Take a Hike Ike!

Well, as of tonight, it looks as if Ike may be visiting a little closer than we originally thought! I get to help make the decision tomorrow morning whether or not the office will be open the full day tomorrow and whether we'll be open at all on Friday.

I thought we had plenty of the usual crap we get at the beginning of every hurricane season - batteries for the radio and flashlights, some extra canned stuff like Ravioli (for DH), tuna, PB&J, etc., and some extra bottled water. Of course, we were low on the one thing I am completely not used to buying - BABY FORMULA! Ummm, hello! Until last week, I didn't need baby formula if you catch my drift. Figures I would pick the week a hurricane is coming to visit to stop nursing. So, I made the trek to my local Krogers. It wasn't as bad as the madhouse I encountered before Rita was supposed to hit, but it was definitely not your normal trip to Krogers - the parking lot was full and I had to circle a bit to park, the canned goods and water aisle were looking bare and the checkout lines were stupidly long. Fortunately, they were moving fast...even the store manager was ringing people up. Thank God I filled up my gas tank earlier today, because the lines at the Kroger gas station were several cars deep at each pumping station.

I've been through this before, but back then I was 11 or 12 years old and it was all so exciting. It was hurricane Alicia. My Aunt Joyce who lives in Bacliff came and stayed with us. I remember waiting up for the storm until about 2 am - for me, it was like a slumber party. I finally fell asleep only to wake up around 7 am to find that we were in the eye of the storm. Many of the houses in our neighborhood flooded and we were without electricity for 14 days! 14 friggin days! We didn't have water for the 1st week of that and stayed with my Grandma and other relatives during that time. I remember seeing footage from Galveston and seeing the glass flying from the windows of the buildings downtown. I remember that our neighbors had a generator and they could get power to their fridge, a fan and of course, the TV. My friends and I would head over there during the day to watch The Price is Right or General Hospital and sit in front of that fan for awhile. I remember that while it was exciting at first, it got really old fast.

So, I am hoping that Ike is not quite that bad, mainly for selfish reasons (because the hubby will be forced to stay at work all weekend and I'll be here alone with 2 kids!) I'm also hoping that everyone out there in bloggerland stays nice and safe!!! And, I am a bit annoyed that this is going to screw up our Saturday run dammit!