Hey, while you're staying safe and not-crazy-stressed, enjoy the getaway for all it's worth!

::toasts you with a margarita::

::is glad you're in a good place::

Absolutely. We have a nice suite with a fridge, stovetop, microwave...there's not a lot of "roughing it" involved. :) It's nice to be done with prepping the house and yard, packing stuff up, loading the car, and on and on. Now it's time to relax and de-stress. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Yesssss!

Sounds like you guys are going to have a great time! :-)

We're still waiting for more than a sprinkle and an intermittent light breeze.

Oh yeah. The sky was clouded and gray - no rain at all - when we left but there seemed no reason to hang any longer than necessary. We got here as soon as we could check in. I'm just really relieved to be done with all of the prep. Whew!

We still haven't cleared the patio (granted, it's going to take all of about 20 minutes). :-)

But, I did just bake all the potatoes I own. (Yum! LUNCH was terrific!). I figured it was more palatable to consider eating cold baked potatoes than cold raw potatoes. :-)

Next into the oven - biscuits!

I wish I'd thought thought to cook our potatoes! We had potato/cabbage soup for dinner last night but we still had a couple pounds of potatoes. Cold is infinitely more palatable than raw. Ah well.

I bet your house smells great!

Na... smells like... dry cat food. :-) I bought two 20 pound bags in addition to what I already had.

For those of you in the studio audience, the biggest problem, assuming you escape death and or dismemberment, with a hurricane or serious tropical storm is in the aftermath. Around here, we'll have flooding for a day or so, but then the roads will be clear and clean up will go on. However, we may be without power for a couple of weeks.

Now, take a moment and think of all the things you take for granted that require power. Inside the home, it's pretty easy. Most of us have had at least brief power outages from time to time (which still doesn't keep me from poking at the microwave in the dark and wondering why it doesn't work ;-). But out in the wider world are other things, things we *seriously* take for granted.

Gas stations (gas pumps need electricity)

ATMs (Oh. yeah. nothing like *having* money, and not being able to spend it)

Grocery stores (ah, yeah - no electricity, no cash registers or credit card machines or or or or)

Traffic lights (this gets very scary sometimes)

Street lights (very scary redux)

Banks (no electricity, no security paraphernalia, no way, no how are they going to open)

Pharmacies (just *try* to get a prescription filled when they can't check their computers - they *will* provide a few days of some types of medications - high blood pressure, for example, probably insulin and such, too)

So, life gets interesting, but it goes on.

I bought lots of Gatorade and non-perishables for post-Ike. The Better Half started to pack that stuff to bring up here and I made him put it back. That's for the long, sweaty, unhappy time when we're waiting for power to be restored. I've done as much as I can. Happily, business has changed a lot since Alicia. Some areas of town will have power sooner than others and there so many more chains (drug stores and banks especially) that I'm hoping to avoid the worst of those problems.

Traffic lights, however, will be muchly missed. I shudder to think of Houston drivers without traffic lights.

I drove around some after Rita (mostly heading to my sister's because she had power ;-). It was a pain. The best part was that so many folks were *gone*. :-)

Drink one for me!

Done. :)

*stares at icon*

Hope when you get back home you find everything is all right. In the meantime, have a drink for me, will you?

*stares at icon some more*

He's a pretty, pretty man.

Thank you. I hope that we do, too. I'll do that!

I'm thinking about you as I watch the news. Best of luck to you!

Awwww, thank you! We might lose power even this far inland and that would be unhappy making but we're really far from the scary flooding and, with good luck, the house should survive with no problems.

enjoy the hotel treatment as best as you can!! And see, this shows you how smart you were to research and reserve a room early... You are a wise one indeed... Yup.

LOL! It costs nothing to make a reservation and most hotels allow for cancellations as late as 6 p.m. on the same day without penalty. It makes no sense to wait. As it is, I made the reservations Tuesday and my preferred evacuation site, Austin, was already full.

Good luck! I hope nothing hits your home.

Thank you! I do, too. It'll be enough work getting the house back into livable condition without anything more.

Yay. Be well, and have fun relaxing a bit. :)

:) We've walked the dog and are taking turns having nice, hot showers. Then it's time to party with Farscape and margaritas. YUM! I suspect we'll all be falling asleep early tonight.

Good to hear that you're safe. Hope everything at your home is fine.

glad to know you're high and dry. *hugs*

Be safe! *Hugs*

so glad to read this post! was listening to the weather channel this morning, and hoping that you did evacuate... I hope your parents did too?

keep us updated! and woo hoo *i* for a/c, margaritas and dog-friendly hotels!

Glad to hear that all is well. Been thinking about youse guys and the parental units all week.

HEY YOU!!!!! {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{JL}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I came in this morning to work but will be heading home this afternoon as we still have no power and someone has to be at home to open windows so Brinkley doesn't boil to death. :(

I hope that all is well with you. I'll try to get online once we have power/internet at the house. Joe's mom lost almost everything as her house was inundated with more than 5 feet of water. We've been spending our "free time" down there, helping her clean & pack what can be salvaged and cataloging what can't be saved for the insurance company. It has been grim. We lost the tree in front of our house and, very sadly, the fig tree in the back. Brinkley no longer has a backyard as we lost the fence. Most importantly, we lost the shingles on the roof so we're praying for no rain. *fingers crossed*

Anyhow, we're all alive, mosquito-bitten, hot, grumpy, and really, really ready to have electricity restored. According to the power company, we can expect our area of town to be "substantially" restored by the end of the day Thursday.

Be safe. You're in my prayers.

Hi.. have your heard anything about your home? do you have any idea when you might be able to go back?

j