Bird in my Kitchen- Update

Well, there was a bird in my kitchen but it wasn't in the air vent. It actually ended being in the cabinet over our microwave/vent hood thing. My plan was to duct tape the cabinet doors together until Tommy got home, which I actually did. But Jakeb and Anna decided they wanted to set it free.

I'm okay with animals and bugs when their on their turf but when they invade mine, they're outta luck. My kitchen cabinet, my turf, he chose poorly.

Jakeb got his sunglasses and work gloves to protect himself from this viscious, tiny bird and I, of course, got my video camera. The videos are kind of long so I'm not sure if I want to post them or not and I didn't even get the best parts.

Anyway, long story short, the bird flew to freedom all through our downstairs and ended up in the front office (our current family bedroom) and kept trying to get out through the window. Jakeb couldn't get it and it was getting quite frustrated. We heard a car honk going by our house and it happened to be my sister, Colleen, her husband, Paul and their daughter, Kendra. Jakeb ran outside to flag them down for help but they didn't see him. He called and they came back and Kendra trapped the bird in a box she just happened to have that had a lid with holes. Kendra took him outside to freedom. We thanked them. They left. It was pretty exciting and the kids got out of doing their school work for a half hour or so.

5 or 10 minutes later the bird was back in the cabinet!! The duct tape went back on the door and we continued with school and waited for Tommy to get home.

Tommy got home, the bird was not there, guess he found his way back out or he's dead somewhere in our attic. There's only one place that we can think of where he got in and it's not a quick fix so we're wondering what kind of bird sanctuary (or cemetery) we have in our attic.....

Family Photo at the Astro's Game

Here's a picture of us at the Astros/Pirates baseball game. We went on the Monday before Ike and they were taking free family photos. Why not... The kids thought I was a dork for wanting to take it but they went along. I think I'm just sentimental. Okay, maybe a sentimental dork. Notice that two of my children are taller than me and the other is catching up quickly!

Thanks, Danny & Lizanne, for the tickets. Seems like forever ago when it's just been a couple of weeks! Gee, thanks, Ike!

Mosquitoes need to die!

This is a portion of an Ike update from the City of Lake Jackson's mayor on our city's website:

There is help coming on the mosquito front. In addition to the County Mosquito District planes and spray trucks and the City’s two spray trucks, the Feds have sent 5 spray planes that are at our County airport. They will be spraying from 10 pm to 6 am beginning tonight along the coastal areas. This should really help.

This is wonderful news and hopefully it will really help. The only problem with this is that many of us in town are still sleeping with our windows open since we don't have electricity. I'll take the risk of getting cancer from breathing in the stuff over mosquito bites anyday. Maybe they'll have a cure by then.

The mosquitoes are going to carry us all away soon! When I pull my mail out of the mailbox about 50 mosquitoes come out with it. I have to shake off my mail before I bring it in. It's also very difficult to drive and stay on the road because they are flying around in my car and biting my feet! What is their reason for existence anyway??? Anna discovered in her science lesson yesterday that it's the female mosquitoes that use their little piercing sucker mouths on us. Go figure...

Jakeb had a great idea last night!! He proposed that in late August or early September when the mosquitoes are so horrible down here, that the city picks a day and they tell everyone to stay inside and then they throw a massive county-sized mosquito bomb on us. I, for one, would even be willing to evacuate for a day or two for that if it would help. I think people would be more willing to evacuate for a mosquito bomb than a hurricane, don't you?

Africa... Adoption... Unraffle... Untickets...

I don't personally know Brian Seay but I know his brothers, Robbie (Robbie Seay Band) and Chris (pastor of Ecclesia in Houston). What I know of the Seay's is that they are a family with a strong Christ-following legacy and a family who is committed to giving their lives to serve their community and the world as Christ would and that they enjoy it.

Brian and his wife are adopting a brother and sister from Africa. It takes alot of money to adopt one not to mention two and due to the travel circumstances they are going to need to take their already large family of six with them when they go so you can imagine the cost involved in that. They have set up an interesting way that we can be a part of helping these two kids have a family. It's an "unraffle". We get to help them and they get two kids and someone wins a vacation.

It's not in my life plan to adopt but I can certainly help someone else. What about you? Check it out... The unraffle ends on October 3rd.

http://brianseay.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/the-unraffle/

There's more on Brian's sisters' blog if you want to read it.

There's a bird in my kitchen!

