The Proof Is In The Pictures

Well, I promised in my last post that I would get around to sharing some of my photos of Baytown post-Ike. Let me preface the picture portion of the post with this: these are not award-winning photos. I took most of these from the car, and my photographic abilities in a moving vehicle are not stellar (to say the least). With that being said, I did do my best to tinker in PhotoShop to get the best version of each photo. Unfortunately, uploading these to blogger drains the color out of them and makes them look flat.

I have probably chosen too many to include, but I had a hard time leaving some of these out. I hope you will enjoy (is enjoy the right word? maybe appreciate is more apt). I sincerely hope you will be able to appreciate the damage that these photos represent not only to the structures pictured but to the people's lives they represent. Oh, and one note of suggestion - I recommend that if you really want to "see" these photos, you click on each one. Otherwise, you'll be squinting at the screen trying to make out what you're looking at.

This is a photo of our neighbor's willow tree being whipped around as the high winds began to blow. This was only the tip of the iceberg, of course. The tree was ultimately snapped in half when the 100+ mph winds hit.

This is a church that we pass just about any time we leave the house to go somewhere. As you can see the wall was torn down exposing the interior to what I'm sure was severe damage.
Here you can see Cedar Bayou, which had already receded a little but was still severely over its banks. Very little of what is pictured here would normally be under water - notice all of the half submerged trees.

Perhaps I have an odd sense of humor, but I found the location of this fallen tree a bit comical since the sign was posted long before Ike struck.

I would say you could classify this one as a close call for the trailer behind that huge tree.

I couldn't tell you exactly where this tree was because at this point I was too turned around to know. This was one of many trees we saw laying across power lines. We had to turn around at least 3 or 4 times in order to avoid running over the ones that crossed the road.

These were the power lines down along Garth Road the day after Ike. This was just a small taste of all the lines that fell, I'm sure.

This mobile home looked better than others we saw. In fact, we saw one where nothing was left but the bottom portion of the frame.

I thought this picture was almost poetic. The little yellow flowers survived, but the enormous pole was laid over by the powerful winds.

I'm not sure what this building was going to be. I would not want to be the one to try to sort it out though.

These were the first trucks we saw working on power lines and such. I cannot tell you how grateful you are when you see lines of trucks rolling in from across the country to help restore electricity. Seriously, I know they make good money to do that work, but they leave their homes and families to come help restore civilization to our homes and families. That's just classy no matter how you slice it.

We (like so many others) went to Home Depot a couple of days following Ike. After hearing that we could be 3 weeks or more without power, we were hoping to purchase a generator or at least a camp stove. This line wrapped around and doubled over itself. We waited for about 30 minutes when someone finally emerged to say that they had no generators. There was a mass exodus from the line following that announcement. Seriously, at least 2/3 of the people dejectedly walked back to their cars.

This was an auto body shop on N. Alexander.

This is a local restaurant on N. Alexander (not one I frequent), and it used to be a Kettle back in the day.

I know the sign on this one says (said) taqueria, but when I was growing up, this was Tasty Treat. I used to love this place - it was kind of like Dairy Queen, only better.

This sign used to sit just down the street from our subdivision, and yes, I had to put at least one in black and white.

At first glance (if you don't live around here) these signal lights and street signs seem untouched. However, they are turned an almost perfect 90 degrees from how they normally sit.

As you can see, this boat is sitting on dry land. It had dozens of others to keep it company. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get close enough to get a good photo of those.

My husband insisted that I include this one. I'm not sure the explanation of his affinity for this particular photo. He does like chicken, but I digress. This sign fell from great heights. We pass it every time we exit I-10 to Hwy. 146 going toward our house.

I saved the best for last (at least, in my humble opinion), so I hope you hung in there with me until the end.

This particular tree is located in a field between Ferry Rd. and Hwy. 146. Let me just say that I wish this photo in particular had uploaded better. In the original picture the sky is so blue (and a beautiful shade of blue) that it looks fake.

In my mind this last picture is a bit of a microcosm of the storm. You can see the debris washed in around the horse as well as the water and high voltage towers behind.

Well, there you have it. Those are my photos from the aftermath in Baytown. I hope these give you a little insight into our community following hurricane Ike.

Blessings!

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I Thought Things Were Bad . . . Until They Got Worse!

This will be quick. I am still trying to get photos edited so I can begin posting some of my favorites from the last few weeks. Is that wrong to have favorite pictures of damage done by an incredibly devastating hurricane? I suppose what I mean is that there are some photos that for me embody the aftermath of Ike, which is to say that they elicit an emotional response from me so I would like to share them with you. However, that is not what this post is about.

I thought the worst of my troubles were over when I moved back into my house 3 days ago. The repair work hasn't begun. The adjuster has lost my phone number, but I was at home. Home sweet home. I got to sleep in my own bed, get my TV fix and take a warm bath (not necessarily in that order). However, to my surprise each day has held a new adventure.

