After Ike Part 2

This is part of the tree that fell down across the entry to the property you can barely see the top of the tree resting on the front gate
This is the same tree but a view from the other end...the truck...pulled up by the roots...this is also the tree that took out the electric line that feeds power to the property
This is Joshua standing in front of the tree...it's just a little visual to help show you the size of the tree
The tree across the front driveway entrance...hides the view of the house
This is a view front the backyard ... this tree blocks the view of the back of the house...it is also lined with trees on both sides and then behind me....There are so many other pictures but I think you get the point.

After Ike

We Prepared...We Waited...We Saw...We Left...

Ike has since left Texas but his aftermath will be felt for some time.

First let me say ...I have really no news on my beach house. From what I know I can't get in and the roads are not passable. I have heard from the reports that the area is devastated so I'm not really expecting the house to be standing. In all honestly I would prefer that instead of dealing with a home full of water that needs repair. I'm hoping to be able to get into the area on Tuesday.

Our Governor has said regarding the West End of Galveston...don't come back, there's nothing here...it will be a couple weeks before you can get in. My beach home is only a few miles up the coast from that area. A nice 20 minute drive.

As far as my country home. It looks like a war zone. We lost around 20 tress, not too mention lots of tops of trees, branches and just tree limbs everywhere. As far as clean up, my home got the worse in the neighborhood. My only damage is one of the roll down doors on the shop and then the freezers and frig and all the contents.

We also lost power lines and I also lost the line that supplies power to the house. They are thinking 2 weeks before it is fixed. Needless to say not a fun thing to be without (A/C) in the state of Texas. The front part of my neighborhood (an acreage area) has electricity but not the back part of the neighborhood, which of course I'm in. It's like night and day from the front part to the back part...they barely received any damages....by the front part of the neighborhood you would of never known a storm rolled through.

I had a generator going to help my freezers and frig but then it starting leaking gas this morning...which of course needed to be turned off. By then I had, had it...I called Jennifer and said...do you have electricity yet...her reply no and I'm hot...I then said...are you ready for a road trip? She was like...where are we going? I said anywhere with A/C .She was game but Paul elected to stay behind. I packed a bag by flashlight, loaded myself in the truck, told my neighbor I'm leaving if you see looters shoot first then ask questions...called my brother in Jacksonville and said I'm heading 59 South towards Corpus or Mexico see if you can find me a place to stay. Which he did.

Jennifer, Howie (her dog) and myself are now in a nice Holiday Inn with A/C on 65, a shower and right now...life is good. The hotel gave us a 20% discount since we are "evacuees...which was nice but also weird at the same time to be considered an evacuee. There is no one here in Corpus, it's like any other day here. Know one left town this way along the coast...after all, it was thought Ike might make his stop here at first.

I've tried to load my pictures of my home but for some reason they won't load so I will have to show you later. The pictures are just unbelievable. Clean up will probably take us at least a month if worked on daily.

Today we have rain and more is expected so that doesn't help. Here's a little countdown of the last few days.

The Ike Countdown:

Wednesday 9/10 boarded up beach house

Thursday 9/11 got wood for country home started boarding home

Friday 9/12 finished boarding home and waiting Ikes arrival(and Happy Birthday Tammy)...that evening around 6 the wind starts rolling in, leaves blowing everywhere ...as the night goes on more winds.

Saturday 9/13 2:30 am we loose power..3 am power comes back on...3:05 am until 3:15 we loose power on and off..at 3:30 we loose power completely (apparently that is when the tree fell across the power line...the winds are loud and the house sounds differently...at 5 am, I can't stand it, I have to know what is going on, I look outside and all there is ...is blackness since there are no lights and the wind is strong...I turn the flash light on a look at the back yard and all I see is a line of tress down in the yard and I'm over come. At 6:30 there is finally light outside and I open to see I can't believe my eyes the devastation in my back yard and then I go to the front which is not as bad but still a mess...and then I see a huge tree that is across my drive at the entrance and leaning on and across the gate blocking the way in..or other words..."No Way Out" and power lines down. My son, a neighbor boy Joshua's age and a neighbor man moved the lines and cut the tree down so we could get out. The rest of the day is just unbelief.

