Toe Tricks

I got Matt a new trick handle for his birthday, and we have been practicing!


Of course Matt learns faster than I do :(, but he can get backwards, and then return forward.

Astros Play in Milwaukee

Matt and I had tickets to the Houston Astros game against the Cubs (during Ike time). They were scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and up until Friday afternoon they hadn't made any announcement about what was going to happen. Now the Judge of Houston had already made an announcment THURSDAY that no one was supposed to go to work tomorrow that wasn't crucial, that Ike was going to hit, and hit hard. I guess I assumed that baseball did not fall under "crucial jobs" but I checked what was going to happen to the Astros right up until I lost power late Friday night. We all know that I am not a serious fan, but they are the home team, and they were on a 14/15 game winning streak and not out of the wild card race (we all remember the Rockies pulled out a miracle last year, so I was not counting the Astros out). Anyway, Ike came, I lost power along with 3 MILLION other people, and not sweating to death became a priority to me (while cleaning up a huge disaster because the priority for everyone else).

Sunday Matt and I found out that the Astros had moved to the Brewers stadium to play the Cubs (but don't worry, the Astros were the home team...) and had lost. I didn't think this was very fair - I mean not only had I lost my tickets, but people around here couldn't even listen or know the game was being played! Every radio station was playing 24/7 coverage of Ike - not the baseball game. Now I am not the die-hard fans that are blaming those two losses on their failure to make the playoffs, but it does seem a little unfair to the players. (If Matt told me he had to leave Saturday to go play baseball I woulda tied him to a chair and refused). I mean the airport was closed, they had to charter a plane willing to fly!

So today the MLB commissioner took out a full page ad "apologizing" to the Astros fans. It sounds like when I used to say "I'm sorry" and my mom would always prompt for "sorry for what". Needless to say the apology did not win over the Astros fans. I am siding with the fans on this one, Bud and the MLB screwed up.

Here is the article link: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/The-Astros-are-not-letting-go-of-this-beef-with-?urn=mlb,109538

"Selig says he "regret(s) the frustration the Astros and their fans felt about playing two games in Milwaukee" and explains the complications of squeezing the games into a shortened end-of-the-season schedule but stops short of apologizing or answering why the the games couldn't be played in non-MLB stadiums that were closer to the Houston area than at "Wrigley North." "

Back in Houston

Matt and I drove back to Houston yesterday. The drive went fairly well. At one rest stop a church group was handing out bag lunches, it was really nice. Everyone at the rest stop was returning from being evacuated and really appreciated a lunch. The lines for fast food around here wrap around the block - and I have yet to see them go down. We are back up and running with everything, so we are really lucky. There are still no stop lights around us (missing completely, not from lack of power) so driving is a mess. Just staying here and hanging out.

Tourists in San Antonio

Matt and I drove to San Antonio today (about 50 minutes from here) to be tourists. Turns out the rest of Houston was also being tourists, or stranded there for (ever?). The big electric signs over the highway read "Do not go to Houston or Beaumont - no gas on route". We went to the Alamo because it is so famous, but after half hour Matt and I were done with history. But we did see everything walking around.

We then walked down to the river walk, which was very pretty. We had lunch on the river.

We walked along the river walk and took a picture of the mexican restaurant with all the colorful umbrellas because it was on all the postcards, so I figured it must be cool.

We sat down at the outdoor theatre where they were going to play Miss Congeniality tonight. We watched the little tour boats go by, which were full (probably unusual for a Monday after labor day). There were also a large number of school age children around, which I can only assume were from Houston).

On the way out we drove past the Alamodome just so I could say I saw it, I am not too impressed. (If this driveby counts, I also saw the UT Longhorns stadium in Austin).

We then came back and played with my kitties, the dogs, and the alpacas before eating up more of our ex-freezer food. Good trip so far - love the shower the best :)

Life on the Alpaca Farm

So Matt and I are hanging out in Blanco, Texas with the Backles. They have 18 alpacas, and here are pictures!


They also have a llama to keep the one male company.

And Matt's favorite... a gator! We have been driving it around their property. We even saw a fawn run, it was small but quick!
It is actually quite cool tonight, a nice break from the heat. We talked to our neighbor back home and she said there is still no power, but I think Matt will have to go back to work on Wednesday, so we will be headed back to no power tomorrow :( But, the news at least said that the water pressure is back, so hopefully that is true.

Bye Ike, Bye Houston

Matt and I survived last night, we grilled burgers and beans outside and played phase ten by candlelight. It was pitch dark by 7:30pm and by 9 we were bored and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night with rain POURing down - I had survived a hurricane the night before and was still in awe of how much rain was pouring down. I went around and shut all the windows, which made me downright miserable when I finally woke up in the morning (no air, no windows, and HOT). Matt and I called the Backles in Blanco, Texas and decided to take up their hospitality. We packed up ourselves, my cats, and our fridge and peaced out of Houston.

So we are enjoying air, running water, and cold food for a few days here. Shell is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Post ike Saturday night

Well it is hot. Hot hot hot. Today we woke up at ten - best sleep was
seven am til ten. Within the hour we were bored. Matt was complaining
about not watching the game and I was complaining about not watching
the news to see the pictures.

