This storm is making me a wee bit nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. We keep “escaping” a direct hit … Katrina, Rita, Gustav …. it’s only a matter of time before our number is up. We still have water, canned goods, that kind of thing. But to tell you the truth … we’re a measly 8 miles from the beach and the only thing between us and the beach is a saltwater marsh wild life refuge. Sigh. I’d probably stay here through a tropical storm, or possibly even a Cat 1 hurricane. But anything stronger than that, I’d feel mighty inclined to head a little further inland. I just don’t know that our 60 year old, frame house with cement siding is up to handling a major storm.
And I’d much rather err on the side of caution … evacuate and come home to find all is okay, rather than stay here and wish I’d done the sensible thing and evacuated when I had the chance.
Any of you remember this photo?
This is a house a few blocks down from ours after a particularly good rain storm about a year or so ago. Not even a “tropical storm” … granted, it’s so dry around here right now, the ground might soak it up a lot faster, but as much rain as tropical storms and hurricanes dump, I’m not sure it’s a good gamble. We didn’t have a flooded yard when this happened, but who knows what might happen with Ike?
I’ll be checking in with ya’ll later.
A Scribbler & A Shutterbug 
I hope Ike doesn’t live up to all his hype. We have friends that have just moved to Houston, so I’ll be thinking about you all.
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Laura, come move to Seattle. It rains here? But flash floods are scarce unless you live close to a river. The only river that floods close to me is about 3 miles away but we’re up on a hill, so…even if it overflowed the banks it wouldn’t reach us. I whine alot about Seattle having really cruddy weather…I should be thanking God though that I don’t have to deal with hurricanes/tornado’s. A friend of mine from work and I were talking the other day. He’s been through both tornado’s and earthquakes. For me? You can control your destiny in an earthquake if you keep your wits about you. In a hurricane/tornado? You take your chances. Praying for you guys! I miss seeing you online!!! How’ve you been?
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@triciaplumley – Hey, Tricia! I have visited Everett (back in 1985) and I would LOVE to live in your neck of the woods. Some mighty beautiful country, the Northwest. As for hurricanes and tornadoes … well, at least with the hurricane you do have some warning. The aggravating thing about the hurricane is the uncertainty of exactly where the booger is going to make landfall. Tornadoes scare the dickens out of me. Jami and I actually got caught by one, in a weird way. It’s a long story, but in November 2003 my husband had not yet bought his Jeep. He rode a motorcycle to work everyday and for some reason he had me take him to work this particular day. About 2:30 I picked Jami up from school and we headed over to the prison where my husband teaches to pick him up.I noticed something really strange across the prison farm fields … swirling dust clouds, really loose and sloppy looking. Not the traditional funnel that you think of, like the Wizard of Oz. We pulled into the parking lot and watched for a few minutes. I decided to pull closer to the building. As I watched it, I got a VERY strong feeling that we should get out of the truck. There was this weird little 2 x 2 foot space between the brick wall of the L-shaped building and a column in the crook of the “L” — I lifted Jami up over the bench that closed in one side of the space and crawled in after her. I crouched over her and a very short time (minutes, if not seconds) the tornado went over us. It was strong enough that several of the windows in my truck and camper were blown out and the cab of the truck was full of broken glass (the cab where we would have been sitting if I’d not recognized God nudging us to get out of there). Our hair was full of little pieces of glass, and amazingly, the only scratch either one of us suffered was a tiny (1/8 inch probably) scratch on Jami’s shin. After it passed over and we crawled back out of our hiding place, we saw a plastic chair (like you’ve seen in classrooms) stuck feet first in the cyclone fence gate going into the prison.So I can deal with hurricanes (you have a warning) … tornadoes and earthquakes freak me out, because which way do you run?
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@TXMom2Jami – In an earthquake? You don’t run. You get into a doorway and pray that the house doesn’t fall in around you. Our last big earthquake was a few years back. I was standing in my garage (it’s connected to the house via the laundry room) watching my dogs in the backyard and the entire building started shaking violently. I can hear my son in his room screaming “mom, mom, it’s an earthquake, get in a door way, get in a door way.” They only last maybe 30 seconds, but they seem like forever. I actually think they’re fun….twisted, I know….lol. No damage to our house…the phone service is messed up for hours afterwards, but other than that? It’s not that bad.
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@triciaplumley – I think I remember something about that … the doorway thing. Is it a tornado that you are supposed to hunker down in the bathtub???Just in case you are interested, here’s a link to the current projected path for Ike. Do you see where the Texas/Louisiana state line is? As you go down the Texas coastline, do you see the first little “inlet” along the curve? That would be Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel. I live just south of Galveston, about 40 miles down the “curve” or coast. I’m not too keen on how dead center we are in the projected path right now …
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@TXMom2Jami – nor am I. My door is open.
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Praying for you!!!
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@TXMom2Jami – @triciaplumley – And I live almost right on that inlet called Galveston Bay. Less than 6 miles to the west of it. Yes, Laura…it is a tornado you get in a bathtub. But the best place is in an interior room with no windows. We’re sunk in that case. The only place would be the closet under the stairs. And there’s too much junk in there! I don’t blame you for wanting to go inland. I hope it downgrades a lot before it hits. Channel 11 news showed a wave 5 stories tall hitting an apartment building in Cuba.
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