Somehow a bird got into our a/c duct this morning. We're in our kitchen doing our school stuff and we heard this really strange noise. It's in our kitchen vent and apparently can't find it's way out. I don't have a clue how he got in there. It keeps fluttering around and the noise is quite annoying. This could get interesting if the a/c comes on or if it dies or something. Poor bird.

Caravan of Despair!

Tori and I had to go to Houston this afternoon for a therapy appointment for some back problems she's been having and on the way home we see a really long caravan of electrical trucks heading north - as in away from us. I'm so thankful they were here but as we close out Tuesday, day 11, we still do not have electricity. The thermostat in our kitchen registered 85 again today as we were sitting around the table doing school. Anyway, it was a horrible feeling in my stomach to see them leaving when there are so many people without power. The city website said today that only 46% of Lake Jackson is with power. If you are one of the 46%, please pray for the other 54%! Hopefully those trucks will be coming back our way tomorrow.

Update 9/24: Oops, I guess that was kind of an Ike update, huh? Oh well, it's where we're at and it's our blog and you don't have to read it if you don't want to. You go for 11+ days without electricity and see if all you don't start thinking about a/c all of the time. I'm not whining, though, really! :) We've had many offers to stay with friends and family but if you recall, I hate packing and I like being in my home, sleeping in my own mattress (even tho it's on a floor) and going by my schedule. I think we pretty much all do. So, we're sticking it out for now..... Electricity guys, please come back!!!!!

We have internet - sort of.....

Still no electricity but when I plug the computer into the generator power, I can get online in my own home!!! Now that's a treat since I'm sick of having to drive to the City Hall and sit in the parking lot. The only thing good about that was that I was at least sitting in the air conditioned car. Anyway, my phone will work and my internet will work as long as I have it plugged in. But I will unplug it when we're not using it to hopefully avoid a power surge toasting everything.

Last night we came home from the Hintze's (dinner & a/c!) and the block just to the left of us has power so we are hoping today will be the day!! It's soooo close!!!!!

We're tired of camping now and I'm ready to fix my hair and make-up. Our upstairs is a disaster area since we even haven't unpacked from evacuating yet. It's as hot as an oven up there!

Tori's Senior Pics

Tori will graduate high school a semester earlier than most seniors and boy is she ready! Jenny Hintze took her senior pics a couple of days ago and put a few on her photography blog today as a teaser. I'm sure it will be tough to pick which ones to use for her announcements.

If you want to see a gorgeous girl and the work of a fabulous photographer, click here. Jenny will be doing our family photos in October. I'm excited about these because they will probably be the last family photos we have while all living under the same roof.

If you need a photographer, which you probably do, you should give Jenny a call.

Current Lake Jackson Entertainment

Here's what people are doing these days for entertainment in LJ. This is day 10 without electricity. This truck was just down the street a bit from our house yesterday and it's getting pretty darn hot so we are hopeful that today will be the day......

What's Happening Around The Stunz House

Today marks day 9 without electricity in our hosue since Ike blew through town. Would you believe that those light switches still don't work???!!!

All of the stores that have power and are open are pretty much fully stocked and finding gas is not a problem.

We went to church this morning. You could tell the difference between those who had electricity and those who didn’t. Those who didn’t were wearing shorts and tank tops and had wet hair or their hair was put up somehow, like mine! Those who had electricity had on normal clothes, even some with long sleeves and their hair was all fixed, unlike mine! Either that or they have a mega generator like our neighbors’…..

We got to go out for lunch today! No dishes to wash by hand and we weren’t sweating or fighting bugs while we ate.

Our thermostat in our kitchen shows 82 degrees. That’s bearable if you’re still and the wind blows.

The Center Point trucks keep driving by our house as if they are taunting us.

The mosquitoes are absolutely horrible!!!!!!!

Tommy made a mouse homeless this morning. He moved all of the trash in our back yard where it was hiding. He had torn down our old, rotten shed and moved it into the dog’s yard before the hurricane and tied it down with fencing so it hopefully wouldn’t projectile into all of our neighbors’ homes. It worked pretty well. The mouse moved from the original pile to the one in the dog yard and then yesterday Tommy started hauling it off and it kept moving from place to place. Now all of the trash is gone so it scurried elsewhere. Poor homeless mouse.

