Pretty *ahem* Handsome Boy!

Erik Cameron born 9.29.99 at 3:29 pm weighing almost 9 lbs is now 9 years old.

Monster truck moon walk

Happy birthday to erik - 23 children with 12 parents for 8 hours of fun

two weeks after the storm

And Finally Fuel back to normal price and availability

Maggie haute couture

Stylin & high profilin. Magnus is handsome and studious!

Jazz - 23, Krys - 23, Erik - 9

Skiters

we survived Ike...

we were without power for 8 days.. took two days to clean up the yard so that it was not a hazard for the children to go back there with the down trees. still waiting for a tree service to remove the heavily damaged limbs on two trees and completely remove three others that didn't make it.

my freezers and fridge have not been this clean since we bought them new.

the kids are FINALLY back in school.. they were out for 13 days and then back in for 2 and out for 2 and now back in and I am soooo grateful..

overall we were not bored.. we have UPS's to charge the DS's and we have wooden trains and Lego's and books to keep them all very busy. once the storm was over, they rode bikes, rip sticks and roller skates in the neighborhood during the daylight hours.

we have had at least two fogging's to treat the mosquitoes. the mosquitoes we had, blew up into Missouri, the new ones that we got from Cuba are JUMANJI size and about the same voraciousness. I went out to hang up laundry at 2:30 pm, usually a safe time from skiters and I was attacked. when I went out to bring in laundry (only three towels, two hand towels, and two wash clothes) I got bite 9 times... they chased me into the house, and two dive bombed the sliding glass doors and left a blood trail down the glass, and three where drilling through the glass to get to me.

I am not freaking kidding you!!!

Home Sweet Home

Nice and clean. Seriously in this unsteady economy and precarious times, it is really just a blessing to have a home that we can live in. We are very grateful for all our blessings.

All the Debris is Cleaned away

Thanks to a lot of help from our neighborhood kids, we are actually looking better than we were before the storm.

Perfectly Fine

we JUST got power on Saturday afternoon (8 days with no internet, no electricity, no air conditioning, no computer, no kidding) so it has been stressful trying to communicate. fortunately my cell phone is connected to my blog so I was able to keep that updated very regularly so people across the globe could have the latest.
http://www.wretchedheathen.com

so far the finally tally is that we lost everything in the 15 cuft deep freeze, as well as the freezer / refrigerator, all the meat and fish, two whole trees and 1/4 each of two other trees in the back yard. we lost some siding and some fascia from the house and one window is leaking like a sieve and has to be totally replaced down to the wooden framing. the entire north side of the house has pea sized holes in the siding from the debris that pelted it at 90 mph winds. we have completely cleaned up the yard, raked and stacked it by the curb to be recycled into park trail compost.

let everyone know that we are fine, and have had minimal impact, it was extremely pleasant weather the last two weeks, unseasonably cool, more like spring than summer for this area and there has been no additional rain so that people that had more extensive damage did not have insult added to injury. while there are a lot of whiners on the tv, seriously, it was like a beautiful fall camping trip here and not nearly enough reason for all the drama as you hear.. the people that were flooded, have all dried out by now, my lawn actually needs to be watered this week, and those that carry on about air conditioning really need to get a life, it has been 74-77'F and 50% humidity compared to 85'F and 85% humidity that it is normally.

:-) some people just do not know how to prepare (we were told a week in advance to get water and food so there was no reason for people to carry on like they HAD to go to a POD or starve, people that say they are TRAPPED on the ISLAND without food or water are perfectly capable of getting on a bus / train and going into town and getting food and water, no one is 'trapped' and it just drives me crazy to see people carrying on like that. we were hit in our house with a Cat 2 hurricane HEAD ON and we are fine, those that live in a wooden house on a coastal beach get exactly what they deserve and those that were COMPLETELY STUPID ENOUGH to ride it out should just stuff it. we were told not to evaculate so that they could, and then choose not to so they get exactly what they deserve and more help than they really have a right too, but that is a rant that I should probably save for another day. ;)

(my tax dollars should not go to support MORONS that do not even have home insurance on boliver pennisula and think they have a $450,000.00 house, that just frosts my cookies) we did not go to a POD, we follows the mayor / judge's recommendation, we were prepared with a tank full of gas, battery flashlights and battery radio, and a 72 hour kit if worse came to worse and we had to walk out, and we had enough food and ice in our freezer to last us for two weeks just in case, as should every single person in this county. okay, I am seriously done ranting. heehee

once again, prayers were answered and we are minimally impacted and seriously on inconvienced by the storm. it could have been a lot worse and many need to really realize and appreciate that fact.


the boys have missed 8 days of school and will return tomorrow, they just got power there yesterday. they need a day to restock the refridgerators there for lunches. I am anxious for them to return, while they were very busy here, building wooden train tracks, making star ships with legos, and reading books as well as riding bicycles and playing with friends, it worries me that they are not getting thier education. I had some work for them to do during the two weeks that they have been home, lots of spelling, language, math and reading, they miss thier friends.

my work went to a standstill, I have had my first client call in two weeks yesterday, so that is worrisome to not have any clients in weeks... especially with our economy getting worse by the week. I hope that once the boys return to school, I can get more focused on work.

the Twins's birthday is in 2 days and Erik's is in 6, they will be 23 this year and he is now 9. time has gone by extremely fast. I need to break out my baking pans and make Erik a cake.

