Post Hurricane Ike - How to make your neighbors mad!

Read more about it at www.chron.com, The Houston Chronicle, Houston's news source.

Facts

West Houston survived, as did most of the City of Houston! Hurrah!

Unfortunately, we did have a great deal of devastation along the Gulf Coast communities. The news media might be lying to you somewhat, as some of the areas in Galveston and Chambers counties were labeled as "no fly" zones, meaning...the government did not want you to see the human and animal debris along the Bolivar Peninsula, mainly out of respect for the loved one's families.

Personal Perspective

My family was very fortunate. Although most of the city had no electricity for 11 days, we received electricity 3 days post-storm. I was shouting praises when the electricity came back on. If the lineman had been at my front door, I would have hugged him for dear life. God bless these behind the scenes people who are away from their loved ones to help us out!

POST HURRICANE - DAY 1

Saturday morning - A few hours post-storm, the neighbors all got together in the rain and cleared the sidewalks of large oak trees and debris. I never knew we had so many kind neighbors. On the other hand, I never knew I had so many CLUELESS neighbors...LOL!

Saturday afternoon - Two of those kind men happened to have a generator and a window unit (swamp cooler) air conditioner that they hooked up and ran non-stop for 3 days. (On the positive side, they did share it with the beautiful ladies next door.)

For those of you who have never heard a diesel generator run,let me tell you they are LOUD AS HELL !

POST HURRICANE - DAYS 1 - 3

After the first morning of frayed nerves and attempting to sleep with my windows opened and the battery operated fan in my face, I had to admit defeat and packed up the family and headed out to Dad's for air conditioning, laundry and showers. When I got to my Dad's I couldn't keep my eyes open - I sacked out with my head back on the couch and SNORED so loudly and obnoxiously that when I woke up, there were no family members left in the room.

POST HURRICANE - DAY 3

Monday, 2:00 p.m. - When we returned home 3 days later, that obnoxious generator was still running and we still had no electricity. Luckily, my freezer only had one package of meat to be cooked. So, I dragged out one of my necessary hurricane supplies, my Coleman gas stove, and set up shop on the front patio. My son and I enjoyed delicious turkey tacos with corn and all the fixins. Who says hurricane living has to be dull?

The other thing I found when I got home was a laundry full of wet and soured towels. I put my towels out on the front bushes and let them dry in the sun. I knew I would need to wash them again, yet at least I could rest in the fact knowing that they would not be mildewing in the washing machine.

Monday, 4:00 p.m. - Hurrah! The generator has stopped. Oh! It has only run out of diesel. One of the men comes out on the front porch. I yell across the courtyard at him, "Hey, can you guys give that thing a break, some of us haven't slept (slight lie, yet defending my neighbors) in 3 nights. Can you at least turn the thing off at 10:00 p.m. tonight so that we can ALL get some sleep?"

AMAZINGLY, those clueless guys gave into my guilt trip! They shut the generator right down, and put the window unit away!

Monday, 4:30 p.m. - I'm cleaning up all of the lunch mess off of my front porch. My neighbor across the way climbs down the stairs with her children in tow, points to my front porch, and states "I've had all of this I can put up with!" Oh no, now I'm the clueless neighbor!

I guess it's all a matter of perspective, eh? I cleaned up my front porch, slowly put all of the dried towels back in the laundry basket, and then the electricity came back on at 7:00 p.m. And that's how we Houstonians survived Hurricane Ike.

The Economy in Houston

Hello everyone! I'm back after almost two months of caring for a sick loved one. See my other blog, "Frugal, Single Mom" for details.

Houston always has one of those economies that maintains no matter what is happening in the rest of the world. As an almost native Houstonian, it can be depressing at times, because it is hard to maintain friendships when your coworkers are being rotated in and out of jobs every two years. Luckily for me, some of my oil and gas coworkers from years ago have finally landed back in West Houston, and I shake their hands vigorously and get a five minute update whenever I happen to bump into one of them.

The Houston economy, at least in my opinion, is leveling out. I've called one of the local recruiting agencies lately (mainly because I'm so put out with my current job), and was told to "stay put", at least for now. That means, I've got to sit and eat crow for at least another 4 months.

Unleaded gas this week hit $3.50/gallon. My car gets 22 mpg compared to many of my coworkers who get 15 mpg or less because they drive SUVs. When gasoline goes to $4.00/gallon, I told myself that I would start staying at home, walking more, or riding the bus, but the reality becomes that Houston is 2 weeks away from 90F or higher temperatures. Sigh!

All that glitters is not gold. There are a lot of hidden costs to living in Houston...sales tax 8.25%, long commutes to your job (sometimes 60 miles roundtrip per day), high crime rates depending on where you live, TRAFFIC +++ (that's a HUGE understatement), no reliable commuter system, and it's hotter than hell here in the summer time with electric bills at $225.00 + through October.

So, my advice to those who feel lured to move to Houston this summer...stay put! Unless you have a lot of money saved up, have a great car, or are willing to live in substandard housing conditions or overly priced housing (with a high crime rate), don't make the trip.

I'm sure our mayor, who I dearly love, would paint a rosier picture. I'm Houston Proud, but not Houston Stupid. Good luck to everyone during this tricky economy!