Share your Hurricane Ike experiences!

[Blue66669]

What did you do when the power went off? How did you occupy your time during the hurricane? Share your experiences from Ike here!

[Lord Dragonspyre]

"We're going to Mount Doom, Frodo!"

"Shun the Eye of Mordor! Shuuuuun! Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnah!"



"IT'S SO ANGRY!!!"



"It's SUNDAY!!! IT'S CLOSED!!!"



"This Brain Bleach moment brought to you by the letter Z!"

[Var Greyshadow]

We stood on our third floor balcony and watched transformers blowing up all over town Friday night, lit the oil lamps and waited for our power to go off (it did about a half hour later).  Off to bed with the wind starting howl outside.

Saturday, we wandered around the apartment complex looking at the damage (trees, fences, etc.).  Got the fence that fell on Lawrence's car hood off. 

Sunday, took the chain saw and went to help a friend cut limbs in his backyard, then checked in on another friend and the house in the Heights we're trying to buy (all OK). 

Monday, went up to Spring to check on Lawrence's little sister, since we hadn't been able to get through to her on the phone.  They're fine.  Lawrence went to work for a bit after that and I sat out on the balcony and read.

We've been enjoying the cool weather, spending every evening outside with tealight lanterns lighting up the balcony.  Have hot food courtesy of Lawrence's camp stove.  The apartment looks awesome at night with a half-dozen oil lamps and many candles lit.  Pictures will be posted once we have power, since I can't download them at work or upload to my Mac site.

[Pascal]

We had it so easy that I'm ashamed.  When the power went out about 6:00am (in Katy), we started the generator, plugged in the window A/C, and sat around in comfort all day.  Power came back on that night about 7:30pm.  Only excitement was when I set the Coleman stove on fire -- it was a roiling ball of fire, a real impressive sight! 

We've since loaned out our two generators and window A/C's so I feel a little better.

We lost a fence, but none of the trees that I expected we'd lose.  We have a couple of 100 foot pines in front of our house -- at peak of storm, they were bent over so far that the upper branches were touching the ground ... but they'd spring right back up when the wind would drop.

[LadyJessica]

Spent most of Friday night watching Season 1 of "Heroes" until the power went out around 12:30 Friday night.  The rest of the night was spent trying to get some sleep moving between the rooms in the apartment trying to figure out which is the coolest with three animals sleeping next to you.

Saturday was spent driving around to beat the heat.  Saw a lot of damage to people's homes and trees down.  The hubby and I survived on chips and salsa that first day as I couldn't find any propane for the camp stove and I thought that I had some in storage but alas I did not.

Sunday, after trying to sleep through the heat my hubby decided that it was time to visit his cousin in San Antonio so we packed up the cats and our dog and headed out.  Spent the rest of Sunday, all of Monday and half of Tuesday clean and cool at his cousins.  Had to come back Tuesday as we both had to work.

And I just got a call from the hubby... WE HAVE POWER!!!!

[Bonny Pearl]

I woke up at about 1:00am Saturday when the storm started coming in here.  I was up all night, watching the weather/news channels until the power went out at about 4:00am.  I had wallets, keys, shoes and a mattress set up in our hallway, ready for a tornado.  I had a plan darn it, lol!  At one point, I stepped out onto our back porch and noticed that all the deer that bed down on the back of our property were out in the cleared area during the storm.  I figured they would have stayed in their hidey holes.

Sunday, we went in search of a generator in Brenham, no luck.  Got some ice from the little cafe/store in Chappel Hill.  We listened to the radio ALL day.  It was like looking at an accident... you just can't turn your head away.  Our six year old (Captain NoBeard) started getting stir crazy so we talked about what people did before there were things like electricity, television, video games, etc., and read some books and made up stories of our own and worked on his spelling words for the week.  (Such a mean mommy)  

Monday... we got lucky and found a generator!  Yay!!!  Now we could WATCH the bad accident instead of just listening to it on the radio    Wow, what a mess.  By this time my son is about to drive me batty.  "Go outside and pick up sticks!" I say, lol.  Captain NoBeard practiced his spelling words again and didn't even complain... hhhmmm...I wonder what he's done???

Tuesday... had low water pressure but I was able to boil some water (gas stove) and wash the dishes.... I forgot how much I love my dishwasher  Captain NoBeard and I worked on his spelling words.  There I go... abusing the little bugger again.  "This is the worst day of my life!" he says.  The power was back on at about 3:30 YAY!!!

