Ohmystinkinheck

Ike has passed and his aftermath ranges from truly tragic to mildly irritating.

We moved through the storm with no physical damage to our family or our home; this was a blessing. Not everyone fared as well. Just a couple of blocks from my parents’ home a woman died when a very large tree fell and cut through her bedroom ceiling and wall; she was sleeping when it hit her. I believe it was the only life lost in our small town, but whether one life or many, it begs us to stop and pray peace for her husband, children, extended family and friends.

Ike took the electricity quickly in our town. His strength struck in the dark of the night, making it impossible to really see what was going on, though we heard every pop and crack and were careful to hunker down on the west side of our home, away from the two enormous pines that are as old as the hills and seem to drop branches with even light winds. The fact that they are still standing is nothing short of a miracle. If you could see half of our town, you’d understand.

The kids had charged their DS’s and Leapsters (y’know, really ‘roughin-it’) ahead of time and kept pretty tight to each other in the evening hours.

We live outside of town, so it is never really ‘light’ on our street (even with electricity), but there is a depth to darkness when a town’s electricity is out; it makes for a thick darkness, if you know what I mean.

The evening Ike hit, we tucked them in early, hoping they’d be fast asleep before the hard winds arrived - and they were. Jeff and I stayed up and on alert for whatever would require our attention; that ‘whatever’ never arrived, and when the eye was over us we both had a short catnap and then got outside to check out the town.

We didn’t stay out long - the town had many felled trees and power lines across roads; not wanting to be out of the house when the 2nd half of Ike moved over, we headed back home.

Having been cooped-up, the kids busted out a groove to the truck’s headlights.

Amidst the generators up and down the block you could hear three kids squealing with delight and singing, “I like to move it, move it.”

It went on for some time.

Then, it was back into the hot, sticky house for more of the same…darkness, winds, and well, ‘hurricane games’. This one involved two Great Pyrenees (Mer and Kenny), one oar (a PVC pipe that used to be a homemade horse), two boats lost at sea in a hurricane (laundry baskets), and a LOT of imagination.

I didn’t stop them to discuss that dogs don’t have opposable thumbs, and therefore, cannot oar.

When they began, I found Emelie in her room; having tucked in her American Girls, she was using up the last of her DS’s battery.

After a bit, Emelie followed her flashlight’s path out of her room and joined Mer and Kenny in their hurricane games. I believe the game morphed from dogs lost at sea to something involving tugboats.

They were giggling that late night giggle that comes from exhaustion, boredom, and silliness. Y’know, when everything is funny - and not just funny, but so funny you can’t breathe from laughing so hard? Yea, THAT kind of funny.

The second evening, as Ike’s 2nd half left us, we gathered up the ingredients for Frito Pie to heat up on the grill’s burner outside the back porch.

We were hungry - and in that, it was good, BUT it was so still, hot and sticky once Ike passed that we all wished it was a huge bowl of ice cream instead.

The second morning boasted a big pot of oatmeal.

And hopes that electricity would be restored soon because it was even more still - not a breeze around - and we were not excited about cooking over a burner.

We only had two nights without electricity - ours came on before bed on the 3rd night. I can’t tell you how surprised we were and how fortunate we feel. If this is anything like Hurricane Katrina and Rita, we still won’t have it 100% of the time as Entergy works the grid.

My parents are still without electricity, and will be, for days; same with many others in town. The electrical wires in most of our subdivisions are not underground (Even though we are a bit out of the city, our lines are underground.) and many trees have pulled lines down. Our stores are slowly trying to open as electricity comes back up in town, though it’ll be a while before they are stocked enough to be any good. Mom and Dad took a trip outside of Dallas to bring home a generator and extra food. The generator was to offer them some respite from the heat and lack of light in their home, but primarily to save the foodstuffs in their frig and freezer; we had to throw away everything in ours.

Our town is still home to many evacuees - we were the first evacuation point out of Galveston (beyond Houston). Because Galveston Island is inhabitable, they will be here for some time. This will make shopping, etc… difficult, but there really is nowhere else for so many of these evacuees to go, so we can’t really be frustrated with them; this is beyond everyone’s control. Plus, they have been so much more respectful of our city than the last time when we were basically ravaged (and that is putting it lightly).

Cell towers are down - and my cell phone is simply not working. If you’ve tried to reach me by phone, and have our home number, please call it instead. As long as we have electricity, it will work.

And THANK YOU for all your well wishes and prayers. I was praying for many of y’all who I knew were even closer to the storm than we were. As always, this is an amazing community.

31 Responses to “Riding out Ike”

1. chocolatechic

   So glad that you all are safe, and that your electricity is back on.

   Ours just came on about an hour and a half ago, as the remnants of Ike came blustering through Pothole, Ohio last night.

   I heart electricity!

2. Gayle

   So glad your family is okay. Looks like your kids did a great job of keeping busy! (My daughter has “Happy Bunny” pj’s, too!)

   I’m sending lots of good thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by Ike.

3. kj

   Phew. I’ve been checking your site for updates. Saw your pictures on Flickr first, so I knew you had power. Glad to hear you all made it through without a scratch.

