Survival

I returned from Houston just in time to prepare for our late friend Gustav. While in Houston I watched a lot of news, concerned that the Hurricane would hit Houston and I would have trouble getting home – or that it would hit here and I would have trouble getting home.

After surviving Katrina I have learned a lot of lessons about hurricanes. I battened down the hatches and spent Labor day awaiting Gustav’s arrival. I turned the AC waaaaay down while waiting for the power to go out. I also made sure to have stock in bottled water and canned goods. I even remembered to get fill the dog’s water jug up since a power loss would lead to boil water orders. Luckily the storm didn’t hit too hard. Unfortunately it was my first experience on the east side of a hurricane. We had 10.75 inches of rain over the course of 3 days, as well as 50+ mph winds and tornados. My yard gained a few limbs and sticks that needed to be cleaned up. On Wednesday I came home to a tree in my yard! The neighbors across the street had a 60 ft.-tall oak tree blow over in the wind. It was lying across the street and partially in my yard. We are all incredibly lucky that the tree didn’t take out any power lines or fall towards their house. The county came out and removed it, nice to get to see my tax dollars used for something! The good thing that came out of this – all of the rain filled our subdivision lake!

Here are some pictures of the damage. By the time I got the camera on Thursday afternoon the tree was gone, but you can see the 'leftovers' in my yard and the stump in the neighbors yard.

A close up of my yard and the tree debris!

Unfortunately, now we are waiting out Ike who looks posed to potentially follow a similar track right now. After Gustav I didn't fully go off of hurricane alert since it looked to be coming.