I’m waiting eagerly to see if Hurricane Ike will come through here. Originally Ike was predicted to turn south after it hit the Texas coast, then predicted to come straight through Austin, and now it’s predicted to veer sharply northeast. We aren’t even certain to get any rain, let alone any “interesting” weather. I hope they’re just wrong about that — why should it make a sharp right like that? It has gradually been clouding up today as the storm approaches and we may get some rain from the edges of the storm even if the main storm goes elsewhere. Rain just does a better job than sprinklers, so I’m hoping for a good steady rain — I can pass on roof-destroying hail and tornadoes. (We’ve been watering all summer and a lot of stuff was half dead until we had a couple of inches over a few days about a month ago. Then all the flowers went “Zowie!” and burst into bloom again.) We’re at the top of a hill so it can rain all it likes, as far as I’m concerned.
I understand the National Weather Service is telling people around Galveston that if they stay, they “face certain death”, and yet some people figure they’ll ride it out. I think the NWS made a mistake throwing down the gauntlet that way. Texas has a lot of pretty ornery people. They should have said that Ike has the power to confer zombie-hood, and anyone who doesn’t want to spend eternity eating brains should evacuate.
Along the highway, signs on the northbound side direct refugees, and on the southbound side, warn us not to go to Houston. Usually that’s just common sense — I normally avoid Houston at all costs, but seeing that sign did make me think it would be interesting to go to Houston and see some weather. No, I’m not going to — like I have time anyway.
Your patterns are so beautiful. It's so nice knowing how much floss I need, and the patterns are so easy to read.
From Sharon
15 years, 7 months agoI hope all is well & you got the rain you wanted. In Missouri we got a lot of wind & several hrs. of hard rain. I was surprised at the many places that were flooded.
From Meredith
15 years, 7 months agoWe got absolutely no rain. None! It was a little windy Saturday night and Sunday, and that was all. Yesterday was cooler than usual, and sunny and dry — a good day for drying laundry. This morning we woke to 65 degrees — what a gift! All the windows are open for the first time in months and the cats keep going from window to window to check the smells they’ve been cut off from all summer.
From Lani
15 years, 7 months agoWe actually live in a suburb north of Houston. We just moved here two years ago from Nevada, so this is the first time I have gone through anything like this. We did, however, get lots and lots of rain! It rained all day Saturday from Ike, and then we had a huge thunderstorm come through on Saturday night which brought a ton of rain. Everyone we know made it through Ike all right. Our house is just fine. We had a Magnolia tree blow over, but we pushed it upright, and so far so good with the tree. Other than that, we just had to clean up a few branches. One of our neighbors had a tree come down into their yard and take out their fence in three places, but no damage to their house. There are a lot of downed trees. We lost power from Saturday morning until late Tuesday night, but it was estimated we would be out of power for 3-4 weeks, so we were thrilled to get it back! I could not believe the images of Galveston when we were finally able to watch the news. There are still people with no running water or power, and huge lines to wait for supplies. It was strange to get all of your information from either relatives in other cities on cell phones or a battery-operated radio!