9:00 a.m.

This is Lauren taking over the helm until Katherine's power is restored, which was lost around 6:00 this morning. She tried calling into San Antonio but couldn't get through, but she could get through to me and asked me to update the blog.

First and foremost, everybody is OK. Everybody and most everything made it though the night without harm. Some trees in the backyard are about to be gonners: one tree is almost uprooted and the other is flat against the ground, and it probably won't be long until it suffers the same fate its friend.

All windows are OK. Katherine is worried about the neighbor's trampoline: it has wedged itself in the fence and she is worried it will become a flying frisbee and hit their wall of windows. We joked around that she should tape a note to a rock and throw it at their window, then blame it on the storm!

The drainage path behind their house normally looks like a trickle. It now looks like a rushing river.

Katherine said if power is still out tomorrow, school Monday will more than likely be canceled, and she & Claire will head to San Antonio. She said when she looked outside she could see big blue explosions--the transformers blowing.

I'll post more updates as they come through...hopefully she'll be able to get through to somebody again in a few hours.

5:00 AM

Just some news: 75% of Houston is without power now, and I think we're next. Some reports are saying 2-3 weeks before it will come back on. Brennan's burned down because of a transformer explosion. The Humble/Kingwood area is getting hit the hardest at the moment, with that part of the storm moving around in our direction. I think the 7:00 hour will be our worst yet.

4:15 AM

Well, Claire and I are up. The wind is really strong, and I'm afraid our trees aren't going to make it too much longer. We've had a lot of power blips, too, so I suspect it's about to go for good. The rain isn't strong yet--we're still in the "green" part of the radar, but yellow and red are really close. Our tv keeps going out, but from what I can tell, things are much worse further south.

But, don't worry, we have on our trusty hurricane helmets.

Heading to Bed

We're going to try to get some sleep before the major stuff hits us after midnight. Still no rain here, but we have fairly steady wind now at around 20 mph, with gusts around 35. 315,000 people in Houston have already lost power, and we're anticipating it happening here at some point (we've already had a little blip). If (when) this happens, I'll try to get in touch with Lauren, and she'll update here. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep checking in and updating through at least the morning. Hope you all have a good night! See you in the morning!

Now we're prepared

Jason and I are having our own hurricane party tonight: champagne and pancakes!

(Beware of this next picture of Jason's pancakes-you might fall into a diabetic coma just from looking at it. Yep, that's raspberry jam in the middle, multiple tablespoons of butter on top, all floating in a sea of syrup.)
Cheers!

Check out this website

http://houstonhidefromthewind.org/

It breaks down expected wind speeds for the different zip codes in the Houston area. According to this, we'll see max sustained winds of 78 mph.

A Windy Walk

We decided to take Claire and Merc outside for some exercise and a chance to see what our neighbors are doing. Wind gusts have gone up to 20 mph or so, which was almost strong enough to blow Claire away (just kidding). There were lots of people out in their driveways watching their kids play in the street, and we saw only 3 houses with windows boarded up. We also had one of the scariest moments of my life on that walk: As we approached a culdesac with lots of people and dogs, a German shepherd came flying out of nowhere and attacked Merc. I had him on a leash, so I tried to pull him out of the way. I was too late, though, because the other dog had already picked Merc up by the neck, shook him, then threw him down. Jason scooped up Claire, and I screamed, which I think distracted the dog for a split second so that I could get Merc and the dog's owner could catch him. Luckily Merc's fine, but the coward just took his dog inside and closed the door. I even tried to get the guy's name, but he wouldn't talk to me. We have his address, though, and this will definitely not be last he's heard from us. In fact, if you'd like to send him mail, I'd be happy to tell you his address. :) (Jason's not letting me post it, due to "security concerns".)

Anyway, here are some pictures from the walk:

Windy, windy

After the incident--Merc didn't want to walk because the leash was bothering his neck

It's getting closer......