I come from a town that is protected on all sides by mountains. Natural disasters are nil. Although, I do remember a tornado interrupting practice in high school causing the drill team and the soccer team to have to take cover in a classroom after school. There were some cute guys on the soccer team; so, I didn't mind!
We also lived in Oklahoma for a total of about 5 1/2 years; so, tornadoes became very familiar. So familiar that the alarms would start to ring, I would open the backdoor and our dog would head straight for the closet! The nice thing I have decided about tornadoes is that they are quick and usually unknown until right before they touch down. I say this is nice because if you have lived in Texas and have to prepare for a hurricane, it seems to go on for weeks!
Three years ago, Hurricane Rita was on her way. I, however, was on my way to Sam's Club to purchase a Christmas gift for one of the boys -- a set of Lincoln Logs! The parking lot was packed for a weekday morning. I walked on in and an employee greeted me with a, "Sorry, ma'am, but we are out of D batteries." "That's OK. They weren't on my list," I say with a smile on my face. Entering further into Sam's, there are hoards of people standing around an empty pallet and an employee telling them all to be patient and cases of water would be brought up soon. "Hmmm," I wonder aloud. "What is going on?" Well, yes, I had heard news of a Hurricane and Hurricane Katrina had just hit New Orleans so I wasn't THAT naive. But, The Woodlands? Honestly, were we really going to be affected?? By the end of my trip to Sam's, I had jumped on board and grabbed a case of bottled water and some other stuff that was not on my list. While standing in the checkout line, (I was the only one with Lincoln Logs in her cart however!) a lady picked up this small bottle of propane and asked me if I was going to purchase one. "Do you think we'll need some?" she asked. Well, sure! Pile it in. We can't be too prepared!!
We taped windows, brought everything that was outside inside, and then sat in our driveway with the neighbors waiting for it to hit. Rita came in the dark of the night -- the night before my birthday. We spent my birthday cleaning up the backyard that was littered with debris and branches, putting back the outside furniture, and untaping the windows. Kind of a let down -- all that work and hype and it passed without us knowing!
The worst of Hurricane Rita was the two weeks that followed. They implemented rolling blackouts, which occurred at our house everyday from 4pm-8pm. Planning meals around that was difficult. The other part that was a shock to me was the fact that grocery trucks couldn't get to our grocery stores -- bread, milk and meat weren't back on the shelves for at least two weeks.
This morning Chris called me from Canada and said I'd better stock up for Hurricane Ike. It does look like we are going to get the "dirty side" of this storm, which is the same side that Hurricane Allison struck Houston with about 8 years ago. According to neighbors, our street became a river. I also remember pictures of the inside of a downtown building that had deep water rushing past stairways.
I didn't want to be fighting anyone for water or bread or toilet paper, so I rushed to Walmart. Obviously, I am the only person ready for this storm! The few cars in the parking lot belonged to the "older crowd" who only had a few things in their baskets! I was a little embarrassed!
Anyway, we have enough stuff to definitely last a week. As Chris always says, "It's better to be lookin' at it than wishin' for it!" Honestly, if Ike doesn't make it to us, we will have a block party and cook burgers on the charcoal grill. As they leave, the neighbors will all be required to take a canned good and a roll of toilet paper!!
