Hurrican Ike

I have to explain this photo as no one would believe this is the bottom of a tree that was uprooted during Hurricane Ike! I looked out the window from out kitchen and saw the mud wall and could not figure out what the heck it was. The water streaming down stream (or so it seemed) in our backyard. It was one frightened day and quiet peaceful week. No electricity for a week. No gas unless you wanted to wait in line for 3 hours. No cell phone service unless you had gas to drive to the front of the Woodlands where there was service. With all the termoil, it was an interesting week without phones, TV, XBox, computers and driving. I will say cooking on the grill and some well needed rest when the sun went down was a nice change of pace. It made you realize how much time is spent away from just talking with each other. We had fun with our candlelight dinners nightly and watching Will and friends run in and out between houses. The good news was the weather was awesome and a welcome relief as AC was not going to be in our sights for a while. A week without electricity and the usual comforts it brings was really not that bad. Our prayers go out to all who had tragedy during and after the storm.
Galveston was definitely hit the hardest and it will be months, if not years before it returns to normal. I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone, but I will say the peace it brought with it after the storm was not as bad as one would expect.