We Didn't Like Ike (One ten-piece order to go!)

June 1^st marks the beginning of hurricane season for the Atlantic. It's not just the East Coast that has to worry, it's the Gulf Coast region as well. From the first of June through the first of December (yes the season is that long), residents watch the news for any storm activity which could go one of two ways- on its' way to Florida and beyond, or the Gulf Coast. We are interested in a number of factors:

• Will this be a tropical storm, or will it develop any further?
• How strong will it be?
• Which way will it go?

If experience is the best teacher, then Mom and I got a crash course during our first year in Texas.

It was September 12, 2008, and Hurricane Ike was about to smack the Gulf upside its' head. Mom and I were staying in the southeast part of Harris County, and Ike was trying to make up its mind as to where itwould go. It was six hundred miles across-- the eye alone was 49 miles wide.

Mom and I were in a peculiar situation ourselves. We had no choice but to stay put.

And isn't it funny, that's right where Ike decided to go at the last minute.

My Walmart closed at seven that evening; people were boarding up the windows when Mom picked me up. That night we went to bed around 10. It was already raining and windy. Mom put in her earplugs and slept the rest of the night. She did wake me up around midnight to tell me the power went out. The eye of the hurricane hit around 3 in the morning, on the thirteenth. Then, we got a ton of wind and rain, also known as the “dirty side.”

We did get a much-loved, albeit brief, cool front, which meant the temperatures dropped to the sixties.a 

The Monday we had to go to a Red Cross shelter until power was restored, roughly five days later (there were approximately one hundred people in the church's gym). And, cleaning up Walmart was an experience in and of itself. After Ike, ice (as well as water) was very much in demand. The employees handed out ice at work. The only restaurant that was open nearby was Church's Chicken. The owner must have had a generator, and he made a killing. There were lines around the block all the time.

Now, nearly three years later, hopefully Mom and I are far enough inland that all we should have to worry about is rain. Of, course, we don't know how many hurricanes (if any) we are going to get this year, but we hope Ike is our last one.

http://www.click2houston.com/weather/17455610/detail.html- Details about Ike

http://www.khou.com/news/local/66174132.html- It seemed like a good idea at the time to blog about MREs. (NOT mine)