My trip to Walmart to finish preparing for Hurricane Ike

So I just went up to WalMart to get some last minute items I had forgotten. Milk, Peanut Butter, Butter and some books to read.

First, here's the sky when I left.

Not too bad, its not as dark as it looks but there's definitely a storm coming. Still just a slight breeze, nothing major. Here's what I saw when I pulled up to Wal Mart's front door.


They've put all their pallets and potting soil bags in front of every entrance, every window, every door. And the parking lot was EMP-TY!

So my only option was to try Target, across the street, I was worried they would be closed but they weren't they were PACKED and here's what I found on the shelves.

No bread (good thing I didn't need any)


No water (nope didn't need that either got some Coke tho lol)


And no flashlights, yup already got that so we're good.

Hope no one procrastinated!!

More tracking

Here's another good link to track the hurricane. The purple line is the eye of the storm. Its now moved NorthEast which is a good thing for us. We'll now be on the west side of the eye which is where we want to be. If you zoom in on Houston my house sits right were 249 & 1960 meet. If you zoom into the 249 to about the city level you can see 1960, it shows up as "Deco" on the map (no clue what that means lol). I was actually able to zoom all the way in and actually see my apartment .. pretty cool LOL

The latest I've seen/heard is that we'll get about 70mph winds which obviously isn't GOOD but its not as bad as it could be. They say with 70mph winds you'll get almost no structural damage just a lot of debris from anything not secured down.

keep your fingers crossed!

It's time to ....

Track Ike

Well Ike is definitely going to hit us, its just a matter of WHEN and how HARD. A lot can happen between now and Friday night/Sat morning when it hits land but everyone agrees we'll definitely get a lot of wind and rain. You can go HERE to track Ike.

They're starting to evacuate the coast cities and so far no evacuations from Houston. Just an FYI unless someone comes to my house and PHYSICALLY removes me, I'm not going anywhere. Trust me its for the best. I can either ride it out in my HOUSE or ride it out in my car STUCK on the freeway. Its already getting crazy around here.

Kroger is by far the cheapest gas and there was a line halfway down the block today. I went to Wal Mart after work to load up on bottled water & canned food and they were ALREADY almost out of water so its just going to get worse.

At work they're flying some of my co-workers to Phoenix because that's our closest hub. Chances are our building will be without power so we'll need people to get our jobs out. I really wish I could go, but I can't leave the girls and my job won't pay for them to fly SOOO we'll be here!!

I'll keep everyone updated. If we lose power I'll have all our cellphones charged and we have plenty of water and batteries and canned food so we'll be fine.

.... And Another one

Yes my friends it is offically hurricane season. Next hurricane up to bat is IKE ... I swear who picks these names anyway? I'ma google that and find out ... brb....

Ok so APPARENTLY there's a LIST. I knew hurricanes go in Alphabetical order alternating between male and female (and you thought I didn't no nothin). But here's a list for the next few years .. go ahead and file this under "useless information"

Names for Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclones

2008 Arthur Bertha Cristobal Dolly Edouard Fay Gustav Hanna Ike Josephine Kyle Laura Marco Nana Omar Paloma Rene Sally Teddy Vicky Wilfred

2009 Ana Bill Claudette Danny Erika Fred Grace Henri Ida Joaquin Kate Larry Mindy Nicholas Odette Peter Rose Sam Teresa Victor Wanda

2010 Alex Bonnie Colin Danielle Earl Fiona Gaston Hermine Igor Julia Karl Lisa Matthew Nicole Otto Paula Richard Shary Tomas Virginie Walter

2011 Arlene Bret Cindy Don Emily Franklin Gert Harvey Irene Jose Katia Lee Maria Nate Ophelia Philippe Rina Sean Tammy Vince Whitney

2012 Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Florence Gordon Helene Isaac Joyce Kirk Leslie Michael Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sandy Tony Valerie William

2013 Andrea Barry Chantal Dorian Erin Fernand Gabrielle Humberto Ingrid Jerry Karen Lorenzo Melissa Nestor Olga Pablo Rebekah Sebastien Tanya Van Wendy

When I think of "Ike" I think of "Ike Turner" so I sure hope this storm isn't as abusive :)

Wow I crack myself up sometimes.

Anywhoooo Ike is heading for us, supposed to hit on Saturday. Luckily there's a lot of distance between us and "him" so he could go either way. Sorry Florida but I'm voting for EAST.

Update

So we didn't even get rain. Not even a drop, from Gustav. Which I am thankful we made it through ok. However, not everyone did. So much emphasis has been placed on New Orleans because of Katrina, the news doesn't seem to be showing what DID happen. Sure New Orleans got lucky also and didn't get what they expected. But there are plenty who weren't so lucky.

Cleaning up in Chauvin, Louisiana

This lady and her daughter are waiting for gas so they can get back home.

825 evacuees were housed in this shelter in Tyler, TX , with over 6,000 spread out over the city

This is in Gulfport, Mississippi

This is probably the biggest improvement since Katrina. They now make all interstates contraflo, so all southbound traffic is now northbound, doubling the amount of traffic that can get OUT of the city. During Katrina & Rita, some people were sitting in traffic for over 24 hours from Galveston to Houston .. which is a ONE hour drive.

So needless to say, I feel very lucky and very thankful and very BLESSED that in the 3 years I have been here, we haven't had to go through HALF of what these people have experienced.

Gustav

Hurricane Gustav was downgraded to a level 2 hurricane. It hit landfall this morning west of New Orleans so its closer to Houston, but by the time it hits us we'll just get lots of rain and wind. So its all gravy baby!