Preparing for Ike

Thank you for all the birthday greetings and good wishes!

You can watch live streaming video that I am currently watching on our local abc station, here.

Yesterday we moved all of the agility equipment from my parents backyard to their garage, plus doggie swimming pools and lawn furniture and potted plants and odds and ends; I prepared my back porch yesterday evening. I finished preparing my front porch this morning and started packing to go to my parents house (Misty's ashes, all my hard copy photos, important papers and documents, plus dog food, meds, clothes, etc.). I've moved a few things that I can't take into my bathtub hoping that they will stay dry if the windows blow out. I'm going to get a bite to eat and finish packing shortly, and lastly move my couch into the hallway with the bedroom doors closed and put a few things in the kitchen. Hopefully they will be semi-protected if the windows blow out. We have been told to expect at least 100 mile per hour winds in this area. It's scary to leave everything and not know how long I will be gone, or what to expect when I come back. My parents house is only five miles from my place.

It has just started to partially cloud over in my area in the last half hour; all morning here it has been sunny and pleasant with a light breeze. Galveston island is already beginning to flood. Not from rain, which they really haven't had yet, and not from surge, which is not due for another 10 plus hours, but from high coastal surf being pushed up from the storm. It's hard to imagine how bad it will be when the storm surge actually arrives. One of my old favorite haunts with my old dog, Misty, is Surfside, down coat from Galveston; apparently the entire island of Surfside is already under water.

I'll keep you up to date as long as we have power.