Wow I can't believe I am actually back! It has been over two weeks since I was last online. So here is my hurricane story if anyone is interested. First of all I want to thank Kris for her concern. She tried very hard to get in touch with me and I appreciate the concern so much. Kris you are a good friend girl. Okay in the early morning hours of September 13th we lost power at 2:30 AM. My husband stayed up all night until 7am watching the storm blow in. I tried to sleep but the sounds were terrifying to say the least. I have never heard anything so scary in my life. The wind was wild and you could hear crashes and bangs constanly. I kept thinking this is it our roof is about to go. Dh came in our room at 5am to let me know our fence was gone. The kids slept like babies through it all. Our house didn't get any damage thank God. Many of our friends an neighbors had major roof damage. Parts of roofs totally missing with rain water pouring in. We drove around our neighborhood the next day and it was trashed. Power lines in the road, on houses, in trees, on cars. Fences gone everywhere. Huge pine trees ripped from the ground. Some people were lucky and the trees fell in the road. Some weren't so lucky - we saw many trees had landed right in the middle of people's homes. We spent the first few days cleaning debris from our yard and making ice for neighbors. We have a generator and were able to run both fridges, both freezers and a small window unit that we put in the kitchen. We took the mattresses off the beds and moved them to the living room and front office in our home. That is where we slept for the next 14 days. We started to run out of gas for the generator. Our neighbor went to his boat and siphoned out 40 gallons of gas. After a few days we needed to get out of the house so we took a drive to Brenham and were able to get gas with no lines. But had to drive almost 2 hours to get it. No grocery stores were open and there was just nothing but chaos. We spent a lot of time with neighbors, helping each other, visiting and we even celebrated my husband's birthday the Wednesday after the storm. The kids made homemade cards, we hung up left over decorations from the kids bdays and made blueberry muffins (the only thing we had) in my friends outdoor propane kitchen. Boy was he surprised! That was a birthday to remember from sure. We finally got power back on Friday night - 14 days without power or phone service. I totally felt cutoff from the world. Even my cell phone wouldn't work. Every know and then I was able to send out a text but it was very hit and miss. I basically had to stand in the middle of the road and walk up and down the street until I finally got a slight signal and then had to try to send it about 20 times before it would work. So it was pretty much hell for a while. However I feel so very blessed. Let me tell you why....... Because I have a home. We didn't lose one single shingle. So many people right now have nothing but the clothes on their backs. Having a home with no power for 14 days is so much better than not having a home at all. My family was kept safe. We had a generator and were able to make ice for people and keep our food and some of our neighbors food from spoiling. So we lost a fence - so what. My husband rebuilt it in a week. Better than loosing a roof, a whole house or even worse a loved one. I had hot water! Praise God and was able to shower. I also want to send out a HUGE thank you to all the people that helped us get back to some what normal. There were POD stations set up giving out food, water and ice. After a while we began to run out of food and had spent any money we had on gas. Those POD stations were a welcome sight. We were able to get what we needed there. Also the Red Cross totally rocks! They set up at the POD sight and gave out hot meals and sodas. Man that was good food and such a welcome blessing. I have an electric stove so I couldn't cook at all. I so appreciate all the people who came from all over the nation and Canada to help get power restored. Yes it took 14 days from me to get power but those people worked around the clock and did the bext they could. When I would see one of their trucks I would give them a biig thanks right out the window. A few of my neighbors went to hand out water to people working in my area. I also need to thank my best friend Kandi. She cooked us hot meals and washed my clothes!!! She was only without power for 5 days. Through all of this you really see what is important and what isn't. We are now better friends with our neighbors. We all came together and helped each other out. We even went to worship last Sunday in a hot church with no power to praise God for what we do have. I missed you all very much and am so glad to be back here at the Spot. I am also really glad to not be sleeping in the living room anymore!! Oh boy when those lights came on I danced and screamed and yelled and we had a party Friday night with neighbors to celebrate. Glad to be back!
