I’M BACK
Internet and cable returned a few minutes ago. Only the iPhone kept me in touch to some degree. I had joked to someone that with no internet or cable and 24-hour coverage all week by the local stations, I wouldn’t know if we declared war or declared peace–turned out we had in effect declared bankruptcy. Still over 1.1 million households and businesses without power in the Houston area. There was an piece in the paper about the new “haves vs. have-nots”–have power or don’t have power–and the guilt that those of us feel who do have it. Neighbors on the other side of this one-block long street still without going into the second week. This side of the street was out only about 14 hours. Fortunately, those across have family or friends who have power where they can sleep and some have generators for refrigeration. I’m so thankful for whatever reason–bulldogs can’t take much heat–Pat and Mike were my main concern. There have been instances where bulldogs died when a/c went out for several hours. We did have a sudden cool spell the first of last week–dropped from the high 90′s to mid-60′s for part of the time. Helped until the humidity and temperature headed back up yesterday.
Further fortunate to have minor damage. Anyone with a chain saw can make money. Two men came by–they cut down a tree that had rubbed some shingles off the edge of one side of the roof and also removed a limb from a neighboring property that fell on my garage–no damage there. They were efficient and reasonable. Of course, there are scammers who try to charge exorbitant fees. A neighbor put tar paper over the area that lost shingles until we both can get a roofer who will repair these old asbestos tile roofs–so far no one knows of more than one who does that and he’s sure to be busy. The mayor said yesterday he had no idea how many thousands of trees there were in the city until driving around and seeing the number that came down. Many in River Oaks, for any familiar with Houston, the oldest exclusive neighborhood with thousands of stately old trees lost countless numbers of those. People I know there are still without power.
Many coastal areas other than Galveston lost so much–they don’t get as much coverage. Don’t know what the national coverage has been but some local TV stations had trouble getting to them and found there had not been any FEMA or state assistance several days into it. Will take a long time to recover. Much of Louisiana had almost come back from Gustav and were hit again by Ike.
Meantime, Jo is thinking of moving again–Colorado sounds good. I worked there one summer and loved it. My son wants me to move to Austin. Like you and your granddaughter, Jo, he is so busy and travels so much, I wouldn’t necessarily see more of him than now. Medical care is good here. I’ve been in this house 50 years this month–the prospect of transplanting is beyond daunting!
Candace