Hard to explain

We have survived the aftermath of hurricane Ike. Quite frankly, although things are a mess where we are, I'm feeling very fortunate not to be in the situation of the folks who live in the devastated area.

How many guys does it take to cut a piece of wood? ...... 3 Mormon's and a Muslim. :o)

The guys cut wood for the windows.

Thursday downtown closed early so Ken spent the afternoon boarding up the windows. I'm ashamed to admit but I was thinking that was overkill since the last hurricane didn't affect us. I erroneously thought since we were so far inland we would be fine. But Ken felt strongly that we needed to & I'm glad that I followed his counsel as it saved us from a lot of damage. Late Friday night the storm rolled in. Our electricity went on and off about 10 times before going out completely. We could see the sky light up from transformers blowing. By 3am the wind was pretty strong but the first band hadn't even hit us yet. This was slightly concerning but we just waited. When the storm did arrive it was wild. It's hard to imagine what to expect if you've not experienced it before. I grew up in towns that experienced high winds. But they come from one direction. This wind was whipping our house from all sorts of directions. Which of course is why our biggest threat would be tornado's. I could see the tall trees in my neighbors yard whipping from left to right, it was insane to watch. By then the rain hit with the wind. I could see we already lost one small oak tree and our larger oak was bent almost to the ground. The rain was creepy too. It wasn't falling straight down or even slanted, it was actually coming straight at us. I've never seen anything like it. The windows began to leak where they connect. But instead of dripping water it was squirting water, That's how powerful the rain was. I could also hear the 3 opposing walls in my room groan and creak at the same time. The image in my mind was as if the wind was pressing from all sides and squishing the walls in and up. Even my headboard made noises because the pressure on that outside wall was pushing the headboard. So we spent the darkness of the morning radioing into our neighbors, putting towels down where leaks were occurring. It was a LONG morning before the day broke. The storm continued until about 11am.

Our neighborhood looked good. Most of the damage seemed to be trees and roofs (loss of shingles & water leaks). I assumed that the rest of the town we lived in looked the same until Sunday the kids and I ventured out to check on some other families. Wow! I was shocked at some of the damage. The small neighborhood near us, with older homes and fences took a beating. Lots of damage. Over by the church with the tall trees, took a beating. Lots of water in places. It began to sink in that the clean up and aftermath would take some time.

We were without power until late Monday night. Even then, our friends a few streets over still did not have power and today as I write, there are several communities surrounding us that still do not have power. School is out until Monday. Luckily with electricity we are getting back into the routine of things. The kids are thrilled to be out of school, but I bet they won't be thrilled when they find out they will lose days during the holidays or even Spring Break to make up for it. We'll see!

Things I'm thankful for:

1. Our generator, food & water storage, gas, 72 hour kits and other supplies. Following the 150 year old counsel of the church to be prepared isn't always easy but worth it.

2. The safety that Ken, the kids and I experienced. I was worried about a tornado hitting us.

3. Minimal damage. We only lost one small tree and had a few leaks.

4. Our awesome neighbors. We all banded together. Makes 3 days without electricity more enjoyable.

5. Electricity. There are neighborhoods next to ours that still don't have electricity and are told it could be over a week longer.

6. Boarded up windows. All the windows that were boarded up did not leak. The front windows & door, which were not boarded up, leaked.

7. Electric company workers. Seriously, every time I think of it I'm so thankful that they spend hours upon hours working to get the electricity up.

8. Natural gas. Our stove is natural gas, so cooking was not a problem at all.

9. Cool weather. The cold front that came in was AWESOME! No electricity and muggy humid heat would have stunk! The windows are still open and I'm enjoying the fresh air.

10. Two-way radios. These sure helped in communicating with the neighbors during the storm.

11. My little Zen radio. It was the only way we knew what was going on with the storm.

Some perks of no electricity:

1. One would think there would be no perks but I found one. With no electric EVERYONE came out of there homes. We met people in the neighborhood we didn't even know existed. Kids all over were playing, people walking and talking. It reminded me of when I was growing up. There were no cell phones, computers, very few video games, so people actually did things with each other and kids actually played outside. We all remarked how sad it will be when the electricity comes on because everyone will lock themselves back up in their homes.

It amazes me that the trees were not broken, but that the wind just pushed them over.

Example of a workaholic: Ino plugged his laptop in to our generator to finish work that he needs to turn in during the next several weeks. Now that's loyalty!