Anna is now officially addicted to Little House on the Prairie. We bought season 3 before the hurricane, mostly for school purposes but she absolutely loves it. I think she’s almost made it through the whole series. Time to buy more, I guess. I loved Little House on the Prairie when I was a kid. I’m so glad she likes it. I know it’s full of bad acting but the lessons are sooo much better than Hannah Montana and Suite Life!

Tori, Anna and I just finished watching a chic flic, Jakeb is watching Lord of the Rings on his little tv sitting on the kitchen floor and Tommy is reading a new book in our make-shift family bedroom which is normally our office. Okay, if you look at the picture below, maybe he isn't reading anymore.... and yes, those are snowmen on our sheets - wishful thinking, I guess. :)

Tori goes back to school on Tuesday. I will start with Jakeb and Anna tomorrow, power or not. I spent hours rescheduling their lesson plans on my computer program to start on Monday hoping we’d have power. Even though it looks like we won’t, I’m starting anyway cause I don’t want to reschedule it all again and honestly, we all need something to do besides watch tv and eat junk food.

Our neighborhood will be a lot quieter when all of these generators are turned off, a/c is turned on and we can close our windows.

Even though I like this simpler way of life, I’m getting pretty tired of living a pioneer lifestyle. I guess you can’t really call it that because even without electricity, we have it so much better than that era. We are definitely missing our comfortable lifestyle, though. We’re managing okay and are grateful for what we do have but everyone is getting a little cranky. Or maybe it’s just me…….

I am now headed to the city hall parking lot for free wi-fi to publish this post.

My Ike Awards

Just to clarify, this is not an Ike update. I said in my previous post that I wasn’t going to update anymore on the aftermath and I’m not. I just wanted to post the picture below and give out my Ike awards.

Drum roll, please………

The MOST GENEROUS NEIGHBOR award goes to our neighbors Bob & Margaret P. for providing us with generator power for our fridge and fans and charging our phones and computers and even having enough juice to watch a movie and play Wii.

The ENERGIZER BUNNY award goes to our neighbor “Mr. Boy”. That’s not his real name but it’s close and that’s what Anna started calling him when she was little. He’s 80 years old, or close to it, and after he completely cleaned up his yard, hauling off all the limbs and all, he did his next door neighbor too! Must have been those Vienna sausages and MRE’s.

The OVER ACHIEVER award goes to Tommy, my husband. Not only did he clean up our yard and get it properly manicured, he hauled off every limb and leaf out of our front yard making it look as if Ike completely missed our house and yard.

The BEST WORKER award goes to our son, Jakeb. He did everything we asked him to do in our yard and others’ and worked his tail off doing it. I never heard him complain!

The BEST SLEEPER award goes to our oldest daughter, Tori. Man, that girl can sleep through a chain saw right outside our open front window. She is a pretty good dishwasher, though.

The BEST PET OWNER award goes to our youngest daughter, Anna. She has had so much fun walking our dogs. They've probably received more attention in the last week than they have over the last year.

The HOSPITALITY award will be split between Donald and Debbie H. for fixing us a wonderful meal and allowing us to hang out in their air conditioned house for a while and get some of our laundry done and Danny & Lizanne C. for welcoming us into their home when we evacuated and being totally okay that we added to the chaos!

The BEST ENTERTAINMENT award goes some other neighbors whose names I’ll not mention. I went over there one of the first mornings after we got back at around 10am to tell them that they were distributing ice and they all came out with beer in their hands and they were pretty loopey. Did I mention it was 10am?

The OPTIMISM award goes to our neighbor, Jay. He assured us on Tuesday that we’d have power back within 24-48 hours. Today marks 6 days total without power and almost 48 hours since his prediction. He said if it wasn’t up in 48 hours then we could tell him he was wrong. Well, Jay, everyone in blog world now knows you were wrong! :)

The LEAST LIKELY TO CAMP award goes to those who are staying with family members because they have a/c. Dedee, you guys receive this award too mostly because I know you hate to camp but also because you have a window unit running on a generator and are watching Monday night football. But at least you’re staying at your own house so maybe there’s hope for a Stunz/Willson camping trip yet…

Hope you enjoyed My Ike Awards.

Here is the picture I mentioned above. It’s a sign taped onto the garage door of Bob & Margaret P. two houses down from us. I thought it was funny but I’m pretty sure it’s not an empty threat. I’m glad he’s protecting our neighborhood! My dad will appreciate this one because he knows this particular neighbor and shares his view. I'm surprised there's not one of these signs on my parents front door.

