work, air conditioning everything... it is amazing. we can put water bottles in the refrigerator. i am so happy! thanks to all of your support. it looks like finally, 2 weeks after IKE, it is finally over! have a great weekend!

sunday sunday sunday

hi all. looks like sunday is the latest time line for the power to our house. we will only hope that it is true! jeremy and i are headed to cancun on friday afternoon and will be back on tuesday, if we dont have power by then...heads are gonna roll! not really, there is not anything we can do about it. thank you to our friends for offering their home, watching our dogs, generator, gas cans, fans, laundry services, etc. we are so grateful for your friendship and your stuff :)i will bring pictures of what air conditioning looks like :)

looks like schools are opening up this week so the kiddies will be back at school and hopefully the mess of traffic should be resolved soon. i feel badly for the people who live out near where we used to live, it is taking 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to get to work! nasty. i am only 7 miles from work and it usually takes 10-15 minutes, lately, it has been 30 or so. gross!

make sure you get your flu shots, flu season is coming up!

OMG the mosquitoes here are terrible, talk about Texas sized. they are HUGE! and all over the place. normally they dont get me too badly, but they are all over the place and biting at all times. the bugs really like gervin, so i dont let him out there for too long, must be because he is so sweet!

have a good day!
m

update from centerpoint

hi all. new update map from centerpoint came out tonight...we are no longer thursday, we are sunday! it keeps moving and that is not good. such a bummer. well, jeremy and i are headed to cancun friday and back on tuesday, so hopefully by the time we get back we will have power and HOT water. i am so disappointed in the city of Houston for allowing all of the outlying areas to get power and the actual city of Houston to now have power. i am turning into a royal bitch about this. sorry :(

if they are going to pass along some kind of charge to users to pay for all of this crap, then they should charge more and put the power lines underground! lets not go two weeks without power and then not make any improvements.

i met a couple of electric people that are from independence MO today and they said that the neighborhood was in a lot worse condition than they expected.

who knew?

who knew that camping could be so much fun! thanks to brian and his generator, i am the only camper with a fan and a 42" LCD flat panel tv :) he also gave us the room air conditioner and we are using that at night (trying to conserve gas) but if it gets too hot, we are not afraid to bust it out during the day! tomorrow is fantasty football friday, and we will have our NFL sunday ticket, our flat panel and our laptops, just like nothing happened, except that if you need to go to the bathroom, you will have to take a flashlight with you! we are not running the fridge on the generator because we dont want to overdo it, plus we just have drinks and luckily we stopped at walgreens today and they had the hottest thing next to gasoline... ICE!

this is something i have never experienced before and i really appreciate everyone checking on us, and offering help. things are definitely not back to normal, and we are not expecting power until thursday, good news is, we are going on vacation on friday :) cancun. should be fun,but it would be nice to have power before then.

have a great sunday everyone!

we are at home

we are at home today. we came home last night after fantasy football rivals, and real life friends loaned us their generator and portable air conditioning unit! it is awesome! i will try to take pics later and attach them to my next blog. we did get an update from centerpoint energy last night, a new map shows our zip code should have power thursday sept 25, almost 2 weeks after it went out. we are hoping it comes in before then, but at least we are living with a fan, TV, and directtv. we are also able to charge our laptops and have internet access thanks to at & t getting the phones working yesterday.

this is the map. we are the dark turquoise, so that is thursday, our zip is 77018. we are hoping for before thursday but with the generator, tv and the portable air conditioning unit we are doing ok. just hoping the temps dont get as high as they are projecting.

i will update as i receive more information. i applied for FEMA assistance to see if they will reimburse for a generator, although we have borrowed one now, so we are ok if they say no. they DO NOT answer their phones! gervin and chica are doing great, it is amazing how much they are just rolling with the punches, although they definitely enjoyed their time with brenda!

thanks to everyone who has helped us, the refugees out. we have definitely been around since losing our power a week ago.

back to work!

hi everyone, we are back at work this morning. things are very busy with people wanting to cancel their schedules because of the devastation in Houston. but things are getting back to normal. a lot of restaurants are open and people are beginning to get their water and power back. we have water now, no power. we stayed at peter and brenda's last night and had spaghetti and meatballs...our FAVORITE! we are so grateful for the Waits allowing us to stay there and gervin and chica are having a great time exploring a new house. chica tried to go into our old house when we first got there...she is so smart! jeremy and i carpooled into work today from Spring, it was a long drive but not too bad, lots of lights were out so the back ways took a while.
we will go by our home later today and see if the power somehow has come back on. our zip code is still 75% out of power. we will see if it gets any better today. they have a lot of crews working so we are hoping for a fast recovery.
i have to get back to work and see if i can find someone who wants to advertise to make up for the lost dollars today :)

have a great day!
missy

it is monday morning

we are in austin just hanging out at D's house. i have taken a couple of showers and i am going to keep taking them, because I can! anyway, i hope everyone is doing well. clear channel houston is handing out ice and water to houstonians, check out the pics on www.ktrh.com, it was amazing and received a lot of national as well as local coverage. i wish i was there to help as i am a bleeding heart liberal and would love to help the people who do not have power or water...oh wait, thats us :)
ill keep you informed but as of today, we do not have power or water.

