Take a hike, Ike!

[Deborah King]

I don't remember Eisenhower much--I was just a little kid when he was president. I'll remember his namesake, though! Here's our story:

We lost water, landline and cell phones, and of course, electricity and internet, after about 4:00 AM Saturday. The last to come back was electricity, as of Thursday night. Ken went to Chicago on the Monday before the hurricane for business, and got stuck up there. Aw, gee--HE didn't have to hide in the bathroom with the dogs and parrot! I've been through 3 hurricanes (over 75 mph), and a couple of major tropical storms (up to 74 mph) before--this one wasn't playing around.

Continental wasn't able to give him a flight into IAH until 5:00 AM on Tuesday, so I found an American flight into DFW. I drove up Sunday for a quick round-trip, and picked up gas, ice, water, batteries, and food along the way. Sure was glad to see him! (Who in the blank laid out that airport, anyway? What a mess trying to pick up someone!) He was able to retrieve his car from the IAH parking lot on Monday, so we were in pretty good shape. The water is still supposed to be unsafe, but we have plenty of water jugs from a Dallas Wally-World. Surprisingly, we never lost natural gas, so once the water came back, I was able to get a real hot shower! Incidentally, we thought we were prepared--I had batteries, stockpiled drinking water and food, filled a bathtub with water for flushing toilets, had full gas tanks on both cars, dug out the flashlights and lantern, etc. It wasn't enough.

BTW, I didn't find electricity or gas until mile-marker 197 (we live at 92). Fortunately I had plenty of gas to get to Dallas, so I wasn't worried. It does give you an idea of the extent of the storm, though.

Guess what? Our MINI saved the day! I went up with 3 large ice chests, and came back with them, Ken's large suitcase, 10 gallon jugs of water, another lantern, and all kinds of miscellaneous junk. She really hauled! And when we got her back in the garage, she did double duty as a power source. Ken had an inverter that ran the refrigerator (sort of), and some family room lights. Zippeee! (that's her given name) idled about 1 1/2 hours per period, then got a reprieve for about 6 hours, and then back in service. Too bad it wasn't quite enough for the food, though. The power was off one day too long.

Our infamous 9 month old GPS (we called her Georgette, as in Georgette of Pure Sh1t) finally conked out its last on the way to Dallas--something broke off, thank Heavens. We stopped in at the Grapevine Best Buy, and explained the series of problems we'd had. Of course, their first reaction was to tell us to send it back to Garmin, which would have been perfectly reasonable. Apparently that model was known for problems, though, and we looked pitiful enough, so when Ken talked to the manager we got a brand new one--better model and all! Talk about great service! If you're at the store, please let them know we're spreading the word (and will let the Best Buy home office know, too).

We had no structural damage--just a whole lotta tree branches down. I saw lines 2 MILES long of people waiting for water and ice--we're nearly 100 miles north of the coast! It really hit hard in the town 5 miles down the road, according to the cop who lives across the street. I haven't had a chance to see, yet.

Anyone hear from the rest of the Houston contingent?

[Pat Daily]

Deb

Glad you and your family are safe and am sorry for the loss of the trees. It must have been one big hurricane. Take care.

Pat

[Deborah King]

Yes, it was, Pat. And I spoke too soon about the power--we lost it again for about 12 hours yesterday. I don't know if they were hooking up more people, or simply couldn't handle the load with damaged equipment. We lost internet for 24 hours, too.

I am hearing such horror stories about the assistance after the storm. People are waiting in line for 6 to 8 hours with very little results. On television, a woman was interviewed--she'd waited for 8 hours in a food voucher line, and received less than $50 to replace everything in her refrigerator--for a month! She is disabled, too.

FEMA has finally come to Houston. They opened one office, open 9-6 each day (including Saturday and Sunday). How they plan to service hundreds of thousands of people during these hours is beyond me. Even getting the process started requires hours in line. Didn't they learn from Katrina? In fairness, they may have opened other locations since the news reports, but still... So many people have to work days, and just can't come during those hours!

[charles kourmpates]

Debra,

My Mini Cooper friend!

As you probably know, Paula and I have our Florida, Palm Beach Gardens, condo up for sale. We're shopping for a house.

Certainly it wouldn't be much of a weather change from Texas, but you're welcome to use the place for some R&R.

It's in a great location, all upscale, and there's plenty going on in the area.

Just let me know?

Yes, of course it's free!

The listing agent has better photos!

http://members.aol.com/geebeezz/condophotosb.jpg

Best I can do without having to send money!