Last Ike Post

This will be my last post about Ike and what we are going through. We've been pretty disconnected from what is going on in the rest of the world since we have no tv and limited time on the internet so forgive my ignorance if what I've been writing has seemed inconsiderate in any way. Although it is our story and there's nothing wrong with that, what we're having to deal with just seems pretty trivial in comparison to others who have no home at all. So, this is it. I'm not going to make you read about any more of our petty issues. As if I could make you read this anyway. This is a post I just read and found insightful so I'll pass it along.

More blogging later, don't know when and don't know what about.

Back to normal…. sort of

We have begun day 5 without electricity but the weather is holding out for us quite nicely. Jakeb even got the Wii set up this afternoon using our neighbor’s ample supply of generator power so he happily played guitar hero until….. the generator cut off and our neighbor is at work so off it will remain. Bummer!

So, we go to get more ice from Fema and they are giving MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) now. No more Vienna sausages!!! Oh Happy Day!!! We ended up with two cases of water that we really don’t need , six small bags of ice and six MRE’s. MRE's are what the military gets to eat when they are in locations where they can't cook. My dad loves these things. He buys them at gun shows all the time. I don't think there's anything normal about an MRE. My dad gave Jakeb one for his birthday dinner one time when they were gone hunting. Jakeb and Anna ate them for lunch today. Jakeb had Meal No. 6 (chicken and noodles) AND Meal No. 23 (chicken cavatelli). Anna had Meal No. 20 (spaghetti and meat sauce). Each meal has everything you need. Lemon-lime drink powder, crackers or bread with cheese spread, a coffee packet, the main entrée and a dessert. They even include a hot pouch to heat up your food and hot chocolate if you are so lucky to get that as a part of your meal. I tasted parts of each of theirs and they really weren’t that bad. I’m eating my own cooking for dinner, though. They thanked me for getting them and letting them eat them and I don't think that’s normal. Our 80 year old neighbor was super excited about getting those things when he went to get his ice. He was super excited about the Vienna sausages too, though… normal? nah! But he’s going to be living it up for the next few days.

Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s strange that Fema is giving away free ice and food and just down the road, Shipley’s and McD's is open. I’m very grateful for the free ice and I wouldn’t feel right to be going through Shipley’s drive-thru buying donuts when I’m getting free ice and MRE’s from the government. I just don’t like feeling like a moocher so I’m thinking my free ice days are over. I think I can come up with $.99 for ice at Bucee’s.

Many of the businesses are open around town, grocery stores, Target, Walmart, Bucee’s, and almost all of the restaurants. A few things are still hard to find but I bet it won’t take long for the shelves to be all stocked up. Gas stations are also mostly all open and the lines weren’t bad at all. A lot of the homes in our area have electricity so we can bum off of friends and family if we needed but for right now, we’re in good shape. We love camping so it’s really kind of fun for now. As long as we can stand to stay in our own home with our own stuff, with our own routine and our own chaos, we will.

Much here in town appears to be back to normal but in our little part of world, so much is not. I’d love to go throw a load of laundry in the washing machine, use my dishwasher for more than a drying rack and for the light switch in the bathroom to actually turn the light on!

BTW - I'm sitting in a friend's driveway using their internet to post this and Tori is playing the word game on Facebook that she's addicted to. Normal??? Nope.....

After Ike -Day 4 Without Power

We still do not have power but the stores are stocking up with the basics very quickly. Man, they had to throw out so much food! What a mess..... Thanks to our neighbor, we have power to our fridge. Ice is being distributed by FEMA but the line is super long. It goes pretty quick and yes, we got more vienna sausages! Yipee!

Since Tommy found a way to make our coffee sans electricity, our biggest concern now is finding fuel for our cars. There are only a handful of stations open. The one that was open yesterday is empty today. Tommy is driving to Houston for work and he said it's not great there either. So, my adventure for today is going to be to wait in a line somewhere for gas. Woohoo!

I heard glass break nearby early this morning and that freaked me out so I called 911. They came by and patrolled but I guess didn't find anything. We still have a few neighbors that haven't returned and a few that are sleeping elsewhere so it bothered me.

I'm going to make a huge pot of chicken and dumplings today and invite the neighbors over until it's gone. We have a few guys home without their wives and our older neighbor is working himself to the bone so feeding them is something I can do.