damage to viking drive

this is the damage done to the house 2 doors down from us





this is the HUGE tree that was blocking the street til the neighbors chainsawed it so we could get out.

this was three doors down. fell on both of their cars, one of which was the girl's mom from friendswood who was seeking shelter at this house. apparently, less damage was done in at her friendswood home than here.


tree across the street from us, again lifted from the roots and fell over, this one did not hit any home, just the carport and blocked their driveway. but it is sad that over 20 trees fell on our block alone.

austin texas here we come!

ok, after we left rovinsky's condo, we went back home to gather our belongings and were headed to our old neighbors because they had water and i think i was starting to smell...although jeremy said i didnt. anyway, the reason we were hanging around was because jeremy had to somehow get back in his building downtown and restart the servers so his company could get emails etc. the building told him 97 times that there was not going to be any access allowed, but the 98th time, he got the security guard who really likes him :) so he took jeremy's cell number and went to check with the building manager and he called back and said that he could get in the building for a little while. so at 7pm jeremy went downtown and by 9pm we were on our way to austin to stay with D (jeremy's sister) we arrived here at 11:30 or so...not sure i was losing my own mind due to my filth, and unloaded our refrigerator and freezer which were now in two coolers into D's running fridge and i took a really HOT shower with REAL water!!! (i did learn how to fill up the tank in the toilet so you can flush it when the water is turned off, i think that makes be a refugee) anyway, we are here, have AC, water and fresh food that is not PB & J and we are happy! still no power at home, but our old neighbors did get their power back so we can stay there when we head back to Houston, until our power comes on...whenever that is going to be. we are very glad to be here and i am beginning to relax, although i slept for the better part of 15 hours now, with a food break. thanks for all of the text messages and kind wishes. and a special thank you to rovinsky for allowing us to repower our cell phones and get our dogs a little AC :) i will let you know when we get power back, http://www.centerpointenergy.com/newsroom/stormcenter/ike/0af9097a7e25c110VgnVCM1000005a1a0d0aRCRD/
is the link to see the map of Houston as of noon today with service, another update is coming at 8pm.

mark my words, i will never stay through another one again. that was a terrible thing. for those that have not seen the pictures of the house 2 doors down from me, it was something that i will never forget and will not want to be around again. i will try to post some of those pictures soon. they are on jeremy's laptop and i have to get them from him.

thank you and it is really true that we were very lucky, if the trees would have gone the other way, it would have been very bad for us.

we are at rovinsky's condo

my friend jeff has a condo with power. we are here with 6 other people. we really want to leave, but jeremy has to go turn on the server and they wont let people in until tomorrow. we will probably leave after he gets it done tomorrow. we are charging our phones and computer and pictures. we are ok, the house is fine and we are planning on staying somewhere with ac tonight. we hope :)

almost 1:30

hi gang. almost 1:30 we are having very strong winds and light rain now that gusts sometimes into hard rain. brennen's downtown caught fire we think due to a blown transformer. we have the radio and will stay indoors. it is not near me, but i know that a lot of you are aware of it so i wanted to mention it. the cumulus radio stations are broadcasting the khou tv broadcast, but i am a company girl, so i am listening to KTRH, the houston clear channel flagship, similar to WOAI. gervin is falling asleep sitting next to me, poor little fella, chica is scared of all noises...i should have drugged her. we have no lights still, but jeremy is a computer whiz, so we still have Internet for now. lovely, a new orleans lady is on ktrh right now talking about this compared to katrina, she lives here now. ill keep you updated.
missy

1:00 am, no power

we finally lost power at 12:48 pm. we have our flashlights and our wind up FM radio. everything is fine here still. dogs are good, just no power. this will probably be last post til power is restored, because our power is out and the internet is on a small backup, so i wanted to post. i will text sarah and she can post for me :) we are still doing good. love you all! chat soon! saving cell battery too.

windy. still no water

hi there. it is 11pm, windy, no rain yet. dogs are doing great, just resting. it is really bad in galveston with house fires from the electricy blowing up etc. ill keep you updated, we are fine for now!

lots of wind.

there is still a lot of wind. over 200,000 people are without power, all over the city, sugarland, pearland, rosharon(no, i dont know where that is), there is a curfew in effect for most of the counties in the area. we still have power at 9:25 pm. there are still a lot of people in galveston, they estimate about 20,000 people still there...why, i dont know. we are just sitting here in the living room watching the news and listening to the wind blow, gervin is still looking through the window at our neighbor. ill keep you updated, but as of now, no rain, just wind. still have water etc.