We are dancing the happy

We are dancing the happy dance we finally got power 7 days after the hurricane!

Cleaning up debris

We spent the day moving the bulk of the fallen tree debris from the backyard to the curb so that waste management can collect it up for recycling they are collecting separately from household waste. I am impressed with the amount of progress we made but it is just a dent and we still have more of the trees to get with a real chainsaw (high demand here) before we are finished. but at least the kids can play safely in the back yard now. Day six and still no power. I miss cold milk, eggs, cheese and fresh ground coffee but other than that, I could go another 6 months like this heehee!

For Dinner we had spaghetti one night, BBQ Chicken with saute onions and bell peppers and for breakfast we ad oatmeal with fresh apples and cinnamon and this morning was hash browned potatoes gravy and scratch pancakes (fine even without eggs). With a good supply of aseptic milk and juice boxes we are in tall cotton.

She bop

Heehee

Great do

Erik decided to experiment with a little bit of color during his down time with no electricity. We call it the "She Bop" look (Cindi Lauper)

Still finding things to do

No school, no power, no problem playing with wooden trains.

5 days later

One down tree. What a mess to clean up. Still no power 5 days later. The kids love that there is no school since there is power.

Surviving in Houston

when it hit the house.. it was 80 mph and that was impressive.. we just got grazed during Rita, and I knew that this house was 1 year old when Alicia hit directly, we were relatively safe at a Cat 2 - 3 storm.

seriously our street has been phenomenal, Magnus is a notoriously picky eater, but the lady across the street can get him to eat at her house, so she fed him dinner last night for which I was grateful. she has a generator, and so she chilled a quart of chocolate milk that we had (antiseptic parve sealed) and I was humbled that she offered to make me coffee this morning. granted I think nothing of making cookies for all the kids in the neighborhood and giving them juice boxes, it is truly, each person gives the kids what they have and so their lives are minimally disrupted while we smile at ourselves for our resourcefulness.

it is truly a 'stone soup' story on our street and we have spent more time talking to each other this week than we have in the past 10 years. ;-) we were always friendly, but when there is no tv, no lights, we are running out of things to do inside, so we talk to each other. shocking huh? heehee

there are times that I do not want the power to come back on, I know that we will loose this idealistic atmosphere and go back to the frantic pace that we usually have with the mass exodus each morning and influx in the evenings. I am also dreading cleaning the back yard, that I know I must do today... I tried to clean my office yesterday and I should finish that project so that I can get back to work when the boys go back to school. actually I could hire someone to clean the back yard, but I can not hire someone to clean my office, so that is most likely how I will handle that. ;)

but overall... we are comfortable with 60' and mostly cloudy and very pleasant. I have only put 24 miles on the car since I topped off, so we are doing extremely well that way, not running around worrying about fuel. just staying home and enjoying the peace and humm of the generators in the neighborhood. I am resolved that we really must get a solar array on the roof as soon as possible, ;-) I firmly believe that the gas shortage and people with generators desperate to find gas is not the answer, but that a solar system would be exactly what we need to get us off the grid and self sufficient.

yesterday Erik made spaghetti by himself for dinner, opening a can of olives and tomatoes the old fashion way with a hand crank can opener, a novelty in our lives that fortunately, I had in our camping supplies, today we are going to pop popcorn on the stove top (we usually use an electric air popper) and if I can find a neighbor with an egg, I will teach the boys to make a solar oven and make a cake.

as for the power... our zip code:

77379

26200 Households

99.32% without power

Getting a Tree Service (E.F. Tree Service) is a game of Patience... (281)580-4431 did an excellent job before the storm, now we need them back out. HEB is also open but no cooler / electricity yet, running on Generators for lights and cashiering only (281)374-7727.

Driving me crazy.

People were told to evacuate and they didn't! The government told people to have a 72 hour kits. They didn't! FEMA was in place in less than 48hr and people whined.. grrr

Doing Just fine without power

What kids do during a black out when there is no electricity. They play with the hundreds of dollars of wooden trains that they thought that they had out grown when they convinced you they they had to have a Wii. Just plan ahead and have fresh batteries (smart mom here) and guaranteed a coulpe of days of fun.

we have been out of power since midnight Friday when the storm hit. I am running on battery right now, only a few minutes a day using our UPS from the computers.

we are totally fine. we lost a couple of trees, everything in our refrigerator and our 15 cuft freezer, some siding, some wires were ripped out of the wall when they got tangled in a tree. overall we are quite comfortable, reading books, playing with wooden trains, and legos and reading books.

we have 75 gallons of water and lots of propane so we are staying in place and not venturing out. Sverre did go to a colleagues house yesterday (the guy was out of the country during the preparation for the storm) and emptied 55 gallons of meat and rotting food.

