More Ike Aftermath

We have power here at my house! I was told it was a temporary fix since the circuit and stuff is really old and needs major repairs. But for now... I get to sit here at my desk and write this blog.

Here are some pics from the past few days:

We opened the door Saturday morning to this:

Trees down in our yard

Throughout the weekend all of our neighbors were outside and we all pitched in to help rake each others yards and the guys all had fun with the chainsaws.

When our neighbors got power back, a couple a few houses down made margaritas and we all hung out at our house. I have some pretty cool neighbors. Even though they've all been to the crawfish boil, I've never really conversed with them. Our other neighbors let us use their washing machine. We have others who shared ice. We shared food, beer and air conditioning from our window unit. There were tons of offers from friends to let us spend the night, use their internet and have a hot meal. We are truly blessed.

It seems that everyone helped each other out. In some parts of the neighborhood there were extension cords run across the street from people who had power to those who didn't.

Another thing I noticed was the people at grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations. Even though everywhere was packed, the workers and customers alike were friendly and helpful, not rude. It could have been much, much worse. I heard from Missy and read in the paper that even as far away as Illinois had flooding from the storm.

My dad is in Galveston right now trying to rescue a friend of a friend's elderly mother who is flooded in and trapped. They got on the island because they are certified First Responders. He called and said that it was really trashed down there.

It's really easy to take the simple things for granted. It will be a while until things are back to normal.