yIKEs (to borrow from my friend Jay)

Coming atcha from just outside S.A. for a brief visit with the in-laws for a shower, chicken fried steak and to pick up supplies and a generator.

We weathered Ike just fine. The worst part of the night was that Miss F did NOT like sharing a bed with us and cried and complained the whole night that she wanted to be in her bed (which is under two very large trees). We did manage to get some snoozin' in and every once in awhile there'd be a gust or a crash that made us flinch but all in all, not so bad. The wind was 75+ miles an hour but I've had that before with Santa Anna's in Cali and up in the Pac-NW. The rumor, though, is that a tornado came off the eye and hit our neighborhood. I don't know--to me, it was a hurricane: hurricane winds, hurricane rain, etc. But who knows--however, that means I can sleep through a tornado!

Our house is fine. Lots of limbs down but we fared quite well compared to others in our neighborhood. We have no power and no water but did OK yesterday. We have a gas stove so we ate like gourmets as we tried to clean out the 'fridge and freezer. We got creative and grilled a frozen pizza. Good stuff. We have great neighbors and feel really blessed.

Cue last night when a terrbile thunderstorm rolled in and at 5 a.m. we realized that there was water up to the front of the house and our cul de sac was impassable with waist deep water at the entrance. Our neighbors got water in their house and I think more damage may be suffered from the thunderstorm than from the hurricane!!! After about 6 hours, the water receded enough for us to make our escape.

We are predicting no power for a few more weeks (hence the generator) and the water appears to be back on. We discovered this when Miss F was off being silent (bad, I know, means trouble) and we heard her scream "Help me turn off the water!" and it was gushing everywhere in the sink. No power, no problem. No shower in Houston heat and humidity, no way! Hence the trip to the inlaws. That and we were all staring to resemble Jack Nicholson in "The Shining".

Miss F has fared OK. Yesterday was rough but today she caught her stride and was playing with toys she forgot she had, did puzzles and stickers and loved that we didn't care what she did as long as she was content (including eating 3 Tootsie Pops in a row)

More later and photos when we get power at the casa! Thanks for all the thoughts and well wishes. We are so grateful for everything--friends, neighbors, poptarts and peanut butter crackers (survival food at its best)