4. MimMim

   So glad to read that you made it through safely. Still waiting to hear from another web-friend.

   Continued prayers for safe clean-up.

5. Elda

   Thank goodness you posted. I was beginning to worry something awful had happened, although I had a suspicion it might just be downed power lines.

   (It’s probably weird to have a complete stranger worried about ya, huh?) Either way — glad you’re all okay!

6. Angella

   Wow. I have never lived anywhere that deals with hurricanes and cannot believe how frightening it can be. Glad you guys are OK, and praying for your people.

7. Kate

   Whew. So glad to hear you all weathered the storm so well, with minor discomforts.

8. LizP

   It’s good to see that you and yours are ok. While I don’t “know” you, I have connected with you and others in the blog-o-sphere who were affected by Ike. I found that it doesn’t matter where the prayers come from, as long as they are there.

9. SmockLady

   Glad the power is back up. Wondering when you would get back on. I was going to spam your email/im account until I got and answer and knew you were OK, but thought better of it and just decided to wait until you posted - I knew you would as soon as you could.

   As for the evacuees, that’s what it is still like a bit where we live; we have many new townspeople that came up to hide from Katrina, or leave the aftermath, and they stayed. Many of them did not lose their homes or were not necessarily from the 9th ward, they just got tired of living with hurricanes first hand. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I get that, totally.

   Glad all is well.

10. mommyknows

    Glad you are back (online). How is your extended family?

11. karen

    That “thick” dark you observe might be attributed to the lack of noise - when the power is out, there’s no wire hum. It’s a background noise nobody notices when it’s on but, when it’s off, they notice something’s different (although they probably can’t tell you what is different). I’m glad you’re all ok!

12. Kristi from NY

    Good to “hear” from you — we had some awesome winds all the way up in Northern NY last night. As I stood in our doorway around 3 AM, it was a little frightening but I knew even then it was nothing compared to what other people had been/were facing. Take care!

13. MMM

    I’ve been holding my breath and praying. Glad to see y’all or OK.

14. Lisa @ The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

    You were in our prayers and our special candle was lit for your family and everyone in this hurricanes path. So happy to see you are all well.

15. Magda

    Suggestion for your phone….if you have a regular phone line (non-voip), then just plug in the cheapest and oldest phone you have (the kind that just plugs into the phone line and doesn’t need electricity). That should give you a phone at least and will not make you dependent on the ups and downs of electricity. Phone lines in Canada (US should be similar) have the power sent via the line itself. It worked for us when the power was out a few years ago.

16. ashpags

    So relieved to hear that you made it through safely. Miraculously, my parents also escaped having any trees fall on their house. The largest limbs all fell on the driveway and in the yard. They are still without power, and will be for a while, but they are doing ok. As my dad says, they are on a camping trip…with a REALLY fancy tent. ;)

17. hana

    Well, it’s great to hear from y’all as I sit here in the City of Angels! That’s a beautiful first picture you got there in your post!

18. Cindy

    So glad you came out well!

19. Starwoodgal

    Glad you are all safe.

20. Michelle

    I don’t know what frito pie is, but it sounds delicious.

    I’m glad you made it through okay! Nothing like a lack of electricity, though, to get kids back into their heads and find creativity.

21. Mr. OMSH

    FOR ALL MR. OMSH FANS:

    I am okay. Have no fear. My only injury were hyperactive sweat glands for 2 days. All is well at home, but crappy at work–where there is no electricity and no point in being there. But because I love working with inmates, and I wish to keep my job, I show up as required/needed/demanded. Oh, and OMSH? She’s okay too.

22. OMSH

    Would someone please give the boy some strokes before he kills himself with self-pity?

23. BOSSY

    This was so sweet. through and through.

    (P.S. Bossy’s daughter used to refer to the dog’s predicament as not having “disposable” thumbs.)

24. naomi

    i’m glad you and your family are safe.

25. Mandy

    So glad you guys are okay. I was thinking about you yesterday. We haven’t had power for two days either. Sure makes you grateful doesn’t it?

26. lmerie

    I am new to your site . . .I am glad you and yours made it through safe and sound! And glad you were able to have fun with the little ones! May the AC keepa coolin!!

27. Ann from Montana

    Glad you weathered the storm and that you have power! I truly cannot imagine anything worse than cleaning up after water in the house - which I know you didn’t have, but so many did…not to mention no power in hot, humid places and losing all that food.

    I feel “guilty” enjoying normal life and gorgeous fall weather when so many are suffering…

28. Octamom

    So thankful you all are doing well–hope your folks get their power up soon–

    …and leave it to the kiddos to make a party out of it–loved the pics!
    Blessings!

29. Carole

    I am so happy all is well in OMSH! It is nice to have you back!

30. jenn

    phew, glad you guys are ok! I was checking the site the day of and after the hurricane to see if you had posted, to see how yall were. Ive been through many hurricanes (use to live in Mobile, AL) and I know the feelings you guys were going through, and I am so thankful yall are all ok!

31. Celia

    It’s so sweet to see how united families can have fun while going through hard times like Ike!
    Congratulations!