If I never smell citronella again, it will be too soon

Just another post-Ike update. Today is day 9 without power and we're already in the 90's at 1:00. I'm up at Joey's restaurant with Chloe watching the Steeler's game and taking advantage of their air conditioning. The geniuses at Centerpoint Energy have our zip code mapped out to receive power by Thursday, Sept 25th. The front page of the newspaper says 819,000 people are still in the dark. My store had power restored yesterday, so I'm happily back at work. I wish I could have spent my week off doing volunteer work except I had no volunteers to watch the baby.

uh,.....IKE

On a seemingly normal first week in September, the newscasters started mentioning that we might want to take a look at Tropical Storm Ike which came just on the heels of Hurricane Edouard and turned away from the Texas coast towards Louisiana. We were ready for a repeat of the same, however that is not how things turned out. Thursday, Sept 11th, Joey and I made preparations as our businesses closed early. Friday evening, the 12th, Ike struck and Joey and Chloe slept soundly through the storm while I was shaken back and forth on the third floor of our house. Fortunately, we were able to set up our mattress in my closet and sleep there in the event that the windows blew out. I'm happy to say we were very fortunate and did not suffer any major damage. I cannot begin to explain how awful it was to drive around and see such loss everywhere around us. Joey's business just got power late yesterday afternoon(Tues) and mine is still out as of this afternoon(Wednesday)...Same with our house...we've been camping out and have added bug spray and citronella candles to the list of essentials after a dr. visit when chloe got attacked by bugs. Gas lines were naturally a few hours at the stations that actually had gas and/or electricity to pump it. Finding an open grocery store and bank was also a challenge. Next on the list is finding a place to repair the tire that went flat when I tried to get out of the neighborhood the morning after the storm :) PICS COMING SOON