Update on my Dad

Just got some good news regarding my dad.  His platelets and white blood cells are up and they are talking about maybe letting him go home on Thursday!

Effectively homeless...

We closed on our house this morning so we are homeless, although very lucky to have a place to stay, La Quinta hotel.  

We are still waiting for some paperwork to come in so that we can fly to Aberdeen.  It is getting pretty frustrating because we have no control over it and so all we can do is wait.

We had some worrying news yesterday, about Fiona's Dad, he is in the hospital in Mexico with Hemmorhagic Dengue Fever.  It is a very painful virus, but so far he does not seem to have any internal bleeding which is very good.  The virus attacks a person's platelets and white blood cells and is usually contracted from mosquitos. We are hoping that he will recover soon.

It's Moving Day!

Well at least for our stuff but not for us.  We're still waiting on some paperwork before we can leave.

But we have movers and they are coming today to start packing up.  We have divided each room into two piles, shipment and storage.  Although we keep finding nooks and crannies that we forgot about and have to go through the things we find in there.  It has been really tough trying to decide what to leave behind.  Furniture is a no go, so what we are bringing with us is some of the small stuff.  Some things are obvious, those that have real sentimental value or things you use all the time.  But those items that are on the cusp have caused us the most grief.  Should it stay or should it go?  Do you like it enough to take it?

I guess in the long run, you know the things that really matter to you and the other stuff is just that... stuff.

I'll update you on our departure date when I know what it will be.

We're delayed...

We were supposed to leave on Sept 24th but unforeseen circumstances... namely hurricane Ike has slowed things up. Many of the government offices are still closed. Also, there is a lot of red tape that we have to wade through before we can leave.

In a way it is really nice, because we get a little extra time with our friends and a more comfortable timeline for the move.

Our planned departure is around October 1st.

  

Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are pretty much back to normal here which is great.  Thanks for all your thoughts, calls and kind wishes.  We have phone, power and water, for which we know we are very, very lucky.  Our electricity company has 2.26 million customers and still 1.88 million are without power.  Some of the images we are seeing on TV are showing the spectacular scale of destruction from this storm.  There is a citywide curfew in effect, Galveston and Houston downtown are closed to the public.  Many people cannot get back to their homes to see what is left of them.  Gas, ice, water and food are in short supply.  No power means no way to keep food, and also no a/c which is really tough to deal with when it is 90 degrees.  There are millions of people that are in really rough situations and our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

One thing that this storm has reinforced for us is the generosity and kindness of the people here in Texas.  Even on our own street we see examples of neighbors taking care of one another.  And it is not an exception that this storm was here at home, we saw the same kindness after Katrina, Rita and even the tsunami in Indonesia.  No matter what you think of their lifestyle or politics, if you are in need they will give you the shirt off their backs. 

Ike Aftermath

Here are a couple of pictures of the damage that was caused by Ike at our house and one of the sunset last night as Ike was coming in.  The car in the photo is our neighbour's daughter's car unfortunately.  We were very lucky that we only had minimal damage compared to those near the coast.

Our power is back on but our phone is still out. 

It was a dark and stormy night...

We had a stormy night with lots of really high winds and rain. We don't think there is too much damage. Our large tree in front of our garage split in half and parts of it are lying in our driveway. Part of our fence fell down. We have no power but we are fine. The water and gas are still on. Beer supplies are holding steady. The sun is just coming up but it is still raining and really, really windy. Once it dies down we'll go out and survey the damage.

It Begins...

Well, we are starting to feel the beginnings of the storm.  The bands are moving in, we don't have any rain yet but there are quite strong wind gusts blowing.  We still have power and hopefully it will hold out (we don't want to be stuck without a/c).

Had a good southern dinner of Frito Pie, sounds gross doesn't it?  It's actually very tasty!!

Goodbye Gift From the Gulf

After previous close calls, it looks like we'll be getting a direct hit from Hurricane Ike.  We should be fine, we are not in the flood zone and the winds we'll be getting hopefully won't be too strong.

Rik's work let him come home early yesterday and most places are closed today.  The preparations don't seem as frantic as when Rita came by.  There is less panic in the panic buying but here are a couple of shots from the grocery store and one of Ike himself...

We've got our water, some food and plenty of gas so we are prepared.  We'll continue to keep an eye on what's happening (that shouldn't be hard... it is Ike 24/7 on all channels).

House sold!!

Well, one of our major concerns about our move was being able to sell our house in time.  We did it!  We had quite a few showings and one buyer backed out. Finally, we found the one deal that went through.  Although they had quite a strange request... in lieu of repairs they wanted ...our TV!  It was going into storage anyway so we agreed.  Here are a few pics of the house we are saying goodbye to soon...