Hurricane Ike Images

I (Sarah) am safe, y'all. Kellen's safe, too, but he spent the whole of Hurricane Ike safely ensconsed in Switzerland. This post is mostly for Kellen's benefit, so he can see what things look like over here.
We still don't have any power. I am at a friends house, they're one of the lucky few households that have regained electricity. They were nice enough to let me use their internet, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to post some photos from the storm and aftermath. Once my power is up and running, I plan to write a nice full post about my experience. But for now, enjoy the photos.

See, here's me safe and sound, standing in front of the flooded bayou with Cara.

Paul and Cara's backyard, a little bit of their fence got broken, it shouldn't be too hard to fix.

Memorial Drive, under water.

A busted out building next door to Paul and Cara's house.

The glass in the street from the busted building.

The Texaco station by our house.

Our backyard.

A Shell Station hurt pretty badly by the storm.

Our front yard and driveway.

IKE!

Well Ike is looming, heading straight for Houston.  For any of you who may be concerned, don't worry - we should be fine.  Kellen is in Switzerland right now and I am here on my own (with the dogs, of course).  My plan is to secure things here at the homestead and then hunker down at Paul and Cara Bovet's house (by order of the City of Houston, if you don't need to evacuate, don't).  They live in a nice, new, sturdy house which should withstand the storm well.  We will likely be without power for some time after the storm.  I'll have my phone with me, though, and cell coverage is usually one of the first things up!

Just Beachy

We escaped from the city this last weekend and headed to the beach! We rented a house in Surfside with a bunch of our friends and spent the whole weekend goofing off. It was pretty awesome. We did a bunch of different things:

We barbequed.

(Paul, Kellen, and Ben surveying their masterpieces)

We gleefully ate the hot dogs off the barbeque.

(Ben enjoying a dogger)


We read some great literature.

(Me, Catherine and Becky indulging in some chick lit)

We did some damage on the waves.

(Me, Kellen, Ben, Dave and Paul trucking out to the water)


We napped.

(Dave kickin back)


We played some beach games...

(Kellen pitching the wiffle ball, Brad looking on from 2nd base)


...and some indoor games, too.

(the guys getting taken for a ride by our resident card shark Brad)


We generally relaxed our butts off.

(Kellen and I hanging out on the couch, sandy and salty and actually pretty gross)

The heat! Oh God, the heat!

It is hot in Houston.

Yeah Edouard!

Tropical Storms are great! Our best days in Houston have been those blessed by tropical storms. The reason for this is really quite simple, its not insufferably hot! Tropical storm Edouard turned out to be nothing more than a typical winter day in the NW - well, it was a bit warmer, in the 70's, but still...it rained, and there was some wind. Whats great is that the news media and government panic, businesses and schools close down and everyone hunkers in. AWESOME!! Sarah didn't have to go to work, I didn't have to go into the lab, it was the coolest its been in a month, no traffic, best air quality in a month, shit...I want more tropical storms!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Everyone check it out. I heart Neil Patrick Harris, I always have.

http://www.drhorrible.com/

Watching this will change your life.

Canoe, cont....

Ah yes, well, work has continued on the canoe...albeit slowly. I've finished stripping one side of the canoe and successfully(?) cut the center line last night. Hmm...I'm not entirely sure that the center line is straight...which it should be....hmm...


I've put 2 strips on the other side thus far, which is pretty fun because each piece needs to be accurately mitered and beveled to match the opposing strip. Hopefully in about 10 days time I'll be done with this stripping nonsense and continue on with fairing and shaping the hull.

Its RAINING outside....man I love hurricanes. One thing about the hurricane though, it lowers the temp down to the low 80's....a nice break from the triple digits we've been experiencing as of late (heat index's in the 110's!!!).