Pic of our house pre Ike as the storm is approaching:
Below: our neighbors across the street boarded their windows, which survived the storm. Unfortunately, it was their roof that ended up with a tree through it when all was said and done.
Here are some ominous pics of Ike getting closer:
Below: Jon is surveying the weather ...
Jon and I are sticking together:
The wind is beginning to pick up! By the way, take into consideration I do not wear makeup in emergency situations:
Time to start getting worried:
Late Friday night, Ike rolled in, and after a few teases, our power finally went out for the last time. None of us, dogs included, slept more than a few hours that night ... between the howling winds, snapping trees, electrical explosions and rain, anxiety was high. We could hardly see what was happening around us since it was dark, and that added to the frustration and insecurity.
There was a point the eye of the hurricane passed directly over us, and we were able to go outside and observe the damage. We had neighbors with trees in their houses and other problems, and the storm was only half finished, so it was a bit nervewracking (for those of you who haven't been to our house, we back up to a nature reserve, which is like a little forest of mature trees ... a.k.a. a hurricane's arsenal). It was amazing how very still and quiet it grew -- very eery. Even the wild creatures started to emerge from the reserve; "No!" I said. "Go back to your shelters! Don't be fooled; it's not over yet!" I hope they understood my urgency. Because Ike was such a massive storm, the radio said the eye would take about an hour to pass, so we went back in to get a little sleep while it was calm.
At daylight, we went out to see the aftermath. Downed trees, light poles, brick fences and phone/power lines blocked most roads, but seeing some homes, we got the general idea of how fortunate we were to have made it through with only minor water damage due to our roof getting roughed up and losing some shingles, etc. Back home, we enjoyed the last of our semi-chilled foods and liquids, since the power remained unavailable. After the Jakubs made it home, they found their home relatively undisturbed -- yay!
We couldn't get close enough to the really bad stuff to get pics, but here's a small taste of some of what we saw and could get pics of that day:
Through the rest of the weekend, Jon got out and patched up our roof (which was good, because we ended up having some nasty rainstorms not long afterward), repaired our fences, cleaned our yard, helped right neighbors' trees and helped our friends the Starks rip out drywall, insulation and carpet (they lost four big trees and had a neighbor's tree fall into their house, causing some pretty significant damage). Go Jon! Me? Well, let's just say I got away with not doing much other than light clean up due to the pregnancy.
Sunday evening, Jon started the first of his 13-hour night shifts to restart the nation's largest refinery. We'd lost water, as well, at that point, so we had to get creative with the showering situation, but he made it in to work fairly clean but not so rested. When he came home to sleep the next morning, I knew this routine would be difficult on both of us, although, thankfully our water did return with a standard boil order.
At night, it was just me and Nestle with no power (no lights, limited cell use due to lack of charging opportunities and windows open to keep the house cool in prep for Jon having to sleep during the bright day led to a lack in feeling particularly safe), and during the day, I had to stay very quiet and keep the house dark so Jon could sleep. God did send the blessing of unseasonably pleasant weather throughout that first week, so that did help ease our discomfort. Jon had to adjust to working under high-stress circumstances for very long hours at night and coming home exhausted to a warm house with a lot of light and try to sleep. We also only had pantry food to eat, which meant items like canned chilli (thank God we have a gas stove, though our gas oven wouldn't work due to safety mechanisms), raw pop tarts, granola bars, crackers, etc. We'd thrown out about three garbage backs full of perishable items -- quite painful. We really didn't see each other for more than about 30 minutes a day that week, and during that time he was usually showering and scarfing down some snack before going back to work. I read a lot of books and took a lot of walks with Nes, and I did have some neighbors with generators who fed me some more substantial meals and some who let me come hang out in air conditioning and enjoy company from time to time (thanks to our cul-de-sac group, the Elliots, the Starks and the Buntings!).
At any rate, Friday, Sept. 19, as part of a scheduled last trip before I'm grounded, my mom flew down, and the two of us and Nes drove back to Kansas Saturday to stay for a couple of weeks. Despite my extra motivation to get where electricity flowed like honey (the temp started to creep up to the 90s toward the end of that week) and loved ones waited to pamper me, I found it very hard to leave Jon, whom I'd barely seen of late and wouldn't again see for weeks to come. Originally, I scheduled my Kansas trip around his recruiting trip back to K-State, so I would have spent some time with him in Kansas, but his restart work schedule caused the cancellation of his trip back. Also, he was scheduled to leave for the east coast for training the week I returned from Kansas, so I was looking at approximately four weeks without him, and that wasn't sitting well with me.
So, to condense, I went to Kansas, and Jon stayed here in Houston to work. He was on his crazy shifts for two weeks, but he had a very notably successful run of it and did get some positive experiences out of the whole ordeal. Turns out it really was a good thing I left no later than I did, because the weather returned to its regular blazing glory, and our area ended up going without power for a whopping 16 days. Jon said it was like involuntarily camping in a giant tent, which is pretty much what our house became for that time period.
In the end, when my mom and I (and Nes) drove back to Houston Sunday, Oct. 5, we returned to a house with power, albeit in disarray and still completely bare of any perishable foodstuffs, and Jon was back to a normal working schedule. I was also grateful that Jon cancelled his trip to the east coast so he could be with me after a long stint without one another.
In a personal but too-funny-not-to-share instance, we came face to face with reality. I got in very late Sunday evening, but Jon and I wanted to do some reuniting, of course. Keep in mind My belly had gotten bigger and I less comfortable in the weeks we'd been apart, so trying to be alluring was a bit awkward to say the least. When we finally worked out the logistics and were enjoying each other's company, I heard an unpleasantly familiar sound in my ear ... the dog was preparing to vomit on us in bed. So picture (or don't if it frightens you) this pregnant girl, lumbering and unbalanced, freaking out and hurtling off a bed in panic mode, attempting to wrench away her oldish, somewhat fragile dog into a vomit-safe zone of the room without breaking him while trying all the while not to injure her vulnerable bystander husband physically or emotionally (would he ever find me attractive again after such a sight?). Anyway, I got Nes off the bed but not as far as the bathroom, so I had to then clean up the vomit, comfort the dog and then try to erase the previous chaos and resume a romantic atmosphere with my hubby "Now where were we?" I'm sure some part of this will help us prepare for the many inconvenient interruptions of parenthood, anyway.
