Back home!

After 3 1/2 days of mooching a wonderfully air conditioned room, food and being pests in general at my in law's house, we are now home :) The kids miss Mike and Angee's already - in fact Ben was asking tonight when he gets to see them again, lol. When I told him it was time to go the response was 'no! I don't want to leave Auggie!!'. Auggie the doggy. Ben and Audra spent a good day and a half running away from him, hiding in their room and complaining about being licked (must be horrible to be so loved!). Yesterday, finally, the two of them and Auggie, calmed down and were just enjoying each other. So I found Ben's response to going home today to be such a funny one.

It was interesting to see all the sights coming home - shredded billboards, store signs, downed power lines being supported by upright power lines... and the smoke! Yes. That's right, LOTS of smoke. Folks on acreages and farms have taken to burning their debris. It was kind of neat to drive down the road with huge flaming piles of brush and tree trunks burning, flames shooting 20, maybe 30 feet in the air. What were once flooded areas are now dry, save for the small ditches. Our bayou that was completely flooded out on Sunday morning is now a small creek. Most people have their debris piled up at the ends of their driveways so it was somewhat shocking to realize how much damage people's yards really did take. It's like one gigantic weed whacker came through The Woodlands and thinned things out.

Most everything is open, it's business as usual. Now our cleanup begins.

Ben and Auggie doggy chillin' watching Pokemon

Audra as close as she could get to Auggie without being licked

Seriously... how cute is this picture?? Ben and Ian

What a face!

We're in Austin

Well we rode out the storm and stayed for one day without power before we opted to leave. The storm was absolutely amazing - an incredible howling sound for hours. We opted to join the kids in the closet around 3am Saturday morning when it seemed to get really ferocious. We managed to escape unscathed with no trees down on our property. However, the debris is something else. The bayous by our house are flooded, there are downed trees throughout the neighborhood. With no power, it was becoming incredibly humid inside our house by the time we left.

So it's Monday morning, and we're about to eat breakfast at Mike and Angee's house. We made the decision to head to Austin after a drive around The Woodlands revealed there was still no power and there looked like no effort to repair the power was being made. There was a tree fallen across the entrance to Entergy's substation facility. The flooding in neighboring towns is quite incredible. Only 20 minutes from The Woodlands is the town of Tomball where we drove through water that was up around the tops of our tires.

When we last checked this morning, power had been restored to Huntsville - about 40 miles north of The Woodlands with no estimate of how long we would be without power. Ben's school is closed until Wednesday at the least - we will get an update this afternoon so see if that changes. Jason's office is still closed.

Today our primary goal in Austin will be to purchase a generator. We saw one a few weeks ago before Gustav hit and wondered whether we should purchase one but decided against it. Hindsight is 20/20 right? A generator would've been nice to run some fans and keep a small fridge cool. I guess that will also be our next purchase too, lol.

I would like to say that my heart goes out to all those residents in Galveston. That has been an area we've enjoyed immensely since we've moved here and I'm afraid it will be forever altered. The Red Cross is doing all they can to help those who stayed and those who are returning but they are operating in the red. Jason and I have decided to make a donation in light of what we've seen and encourage anyone who feels compelled to do so as well.

In the meantime we will enjoy our stay here with Mike and Angee. Ian has grown so much and is so animated now! I'll get to live vicariously through them for a while - walking the dog and holding the baby :)

driving through flood waters in Tomball to get to Austin
more flood waters in Tomball
downed tree at a neighbors down the road
our shredded backyard
some of the debris from the front

It has begun...

It's 3:31am and I can hear the wind through the trees and the rain coming down in sheets and apparently we're not supposed to have hurricane force winds for another hour. What we're experiencing here in The Woodlands right now are tropical storm force winds and all I have to say is wow!! Because what I'm hearing and seeing are strong enough for me, I can't imagine what will be coming our way come 5am...

I was in a dead sleep until 2:46am when I woke up for some reason and could hear noises from outside. The kids are happily sleeping through this and hopefully they'll continue to do so for the next few hours.

We just plugged in the tv to get an update and the eye of Ike made landfall on Galveston at 2:10am. It is estimated now that 1.2 million people are without power. Our clock radio was flashing when I woke up - we had a brief power outage around 1:30am.

It's looking like we're not the only folks up at this hour. The houses behind us are now all lit up too.

Where in the world is Ike?

