Hurricane Ike

Well, Ike came and now is leaving. The winds were about 50 mph sustained and then we would get gusts of wind up to about 80 mph. It was more fun than I could have ever imagined. Insert sarcasm. At night, I left my television on so when I would wake up I would know what was going on. I did not get much sleep. I was awake about once an hour. Then finally at 2:25 am the power went out. I was a bit nervous because the last thing I heard on the television was the weather man saying that there were tornado spottings about 20 miles from my house. So, then my roof was creaking and I could hear tin flying so I decided to move myself and the kids to the other side of the house. It was cooler over on that side of the house anyway. I stayed up listening to the radio until 4:30 am. I was then just too tired to stay awake and listen any more, so, I crashed. I was so grateful for 7 am and some sunshine. The night before Ike moved in Mr. Cowboy fastened down the hatches. Here are our front two windows. Mr. Cowboy didn't want to use clips on these windows because of the stucco. So, he made some supports and drove stakes into the ground. Theses are the clips that we use. You put four clips on one piece of wood. Then you simply push the wood into the window. It really works. The little old lady across the street from us used some tin to protect her windows. She left two days ago. She was not going to stay and wait this storm out. I on the other hand stayed for this one. Like I said, I was so grateful for the sunrise. When we woke up we ventured outside to see what the damage was.
It was still a bit windy. I think maybe 40 mph winds. I am not too sure. It was pretty windy. Big Cowpoke liked the wind. It wasn't raining, just really windy. Super Kids!! They will save the day. The wind came right around this corner and snapped our Crepe Myrtle tree right in half. Mr. Cowboy was sad. That was his favorite tree. We lost some tin. Most of the tin was off of my father in laws tool shed. One piece of tin came off the barn. So, that wasn't too bad. All during the night I could hear the tin banging up and down. I was so scared it was going to fly into my bedroom wall. Another reason why I moved to the other side of the house. We then got the generator working and turned the t.v. and fans on. The Cowpokes wanted to entertain me with some music. It was some beautiful music. It even put the dogs to sleep. This is Beaux. He is an American Bulldog. He is huge. He is a lot of dog. I am very convinced that I do not need a big dog like him. He spent the morning in his kennel. Beaux is a stud dog, he kept trying to...uhm......make nice with Brodi. Brodi didn't want to "make nice". It was a love hate relationship. Brodi dog was knocked out. I gave him some anti anxiety medicine. Normally Brodi would be laying on top of me and breathing in my face all during the storm. But with his meds, it was smooth sailing. Drugs are a beautiful thing. Well, for Brodi at least. Then let the games begin. The Wii games that is. Cousin Devin brought his Wii over for us to play. Uncle Shannon even got in on the games. Uncle Shannon was kind enough to stay with us last night. I was not all alone. I was really grateful for him staying with me and the Cowpokes. But anyway, I really like the Wii. It's so much fun. Cowpokette liked to watch. She was a being really good, being that it was about 80 degrees in the house. But with all the fans on it wasn't too bad. We had fun. The electricity is now back on and Mr. Cowboy came back from work at 2 pm. So, now we are all cool, calm, and collected. I thank the Lord for keeping us safe. I don't know how many prayers I said last night. I am not too sure I could stay through a bigger storm. I get scared for my kids. Even though they had no clue what was going on. They were all sleeping like the sweet angels they all are. But for my sanity. That is kinda important to keep. Thank you Ike for not totally destroying us. I send my thoughts and prayers to the people of East Texas. I have many friends who live over there and I hope they all made it out of this storm alright. Goodbye Ike, I can't say I will be missing you.