We arrived home Saturday evening and began putting things to rights in our home - laundry, vacuuming, etc. My family and I went to sleep tucked in all comfy, cozy in our own beds. We all awoke Sunday morning somewhat refreshed and ready to attend services with our local congregation. Unfortunately, after we had packed all my equipment (guitar, music, cords, etc.), my daughter's necessities, and ourselves into the car, we found that the battery was dead. We called in reinforcements (my dad, as usual). He came and jumped the car, and the rest of the day went off without too much drama.

Finally, the worst was over. This morning we prepared for our first bike ride since Ike. We were anxious to "hit the road." We had our bike trailers packed and off we went. We had a nice visit with my in-laws. It was a glorious day with cooler temperatures. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning. When we arrived home ready to grab a bite to eat and rest our tired legs, we found a surprise waiting for us.

My daughter walked in, stood in the hallway and asked repeatedly, "Mama, what's this?" Now, she likes to ask that question even when she knows good and well the answer before she poses the query. I kind of ignored her while I was lugging all of our stuff back in the house. Since she refused to let it go, I looked where she was pointing and saw that our dog had been sick on the carpet. Upon further investigation we discovered that our sweet, little Beagle, Sarah, had helped herself to half a bag of peanut butter M&Ms while we were gone.

Dan rushed Sarah down to the vet (where I'm sure they were laughing their heads off, especially when Dan walked in carrying a vomiting Beagle and half a bag of M&Ms.). And $78 later they said she would be fine.

As I sit typing this, Avari is playing sentry to Sarah repeating instructions that since she is sick, she should rest. All the while, Sarah is worrying that Avari will pounce on her at any moment.

I suppose the moral of the story is this: Don't ask what else could possibly go wrong because it's likely you'll find out sooner than you wanted.

Now, it's back to editing photos. I wish you fully charged car batteries and pets that don't puke on your carpet!!

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Where to Start . . .

It feels like a lifetime has elapsed since I last posted to this blog. So much has happened over the past couple of weeks that I hardly know where to begin in the telling. The most important thing is that all of our family and loved ones were kept safe during hurricane Ike, and we praise God for that miracle. However, most of our homes did not fare quite as well as we would have liked.

My sister's home had a tree fall on it, and the structure was a complete loss. Fortunately, most of her belongings were not ruined. At this point, she, her husband and their four children are living in a small 2 bedroom house in a fairly undesirable part of town. They are hoping that they will be able to find something more permanent soon.

We had several families among our friends and acquaintances who had trees fall on various parts of their homes. Our pastor and his wife had a 60 ft. tree fall across their back yard, over the swimming pool and into their detached garage. Another family had a tree fall into their master bedroom.

Our home experienced sort of the typical damage. We lost a fair percentage of our shingles. My dad and Dan put tarps on the roof a couple of days after Ike passed. We bought 7 tarps (all they had in stock), and we were still nailing old shingles back to the roof to keep any rain out. Our fence is gone, which has traumatized our dog because she cannot go outside and play in the yard. We also have quite a bit of water damage on the drywall throughout the house. We were fortunate that the water did not damage our carpet or belongings. Instead it ran along the rafters and down into the walls. We were out of our house for 2 weeks because of the horrible smell from the water damage. Now that it has mostly dried we have moved back in, but the smell lingers somewhat. I dread going through the process of having everything repaired. If I don't look at the ceiling or too closely at the walls, I can pretend that everything is normal.

Dealing with the insurance company has been a horrible experience already. I contacted Allstate while the last bands of winds and rain were still blowing. We have had three adjusters over the past two weeks, and among them we've had one phone call with no hint at when they might come to assess our house.

All in all, we are doing well. I think we've been keeping so busy that I really haven't let myself think on things too much. We've been helping various members of our family with clean up of their homes and yards. There were and are so many downed trees. The brush pickup services are pretty much running continually, and they just cannot keep up with it all.

My heart aches for those even nearer the coast on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston island. Most of them lost everything. The search teams have been combing our county for the bodies of those who may have been washed inland by the storm surge. It is a little eerie to know that places like Smith's Point and Oak Island pretty much don't exist anymore.

Papa has helped us to maintain some sense of normalcy for our daughter through all of this. I think it has truly been hardest on her. She tells everyone "the storm broke my house." Then she launches into an explanation that "Mama and Dada are going to fix my house." When I tried to explain that we would have someone come repair it, she became very upset and informed me that no one else needed to come that Mama could fix the roof. Apparently, all those fix-it projects with scotch tape and super glue have deluded her into thinking that I have supernatural repair powers.

Through everything God is so good. That sounds almost hollow to say it that way, but simply put, it is the truth. My Father is in complete control even though I feel completely out of control. I know that He is working all things to the good even through this horrible tragedy.

Stay tuned because in the next day or so I will post some pictures of the damage in Baytown, my town.

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