Here are a few pics I meant to put on yesterday's post.

This is our church. Reminds me of a poem by Calvin Miller.



This was our first sign of life in LJ on Sunday morning as we drove around the ghost town.

The weather is still very nice. We are thankful!

Ike - Photos from Lake Jackson

Here are a just a few of the photos we took before, during and after Ike.

The kids played while we waited for Ike at the Crocker's.

The adults played while we waited.



















This was the sky in Tomball the night of the hurricane. It was really strange.
















Jakeb took these when he and Tommy headed home the morning after. It was still raining.




















This is Mimi and Pops house. Yes there is a house back there.
















This is our house before clean up. Not bad, huh?















Our backyard















This is at A.P. Beutel Elementary School around the corner from us.

















This is a house in our neighborhood. It was messed up.














This is in my parent's back yard. No power for them for a while!













This is a house down the street from my parents. Also messed up!
















We drove from Lake Jackson to Brazoria and then around to Freeport and finally found ice in Freeport. FEMA was handing out ice and water. We were very grateful!














Our house after clean up. Tommy ended up hauling off our pile to a city dumpster closeby so now we are completely done. Our neighbors are mostly all back home and clean up is well underway. Several have come and cleaned up but left again to find a/c.















We are sleeping downstairs on mattresses with the windows open. It was very pleasant last night and is supposed to be in the mid 50's tonight. That will be so nice!















And, we just played with all of those vienna sausages (see previous post) cause we're sure not eating them!

We Survived Ike

We came back home on Saturday after evacuating for Hurricane Ike. Tommy, Jakeb and the dogs (yes, they were fine) came home in the morning and the girls and I followed and returned home around 7:15pm. We have no electricity but our house is in great shape! Our neighborhood had minimal damage - mostly just a lot of limbs and leaves to clean up. The wind and rain hit so hard it plastered the leaves to the back of our house. There will probably be leave prints embedded when they dry out and fall off.

A few of our neighbors are home and the streets are fairly busy but many people have not returned yet. I’ll bet their refrigerators are going to be gross when they return. There are several houses around with trees in them – they certainly don’t belong there! I hate that for them but we count our blessings that we are safe and sound and our clean up is pretty much finished. I heard someone drive by last night laughing because ours is neatly manicured with a HUGE pile of brush lining the street. It stood out because our neighbors were all still a mess. We can help our neighbors and family now. The city is doing a fabulous job clearing streets and patrolling. I’m typically not too impressed with our po-dunk town but they are doing a great job with this. Yesterday we got ice from a fema set up in Freeport and today they set one up in Lake Jackson. I was only planning on getting the ice because we really didn’t need anything else but they were chunking these snack bags at me through my window and barking (nicely) at me to unlock my door. I couldn’t argue so I ended up with two bags of ice, a case of bottled water and 6 bags of goodies. The bags have peanuts, gushers, fruit cereal bars, peanut butter crackers and a yummy can of Vienna sausages. The pack also had a pack of plastic utensils and a sanitary hand wipe. We won’t be eating the Vienna sausages…..

There are several random pockets of electricity around town. There are a couple of whole subdivisions with power. Krogers opened yesterday evening for about 2 hours! HEB was open and stocking this afternoon. There are a few gas stations open. It will just be a matter of keeping things stocked. Jenny & Phillip are staying with his parents and they have electricity so we can go hang out over there if we need to. I think we may go do a load of laundry tonight over there. They say that the power may not be up for 3-4 weeks in some places due to the damaged power lines. We may be one of those places since we have power lines down just a few houses from us but our optimistic next door neighbor says he thinks it will be up in 48 hours. We are basically camping in our house. We can handle it, I think, due to the amazing generosity of one of our neighbors who has some kind of hyper-powered generator that is powering his whole house, minus the a/c. and enough power left to run our fridge and fans and the neighbors fridge and fans in between us. Thanks, Mr. Pratt!!! I have absolutely no idea how we will thank him for this. Not sure a batch of cookies would do on this one. We did bake some choc. chip cookies on the grill yesterday! I had some homemade dough in the freezer that thawed so we decided to try it out. They were very good! Who knew….. I wonder how grilled vienna sausages would be?

The weather is really nice right now with the cool front that came through last night so we’ll be in really good shape for a few days. Our water supply is safe so we can drink and shower and wash dishes. We have a gas stove and a grill so we can eat. I think we can manage for a while but hopefully it won’t be a while. The mosquitoes are insane!!! I can’t imagine what the mosquitoes are like in the areas that flooded.