Just a bit of hurricane humor. Hurricane Education: What I've learned during our last hurricane . . .. 1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill. 2. No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity. 3. My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you can ask the people in line who helped me push it). 4. Kids can survive 4 days or longer without a video game controller in their hand. 5. Cats are even more irritating without power. 6. He who has the biggest generator wins. 7. Women can actually survive without doing their hair- you just wish they weren't around you. 8. A new method of non-lethal torture- showers without hot water. 9. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought. 10. TV is an addiction and the withdrawal symptoms are painful. 11. A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz Budweiser's to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for 8 more hours. 12. There are a lot of dang trees around here. 13. Flood plane drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong.. 14. Aluminum siding, while aesthetically pleasing, is definitely not required. 15. Crickets can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14 generators. 16. People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for. 17. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float, doesn't steer well but floats just the same. 18. Tele-marketers function no matter what the weather is doing. 19. Cell phones work when land lines are down, but only as long as the battery remains charged. 20. 27 of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out! 21. Hampers were not made to contain such a volume. 22. If my store sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators.. . I'd be rich. 23. Price of a can of soup rises 200% in a storm. 24. Your water front property can quickly become someone else's fishing hole. 25. Tree service companies are under appreciated. 26. I learned what happens when you make fun of another states' blackout. 27. MATH 101: 30 days in month, minus 6 days without power equals 30% higher electric bill????? 28. Drywall is a compound word, take away the "dry" part and it's worthless. 29. I can walk a lot farther than I thought.
Yaay!! I'm glad you are back! You've been thought about and asked about on here! Jen Erix and Kris have posted what they could but it's good to actually hear from you! I would love to hear your kiddos reactions when you get a chance!
So glad you guys made it through without injury, property damage, etc!! I'll have to have DD10 read about her penpal's hurricane story!! Rhonda C.
I took some photos of our backyard but of course haven't been able to upload them as of yet. I'll post them sometime soon.
'Good to see you back, Tiffany! Good to see that your great sense of humor survived! And good to hear how prayers were answered! What an experience!
Very glad to hear that you are ok. I will be praying for those who have lost everything...I couldn't imagine!
Yay, you're okay!!!!!!! I'm glad to hear everything went well. We have alot of friends working out there. My dh was going to go, but he just came home from AK and I wasn't ready for him to leave again. Did you take pictures???
I'm glad to see you made it through ok, and so glad you are back. We've been praying for you and everyone who's been involved with that storm. Glad you house didn't suffer any damage.
sounds like how we were for katrina! the lines to get in the grocery store with an armed guard made it feel very third world. and the signs that said "you loot, we shoot". it does bring a sense of community though. through all the mess, all of you go through it together. disasters bring out either the best or the worst in all of us.
Your list is so funny. I love it. I am so glad to see you back and to read your story and know you are all okay. Beth
Congrats! Congratulations. We moved from KY to Louisiana in Feb., and we went through Gustav. We didn't come out quite so lucky. We had a tree fall on our home. We were all fine, but my kids still get scared when it starts to rain. Our insurance company is not helpful, and they came in 9,000 under the lowest repair estimate we got. So 29 days later, we are all not feeling well from mold and the house looks exactly the same. We lost our master bedroom, part of my school room, and my oldest son's curriculum. ( I hope that doesn't sound negative, but really we feel really blessed. It just been a very long month and I am trying to figure out exactly what our options are. ) When we saw Ike's path, we prayed for everyone in it's path. I am glad you didn't have much damage, and I am happy you got your power back on. Didn't you want to hug your power guys? Have A GREAT day! Tara Mom to ds11, ds9, ds7, and dd 3
Tara - what curriculum and grade level were you using? Maybe some of us have some of it and could help you out with it.
I am glad for you and yours to be safe and together!! Your list is fantastic! I know some of the power company men sent from Wisconsin to help... dh went to Florida when Hurricane Charlie hit there to fix power. Again, very glad to read your post!
Ladies I have to let you all know that I did not write that list. I received it in an email from a friend. But I thought it was so funny and so true. I should probably sit down and make my own list too. I was stuck in traffic right before Gustav hit trying to get back to Texas from North Carolina. I am so sorry that you had to go through such damage Tara. That sounds like my neighbors only a tree didn't hit, the roof just blew off. She is pregnant and due next month with their first child. They lost their bedroom and bathroom totally from water damage. The whole ceiling fell in onto the floor. They got a new roof put on today but they now need to rip out all the drywall in most of the house because of mold. So like I said, I fell blessed. I don't wish any of this on anyone. It sucked!