About 55 miles south east of Galveston... That's where Ike is right now. It's 10:15pm, pitch black dark (The Woodlands is a low-light city) but from what I can see it's breezy out there. The sound is actually quite amazing when we open the patio door. The local geckos have sought shelter on our front foyer window - three so far. I shudder to think of how many will be in the garage by tomorrow. It seems when there is rain, they like to sneak into the garage and then jump off the door as it's going up. I have learned to let the door rise, THEN walk under, lol.

Latest forecasts show hurricane force winds descending upon The Woodlands around 3am, with the eye of Ike passing over us around 11am. We are now expecting up to 12 inches of rain which The Woodlands bayous are prepared for.

Television broadcasts have reported at least 315,000 people in Houston and area are without power at this time. We are hopeful that we won't have power interruption and that if we do it will be short lived. Our power provider is also a generator and they have stated that there will be 7,000 technicians on call after the hurricane passes to address any issues on the grid.

Our primary concerns at this point are the chance of tornadoes and power outages. We have moved the kids into our walk-in closet as a precaution. We have set up both air mattresses and have loaded the closet up with non-perishables and flash lights as well as our weather radio.

This will probably be my last post for the evening as we're going to head to bed shortly in the hopes of getting a bit of sleep before the show begins in the wee hours. The kids have been asleep for a couple of hours, hopefully with any luck they will sleep through most of the night as well.

I've posted some pictures with this entry. Tonight's sunset was amazing so I couldn't resist snapping a few shots - yes the sky was really that vibrant!

I think Jason has ALL the Uno cards ;-)

Ben showboating - he won Uno

Audra's sleeping quarters in our closet

Ben's sleeping quarters in our closet

Still Waiting...

It's 6:20pm and so far the only thing we've had to contend with is boredom :) The wind is starting to pick up with little gusts in between dead calm. It's still very warm out and considerably darker than it usually is this time of night.

We've been watching the news - all channels are broadcasting live hurricane coverage and will for the remainder of the night into tomorrow morning. Officials are saying that 40% of Galveston Island residents are still there (about 84,000 people), despite a mandatory evacuation order and at the time of broadcast, the island was about 4 feet under water. There have been many fires there caused by broken gas lines that the fire department can't get to due to flooding.

According to the meteorologists, pertaining to The Woodlands, the eye of Ike will pass over us at around 11am tomorrow morning. We have been told to expect hurricane force winds beginning around dusk today with high winds into tomorrow. Additionally we are told to expect between 6-15 inches of rain. By tomorrow evening the hurricane should be well past us and we will be left to deal with the remnants of whatever Ike brings but in the meantime we're just hanging out playing Uno (Ben and Audra are addicted!) and trying to finish a foam art piece with a zillion pieces, lol.

Nothing happening yet...

It's 12:45pm and we're here at the house just having a rather lazy day. I've taken the opportunity to do my laundry (how exciting!!) being that we're supposed to be at home today. We lasted four hours before we went out to see if we could see any of the crazy traffic that is supposedly dogging Houston. Looking out at the I-45N from the frontage road there were next to no cars. A good sign I would say, that people have heeded warnings and got out when they needed to.

The news is showing live reports from Surfside Beach and Galveston. The only entrance into Surfside is now impassible with water and debris covering it. The shot from Galveston showed what looked to be a 12-yr old kid with her family watching the waves. Really??! Really??!!! What can you say...

Back here in The Woodlands, things are relatively quiet. The park down the road is busier than usual given that everyone is home. Driving past the Village Square showed the grocery store and Jack In The Box to be absolutely packed - I'm talking standing room only at JITB - weird... It was sunny earlier but it's clouded over now and about 31C. I can see that there is a bit of a breeze outside but not much.

We inflated the air mattresses for the kids and are ready for our family camp out tonight. Audra is already asking to go to bed so she can sleep in her little Dora inflatable bed, lol. I suspect Ben will be sharing his bed with Juno as she's already claimed it and is sleeping happily (until I turn on the vacuum).

Here's a couple of pictures of the 45. Not much to see. No traffic and a bunch of puffy clouds.

Hurricane Central

It's 7:25am on Friday morning. All is calm here on Downy Willow Circle - not a single leaf on any trees are moving, no breeze, no nothing! I can see our squirrel friends Hammy and Sandy (the kids named them, lol) running like maniacs through all the yards. You can see the humidity just hanging in the air like every morning - a gray haze. I was just out to collect my paper - everything else is closed but the paper is still delivered, along with the Sunday coupons should we have nothing else better to do Sunday, lol.

