Monday, September 19, 2005

Visitors this weekend daughter?

This evening my mom called and asked me if I wanted visitors this weekend. She seemed to be hinting at something but I didn't quite get it until she laid it all out for me. She was asking if everybody could come evacuate to my house if Hurricane Rita gets bad.

My family is all in Houston and I'm a mere 100 miles away from where they live. We'll probably stick it out at my place for a week or two if Rita is only a category 4 storm. But if Rita gets too bad, we'll have to leave too!

The day after Katrina flooded New Orleans, I quietly said to myself, "You know, the worst thing that could happen now if for Houston to be slammed by a major storm. Sometimes it hurts to be smart.

The last major hurricane to hit the Galveston/Houston metroplex was Alicia all the way back in '83 or '85. I can't exactly remember because I was just a wee little thing then. I do remember the tape Mom put on the windows and the long wait. Since then, huge mansions have been built on the Galveston beachfront. Three-story beach houses are not uncommon. The beach houses have gotten higher though. The older ones almost look shallow compared the high-beamed supports for the newest ones.

If in fact Rita becomes bad and you see pics of Texas that look something like Mississippi, you can rest assured that I'll be okay. My family is a bunch of scouting nuts and survival experts. I used to think it FUN to go backpacking and carry all my own water with me.

Oh and there's one other weird thing that happened after Katrina. There was a rush at Walmart last week for basics by people in this town. Suddenly, water and canned food was in high demand. The stock boy I spoke to said the store was the emptiest he'd ever seen. People were seeing the devestation at New Orleans and reacting by preparing themselves here.

More later!

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