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Saturday, September 13, 2008

live from hurricane headquarters


It is nearly 1am. I am hunkered down in my living room with three of my fellow storm trackers: husband SAM and two neighbor friends who joined us for dinner (one who is, in fact, a recent survivor of Gustave as it battered Baton Rouge one short week ago).
We are approximately 200 miles from Galveston, where the eyewall of Ike is hitting the island. But the distance doesn't stop us from feeling that we, ourselves, are in the wall of the eye, right along side Geraldo and the palm tree he is clinging to so desperately.


More frightening for myself, however, is a very recent development. My hurricane tracker compadres have all fallen asleep. Each one of them is in a reclining position conducive to sleep and occasional bursts of snoring, strewn across sofas and one large EZ chair recliner. Unfortunate for me, my storm tracking position is seated upright, clinging to one end of the largest sofa so as not to wake my sleeping couch mate. Not only is this position not conducive to sleep, it is not even comfortable.
So here I sit, lonely and abandoned, confronted with the untenable proposition of waking my neighbors and asking them to please go home so that I can retire to my queen sized post in the bedroom.

Back to you, Geraldo.

21 comments:

dkuroiwa said...

Oh, I hope that you and your compadres are safe. For me, the waiting...and watching the weather reports all the time and waiting some more, listening intently for any sign that the typhoon has arrived....yeah..enough to make a woman crazy. Which is why I usually drink during a typhoon...and work on a puzzle...both help.
Good luck...sending you good thoughts of the "oh it was just a little windy and rainy" kind!!
debbie

Madge said...

Hope you are still safe and have electricity....sounds like things are horrible. take care..

laurie said...

i hope you got to the bathroom, and that you get some sleep, and that you stay dry. that storm looks incredibly scary.

my cousin lives in weslaco, which i think is near brownsville. she says they're not in danger, but when the storm is the size of the entire state of texas (as anderson cooper was saying last night), how can anyone be safe?

laurie said...

oh, and i love that coffee cup painting on your sidebar. did you paint that?

Heather T said...

AAAaahhh! I hope you still have power. Be safe :) Please let us internets know how things are once they calm down a bit.

The earliest hurricane I remember by name was David (1979), I was in Florida at home for Andrew (1992), got hit by Isabel in Maryland (2003), and talked my parents and grandparents in three different regions of Florida through Katrina, Rita and Wilma (2005).

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Live time update if possible, please!

I hope it was an uneventful night.

shrink on the couch said...

dkuroiwa -- we're all very safe and dry, thanks. we're out of the range of any damage. we've got some wind and hoping for rain (its been a very dry summer)

madge -- thanks, we're under wind advisory but it's not looking very worrisome


laurie -- cooper might have thought it felt like the size of Texas (900 miles) given that he was IN it, but it was about half that, 400 miles from one tip to the other. still you're right, as big as it is, noone is this area feels safe. I'm just glad it didn't grow to a Cat 4 or 5.

as for the coffee cup painting - no that is not mine, wish it was (I can barely do paint-by-number) I found that a long time ago on google, I just now set up the painting to link to its artist, Anthony Ulinski.

heather -- wow, you've had your share. I've got family in Lake Charles who suffered through Rita .. and now I hear Ike has caused worse flooding than Rita. So I'm worried. I remember being at the Jersey shore as a teen, during Belle (1976). The island evacuated but we rode it out (my mom, being from LA, was enjoying the challenge, "this is nothing" kind of attitude). We walked along the boardwalk and saw incredible waves. We lost electricity briefly, but no real scare. And then a few other hurricanes, but only at safe distances. Never personally experienced rising waters or falling trees, thankfully.

jenn -- entirely uneventful. still feels that way. I wish I could say the same for our coastal neighbors.

shrink on the couch said...

cheri -- thanks for stopping by. Yes, we're all still fine. Some wind but nothing out of the ordinary "windy day" kind of thing. So Ike seems to be leaving us pretty much alone. I'm getting good news from my So.Louisiana family. Some flooding but nothing too catastrophic. Whew.

shrink on the couch said...

oh, and laurie -- regarding anderson cooper's "size of texas" statement.. today's paper showed a pic of Ike superimposed over a map of Texas and it sure does look nearly the size of the state. So he wasn't too far off. Paper said it was 550 miles wide.

Lisa Wheeler Milton said...

How exhausting. Hope the storm passes soon and you get some rest.

Take care.

HP said...

Hope you, your family and friends remains safe. Scary. Please update when you can so we know you're all okay.
HP

Vodka Mom said...

I hope this morning finds you well......thinking of you...

Vodka Mom said...

still thinking of you and praying. HOPE ALL IS WELL.

shrink on the couch said...

lisa - thanks for your concern. For everyone's. I need to clarify that we never felt in real danger. We were mostly watching the storm as concerned neighbors.

hp - thank you. my family in LA are all good. not as much damage as feared. and us? not a single drop of rain.

vodka mom - all is very well. thanks for worrying. was so relieved to hear that the storm surge wasn't nearly as high as feared. that was very scary for the island of Galveston. I'm sure the damage is terrible as it is.

planet trans said...

Dallas was just breezy. I am glad you are ok. My friends in Houston had it rough.

AnnD said...

Wow! That storm was a monster! By the time it got up to us in Indiana, it was still a torrential downpour with wicked winds!

If it had been me, I would have just gone to bed. I've actually done that before. As it gets in to the early morning hours, I just announce to my guests that I'm going to bed! You are must more polite than I am!

AnnD said...

much more, not must more.

e.beck.artist said...

ok ... this cracked me up .... did you finally go to bed and just leave them all sleeping in the living room?

Mary said...

I've been slowly catching on everyone's posts.

I am glad you are safe and sound.

Truly.

X

shrink on the couch said...

kelli -- that's how I'd describe it here, breezy. Was hoping it would rain. I am a selfish land owner.

ann -- it blows me away (no pun intended) that Ohio and Indiana got it worse than we did.


e -- I kept making loud comments. That didn't work. Then I got up to move my daughter to her bed (she had fallen asleep in the playroom) and made a point of saying loud enough for my guests to hear, "It's late honey, time for bed!" And then everyone did finally start moving.

mary -- thank you. safe and sound and, did I mention disappointed that we didn't get a drop of rain?

JCK said...

So glad you all are ok.