8:30 update, still no rain here, just wind

it is windy. not unbearable here in houston, from what i understand, south it is windy! 52 mph gust at minute maid park. here are some photos as the sun was setting.

ike wind

the wind is starting, but not too bad right now. still no rain.

6:00 update- still no rain

it is definitely getting windy, but not too bad at all yet. we have the windows taped, we are not sure how or if that works, but we have seen other people doing it :) anyway, jeremy is home from work now, both of our cars are in our respective work garages and we have the suburban to tool around town in now. we are thinking about dinner now, not sure what we will have... anyway, things are still dry, it is getting windy. they are concerned that the eye is starting to develop a little more and gain strength. we will see, still projecting landfall in galveston around 1am, and into town around 3am. we were told to get off the roads starting at 6pm as they are expecting tropical storm strength winds. we have moved everything in from outside both front and back, thus the outdoor bench in our living room, but gervin and chica seem to like it. they are so cute, and notice that they are wearing their collars at all times now, which is not normal for them, they like to go "naked".

heavy rains are just now moving into galveston, so we can expect them in a couple of hours. tiki island is mostly flooded now from what i hear on the news, bolivar peninsula as well as galveston is mostly flooded due to storm surge, NO RAIN!!!!!!

just reported that it is close to a cat 3 in regards to the wind, in regards to the storm surge, it is a 4 or a 5 because of how big the storm is.

anyway, lots of fluff so far on the blog, just not much to report. temp has dropped a little bit. it is about 84 degrees according to weather.com, my zip is 77018 if anyone in interested. although the news seems to have plenty to talk about as they have been on non stop since thursday at noon ugh... bad for tv watching! we have the wii, so if we get bored, we can play that, as long as the power is on. so i will be able to keep blogging even after we lose power, until my laptop charge dies...wow, i am dedicated.





everyone take care and i will chat when we start having activity. i might shoot a video soon so you can see wind!~

3:00 friday update

this is a shot of an oil rig that is out in the gulf. ike looks mad! we are still ok here in Houston. no rain, some wind and i now have blue tape on my windows :) lots of information on the island towns. 2 policemen just went by my street on a bicycle built for two...seriously, i have my front blinds open and i just saw them come by. i will look for them again :) anyway, looks like most of the mandatory evac people are out now. and we are just waiting for 2am when this thing gets to houston. i have been charging my camera so i didnt get a pic of the police on bikes. bummer.

storm is about 129 miles from galveston the outer bands are 40 miles away, storm moving at 12 mph. the eye is about 62 miles across that is HUGE!

storm surge is already 20-25 feet in galveston. 110+ mph winds. walmart has closed 106 stores in SE texas. there is a curfew for most of the island towns sundown to sunup.

they decided to open a shelter of last resort. 150 people are there already who did not evacuate, water has been turned off in galveston. apparently pier 61 in galveston is gone. this is crazy because the storm has not hit yet! ok, there is a cop that lives on our street and they just went down the street on a golf cart!

island is flooding severely, the west end is torn up. there has been a housefire that they cannot get to. lots of gas leaks on the island, trop storm winds, but no rain so far, the worst is yet to come in galveston. as of 9pm tonight, all staff will be off the streets, "hunkering down" at the san luis hotel...nice digs :)

there is a big ship stuck in the gulf, 90 miles out of galveston, coast guard tried to do a rescue but they cannot get in there to get the 22 people who are on the freighter, so they just have to do their best to ride out the storm.

just started a little sprinkle here, but really other than the policemen on the bicycle built for two, nothing exciting to report here. which is fine with me.

all is dry, but not normal at 1:45

i just got back from dropping my car off at my work parking garage. i wanted food before i have to start cooking for myself, but mcdonalds was closed, so was whataburger... but thank goodness for wendys. on my journey to wendys, i passed the nail salon, still open and people were getting their nails done. one gas station out of gas, two still had gas. i also saw a line of 150 people in the parking lot and had no idea what was going on...i drove by again, and what do you know, a man was selling bags of ice out of his champion ice truck. a 40 pound bag was $6. i am making my own ice, so i did not participate in this line :)

the city of galveston is in trouble. still no rain, but the city streets are flooding and so are the feeder roads. it gets worse by the minute down there. i am still fine here. we are going to leave jeremy's car at his parking garage so we will be with the urban burban :)

in case you are wondering, our power is above ground here, so it is likely that we will be without power, we are charging our cell phones and our laptops. i have a ac adapter that works off of a car battery, so we will go to the car to recharge tomorrow if we need to. i will keep posting with updates, there is just not anything to report in my house other than weird people waiting in line for ice and getting their nails done :)

i am going to tape some windows :)

p.s. austin is going to be dry as a bone, no need to panic. looks like the path for this storm is up i45 to dallas.