Today.... internet service restored YAY!!!  I've been like a mad woman doing all of my usual business online, etc.  I just mistreated Captain NoBeard again and tested him on his spelling words (evil grin) tee hee.  He wrote all his words correctly.  YAY!!!  The teacher will be proud of him!  I know I am.  "Okay hun, you can play your Star Wars video game." I say  

[PurpleDragon]

Day 1:  Power went out while I was trying to go to sleep, didn't care until the heat rose since the AC didn't work anymore.  Wished I had a Generator

Day 2:  Woke up, did a quick check of the house and property to make sure no damage and headed out to check on other friends. Wished I had a  Generator

Day 3:  Woke up to a flooded living room, swept the water out the back door the way it came in, dried the floor, broke out the Coleman Automatic Drip Coffee Maker and Coleman Camp Stove, made coffee, caffeine is God, go worship. Went over and cooked food over at neighbors house on the grill to avoid losing the food in our freezer because of no power.  Wished I had a Generator

Day 4:  Woke up to silence as still no power, got up, made coffee called in to work and found out my office was closed so I had another day off.  Went to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a Marine Battery to use in conjunction with a 750 Watt Power Invertor which I hoped would be enough to power my refrigerator, nope, but it does work the television, VCR, and PS2 (which doubles as a DVD player).  Went over and cooked food over at neighbors house on the grill to avoid losing the rest of the food in our freezer because of still not having power. Still Wished I had a Generator

Day 5:  Woke up, called work,  we were open, so I dressed and went to the office.  WOW, AC what a concept.  Felt sad as my wife did not have it at home, but remembered how cool it is outside, didn't feel so bad anymore.  Wife braved the crowds and found us Ice, and food and stuff at Kroger, I found gas and filled the car on the way home with only a 20 minute wait in line. Cooked at neighbors house again because we still have no power. Still wishing I had a Generator.

Day 6:  Woke up, came to work, wife went to FEMA POD and got Ice, Water, and Food to help us further.  Will most likely be cooking dinner at neighbors house again tonight. Still wishing I had a Generator

[Fenster]

Have some before and after pics.  1 is an all time classic.      Ike pics

Day 1 woke up to howling winds and debris hitting the roof. Power went out around 4:30am.  When things calmed down a bit we went to my parents house because they have a generator and gas grill.

Day 2 sent the wife and kids to the in-laws for comfort whilst the dog and I stayed to watch the house.  (Back and forth to my parents each day for cold drinks and hot food.) Also drove to College Station for gas and extra food.

Day 3 started cleaning up and realized that the government and media only care(d) about Galveston.  Montgomery County and surrounding communities mean nothing to them.

Day 4 Went to Huntsville for gas to keep the generator running.  More cleanup and yelling at Entergy.

Day 5 Helped my parents around there house....power came on whilst we were eating dinner.  The lights scared me.

Overall everything went ok, but the gov was NOT prepared.  Only minor damage to the roof.  Happy to be back on the grid.

[Capt Gabriela Fullpepper]

Boy all this sure makes me glad I don't live in Texas and I know Toki8 will agree (He grew up in Corpus Cristi). We never have to worry about huge massive hurricanes tearing up and destroying whole towns. We might have a tornado on occasion but our tornando's don't do 1/10 the damage hurricanes do or even Texas tornando's do. Granded we get big huge wet snow storms, they only make driving tough.

My heart goes out to all you in Texas that had damage or know someone who did.

I'll stay in Colorado But your all welcome to join us up here where the summers are hot (not overly humid) Spring and Falls are beautiful  but short and can be cold and the winters, not as bad as people say or imagine them to be.

[Trillium]

We drove to Spring friday morning and spent the day with our friends, hanging out, watching movies and news, being shocked at the amount of flooding before a drop of rain fell.  The wind kicked up that evening and satellite went out that night.

Woke up early Saturday, listening to strange groans, thuds and cracks.  Finally got up and saw that most of the fences were down and there was no electric but no major damage to our friends house.  We called my father in law and found out he had no flooding or damage and hoped that our house was alright since its only a few blocks from him.  That was the last contact with the outside world we had until Sunday afternoon when we were on our way home.  Spent Saturday hanging out, grilling and keeping the kids occupied.

Woke up Sunday to no water.  We all decided it was time to go somewhere else.  Our friends went to visit family in Austin and we went home.  Found out last night that they were still in Austin and returning home today.  They still have no electric or water.

We got home to find our house in good order, with water, but no electric.  We still have an order to boil water, but seeing that we have an electric stove, we are drinking bottled water.  Thankfully, we discovered that we have a gas water heater, so we do have hot showers!

Tuesday afternoon our friends with 4 kids called asking for help since they had no home to go to.  Then the mass craziness began...

[Zardoz]

We survived it OK, been on generator power from Sat morning till last night (9/17), sure glad we had that generator! I fixed some roof damage, need a new fence, otherwise no worries. 

[Trillium]

For those of you who have generators, please be kind to your neighbors and turn it off at night before bed, unless you need it for medical reasons of course.  Our neighbor leaves his running day and night, right outside our windows.  I haven't slept decently in days and the fumes come right in our house....

[PurpleDragon]

For those of you who have generators, please be kind to your neighbors and turn it off at night before bed, unless you need it for medical reasons of course.  Our neighbor leaves his running day and night, right outside our windows.  I haven't slept decently in days and the fumes come right in our house....

AMEN sister... I have a neighbor that runs his generator 24/7, the ignorant bastard that he is, and IF I am lucky, it is silent for the few minutes it takes for him to put more gas in it.  I need a good nights sleep.

[JackGonzo, MD]

Saturday night we took a big long walk around the in-law's housing area and were shocked at what we saw. There were at least three houses who had generators running at midnight just to power their outside lights. I know it's supposed to ward off thieves and what not, but running a generator just for your outside lights the night after a hurricane is a bit much.

[Trillium]

I just got a call that we have electric!!!  YAY!!!