All of our neighbors are home. School is canceled everywhere. Nobody is working. Last night driving home every light in every house was on with people inside. It is a comfort to know that we aren't the only ones staying to ride out the storm. The folks here in The Woodlands have been advised not to evacuate as it's not necessary. Yes, the hurricane will be coming directly over top of us, but we are on the west side of it still, so we shouldn't take as much of a beating as those people across the I-45 in other communities. I have seen only one house boarded up and it's behind us. Everyone else has secured or moved their patio furniture and made sure nothing is left out that could potentially become a projectile.

Landfall in Galveston is expected sometime in the early hours of tomorrow morning. I suppose we'll likely see eye coming over top of us tomorrow night? Galveston is expected to have massive damage and loss of life. They've got a 15-foot seawall but forecasters are predicting 20-foot storm surge in the form of a tidal tsunami. So basically a wall of water 20-feet high PLUS the waves on top of it. Apparently this is the first time in 25 years that a hurricane will make a direct hit on the Greater Houston area.

They are predicting that our city of The Woodlands will see sustained winds of 50-75mph with up to 10" of rain, potential flooding in poor drainage areas and isolated tornadoes.

Tonight we plan on moving the kids into our bedroom - a fun family camp out!! Ben is very aware of what's going on as they went over it in school yesterday. It's got him freaked out a bit. I don't think Audra really understands it so much, other than a big storm is coming. Our bedroom is downstairs and the kids are up - I'd rather have them close by just in case. Jason and I were trying to figure out a way we could make a tent for the kids but I don't think it will happen, lol. The air mattress will have to do.

I plan on updating this throughout the days to come. So check back often :)

Tara

Wyoming, Kansas and OKC oh my!!

Yesterday saw us driving through much of Wyoming, all of Kansas and part of Oklahoma. It was a perfect day to be driving, not a cloud in the sky when we departed Greeley Wyoming at 7am. We traveled on the outskirts of Denver during rush hour - seeing a part of downtown and a tiny portion of the refinery Jason was involved with acquiring a couple of years ago.

Wyoming is very much like Saskatchewan - extremely flat! It was this characteristic that led us to believe that we were traveling through Kansas for at least a couple of hours when in fact we were still in Wyoming. We saw numerous fields of sorgum - a kind of soybean used for ethanol and there were some beautiful crops of sunflowers. Custer's last stand - Little Bighorn - was clearly marked, however we did not have time to stop. That would've been interesting to see.

Once you cross into Kansas there is a noticeable change in the environment - mainly all the billboards advertising the Oz museums and the likes. My father asked if we traveled down the yellow brick road - unfortunately we didn't see it but it had existed it would've had a mammoth sign devoted to it :) We did pass several signs indicating historical landmarks, I think there was a presidential museum of sorts at one point.

I was surprised to see how they've embraced green energy - or at least the desire for it. We saw alot of Prius's and there was a gigantic wind farm that puts the Sunbridge farm (south of Ft Mcleod) to shame. Speaking of energy - we happened to be listening to CNN while the kiddos were zoned out with one of their movies and they were discussing a 'sleepy little town' that has hit liquid gold in Alberta. Ha!!! I've never heard of Ft McMurray referred to as that. I've heard it referred to in many ways, but sleepy and little is not one of them, lol!!

After a very long journey through Kansas we finally crossed the state line into Oklahoma around 6:30pm to be greeted with huge thunder clouds and billboards for oil tycoon's mansions (seriously!! Ponca City...). My sister-in-law had warned us that there were warnings for some good storms with possible hail - thankfully the major storm skirted around us. After trying to check into our reserved hotel only to find out that they really don't accept animals (but they were very sorry about it) we found a room at the Best Western next door that was cheaper, had bigger beds and a cheaper pet deposit. Our cats were just about at their limit yesterday. This has been a very trying trip for them. As I sit here and write this, I'm wondering whether they'll clue in today that they'll need to be locked up in their mini-prisons only once more...

We managed to pop over to my sister-in-law's mother's house last night to meet our nephew - Ian. What a cutie!! And the hair! Angee already had it styled - parted on the left, much like a mini business man :) Ian woke up near the end of our visit but otherwise slept happily while I toted him around.

Today sees us driving straight through to The Woodlands. We have an appointment at 3pm to take possession of our house. Hopefully rush hour luck is on our side this morning as we pass through Dallas.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll post pictures tomorrow when we get our internet/cable/phone installed.