My next post will be a photo journal but we’re bumming internet I thought it best to just post info first and make it quick cause I don't know how long their power will be on. Our cell reception is almost non-existent right now so this will also serve as a note to our family and friends that we are fine. We hope and pray you are doing okay as well. We hear that Surfside, Beaumont, Orange and Galveston weren't as fortunate as we were. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. Keep ‘em comin’. Not so much for us but there are many with a lot of damage and a lot of work to do.

Ike 8am Update

Now that it's light outside, we can see that part of the Crocker's fence is down but that was expected. They have some water getting in their house on one side that's not draining. The dogs are good. Their kennel is kind of leaning a little but they are okay.

We are hearing on the news that Hwy 288 is unpassable. So who knows when we'll get to head back and see what damage we're facing. The City of Lake Jackson posted a phone number that is supposed to be up at noon.

At noon on Saturday the 13th we will have a phone bank set up to answer questions from residents. They can call 979-415-2700. Be patient because we will only have a handful of people answering the calls.

And Oh!! Tommy just let a frog in the house!

Update: We just found this news report from a San Antonio news station. They are reporting from Lake Jackson from the Cher Hotel and you can see the side of Shanghai restaurant on Hwy. 332.

Ike 5am Update

Well, the storm is bad but it's not blowing anything over that I can tell. I can't take any pictures cause it's just too dark and I'm not going outside. There was a crazy person outside with a spotlight looking around, though. I watched the news but couldn't find anything out about Lake Jackson/Clute area. We have part of one window uncovered in the kitchen so I only have a minimal view. Other than that, I just hear alot of popping as the winds gust and things hit the boarded up windows. It's pretty weird.

Everyone is sleeping.... but me. I'm such a light sleeper and now that I'm awake, I'm afraid it's for good. Our power went out at around 11pm last night which is weird cause it wasn't even raining or overly windy at that point. I'm using my charged up laptop so I'm trying to make it quick so it will last longer. Obviously, the internet is still up. Danny has the generator running for the refrigerators and fans so it's not bad at all. The fans are also helping to drown out the noises so that's probably what's helping everyone sleep.

I think I'm going to try to make some coffee and spend some time praying, not that I really have a clue how to pray for this. Hope it helps - the coffee and the praying. It's probably going to be a long day.

Ike weather report... Cornflakes and Bluebell

Hey, you gotta do something to lighten things up in a hurricane!

Here's the crew.....

For the record, this will be the last time we go outside. We may be crazy but we're not stupid, although you might think we are. We're going to entertain ourselves inside while we hunker down.

Also, blogger had some trouble publishing so we may not be able to get any more posted but we'll try.

Ike weather report just in... "This is crazy!!!"

Behind the scenes.....

Ike - During Shots #1

These were taken from where we are in Tomball at 6:30pm. It's just really windy right now and getting dark. I have no idea how long we'll have internet or electricity but I'll post photos as I can of what we're seeing here. Our dogs will stay outside unless the fence falls on them or something. Then we don't have a clue what we'll do with them. They're way too stinky to bring in the house. They're used to being in the rain and bad weather so they'll probably be fine. At least we didn't leave them there so they're really lucky.

Ike - The Before Shots

I figured I'd post some "before" shots. I'll also post some during and after shots, so stay tuned. I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting with anticipation! The pic of Anna was just incase that ended up being the last time she got to sleep in that bed in that house. I know that's silly, but for some weird reason, it gave me comfort to take it. The picture of the shoes is just for fun. I wish I had some right now, they might come in handy!

We live about 15 minutes from the coast of Surfside Beach. Tommy used the pre-built storm shutters that the original owner built forever ago, probably for the last time. They are great but they're getting pretty rotten. It was still easier than cutting wood and tons cheaper. He had to use some plywood on a few of our windows.

Our house is about 18-20 feet above sea level and our neighbor who has lived in his house for about 40 years said that we didn't even get close to flooding with hurricane Carla and he only had $3 worth of damage. He had to buy a $6 package of shingles but he only used half of them so he says he only had $3 worth of damage. It stinks that we just spent a ton of money getting our house painted.