but we are safe and sound and waiting for the rest of the idiots (people that think that they are entitled to a free hand out) to stop complaining about ice and FEMA and such. I swear, they whine after they were TOLD to leave and didn't. they WHINE when they have no power or food when they didn't prepare a 72 hour kit, and they WHINE when they do not get a free hand out. we have no generator and a full tank of gas because we followed all the instructions as they were sent out. do stock up, do not horde, do gas up, do not drive around, stay inside and off the streets, and be patient.

the city leaders have been extremely good but they are running out of patience with the complete morons that DO NOT FOLLOW the SIMPLEST of instructions. many many here think that they are a special case and are so selfish, self centered and self absorbed that it just frustrates me to no end. many have insisted that they are so hot that they must have electricity before we restore the water pumps so that we maintain the integrity of the water, and they should not even been in the evacuation zone and they are demanding that they have their 'needs' met before the rest that were ordered not to evacuate. an order that was to afford them a safe and orderly evacuation and (40% of which didn't take advantage of). just one more reason that I pray for a flushing of the gene pool.

as for all the 'reports' it is running in the 80's and 70% humidity and not terribly uncomfortable all things considered. the people that are complaining about the flooding, their houses are in known and repeated flood areas and they do not have the sense to accept the FEMA buy outs and build someplace else which is so frustrating.

but until the people that are panicking and running on the stores get stocked up, we are just continuing to enjoy our supplies and while we would like to replenish a couple of items (toilet paper and dish soap) that we were stocked up on for Gustov but ran a little low before Ike, we will just ration and get by. we did get extra baby wipes so we are fine.

I wish that I could find the 33 gallon trash bags and I regret that due to the temperature in the fridge, we no longer have eggs to cook with, I am going to figure out if I can cook with just baking soda and baking powder as leavening agents.

Initial Reaction

Sverre drove to a colleagues house to clean out the fridge and the destruction the he passed on the way really brought the storm home to him. We have been extremely fortunate in our home but house just around the corner and down the street where quit sobering it will indeed be weeks before we get power by shear blessing and years before our small community of Klein Texas will recover.

The local high school has had extensive damage and many trees have fallen on roofs and power lines. we have been blessed with a cold front and the temperatures are dropping some it was actually cooler outside than in and lower humidity so we have all the doors and windows open and will have to brave the mosquitoes tonight in order to sleep but will be quit comfortable. Our perishables supply have just about lasted our cooling supply and with no access to ice or power we will switch to staples with minimal losses.

Back Yard

What is let of the back yard. Looks like we have some work ahead of us. I Did get the front yard raked up yesterday. The hum of generators in the neighborhood is a little noisy and we have a stray dog that refuses to leave our back yard.

Sunday

okay, we can say that the worse is over... there was a terrible thunderstorm today but no further damage. I would have to say that we are in fantastic shape. no need for rescuing or for any 'help'. we have food, and while a block of ice would not go amiss, our food in our refrigerator is still holding at 50'F and we are using up our milk / eggs / cheese first and will cook up the rest of the chicken from the freezer today. the temperature has leveled out at 80'F and we are comfortable without air conditioning. the kids are learning to entertain themselves without power. going to bed at the regular time and getting up as normally. Playing with Legos and Wooden Train's as well as books to read.

Lots of time for lots of friends

The number of kids on our loop that have been over 15 - Erik, Magnus, Nick, Caitlyn, Ryan, Nicole, Brandon, Hannah, Caleb, Joshua, Daniel, Trey, Joy, Nicholas, Sean

The worse is over

Wwe are doing very well minimal damage to the house, some siding gone, some wires ripped out. still no power

A lot of tree and siding damage

We have lost two trees in the back yard so far and the worst is still an hour or so out. one window upstairs is leaking like a sieve but all are holding well. while the photo looks like a lovely shrub.. it is actually our tree that has split in two different areas so now instead of one head, it has three and two are down, one across the fence, and one down across the pecan tree.

We are still holding steady

We are still holding steady and no power, lots of wind and rain. We are in a lull right now in the eye. I am dying for coffee!!

Power out at 2:30 am

Power out at 2:30 am Saturday. Lots of rain bands and wind. so far the house is intact and secure. We are still downstairs in the closet / hallway with no windows.

Was sleeping, we are getting

Was sleeping, we are getting wet with lots of rain, and 42 mph winds, we are doing well. the boys went to sleep at 9:30 pm.

Camping in the Closet

Boys safely installed in closet enjoying the Nintendo DS Lite's

T - 12 Hours

T-12 hours 42 mph gusts of wind

Common Sense says Stay safe

1 day before Hurricane Ike
we have laid in our supplies, 75 gallons of water, 2 weeks of food comfort food, 6 weeks of essentials like oats and wheat.
we have $cash on hand and a full tank of gas as well as camping gear and would head to Ashland Kansas if we loose the house.

Head On

A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR HARRIS COUNTY



Hurricane Ike.. Tina is not here... Go Home...

Wind Map - Projected 69-74 MPH Winds - Tornado Watch in effect

Rain Map - Flood Watch

Real Time Traffic

Nearest Street Camera - Louetta at Steubner Airline

Magnus first 1k race

Magnus first 1k race