Morning Report from Fort Belmont

We woke up to a calm morning on Belmont Drive. However, it was tough to tell it was morning because all the windows are boarded up. We have left the back door unboarded for now. The board is on the deck, ready to go and will take about 30 seconds to install. We will wait as long as we can (probably this evening) to close out the back - that is our only window to the world right now. Both vehicles are in the garage - a first for us.
Right now, it's kind of like a breezy day in Friendswood. As far as we know, everything is closed. As you may have seen on TV, Galveston is seeing very high surf and the western end of the island is already under water. To give y'all an idea of geography: we are 27 miles from the coast and 13 miles from Clear Lake (the upper portion of Galveston Bay). We are at 33 feet above sea level. I checked the most current storm surge predictions: we are several miles beyond the 5% chance for storm surge line.
The local news stations have been broadcasting in "news mode" for the last 30 hours. Pretty impressive, but that has to be wearing on their personnel. But...this is the kind of stuff they live for.
Sorry for rambling. I will probably post again late this afternoon or evening.

Fort Belmont

We are probably as ready as we will ever be on Belmont Drive. As Hurricane Ike approaches, we have gased up the cars and boarded up the windows. We have about six to seven days worth of water, and probably at least ten days of food. We have made the decision to stay. We are at about 33 feet above sea level and over 27 miles from the coast. At least 90% of our subdivision is staying. I think our biggest obstacle will be loosing electricity and the uncertainty of when it will come back on.

I will continue to update as long as I can on the blog and will keep in touch with my parents via cell phone as long as that holds out. Pray that God will be merciful.

Four For Four

Yesterday, Sheri took Abby to the eye doctor. Abby has been showing all the signs that we saw with Emma: getting closer and closer to the TV and computer screen, wanting to get up close to books, and the like. And, she needs them. We knew it was inevitable. When it comes to eyesight, Abby didn't exactly have a great gene pool. We were kind of hoping Abby would go a bit longer - I didn't get glasses until 5th grade and Sheri until 7th. But, now we are four for four. Abby's correction is not huge. The doctor said she just needs them for school, reading, and TV. But we plan on her wearing them all the time.
Abby will get her glasses in about a week or so. As soon as she does, I will post pics here on the blog.

First Day of Kindergarten

Monday (yea, I'm a bit behind on the blog), a big change in Abby and Emma’s life and mine and Sheri’s as well…the first day of Kindergarten. We had to get up very early – 5:45 am – the same time I get up every Sunday. The girls are scheduled to be picked up by the school bus. But on the first day, we drove them (driving your child to school the first day is a bit of a Friendswood tradition, as well.) We got their early, and good thing. Traffic around the school was an absolute disaster. We parked about two blocks away to stay out of the parking lot mess. We took the girls to the classrooms (we decided to separate them) and got them settled. There was another mother dropping her child off in Emma’s class who started to cry. Expected, I suppose, it’s a big life-changing day Sheri did okay. I think she was just nervous and a little worried.
That afternoon, when the bus dropped the girls off at the corner, Sheri was there to meet them. They said they had a good day. Later, when I got home, I asked Abby how her day was. Here answer, “It was boring.” I told her, it will get better once you get into your regular routine. She’s going to be fine!
A big day, a big change, and a right of passage all in one day.

In-Laws Visit

Last week, Sheri's parents were here. My father-in-law, the jack of all trades that he is, brought his skills to bear on our house once more. He built new drawers to replace the plastic drawers that were installed by the contractor years ago when the house was built. Build a house as cheap as possible must have been their mantra back then. The wooden drawer fronts were falling off the plastic drawers so something need to be done. We also installed new countertops and sinks in the master bath and the girls' bath. We quickly discovered that off-the-shelf kitchen countertops are not the same as bathroom counters. We cut and improvised and made it happen. They ended up looking great.
We did some fun stuff too. We took them down to the Island. Sheri got to hang out with her mom a lot. Great visit and look forward to their return

Tropical Storm Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall yesterday about 30 miles east of Galveston Island (about 50 miles from Friendswood.) And ultimately, it looked worse on TV or on radar than reality on the ground. In Friendswood, we had about 2 inches of rain and 20-30 mile per hour winds. No damage except for some small branches down out of our trees.
It was fascinating watching how we all prepared for the worst. Everyone put gas in their car. But there were no long lines and everyone remained calm and orderly (like they have done this drill before.) We also had to do the "go to the store and get bread, milk, and bottled water." The milk piece of that equation is interesting. Think about it: if we lose power, the milk will quickly spoil. Water makes much better sense. The whole community experience reminded me of getting ready for a big snowfall up north - particularily in Tennessee.
Nevertheless, Edouard's punch was pretty weak. And we got some much needed rain.

Grandparent Visit

Last week, my parents came to visit for a few days. They have been here before, but we took the opportunity to do some things we have not done before.

We saw the movie WALL-E with them. Overall the movie was good and had a good lesson (as most all Pixar films do). But parts of it did seem to be longer than necessary, like they just needed to fill the time without telling more story. On the Fourth of July, we watched fireworks from the church parking lot. The park from which they shoot is only about half a mile from church. So we got a good view without all the crowds (yet there were several hundred people on the parking lot.) It was also a good chance to see and talk members from Hope - informal style. The next day, we went down to Galveston Island. Being from St. Louis, my parents don't get to see the ocean much. We didn't swim in the ocean. We just got our feet wet. Then we gave them a driving tour of the Island - including the Strand. On Sunday after church, my father asked me to go with him to our local Apple store to talk about how he might set up a home network with their old eMac once they get their new iMac. I had a good time being in the store talking tech with my father and the Apple dude. The coolness factor was high. Dad needs an Apple to do the music work he does. I don't need an Apple and am perfectly happy with my Gateway Desktop (blazing fast and with 3 gig of RAM and huge hard drive) running Vista and my new laptop (see previous post). The coolness factor just isn't quite there as much as Apple. But with Apple, you pay a pretty penny to be cool.

And that's about it. It was good to have them here and it was good for the girls to re-connect with their grandparents.