hurricane ike part two

i'm really not sure why i started this running timeline of hurricane ike. probably out of sheer boredom sunday evening. but, now that i'm online for a few minutes, i'll post it here for posterity. i'll split the timeline by each day and post them seperately. i started with friday evening / saturday, so keep scrolling until you find part one.

Sunday, 6:30 am
My parents start to leave for Trinity. We’re worried that the cows are out and that the RV is turned upside down. Or worse. Dad’s truck gets stuck in the backyard. I try to pull it out with my truck. No such luck.

8 am
My parents leave in my truck. I go back to bed. Not really tired, but what else is there to do?

10 am
Neighbor knocks on the door. We have water! I take a shower.

11 am
I decide to head to Tomball in my mom’s blazer… Again, what else is there to do? I throw my laptop in with me, hoping for power at Starbucks so that I can use their Wi-Fi. Target, Lowes, HEB, and Wal-Mart are the only places open. Water is really high on 2920 just before Tomball – but that’s not unusual when we get a ton of rain. Power seems to be out in most of Tomball. The signal lights are ripped down and hanging at some intersections. Can’t find Wi-Fi; not even in the hotel parking lot. Other than no power, Tomball seems to have fared well. Nothing interesting happening, so I head home the opposite way I came to check things out. Loooong line at the tool rental place; they must have generators left. Or people are renting bulldozers and such to clean up the mess.

Noon
Get home. Read some more. Finish my book. Take a nap. Listen to the radio – find out that Klein ISD won’t open until at least Thursday the 18th. I suspect it could be longer, but I guess it depends on how quickly power is restored.

3 pm
My parents get home. Amy and Glenn come over to pull my dad’s truck out of the mud. We stand around and chat. They leave as Kim and the kids pull up. We chat. After they leave, we warm up leftovers on the grill.

7 pm
Sit around and listen to the radio for awhile. I’m jealous of my friends that text and say “we have power!!” We still speculate that it will be a few days for us – there is nothing of priority around us to put us at the top of any “list”. No hospitals, schools, or shopping centers. Our food is definitely at the end of it’s life – even in the fridge and freezer. It’s not really cool in either one of those anymore.

8 pm
Head back to my room and my open window to read. Hoping that “cool” front the weathermen are promising hurries up!