We like (?) Ike

Actually, I think most of us didn't like Ike at all.

Somewhere around Henderson, Texas Hurricane Ike was downgraded to a tropical storm. I don't recall hearing of a hurricane actually making it that far north before but Ike did.

I was at work Saturday when the weather started deteriorating but I managed to get a few short videos with my digital camera. By the time these vids were taken a good portion of Longview had no power and the store where I work was on back-up power, which means some of the lights worked and the registers worked but most of my equipment didn't. I couldn't make any emergency lattes but did serve what was left of the coffee I'd brewed before the power went out.

Amazingly, in the middle of this horrible weather, people were coming into the store, many with their little children. I have to admit to wondering whether or not those parents should even have kids. Who in their right mind goes shopping and takes their kids in wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour? Truly, I wonder about people at times and Saturday was definitely one of those times.



The winds start in, not too bad but gusting at high speeds now and then.



Now the wind is blowing like this all the time.



The wind and rain got worse than this but I could take only so many videos.

Our office was without power for only about 18 hours and the store where I work was without for less than that. As of this morning, 60,000 East Texas residents were still electricity-free but crews are hard at work trying to restore power.

If you'd like to read more about damage done in our area and see some great photos and videos, go to the Tyler Morning Telegraph's site.

A quickie windy video

We still aren't seeing much but radar shows that the bad weather is just now almost on us. Here's a little video, taken outside the shop, showing what the minor wind is doing right now. So far, so good. I have to head to work soon because even in horrific weather someone might need an emergency Latte!!

The clouds are rolling in

We woke up to a very overcast morning. The clouds from what's left of Hurricane Ike are really rolling in and they're moving incredibly fast. We've had a little rain but not much and if it continues at this speed we won't have a lot of rain, I don't think.

We have a customer in our waiting room right now from Bridge City in Orange County. He says his home there has 9 feet of water in it! He isn't sure when they'll be able to go back home but it will be at least a couple of days. 9 feet of water! I can't imagine going through flooding like that and I hope I never find out just what that's like.

Pssst, got any D batteries on ya?

We went to Wing Stop for dinner tonight and decided to get some batteries while we were out and about. The traffic was horrible! We passed a Wal-Mart Supercenter and decided not to stop there because the entire parking lot was packed. So we went to several stores looking for D batteries but every store had none! Most of the stores didn't even have any flashlights left, much less the batteries for them. Finally, we went to Target and there we found the D batteries we wanted. We also picked up some 'emergency chips' and 'crisis salsa'. Yeah, it's just an excuse to get chips and salsa but it works. ;)

It rained earlier and we have a lot of clouds. This isn't part of Ike but it's gulf coast moisture that Ike is pushing out of that area and into ours. Very bad weather is predicted for tomorrow and Sunday and I heard that Jacksonville, Texas is without power tonight. Apparently their power is from Houston.

My man person's brother and his family decided to ride out the storm at their home in Pearland. We're a little nervous about that but he felt it was the thing to do. When Hurricane Rita threatened their area they spent close to 20 hours in traffic during evacuation and they don't want to go through that again. I can't say that I blame them but years ago I rode out a Cat 2 hurricane that wasn't nearly as large as Ike and that was enough to make me say "Never again".

I'm not sure what to expect from all this Ike business. We hear contradictory reports ranging from we'll get a little rain and a little wind to we'll be slammed with flooding, 75 mph winds, and power outages. Of course, we hope its the former and we're prepared for the latter.

Thursday drivel

My man person's brother and his family live in Pearland, which is on Ike's projected path. The brother is working up North right now but is flying in this afternoon to gather his family and leave. Earlier this morning he said they were going to head west but now he isn't sure about that since it's the evacuation path and driving it might very well be nightmarish. They might go north, ending up in our area, or they might go east to Louisiana where more of the family is. So, say a prayer for Ed and his family as they decide where to go.

We went out looking for garage sales this morning and found none but we did find an estate sale. They had a few things we could use but like most estate sales here the prices were just too high so we didn't buy a thing.

Since the garage sale hunt didn't take much of our time and I had no new pretties to play with, I worked on the candy project this morning but my camera is giving me fits so no pictures yet. The stuff looks and tastes great, though, and maybe I'll get that camera to cooperate tonight.

In work related news, I close tonight and open in the morning so I won't get a lot of sleep. I don't like shifts so close together but it happens sometimes and right now we're so short handed there isn't much else to do. So I'll suck it up and take it.

At any rate, it's almost time for me to get ready for work so here's to a good Thursday!

The rain finally left and...

soon we'll have more from Hurricane Ike. I hope he weakens out there in the gulf rather than strengthens but time will tell.

Tonight's dinner was a chicken I baked in the convection oven and potatoes, carrots, and onions that were baked in the bird's juices. It was quite good and there's enough left for the man person to have for lunch...or for me to take to work, assuming I beat him to the punch. Mwaahahaha!

After our dinner I worked on a candy making project I've undertaken. I'll get a few pictures of the candy and post them. It's turning out very well and so far the people who've eaten it have raved about it.

I work Thursday from 1 PM to about 10 PM so I'll prepare dinner before I go. I'm not sure yet what it will be but it's more than likely going to be chicken of some variety, a nice vegetable, and a salad.

Now if I can just think of some new and exciting (or at least different) way to prepare chicken. Ideas, anyone?