Sunday 9/14 after sleeping one night without power left for Corpus and now happy with A/C but very curious to to know and see the area surrounding the beach house and having the question answered..."Standing or Not Standing" I need to know for sure.

I will keep in touch and hopefully will be able to post pictures soon. Hopefully I can figure that out with this lap top...my home computer will be down for some time.

Love to you All and thank you for your love, prayes, concern and phone calls.

Ikes Effects

Just another little update while I'm able to do so...we are just starting to feel the winds from Ike where we are...the winds aren't real strong, maybe about 25 miles but leaves are blowing of the trees and such....it actually feels good. The trees are moving back and forth and Josh and I are picking out which trees we think are gonna fall. We should have a nice clean up project here. Of course as stated before...we expect to loose the beach house...most houses in my area are close to having water inside and lots already do...you can't get in or out unless it would be by boat...the area is completely flooded. Will post again when I can. Take care!

Ike Update

Just wanted you all to know that I'm not having my permanent home in the country boarded...the eye is suppose to come right next to me and at a Cat 3 so we're preparing...I have also decided to shelter in place so I won't be leaving. Josh and Jessy are staying here at the house as well. Not sure when the next time will be that I can get on line. I plan on loosing electricity sometime late tomorrow night.

The beach house is going to almost take a direct hit the way it looks right now. the area is closed and they expected the water to be over the Hwy in front of my house this evening. This should be very interesting...2 homes to worry about. I guess as my blog say..."It Is What It Is"!

I will keep you all posted as soon as I can. Be safe!

Mandatory Evacuation

I woke up this morning with a text message from Tammy saying I just heard on the news that they are evacuating Brazoria County. Brazoria County is the county the beach house is located in. So, I jump out of bed to turn on the news thinking what the hell happened during the night while I was sleeping. I get the news on and they say Brazoria County has a voluntary evacuation but those in the zip code of _____ in Brazoria County there is a "Mandatory" evacuation. Which that was me. So I was thinking if this is mandatory I may not be able to get to the house tomorrow as I had planned so I better go now and take care of getting the house ready for Ike. So I threw on clothes and took off. It only took me a couple hours but I got it done ...but it did wear me out some. So if something happens I'm now prepared as much as I can be and if it doesn't then as the ole' saying goes better safe than sorry.

They called the mandatory evacuation because if Ike stays on track we will get the dirty side of the storm and they are expecting 13-15 foot storm surge. The storm could still turn north some and if it does it just brings it a little closer to my area of the beach.

So, for any of you wondering what's going on...that's it...I guess this one I won't be able to see until after it's over....no pictures of the wave action. I have Colton this evening so I couldn't stay at the house until tomorrow. It was a nice day today but hot. I'm hoping tomorrow if they don't have the town locked town I can go back for an hour or so and just see what the beach is doing. But I have a feeling that isn't going to happen.

I'll keep you posted as I know more. Until next time...Robin

Hurricane Ike

Looks like Texas is about to receive another unwelcome visitor. I guess this is what it's like to have a place on the coast...watch..wait...see...prepare. Not one of my favorite things. It's a little nerve wrecking to ask...should I or shouldn't?

So...I think I should. I guess Thursday I'm gonna go to the house and put up the hurricane panels just to be on the safe side. Even if we don't take a hit the storm is predicted to be pretty big and we could get a lot of storm surge and stuff. Plus I have a busy day planned Friday and won't have time to take care of this and Colton will be spending the night as well so I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

There's a part of me that would like to be at the beach house to see what the water and all will be doing but I'll have that grand baby and that won't be the place for him.

I will keep you posted on what is happening in our area and think of me as I'm putting up those hurricane panels Thursday....not a day I'm looking forward to.

Happy Labor Day Gustav

Happy Labor Day!

I'm at The Beach House still and it's very nice with what we're getting from Gustav...Nice wave action and a breeze. The sun is out now in full force. It's a nice day to spend at the beach.

So...I'll share with you what it looks like here.

The first picture is of my Grand-Dog Howie...he belongs to Jen and Paul. He's standing on the beach where normally cars drive...the water is coming up that high.

Here is what the wave action looked like at the beach this morning.

This what it looked like this morning while sitting on the deck with my latte just enjoying the morning. The sun was trying to break through the clouds.