1:00pm Sat, 13 September 2008

We lost power sometime between midnight and 3am. We hear on the radio that it could be 2 weeks before power is restored. I’m just recording some thoughts and observations to post to the blog once there is power and internet. Tartan did try plugging in the cable modem to the generator, but Comcast is apparently down. We’re very happy that we have the wrap around porch out front since Tartan has been able to put the generator out there and it’s under cover.

We had cell phone to begin with this morning, but now the networks are overloaded and we can’t get a signal. We made it through the storm with minimal damage. A couple of our bottlebrush bushes were uprooted, several branches are down, and right now we’re watching our front yard get flooded as the drainage ditch has reached its capacity. Amazingly, the only problem we have with the windows is a compromised seal in one window over the master bathtub. Also amazing is the fact that we managed to place our paddle boat and its tarp cover in a somewhat protected spot. When we saw how strong the wind was blowing, we thought that at the very least the tarp would blow away and the boat not stay in its original spot.

We think some of the eye passed over us as the wind died down for a while before suddenly picking up again from the south whereas it had been from a northerly direction all night. We looked out the windows several times through the night and it was incredible seeing the power of the wind whipping the trees and rain. The children slept well for the most part though the girls all woke up around 5am and it took them awhile to get back to sleep.

Though it’s inconvenient not having power, at least it’s still cool outside and we can open some of the windows to let in the nice breeze. Now we’re just waiting for the rain to stop.

Settling down for the night.

We can hear the wind blowing out there, but our bedroom is currently on the leeward side. No rain as of yet. The picture is of the kids settling down in our room for the night. Bug is already asleep.

Hurricane Ike - report #3

Last update for Friday evening (9pm).

Hurricane Ike - report #2

Update on Hurricane Ike's progress, from Spring, Texas. (6:25 p.m. on Sept 12).

Hurricane Ike - report #1

Aidan Collier reports on Hurricane Ike from Spring, Texas.



We will make an effort to continue updates throughout the storm, depending on whether we have power and internet access.

18 years; 11 years

Today is our 18th wedding anniversary. What a day. Alex and Kyrie's outside classes and Kyrie and Abigail's ballet classes started today. We also had our 2nd week of band.

I had intended to drop Alex and Kyrie off and come home to work with Aidan and Abigail. Kyrie did not bring her art materials, so I had to drive home and get them. I decided not to drive all the way home again so I tried working on math with Abigail and Aidan in the truck. I turned the truck on to just have the fan on- not thinking about the fact that I was draining my battery. About 20 minutes before their classes were over it was so hot, I tried to turn on the truck: no go. I called Tartan, who took the day off thinking originally he'd take me to a movie and then when realising I would have absolutely no time that he'd get some things done. He drove out to jumpstart my car. We went home, having to stop for petrol because I was perilously close to being out, and I tried to hurry everyone through lunch. That didn't work well and we were 10 minutes late to band. A little (very little) schoolwork got done and then I had to deal with Kayleigh having an "accident"- I won't go into the gory details.

I took the girls to ballet and was very blessed to have someone watch Abigail for me when she got out of class and someone else brought both girls home for me. I thought I was going to have to stay there for 2 hours until they were done.

Now I need to round up the younger kids so we can go to the mandatory parents' meeting for boy scouts. Tartan and Alex are already there.

Enough about today. On Saturday, I took Kyrie to get her ears pierced. The two girls from next door and Abigail came along to watch. Kyrie picked out 14K gold studs with her birthstone (peridot). That all went well. The only thing she said was, "Ow. That hurts," after the first one was done. I would have liked both ears to be done at once, but there was only one person in the store. They look very good on her.

Tomorrow she's eleven years old! Happy birthday, Kyrie!

Trying to remember that God is with us in everything that happens,
Naomi for the Colliers

It's August: time for school!

At the end of July, we hitched up the camper and went to Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. We had three free tickets from the Read to Succeed program, so we *only* had to buy four more. It was fun, but very hot and the lines for the popular rides were r-e-a-l-l-y long. I prefer to go off-season, but Tartan points out that usually they're closed on Fridays during that time. It was nice to leave Thursday afternoon, go on Friday and come back home on Saturday so we could be at church on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, Kyrie met up with her girl scout troop and they headed to Galveston for a short campout. They came back Monday evening- well before Eduard made his appearance.

Speaking of tropical storm Eduard, it brought us a full day of rain and that's about it.

The rest of us eased into school on Monday and Kyrie got started on Tuesday. This week Kyrie and Aidan actually got schedule print outs. I'm still working on Alex's. Since most of our outside activities have not started yet, it's been hard to develop a routine. I also needed to take in Fluffy for her shots and check up and that threw things off this morning. But, we are making progress. Alex is about ready to take his first geometry test.

Gotta eat my lunch!
>Naomi for the Colliers