The damage...

First, thanks to all of my friends who called, texted, and e-mailed over the weekend to check in on my family that was battling Hurricane Ike in Lufkin.
The fam weathered the storm well. We didn't encounter any direct damage to any of the houses. I'm told that there were some trees lost and that debris is EVERYWHERE. My mom thinks it will take some time to get everything cleaned up. With as many trees that surround our homes, we are very fortunate that nothing fell on the house, unlike Hurricane Rita. We did have a tree take out a spare dryer we housed underneath a portable carport, and apparently there is now an archway over our driveway as one tree fell across and landed on another. We are without power at both Fuller Springs and the lakehouse, but there is now a working landline at the lake. It took me almost 4 hours on Saturday to contact my family as all of the landlines were out due to trees falling on the lines, my dad had left his cell phone at the shop and Brad had my mom's cell phone.

Speaking of Brad, he's in the hospital. Only my little brother would wake up the morning a hurricane was approaching to a staff infection in his neck caused by an ingrown hair. He's reacting well to the anti-biotics and some of the swelling has gone down, but he will still be in the hospital for a few days. I guess the one benefit there is the fact that there's electricity and air conditioning! If you're going to get a staff infection, I guess now would be a good time to do it.

Not all of my family was so fortunate during Ike. Page had the roof blown off of his lakehouse and it landed on his Mercedes. Ouch. He atleast has insurance, though I'm not sure who covers all of that claim... homeowners or car. We were worried at first that he didn't have insurance, so it's good to know he will be able to get at least some aid in the repairs he's going to have to make.

It's been a quiet day at work, though that can be expected when you work for a Houston-area State Representative and most of the area is either evacuated and/or without power. I feel bad for Patricia though, people keep on coming to her house and knocking on her door asking when they'll have power back, as if the electric companies listen to her in their restoration efforts.

Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we recover from Hurricane Ike and as Brad battles his staff infection in the hospital!