We've evacuated to higher ground (have I mentioned that we have great friends?!?) so we're safe but we're wondering what we'll go back to after Ike barrels through. I couldn't get any shots of our house boarded up because my daughters and I left before my husband and son finished that up. Jakeb got one on his phone but I have no idea how to get it from there to here. Tommy, my husband, said that the town was like a ghost town when they left last night to head to Tomball. The stores are all closed, there are no people to be seen anywhere except the police that are patrolling. I am thankful for them and I pray for their protection. Sidenote: we left our house in a "welcoming" state again this hurricane. Beds made, clean kitchen, etc., just in case the looters come in, they'll have a nice clean house to sleep in or ransack or whatever, cause there's just not that much in our house that they'd want! I know I'm weird but it makes for some comedic relief in a pretty emotional situation.

Anyway..... Ike looks like a bad storm, a HUGE storm, like bigger than Texas and almost takes up the whole Gulf of Mexico and it will be here before too long. It's about 11:30am on Friday and it's already getting pretty windy here. The kids walked down to the little store. They'll stay outside as much as they can today because we'll probably be couped up for a while. Will probably prove to be an eventful night.

“Whoops, here it is!” and “Hunker Down!”

I’ve heard some pretty bad Texas lingo in my time but you know you’re in Texas when the people, our government officials and media, who are supposedly educated say things like “Whoops, here it is!” and “Hunker down.” One of the head TxDot guys said on the news this afternoon that we made plans for it to hit the Southern Texas coast but then it began heading East and now “Whoops, here it is!” We had a good laugh about that one. And we keep hearing the weather reporters saying “hunker down”. Our friends that we're staying with in Tomball said that even the grocery store clerk told him "Thanks for shopping at Kleins and hunker down!" That’s so silly but so Texan. It will probably be even worse when we start seeing the interviews. There is always some classic Texas verbiage then.

The latest track shows Ike headed further east now, up to Galveston and maybe Louisiana. Who really knows until it hits land.

I got this storm map from my brother-in-law the other day. I thought it was funny.

This is ridiculous!

We're out a' here! Ike has turned to the north and looks like it's going to be a cat 4 when it hits about 30 miles south of us. It's just a little too close for comfort. We are boarding up, securing things outside, packing and moving things that we have to leave to as safe a place as we can, crying a little here (only one breakdown so far, did I mention I hate packing?) and then to top it off, Jakeb just stepped on a rusty nail. OMG!!! (gosh!) He and Tommy are securing a pile of rotted wood from our torn down shed so it doesn't projectile into our house and our neighbors houses and Jakeb stepped on a nail and it went through his tennis shoe. All of this is ridiculous!!

Anyway, here's the latest from weather underground. I went around town earlier and took pictures of some homes. I may post a few later, maybe sort of like a "before and after". It's weird to see everything boarded up and to think it may not be there after this blows through.

I don't have time for this!

I don't have time to be writing this post.
I don't have time for Ike is getting close.
I wish I could live today as I'd planned,
Instead I pack and pray that my house will stand.

Cheesy, huh????? I don't have time for this hurricane mess!

Our schools are closed today through Monday. Today, we begin the packing process. Tonight we will begin boarding windows and the kids and I will head north tomorrow. Tommy will come a little later with the stinky dogs. That's the plan for now anyway. Maybe later today as we know where Ike is for sure headed, we'll be able to plan otherwise. Our lives are way more important than the inconvenience of packing, the expense of buying wood or travelling, or the fear of losing our stuff.

...to the wall & beyond!

My husband, Tommy, runs long distances. Marathons, 50k's, etc. He often talks about hitting the wall and then having to push through it physically and mentally to get beyond it. I think that today, this homeschool teacher and her two students have hit our own version of the wall. I got up early and got things ready but I suppose you've noticed that this is the second blog post for today so I'm obviously not overly motivated.

We hit the books hard last week. They worked super hard yesterday to get things done so we could go to an Astros game. We got home around 11pm so I told them they could sleep in and we'd start school as soon as we could. Normally, we'd start at around 8:30. Well, it's almost 11am and it's time..... time to push beyond the wall! Hopefully we'll be done before 11pm tonight!!

y'IKE's!!!

That's pretty original, huh?

I looked at a storm prediction a few minutes ago and as of 5am this morning it doesn't have Ike coming directly to us anymore but further South. That would be nice but I still don't trust it. Although, Roger's (a friend) "shrimp guy" told him yesterday that it's not coming here but it's going to go to Mexico and he hasn't been wrong in 50 years. Maybe his luck will hold out. It has to hit somewhere, though, and someone will get hurt and property will get destroyed so how does one pray..... We're just letting God do what He's gonna do and going with it - as if we have a choice.