Tara

Montana and Wyoming...

Today started early… too early – 4:16am to be exact. Unfortunately our hotel room last night sided onto a lit walk way which illuminated our room so much so that Ben was up several times in the night. At 4:30am we thought it was futile to try and sleep longer so we got a head start to our destination for the night – Greeley Colorado. It’s a good thing we got such an early start as stopping for breakfast in Helena took much longer than anticipated.
The scenery throughout southeastern Montana is very beautiful. Lots of large rolling hills that were masked slightly by a beautiful haze today. After many, many, many hours of driving we finally crossed into Wyoming around 1pm or so stopping in Sheridan to have lunch at a BK so Ben could collect their Pokemon toys. It’s a much different terrain – very similar to Drumheller with the badlands and in some spots I would’ve swore we were in Saskatchewan! Both Jason and I have been trading off driving duties while the kids have been completely engrossed with their movies which means Jason and I have been able to listen to all the NPR, CBC and CNN we want with no worries about the kids hearing something they shouldn’t.

We finally reached our hotel in Greeley – nice little town. Kids are happy, cats are happy so it’s all good!

Ben's birthday AND moving day!!

Kids in front of the moving truck

We started early after a birthday breakfast of McDonalds (yes, that is really what he wanted!!) – we finished packing the van and cleaning and waited in anticipation for the moving truck. It arrived at 8:45am. Sadly, Jason and I, for whatever reason thought it would be a fairly quick process – WRONG!! They spent an hour alone taking Ben’s bunkbed apart. I am so happy they were doing it and not us. 109 Rubbermaid bins and other assorted loose items later, they finished loading and completing paperwork and after saying goodbye to the house we were finally on the road at 2:35pm. It looks like we should have all our stuff either next Thursday or Friday which they will then unload and assemble. We are one of three families being moved on this trip, two of us going to the Houston area and one going to Austin.

The first leg of our trip had us in Great Falls for the night. We weren’t entirely sure how long it would take at the border. After a grilling by the border guard we went in to import the van and we were done within 15 minutes. The drive to Great Falls was easy and uneventful, punctuated by Loki’s constant meowing. The ONLY time she wasn’t meowing was when the van was stopped. I could say that Juno is handling the drive well but perhaps she’s just paralyzed into a catatonic state of shock? She did come round once we were at the hotel.

sunrise in Montana

Texas bound

This site has been very quiet for a long time. I've been pretty busy working on making a dream come true. About 2 1/2 years ago my family was vacationing in Orlando, and decided to make it our long term goal to move somewhere like that, so we could live on vacation. This spring has afforded us that opportunity. I spent several months trying to get interviews with companies in Texas, Florida, Arizona and California, but my foreign status plus the general downturn in the US economy was making it difficult to get interviews, let alone sponsorship. I expanded my search net a little wider and discovered that a local company whom I'd considered offers from twice in the past was hiring in Houston. I approached them and while they initially seemed interested, a month went by without an offer. However in the interim I had managed to schedule 3 interviews in Austin and scheduled a little vacation down there.

Literally days before I was leaving for this vacation and these interviews I got an offer from the local company, but it was for a local position! I let them know that the offer wasn't quite up to par with my expectations, and told them that I couldn't accept it in the time frame suggested as I had some interviews scheduled in Texas. Within 4 hours I had an offer for Houston that met all of my expectations and I accepted it immediately.

I went on my vacation, and instead of a job hunting expedition it became a house-hunting trip. And it was FUN. My wife and I met a couple of wonderful realtors and had a great time exploring the different neighborhoods with them. We toured an elementary school and were totally impressed. Our son goes to a great school now, but I think that this will be at least as good (really - I think it is better!). Plus the neighborhood we selected seems built for us - very family oriented, values that match ours, similar economic situations, a perfect match.

Except that my company recently moved their office from this area to one about 30 miles away - an hour + in typical traffic... That really isn't significantly more than my current commute though, so it isn't too bad, and everything else is so superior to our current situation that I am absolutely convinced that this is the right place and the right time to make this move.

Right now I am in between jobs, have 5 days to finish packing before the movers come and then it is off on a mighty road trip to drive 3800 km from Calgary to The Woodlands, hopefully arriving before our furniture does!

Unfortunately I'll only have a few days before starting my new job to get settled in, but I've laid the groundwork, and my wife should be able to tie up most of the loose ends.

Hurray! Time to get back to the packing...