calm before the storm.

it is 11:30, still no rain. no rain anywhere as a matter of fact. most of the streets of galveston are under water, but still no rain, just the increase of volume in the gulf causing it to come over the 15 foot seawall that protects galveston and flood the streets. the boliver peninsula is completely covered and the coast guard is already evacuating the idiots from the rooftops. seriously, what was keeping them from leaving wednesday during evacuation of that area, or even yesterday... i am attaching pictures of my little house. the front and back so you can see the trees etc. i am also showing the street up and down from our house as it is a really pretty street with lots of trees. gervin and chica are doing fine. no rain so they just keep running around. i am going to watch the news for a little while and get better updates, but we are expecting tropical storm strength winds, 25-40 mph starting at around 6pm and hurricane winds around 2am. please notice that my neighbors boarded up their windows. when jeremy gets home from work, i think we are going to put tape on ours...maybe :)

in case of emergency call an ambalance

rep. shiela jackson lee never passes a camera and tonight was no different. after the mayor and the judge gave all of the details, like, evacuate if you are in a mandatory evacuation zone, don't if you are not. it is a dangerous storm etc, blah blah blah...then shiela gets in there and says the same thing...and then she busts out, call an AMBALANCE! nice. enjoy the video~

ike the hurricane vs. ike turner

which one is uglier and meaner looking?

ike the hurricane or ike turner. you make the call!

latest on ike

well, we did not get to see big brother, because we are on IKE watch...still 36 hours out of landfall, but whatever. thanks to mike for giving me the BB update so I am caught up! i wanted to post a map of where we live so you can see that we are about 40 miles from water. so we should be fine. also, traffic is a total bitch. people are trying to get out. from the woodlands to conroe on i45 north, 6 miles, it is taking people 67 minutes. no thanks! and apparently I10 is just as bad! most of the gas stations in my neighborhood are out of gas. there has been some price gauging, but not that I have personally seen, i just heard about it on the radio. http://www.ktrh.com/ for those interested.

i am posting a pic of i45 heading north so you can see the traffic at 9:30 at night. mandatory evacuations for the counties closest to the water, brazoria, galveston, matagorda bay etc are going to Austin.

ok, im ready!

ok, i am ready. today i went to target, randall's, sports authority, best buy, and kroger signature. i am done! i have a flashlight, a battery operated lantern. i had to get the last 4 cans of tuna, and they are in oil...not water, yuck! oh well, i have them. i also have bread for pb & j and cheese sandwiches on the gas stove. i also have a case of water in the freezer to act as ice, and a case of water in the fridge and a backup case of water. and i got a flashlight that does not need batteries, it is a wind up with an FM radio, so I can listen to SUNNY 99.1 while I am living through the storm.

i cleaned out our two ice chests, one that jeremy uses for fishing, so it was smelly, but a little ajax, comet and bleach solved that. so those are ready just in case we lose our power and the fridge and freezer go down :(

i also found a HUGE bag of Haribo Gummy Bears, and Nerds. so I am ready to go! i will let you know how things are going. www.khou.com is a great website to see things, there is a weather forum that has a bunch of weather nerds posting things, but it is interesting.

the highways are starting to back up...duh! so my favorite site for that is www.click2houston.com and click on traffic, it is fun to see the red lines :)

http://www.thespotgalveston.com/webcam.html

this is a live webcam of a tiki bar in galveston. i love the people "riding it out" i also love the new term here in Houston, it is so Texas... "we are gonna hunker down" what the hell is hunker down. i assume they mean, stay put where you are. really, dad, you should have given us a english to texan dictionary, it was very difficult to live in texas and not be raised by texans, we apparently missed out on a lot of "terms" that we should have known.

hurricane ike- t-24 hours

hi all. i am at work now, it is 11:40. most of my co-workers have gone home already. we are closed tomorrow for sure. i went to the target today to get a flashlight and bread so i can eat pb&j incase we lose power...i forgot tuna!!! crap!!! anyway, they were out of bread and flashlights, so i went to randalls and got bread, still forgot tuna...crap! and no flashlights and no d batteries. so we went to sports authority, they had 40 dollar flashlights, no thanks. so i bought a cute litle battery operated lantern. no D batteries. so i went to best buy. no D batteries, until one of my coworkers stumbled upon 3 packs of D batteries, one for each of us (three of us left work to go get supplies) so i now have D batteries and a lantern. and bread, but no tuna. i am going to stop on my way home for tuna. and i need to make ice. lots of ice so i can have drinks :) i did get water. i wish i had gervin's life vest :)

hurricane ike

hi all. i am going to have this blog to let you know how things are going here...at least as long as i have power :) so feel free to check back for updates.