I HATE packing and I don't use that word loosely. My mom always told me not to use that word, that it's too harsh and you don't really mean it but I HATE, detest, despise, abhor packing. I hate packing for a vacation, for a weekend retreat, for anything and especially to run from a hurricane when you know you might only end up with what you packed. I'd just rather stay home. I'm usually glad I packed, though, cause we always have a good time and I can't imagine staying in a hurricane and putting my family through the potential horror and danger. That's a no-brainer. I just have to keep from biting anyone's head off in the packing process cause it's just so stressful for me. It's probably just that I know I'm going to forget something that I/we'll really need and I'm going to feel like less of a person. Yes, I'm sort of OCD and I like to make sure I have everything that everyone will need. You know, just in case.....

So, last night, as I lay in bed thinking and thinking and thinking, I thought about a few positives of packing to run from a hurricane.

1. You get to find out what you really, really, really treasure.
2. You find out how authentically generous your friends and family are that welcome you to stay with them.
3. It's like a mini vacation once you're gone and you might as well make the best of it - even though it's not in the budget.
4. I get to use my new hardisk camcorder that I got for my birthday to take video and pictures of our house and our stuff.
5. You get to stay alive!
6. You get to dream about how you'll remodel or rebuild your home if you come back and it's leveled. I'm going to have a much bigger living room and kitchen!
7. You might end up with some good stories for the great grandkids one day.

If you have others, please share. I've got to go start my packing list.

1:06

We often mark memorable events by the time that they happen. A beginning, an ending, a celebration, a tragedy, a birth, a death.......

1:06am, Thursday, September 4th marks the time when Bumpa (Les Cheaver) went Home.

Tommy and I and Jenny and Phillip spent our evening at Herman Hospital last night with our good friends and their family as they prayed hard for a miracle but basically waited for their father, father-in-law, grandpa (Bumpa), husband, brother, uncle and friend to stop living life on earth.

It was a flashback of sorts for me personally as it was at this same time, almost to the day, that we were in the same hospital with my family 8 years ago with my nephew, praying and waiting.......

At 1:06am, September 4th, 2008, Les released his final breath on this finite earth in his finite body and at 1:06am, September 4th, 2008, Les took his first breath of real life - eternal life in his infinite, healed and perfect body. I guess you could say, and I quote liberally and respectfully, "It was the worst of times and it was the best of times."

Les and Ian, you are both missed.

My kids got the coolest teacher ever!

ME!!!

School is officially in session for the rest of the Stunz kids and we made it through our first day. Their first day of school pictures are below. Definitely not your traditional first day pics of them with their backpacks getting ready to walk out the door. No backpacks, bare feet, no strict dress code..... Those are just a few of the home school bonuses!

It is both a blessing and a curse to have had previous public school experience. It helps with structure, routine, etc. but then you get questions like I got from Anna today. "What's the 2nd lunch choice?" HA!! It was an innocent question but I had to laugh.

The lessons took a little longer than I thought they would. I probably planned too much for one day. I'm kinda freaked out about finishing everything so I'll push a little harder at first and re-evaluate after this week. Some of Jakeb's stuff is just weird and hard to put into a structured lesson plan but it's necessary so we'll figure it out. He was very patient with me. I think we'll all end up having to learn some lessons on grace this year.

We started about 7:30am. I hadn't planned on starting until 8:45 but they were ready to go so we started. Who'd a thought... We plowed through lessons and then shot hoops at about 11:00 for a recess of sorts. That was weird. People driving by were probably thinking "Those kids sure aren't sick! Why aren't they in school? Where are their parents?!?" The rebellious side of me thought it was funny.

Jakeb finished all of his assignments just before 2 and that was with doubling up on Algebra 2 so he can finish it in one semester and do Geometry next semester. I think he was motivated enough to have finished the whole year in one day. Anna's hand was tired of writing by the end of the day. Guess we should have kept those muscles in shape over the summer. She finished around 2:30. I thought we'd finish earlier but it took longer to figure things out so tomorrow will probably be shorter.

Jakeb and Anna were both really great students and I enjoyed the day. We're off to Sonic now for happy hour!!! Before all the other kids get out of school.......