Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I'm Home!

I'm finally home. After sleeping for two weeks on various and sundry love seats and couches, I think I've shrunk two inches. My home is remarkably intact. I have power and water and I even have cable. It's actually a little embarrassing. Part of the fence in my courtyard is down and my gate got torn off it's henges just like the Wizard of Oz. My porch light glass was broken but I changed the bulb and it still works. My microwave has a problem as does my radio alarm clock. Other than that, it's all good. The glass top on my patio table wasn't even broken.

Beaumont looks absolutely frightening. Huge trees are either uprooted or broken in half all over the city. Here I am two weeks after the fact and I can't even imagine what it must have looked like two weeks ago. I would say that approximately twenty percent of the houses in the city have trees on or through their roofs.

My little sister, Bonnie, has huge sections of her ceiling in her upstairs bedrooms which have come down and there is sheetrock and insulation all over the place. The amazing thing, however, is that all of her memorabilia, for the most part, seems to be fine.

My aunt's house in Port Arthur had three feet of water in it and my aunt's house in Nederland had a treetop from her front yard fly over her house, crash through portions of her roof above the bathrooms and land in the back yard. She had a pecan tree that has been completely disintegrated.

For the most part, we fared very well. Everyone is alive and accounted for in our family (which is quite large) and we are grateful for that.

Tomorrow, I have to go back to work and I'm grateful for that, too.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am glad you are home, safe, and things aren't too bad. Have fun at work tomorrow ;-)

Peggy said...

Welcome back! Sleep well.

OldRoses said...

Yes, welcome back and so glad to hear your family is all safe and your home is intact.

Tom Harper said...

Glad you made it back. Sorry for the wreckage you found, but I'm glad you and your family are safe.

rws said...

Very glad to hear that you (and your family) made it through relatively unscathed.

Unknown said...

Glad you are all OK, it's been years since the last bad storm we had over here, but I remember how scary it was, and it wasn't even so bad we had to evacuate.

Ed said...

I've often wondered just when do people go back to work after a natural disaster has struck their town. What is the proper ettiquette? Probably in a lot of cases it is when your employer is willing to cut you a check for services rendered.

Lorna said...

glad you're back and safe, but sorry you didn't make it on CNN. Still, I did get to sit in those bars, watching for you....

Anonymous said...

Glad that you're back where you belong. There's no place like home. (I had to add that since you said the bit about your gate and the Wizard of Oz.)

Danno said...

Glad as hell to here about your good fortune Laurie Kay!! Now, just try to keep that awful Miss Gulch away from Toto.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Lifting a cup of Stout's Luxury Double Chocolate Beer toward Texas and cheering you on....

Aisha said...

Amazing! Good, Laurie-- I suppose...

It worked out better than feared....
Back to work! Yeah! I am glad.

Also amazing: I too have a Young's Double Chocolate Stout here in Norway, bought in Denmark -- :)

oldhorsetail--did you get yours in the US of A?

Those guys don't half export :-o
Could it be the brits don't LIKE it?

Glad the Credenza survived :)





Cheers!

Laurie said...

Susan - Work was very busy. It was great to be back to normal.

Peggy - I sure did sleep well.

Old Roses - Thanks!

Tom - The town really looks bad. I can't imagine what Sabine Pass and Port Arthur look like.

Popeye - It was a great feeling.

RWS - Thanks.

Nancy Rowina - I can't imagine what it must have been like for those people who didn't leave.

Ed - It depends on the employer. Most employers and employees would rather be back at work I think.

Lorna - Glad I could give you a (another?) reason to sit in a bar. :)

Stephen - It does feel like it was all a dream.

Danno - Will do!

Old Horsetail - Cheers!

Aisha - Double Chocolate Stout? I'm not sure about that one. I must make a trip to Spec's.

Unknown said...

Glad to hear you made it home!

nothing_but_coke said...

I'm glad to read about the state of your home and that everything was pretty much ok. We were off work here and the kids out of school for 4 days...and that's in Katy. I can only imagine what y'all went through. I even posted a picture of some of the damage here on my blog ;-)...
I have some friends in Beaumont that ended up in Arakansas. I need to check on them as I haven't heard from them in about a week.

Laurie said...

Al - Thanks!

Shelli - Who would have thought we would have to go as far as Arkansas to run from a hurricane?