Afternoon we drove within a mile from us and we were very surprised by
all the damaged stuff - go check out the flicker link. The lines for
cvs were insane!! Mcdonalds line was down the street!!!

Anyway we tailgated with burgers beans and the car radio and now we
are playing phase ten by candlelight. It is HOT.

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday morning ike

1130 here lost power at 4am. Slept til about seven when got a huge
increase in wind again. The wood fence across the ditch from us is
missing huge sections of it and the power line that runs through the
ditch is down. Water in ditch is high but not going outside to check
on it. Still raining hard here. Gotta spare this battery so matt can
watch the um football game on 30 second refresh ha.

Sent from my iPhone

Under red ike

3:30am here it's blowing like crazy!!! Matt hammered a door stop
under the door into the garage because it kept blowing in it's seal.

Peanut is under the bed magic is running around in circles. Wind and
rain. Power flickers constantly but still on. Can't sleep it's loud!

Got til about 8am for it to pass maybe longer.

Sent from my iPhone

Ike update

It is jus after midnight here and so far this hurricane has been
overrated in my part of town. Granted it is just starting to hit now.
I am determined not to sleep through my first hurricane I am awake. My
fiance and cats have no such ambitions. Which is why I'm typing from
my phone and not my comp.

We lost tv around the 3rd quarter of the Kansas south Florida football
game much to matt's dismay. We lost power for a few minutes but it is
back. I have the tv streaming live on my computer and I am watching
the princess bride onthe tv.

It is windy and rainy outside now but no damage yet. I do have my
bets against the tree outside my window though.

Ps - never go against a cecelian when death is on the
line...haha..haha...ha

Sent from my iPhone

Ike Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26533170@N08/

I am AirMe-ing to Flickr, here is my photo stream. It is 6pm Central Time and it is starting to get windy. No rain yet.

Later!

Peanut Redeems Herself

Peanut got wind of "trading in" talk so she decided to snuggle and take a nap with me. Awwww.

In other news, Matt and I took our last showers, filled up the bathtub and charged up our phones, so we are ready for Ike to come. Should hit us around 1am, peaking at 5am. Check out our favorite websites right now:

www.houstonhidefromthewind.org - we are zip 77082

www.weatherunderground.com - we watch the computer models

Matt and I went to Gavleston Island a week ago today (don't know if I posted that or not), but now we are watching it under water right now. Insane. We had our nice hotel picked out to visit there sometime...maybe not anytime soon. The streets are flooded and Ike hasn't even hit yet!!

Also, Aubrey and I went to Kemah boardwalk awhile ago....that is flooding right now as well.

So after this hurricane, I will have ran from a tornado (a month ago), evaced for a fire (Haymen fire a few years ago), driven through many a blizzards (the worst where I ummm...abandoned the camry at the entrance of Perry Park)....Jon you better watch out I'm going earthquake chasing next!!

Prep for Ike

For those not obsessing over the weather channel like I have been doing for the past month... Ike is coming! Matt says I am too excited about this, but regardless, I decided to venture out to Kroger, more for entertainment than anything else. I have had my hurricane box for a long time now, but whats a few more cases of water?

The parking lot was PACKED and I had to stalk someone in order to get a cart (it was insane!!). There were still food, but stuff was going pretty quickly. The lines went to the back of the store, reminded me of 4th of July up north. Insane amount of people. The lady behind me and I started chatting it up when I noticed that half her cart was candy. The guy in front of me had about 10 bottles of wine. I looked at my water and realized maybe I got this all wrong...

Anyway, Matt gets off early today and work in cancelled for tomorrow, so we will see what happens around here. According to my grocery store friends all that happens is a loss of power and a lot of sweating because of the no AC. If that happens...call the verizon phone because we all know the iphone can't hold a charge for a full day!

Working at the Pound

Last Saturday, Matt and I and about 30 Shell kids went to the Houston Pound to play with the animals. It was rather sad how many animals there were, but we got all the dogs outside to run around and then I made Matt sit with the kitties with me. As this picture is taken with my phone, I could not get a picture of Matt ignoring all the cats crawling all over him and checking the score of the Michigan football game. But that is what he was doing. We had more cats than these four at one point. Then I came home to my evil kitties who don't want to snuggle at all :(
Okay they aren't evil, I love them.

Wedding Day Hair

On Saturday Nancy and I went to the hair place in Indian River for a hair test. I think you are supposed to either 1. do this before you book them for the actual day or 2. do this right before the day of, but neither of those applied in my case (already booked them...wedding in july), but oh well. Went anyway. It was probably the only enjoyable part of the entire weekend so its a good thing we went.



Yes some of it is falling out, but as it was Labor day, lots of things needed to be done up north and I forgot to take a picture from the back until after the storm windows were in and the sailboat was covered. But, regardless, it is up and off my neck which will be a good thing. I do have a vail, so we will see how that goes - and you can bet I am going to forget everything come July, so oh well. But, it was fun and I am glad Nancy went with me.