Before

My crazy “Ike” week finally ended on Friday and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The weather was fantastic and I had some work to do on the house. I went to Lowe’s Friday after work and picked up some 2×6’s and some flashing to fix the hole on the back of my house. The total ended up being $38.01. $38.01? It only took me 38 dollars and a little bit of sweat to recover from Ike. We are very fortunate.

On Saturday morning I was supposed to go bike riding with Stu down Buffalo Bayou but my jaw was hurting. I can’t decide if I got lockjaw from drinking the water when I wasn’t supposed to or I chewed too much gum on Friday. Probably too much gum… Later that morning, Terri and I went to family lunch with the Carrolls. We initially picked Luby’s in Deer Park but it was closed due to hurricane damage so we ended up going to Case Ole in La Porte. Once we were there my niece introduced me to “Ouch Charlie!”. YouTube it, it’s good for a quick laugh. After lunch my mother came over and helped me patch up the house. When got started my mother noticed that I didn’t purchase treated lumber. She suggested we go back to Lowe’s and get some. It was madness. It took us two hours to buy three pieces of lumber. After getting the wood home and priming it, we patched the hole in a few hours. We still had one more issue to resolve. I bought the wrong size flashing and it didn’t match. Knowing how obsessive-compulsive I can be, my mother agreed to accompany me to Lowe’s one last time. This time we were in and out in five minutes. Once the flashing was in place we were pretty much finished. I cleaned up while my mother caulked. Later Terri grilled up some hotdogs on the George Foreman and we settled in to watch LSU route Auburn. Terri kept telling me to use my “inside voice” but to no avail. I kept screaming like a drunken sailor every time LSU made a misstep or Auburn made a good play. LSU ended up winning so the night ended on a good note.

On Sunday Terri and I just lounged around and watched old episodes of “Cold Case”. I tagged a ton of mp3’s that I have wanted to import into my library. I am not anywhere close to being finished with that task. I just keep chipping away at it in small increments. Later that evening we went to Boudreaux’s for chicken fingers. After dinner we returned home and watched the new Louisiana vampire series, “True Blood”, on HBO.

After

He-Man references aside, we have power at the house. What a great feeling! My thoughts of the apocalypse have subsided a little. I feel bad for you guys out there that still have no power and I hope it is restored for you soon.

At work today, Stu and I had to run to Family Practice and check the temp in our network closets. Everything there was cool. Since we were so close to Chuy’s we decided to see if it was open. On the way there we noticed a gas station that just opened so we pulled in and filled up Stu’s box and my gas can that I just happened to have with me. After refueling Stu and I headed to Chuy’s. When we arrived it looked like it was closed but then we noticed some people inside. The people inside told us they would be open in a few minutes. We waited until 11:00 and then walked in. We where seated immediately and asked what we would like to drink. Stu ordered for himself and then I asked for a cup stuffed with delicious, precious ice and some Coke. When the beverages arrived it looked like the waitress stuffed as much ice as she possibly could in the glass and filled it with Coke. When the icy goodness hit my lips I thought I was going to pass out. It was almost too much to handle. It was the highlight of my day until I returned to an electrified home. I will probably never have a Coke again in my life that will compare to that one. It’s all downhill from here…

I took some photos on my way home today.

This is the Dodge dealership on 45 south at 610.

Gas station by my house

I gotz it…

Lots to do, will update later.

Sort of. Thanks to Terri’s brother we now have two generators and some gas. We can now make some ice, wonderful, wonderful ice.

I only had one beer and one chicken left so I made a beer chicken. Google it. I didn’t make it up.

These pictures were taken at 6620 Main in the Texas Medical Center.

Terri and I just finished a whole chicken. It didn’t stand a chance after all of the crappy carbs we had today. The power Is still off but we are seeing signs of life in surounding areas. Hopefully ours will be back on soon. Terri’s brother who lives nearby had his power service restored this afternoon. I traded some gas cans for some ice earlier so we are now able drink cold drinks, but only for a little while. A cold front blew in this afternoon which dropped the temp to 80^. Thanks for small miracles.

On a side note, I have had more candlelit dinners with my wife through this ordeal than the five years we’ve been married. Interesting.

We just got finished cleaning up the yard. We still do not have power. We do have water so I will be able to shower which is good for Terri. We are doing fine. My mother is stuck in Yellowstone because of the flight cancelations. She should be in tomorrow evening. Baylor is closed tomorrow but I am still reporting for duty at ten. Not much else to report except that I’m hot and not in the Paris Hilton way.

I don’t even own a pine tree.

Terri and I got up and drove to Clear Lake. We had a doctor’s appointment at the fertility clinic. We couldn’t reach anyone on the phone so we drove there. It was deserted like everything else here. We are now home and are being lulled to sleep by the generator next door while we contemplate breakfast.

After 32 hours straight at Baylor I finally made it home at six this evening. There are pine limbs everywhere. I don’t even have a pine tree. My patio cover was demolished and my house has some open holes around the edges. The fence was blown down in three places. I will definitely need a new one. I patched what I could so the dogs won’t need to be escorted. I will try to contract out a new fence in the near future. The power is out and Terri and I are taking cold showers. Then we will have a PB&J and go to bed. We have some long days ahead of us.

Light pole on Holcombe in front of The Spires

VA entrance on Holcombe

Tree on Holcombe in front of The Spires

Tree at Almeda just past MacGregor heading south

The Mosaic over Braes Bayou as seen from MacGregor and 288