Getting Ready for Ike

Looks like this one may be the first storm to hit us since Ailicia in 1983. I knew we were in trouble when I saw Jim Cantore (from the Weather Channel) standing on the seawall in Galveston. Jimmy doesn't show up unless they are pretty sure your town is going to get it :)

First of all, here are our plans. We're definitely staying here at the house. If it looks like more than a cat 2, I'll put our plywood shutters up over the windows. We put the travel trailer in the driveway (blocked from the wind by the house). If we lose power after the storm, we'll just run the generator and move into the trailer for a couple of days. We've got plenty of food, water and supplies to get us through a week or so.

We spoke to Michael and Becky (They live in Orange -East Texas). Orange County issued a mandatory evacuation. Becky has to work at the hospital until tomorrow afternoon, so they are planning to stay until then. If the storm turns north and threatens the TX/LA border, they may come east to our place. The west side of these storms is always the safest.

Jules and I have both of our cell phones charged if you need to get a hold of us.

For those that don't live on the gulf coast, Its kind of hard to explain the way we look at these things. Its unique because, unlike other types of natural disasters, you can see these things coming from a long way away. The problem is, you really can't. We get these kind of threats about 3 times per year. Yet, we haven't had a significant storm since 1983. It creates a sense of exhausted complacency. Who wants to put in two days of prep work for a storm that hits to the east? There is also the threat of lost wages and money wasted on unneccesary supplies.

Thus, the freeways are starting to back up now, only 36 hours before landfall. If we tried to evacuate every time there was a storm in the gulf, we would be broke!

The best thing to do is to set up certain activities based on the level of threat. Jules and I have a list of things to do at each point in storm's development. We also try to do a bunch of prep work at the beginning of the season. That way, we don't even have to pay attention unitl the storm is almost here. Problem is that there is always something you forget. Jules and I both had to make last minute trips to the store this morning :). The stores were packed, but you can bet that they will be much worse tonight and tomorrow morning.

As the storm comes in, I'll be taking pictures and posting them here. I'll also be updating as long as our internet connection holds out.

The real question is, who wants to go surfing with me and Aidan when the storm passes :)