Sorry to have been out of contact for so long. We have no power at the house. I'm at the office for the moment because I need to recharge our cell phones and other equipment. We lost two trees: the Arizona ash that I knew would fail and the fig tree that I adored. We lost a significant number of shingles on the roof. We were extremely fortunate. It's a lovely thing that the Better Half and I each have a long history of camping because we already had most of what we need to survive without power. It's annoying to stand in line for ice every single day but we're all alive, in good health if you don't count mosquito bites in the dozens, and have much to be thankful for.

I'm *especially* grateful for an early taste of fall. So often it's even hotter after one one of these storms so I'm thrilled to have what around here passes for cool weather. The lows are in the low 60s and the highs are in the low 80s. As I'm without air conditioning at home, I'm ecstatic for the nice weather.

I don't know how often I'll be at the office. The Better Half's mother has a house on one of the bayous near Galveston Bay. We're needed down there to help salvage what we can as the mold is taking over her house.

beeej? If you're reading this, I don't know how much I'll be able to do for the final challenge in sg1_lims. :( I'm really sorry about this but I want to warn you that I have no good idea when I'm getting power restored. My neighborhood suffered a heart-breaking number of downed trees. On my block alone, there are two huge, uprooted trees being held up by the power lines. This is not unusual within our neighborhood. Maybe it'll go really quick once power crews get to our neighborhood but thus far we haven't seen anyone. Center Point Energy estimates that our power will be restored, "after Monday, September 22." (*.pdf map is here in case anyone's interested but hasn't yet found it.)