Pegleg Starfish

I made it through Ike last night and as you can see the power here is already back on!  Last night at about 5:00 a.m. is when it really started getting nasty here.  The power went on and off about ten times and then finally went out at about 5:15 a.m.  It was REALLY windy and I couldn’t see anything out of my windows because it was so dark.  For whatever reason the clock radio wouldn’t work even after I put new batteries in it.  So I really had no idea what was happening.  I went back to sleep.  When I woke up at about 9:00 ish the power was still out.  I took Hurley out for a little walk and we assessed the damage at the apartment complex.  Nothing major, but tons of debris (branches, leaves, mulch, crap).  There also wasn’t a lot of standing water which is a good thing.  It seemed like it had rained and was still raining, but the wind was more of a factor than the water.  After Hurley and I did our walk about we came back to the apartment and decided to take a little drive.  I wanted to get a few pictures, but didn’t want to get my camera wet.  Plus Hurley loves riding in the car.  See…

Riding High

Yesterday T had asked me if Hurley was acting strange.  Some animals are supposed to be able to sense bad weather and will be on high alert even before the storm gets there.  The answer to that was NO.  He spent most of his day sleeping and chewing on his toys.  He was oblivious.   

This is a picture of the fence that used to be at the back of our apartment complex: 

Fence?

  This was a huge span of fence that was probably like 100 feet long.  And that’s purely an estimate.  I suck at estimating lengths and distances.  It could be 200 feet long for all I know.  Either way, it’s long and didn’t take the wind very well.  As you can see the fence blocks this water hole/bayou thing behind our apartment.  That is actually the same water hole where I took the little turtle, Lewis that I had rescued.  He probably got blown away last night.  Maybe not.  And normally, this water hole doesn’t have water in it.  Now it’s a lake.  But that’s good because that’s what it’s there for, to hold water. 

Deadly Flying Debris

Since the fence was gone I could see the car port that belongs to a nearby business.  The metal roof was ripped off.  Some of the panels had landed in the water hole (you can see the fence down in the foreground).  And some panels were still attached by a screw and were whipping around.  Flying sheets of metal can’t be good.  Moving on…

Timber!

Against T’s advice I left our apartment complex and took a little drive.  Everyone else was doin’ it.  And I took his SUV in case I had to drive over any trees or through any standing water.  Kidding.  There really wasn’t a lot of damage in this area.  LOTS of trees and branches, but it wasm’t like roofs were gone or anything.  This area hasn’t had this big of a storm for about 25 years so they were expecting there to be a lot of down trees and broken branches. 

Golf Course

This is a shot of some down trees at a golf course that is about a half mile from our apartment.  There were a bunch of branches and down trees throughout the golf course.  This was also one of the places where I noticed some standing water. 

Roof Damage

This is a shot of a neighborhood right across from the golf course.  This tree had cracked in two and part had landed on the roof.  The damage doesn’t look too bad, but it will be a lot of clean up!  Get those chain saws ready. 

Missing shingles

As I pulled back into our apartment complex from my short drive I noticed that a lot of the houses in the subdivision next to us had lost some big sections of shingles. 

Something else that I noticed was that a lot of the little bushes at our apartment had been stripped of their leaves.  Some of the smaller trees were “barkless”.  So yeah, it was freakin’ windy. 

All in all the damage in my area seems pretty minimal.  As for the people in Galveston and the towns near there- not so much.  Lot’s of damage and tons of debris.  I don’t think it turned out to be as bad as they had predicted, but Ike was a pretty big storm. 

I’m anxious to take a drive out to the house that we may possibly be putting an offer in on Monday.  I hope that’s it’s Ok, but if it was going to take a beating I rather it not belong to me quite yet.  We shall see.

All in all…it was kind of exciting last night with the crazy wind, but it wasn’t actually that bad (in my area).    I’m glad that I was only without power for a few hours!  It will be interesting to watch the clean up progress in Galveston and here in Houston. 

I feel much more prepared for the next one; which is a good thing.  And I can survive a hurricane by myself!  Yeah me!  Remember that T is a billion miles away in Africa.

Have a great day everyone!  I hope you and your family are safe and sound! 

J

***Anyone who is trying to call me:  it’s hit and miss.  My phone has crappy reception anyway at my apartment and the lines are overloaded right now.  If you can’t get a hold of me just email me instead.