Ike the Saga

Day Eight without power. I drive through lit up neighborhoods, hoping all the way home that I, too, will be in the "current flow," only to find that I am still surrounded by darkness. I hate the dark. I really hate it now.

People I know who lost something valuable:
John and Kelly, their home.
Matt and Tracey, their home and health.
Asia, a stranger I met whose house flooded. She lost her pink bible. She said it was her "one thing" that she really was sad about.
Laura, her addiction to coffee (I met her in an "ice line" at HEB on day four).
Misty, her faith in God. I sure hope she finds it again.

Some funny/odd things have happened though.

I might have mentioned earlier that our house smells like dead shrimp from the shrimp that defrosted in our freezer. It still does.

Two nights ago, our upstairs neighbors decided to have an "all nighter." Keep in mind we all have to sleep with our windows open. Seriously people. Come on.

We loaned our truck to some people to haul trees off their property. Apparently something heavy and red fell on it and smashed the tailgate down. Discovered that this morning.

We were helping a friend clean out their flooded house the other day. Insulation was everywhere. Said homeowner friend commented about being sick of being covered in insulation everyday and another person there said, "Do you go home and rub pantyhose on yourself every night?" We all died laughing. The look on the homeowner's face was priceless. (Apparently he didn't know that you could remove insulation from your skin by rubbing pantyhose on yourself . . . tuck that one away for future use!)

Other oddities:
Handwritten cardboard signs in front of big fancy restaurants that say, "We are open."
People saying, "I heard they have milk at Kroger!" in the same voice they might say "Gold is falling from the sky!"
People standing in line to buy gloves and boxes at Home Depot. Some for hours. Some who never see the front of the line before the store closes.

All that to say, you know the saying, "It looks like a hurricane went through here!"? Well, I have a whole new understanding of the statement.