A letter to our friends...................
Friends, Sept 13, 2008
We made plans Thursday to evacuate, to drive up to Austin and stay with our good buddy, Mickie. Leslie said she was in no mood to stay here and go through a major hurricane. Then Ike turned a bit, and we decided to wait until Friday to leave. I had the insurance papers together; we had gas in the van. And a sickening feeling watching this huge hurricane get closer and closer to our front door. It’s like knowing you’re going to have a root canal tomorrow morning, and then when the time comes, the doc says: Nah, we’ll do it tomorrow. The stress and fear of anticipation lingered for days. And it wears you out. But because we put off evacuating, we got lucky, and stayed high and dry here in Corpus Christi. We did not even get a drop of rain or a gust of wind as Ike barreled into Galveston and Houston, 225 miles north of us. And there’s big trouble up there as the power will be out for days, maybe weeks – the entire city of Houston is shut down right now. The pictures on tv of Galveston are awful and heartbreaking. God bless them all. Send your prayers to the south Texas coast.
Today, the temperature is 96 in Corpus Christi and the heat index is 110. It feels like the air is on fire. In 48 hours the first cold front of the season will come through and the low temperature is forecast to be 69, very cool for us and most welcome. Especially because once a cold front comes through our part of the south Texas coast, hurricanes will no longer be a threat to us as the weather patterns do not allow them to come on shore here. That’s a strange fact the local weathermen explained to us. So we are very lucky twice this week: No Ike, and no more ‘canes this year for us. Thank you, Lord.
Our first hummer showed up this morning, and she was hungry and stayed a while on the perch sucking up the sugar water so carefully prepared. Leslie got her hummingbird feeder filled and hung first thing today, and we eagerly anticipate and enjoy the migration of these incredible creatures as they stop off here to refuel for their long migration south. All kinds of migrations will be filling our skies in the weeks ahead. Ducks, geese and our favorites, the giant white pelicans, will be flying in and parking their bottoms in the bays and back waters all along the coast. Whooping cranes will follow while the white wing doves will fly south to Mexico – all wonderfully orchestrated for all of us to watch and marvel. The hummers are somehow more impressive than all the others as you cannot imagine them migrating five hundred miles and more to rest. And then in the Spring, for them to return, refuel and fly back into their Summer haunts.
Thank you for your prayers….
Lance and Leslie
So glad to hear that you are safe. Yes, prayers for all who were not so lucky. God bless you both.
— Vivian Relta Sep 14, 12:25 AM #You've been on my mind, cuz. Happy to read your post and hear all is well with you and Leslie.
I anxiously wait to hear from my best friend in Houston. I pray she fairs well.
— Susan Purvine Sep 14, 02:13 AM #Sure have been thinking about both of you, and so glad to know you are safe. Our little “hummers” are getting ready to leave us here in Indiana for their long trip to you. We will miss them, but happy to know you welcome them on the journey. Love those cold fronts too! S
— Shara Sep 14, 10:03 AM #I knew it! one hummer went by this morning and I swear I saw Indiana plates!
thanks for checking in…I never knew where they came from…
— Lance Sep 14, 12:59 PM #Phew – glad you dodged the bullet. An aged friend in Galveston didn't do so well, the ‘antique' house just said no after years of neglect. She was too ready for the nursing home anyway, and this hurricane made for a good change towards future safety.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds travel from as far north as Canada, and manage this through the gifts of late wildflowers and friendly humans putting out feeders. Be sure to change the water every few days as it does ferment, and that is bad for the little travelers.
— Patty Sep 14, 02:55 PM #absolutely….Leslie is a seasoned veteran in hummer feeding and survival having four major feeders going at once when we lived in Lamar…
Ike cancelled the hummer festival in Rockport this year…
boo…
we've been – lots to learn.
— Lance Sep 14, 06:26 PM #Watching the news and hoping you were safe…good to hear all is well. :)
— AMR Sep 14, 08:58 PM #Thanks for the message!!! S00000000 happy to hear that you are both safe!!! Been watching the news and thinking of you!!!! Ruth in San Francisco.
— Ruth Sep 15, 04:24 AM #Forgot about your website until just now ( ah senior moments), have been thinking about you two, sending good thoughts your way. I am so releived that y'all are doing okay. And, yes, many prayers and angel requests sent for comfort during the storms & recovery afterwards. Love, Joy and Many Blessings, k
— Karen G in California Sep 15, 03:14 PM #I was worried about you and am very glad you are OK & selfishly, you start my day, every day, and I would have been lost without you!
— jane Sep 16, 06:52 AM #I'm glad you're all doing well. That hurricane did not reach me in terms of wind and rain, but rather in the form of an emotional storm. I look forward to your morning coffee with me while I look over the skywatch for the what may come to be. Todays grand trine might have all the makings of winning at life, but todays emotional weather makes for a storm, as the rains of sorrow pour from the sky of my heart.
Every morning, I share my coffee with you. May there be many mornings to come where I watch the astrological weather forecast of the day.
Blessed Be.
— Franky Edder Sep 18, 02:36 PM #Franky
The Herrings of Rockport said they didn't get a drop of rain either!
— Sharon Gray & Ray McLain Sep 24, 02:20 AM #Whereas the power has been out in Houston and West Houston was really destroyed. About every third house suffered from an uprooted large tree. My tree went sideways on the front yard instead of into the house, luckily.
Glad everything is copacetic with you all.