Hey all from Spring, Texas!!! (North of Houston)
I don't technically have electricity yet..... Maybe in the next day or 3 or 5 or so... (????)
My neighbor across the street has a generator and he let me run a cord across the street a couple of days ago (Friday) when it started getting hot again so we could/can run a fan at night. Luckily, we did have an unusual and nice cool front come through right after the hurricane. Last week was pretty nice weather with highs around 79 - 83 and lows around the 60's. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />
With the cord on Friday, I checked my computer, but no internet at that time. Online first time today (Sunday 9-21-08) and here I am with no A/C and mostly in the dark. And I am HOT right now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> ... bout to go take a cold shower.
This Ike thing was very similar to Alicia. I was here with Alicia in 83'. With Alicia, we had a spawn off tornado come down our street and knock MANY trees over. So, our street was a bigger mess then and with a fair amount of damage to our house and many others in the area in 83'.
This time, I was lucky and didn't have any house damage are loose any large trees. I have a pile of limb debris out front about 30' x 10' x 5' high though and that is about average. Some have a LOT more and some people didn't have many trees, so their piles are smaller.
There were quite a few houses with damage though. I would guess about 1 in 15 or so had at least some minor damage to their homes - mostly from trees falling into them. Saw a couple homes and garages folded from trees and a few cars smashed.... I don't understand why people don't park their cars in their garages. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> - Especially with a big storm coming. I know a lot of folks have their garages full of "stuff" or junk. But, .... ????
Yesterday and today have been HOT. Not hot by Texas standards in September. But, it SUCKS to come inside at night and not have A/C. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
It feels like about 84 degrees in my house right now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
I think the high today outside was around 93-95 or so. .... And back to typical NASTY Houston MUGGY-HOT!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
At least we had/have running water. (Some don't - my condolences to those who don't.). That is VERY nice to be able to take showers to clean up and cool off. Especially, when out working all day (all week) helping friends, neighbors and family clean up, cut down trees, etc. LOTS of dirty sweaty work.
We are also lucky to have never lost gas. So, hot water and gas grilling. ** Bonus - I have a gas grill with a side burner. I never use the side burner as I have an electric cooktop inside. I personally hate electric cooktops. My last house in Austin had a gas cooktop and gas rules!!! I intend to change out my electric for gas someday when I quit spending all my spare coins on knives. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> But, the side burner on my grill has been very handy for boiling water, cooking soup, etc. We have camping propane stoves and such if we needed. But, the gas burner is WAY better and much more convenient. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />
We lost about $50 - $100 of groceries from the fridge/freezer. But, ate much before it went bad. We should have saved more than that in electricity by now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> - Again, thankfully, it was nice last week. It was quite (unusually) pleasant. But, not so this weekend.
With Alicia in 83' it was HOT, sweaty and no running water. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
By comparison, this has been nice. But, lack of electricity has caused other financial work related problems that I won't get into right now. Some way or another it had to cost. Might have to sell some knives. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
For those who didn't fuel up before the storm, getting gas was a nightmare for a few days. I saw LONG lines for half a mile or so and heard stories of 6-8 hour wait times and many people still couldn't get gas as the stations would run dry. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> - Luckily, I fueled up in advance. I tried to tell friends to fuel up. I guess some don't know or head warnings.
Most stores were cleaned out of food. So, waiting till the last few hours is BAD. Some stores opened for limited hours and limited access by Monday or so. But, most stores didn't have full shelves. The supply chain was messed up and demand for certain items goes way up. Those who are prepared in advance and know better fair better than those who don't prepare and don't know better. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Anyway, myself and everyone I know is safe without injury. Some have home damage. Many trees down and such. But, most trees I saw somehow managed to fall away from most homes or not do terrible damage to homes. I have seen worse. But, it was/is still a BIG mess.
In spite of the fact that I don't have electricity right now, I am impressed by the work I have seen by people helping each other (mostly) and the city and utility companies getting everything up and running "reasonably" quickly. We have a tree down on one of our nearby above ground power lines. So, I assume that is the main delay for my street. But, I have seen quite a few areas around getting power over the last few days. I hope for it soon.
Edited side note: I was disappointed to notice that cell phone service went to CRAP til about yesterday. So, over a week with VERY poor service. MANY times I couldn't get a signal to call out. I was getting messages many hours after they were left, etc. I guess power outages affect cell phone towers and such, but I would have thought those towers would be backed up with generators and/or similar protection considering how people rely on their cell phone service these days. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
I guess plan on having CB (high-tech) technology for a back-up and make sure those you need to reach also have and can be reached via CB ..... or something (????)
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