Ike blows!

You could feel the panic and anxiety in the air today. Everyone is scrambling to prepare for Hurricane Ike. It has already hit Galveston basically wiped away the west beaches and is charted to come straight over us. Everyone within a 100 mile radius is stocking up on gas, batteries, food, water and ice. The stores are absolutely crazy, and their shelves are literally empty. (I found it humorous that almost everyone viewed large amounts of beer and alcohol as essentials in addition to the water and ice.) Most gas stations have run out of gas, and those left with it have cars waiting over an hour to fill up. The ATM’s have no cash. The hardware stores are completely sold out of their plywood and generators, and yards have been emptied as everything movable has been brought inside or thrown in backyard pools.

We are grateful that we have been taught by our church leaders to prepare for times like this, although it is hard not to become victims of panic like everyone else as we braced for the storm. However, as a gift to me and my family I had this incredible fatigue that knocked me out for a good 3 hour nap today. A gift because I know I would have been a mess stressing over what was about to happen. I am confident I would have been a nervous wreck!

These are some of the other things we did to prepare:

- filled all of our bathtubs and sinks with water (to use for toilet water or bathing)

- made sure both our cars had full tanks

- replenished our cash stash (what happened to the last one???)

- checked our battery supply, flashlights, and radio to make sure they worked

- took apart the trampoline

- took the canopy and swings off the swing set

- brought in all the pots, chairs, table, toys, grill, and our pink flamingo (joking)

- made sure all toilets were scrubbed (all toilets should be clean before any natural disaster, right?)

- verified we had all our important documents protected

- grilled all the meat we could and stuffed ourselves with ice cream (melted ice cream would be such a shame!)

- bought a shotgun (apparently we are of the mind: ‘you loot, we shoot’)

- set up our beds in the master closets (Eden was so excited!)

- cleaned our house from top to bottom (have you figured out I am a little OCD yet?)

- cleaned out our garage (see above, but actually Damian started this one)

- moved our furniture away from the big windows

- took pictures of all our belongings for insurance (I knew I cleaned for a reason)

- backed up all our documents and pictures onto external hard drives (I was solely thinking of not wanting to let down the readers of my blog)

Before we barricaded ourselves in for the night, we took a walk around the neighborhood. It was almost eerily quiet except for the wind that was already fiercely blowing. I tried to take some pictures that would show how strong the gusts already were.

(Darn good thing Damian doesn't have a blog!)

The kids wanted to fly a kite, but apparently dollar store Spiderman kites

aren’t made for hurricane force winds.

The final calm before the storm was this amazing sunset, which I did not edit at all!

Damian had to remind me several times that we have done all that we can to prepare, so we just need to relax and enjoy the hurricane. Yes, Damian was excited to ride the storm out, and had he not been afraid the windows would have blown out if he opened the door he would have gone outside at the height of it all to have the ‘real experience.’ We hunkered down as the wind howled, grateful we had a sturdy (hopefully) house to keep us warm and dry.