Ike.... as in Yikes!

I'm beginning to absolutely hate hurricane season. Gustav... Hanna... and now Ike. When they first announced the name Ike, my husband and I both said that the name itself didn't sound like it would be a friendly storm.

Some of our neighbors have already boarded up their windows. Other neighbors never took down the boards that they put up in preparation for Gustav. Still other neighbors have already made plans to leave (or have left) and they didn't even bother with the boards at all.

My husband and I looked around our house tonight after the late news, and after checking the storm's progress on the computer. I made a list of what we needed to take, if we have to leave. (My cousin L recently asked me what important things I would take out of this house if we had to evacuate quickly. I told her that the only "important" things were those that are breathing.)

The mayor was on television telling everyone that evacuation wasn't mandatory. He is advising anyone "on high ground" to settle in and stay put-- but he didn't say just how high the ground needed to be.

Galveston Island is already evacuating, especially the west end of the Island, which will be under water if the storm is as bad as they said it will be, and if the storm surge is as high as they're predicting, and if the hurricane itself doesn't take a right turn towards New Orleans. All these ifs that they keep throwing into the news and the weather updates.

The way I see it, remembering the bumper-t0-bumper traffic on the Gulf Freeway two years ago when everyone in Galveston and Houston was trying to get away from Rita (which did take a turn and brought only rain and low winds), the time for evacuating everyone in this area has already passed.

We're watching the storm pattern now, and we'll see what they say tomorrow morning. If the storm continues to move towards the right in the Gulf, then we'll probably just get a good heavy rain with some winds-- enough to blow the ceramic ducks around the yard, but not enough to blow the roof clear into the next town.

As a precaution a couple of days ago, my husband had made reservations at a pet-friendly hotel in College Station, which is about two hours north of here. When we made those reservations, we had no way of knowing that the path of the storm could bring the worst of it right through College Station. Well... guess where we're not going.

The weathermen were talking about all the construction equipment in and around the downtown areas of Houston.... all of which can become projectiles when you have hurricane-force winds. If the storm hits the way it's looking right now, the downtown area could have 100 mph winds by late Friday. The weather guys were suggesting that everyone needs to not only pick up or tie down all the stuff in their own yards, but everyone should go around town and pick up construction supplies, orange road cones, and highway safety barrels.

Are they for real? Do they really think people are going to do that? Shouldn't that be up to the construction companies themselves? All they'd have to do is get their own crews out there to either remove or tie down their supplies. And how about those huge cranes that are peeking up around the downtown buildings-- how safe are those going to be with 100 mph winds?

Oh well. The next twenty-four hours will give us more information about Ike. This storm stuff is getting very old. In all the years we've lived here, only these last few have been so threatening with all of the summer hurricanes simmering in the Gulf.

I'm hoping that Ike doesn't boil over. And I've already been decorating our house for the Halloween party next month. We're ready for Halloween, not a hurricane.