My Two Cents Are Free

Know what is making me Houston Proud? The looting. It started prior to the damn storm.

HOUSTON -- Thieves targeted a dozen parked cars in a downtown Houston parking garage Friday, KPRC Local 2 reported.At least 12 vehicles in the garage at the Post Midtown Square Apartments, located on Bagby at West Gray, were broken into.A resident blamed Hurricane Rita, saying there is less security than normal."When I got up, I wanted to come check on my car to see if there were some good spots. I wanted to park on (a more protected) side to keep my car away from the opening. And when I came up on my bike, just riding around, there's a police officer here. There was a Hummer (with the) glass broken out and a bunch of people out here and I just asked, 'What's going on?' and they said about 12 cars were broken into," resident Kevin Hicks said.The thieves took a variety of items -- from stereos to laptops to anything else of value.The crooks broke windows and locks to access the vehicles and their trunks. A cloth convertible top was sliced open."So many people are leaving town -- they're getting friends to drive them out, or otherwise, friends are coming here to ride out the storm. There's just a lot of cars, so I guess it's just an invitation to those who would like to break into cars," Hicks said.He said that car break-ins have never been a problem in the garage before.
( more looting info )

We are getting very little rain, and the wind is gusts of 30 MPH tops. Not bad at all. My sister is hoping for more rain, but I don't really see it happening.

I sincerely doubt we are going to get anything uglier than this, and I am grateful. It is actually a very nice night to sit outside and have your hair blown silly and enjoy the cool breeze.

Our cats spent the morning beating the living crap out of each other. That is unusual. The play often, but usually snuggle a lot. Saffie kept biting Bodhi on the nuts. That really seemed to piss him off. Now they are exhausted and sacked out. I am interested in how they will react when the winds really start kicking up.

I am filling up and enjoying coffee while I still have the ability to make some. I should be beautifully wired and on edge when the hurricane comes. That is what everyone really needs, I am sure.
 
I just saw the weather channel and it says, I shit you not, 8 PM tonigh "A rumble of thunder and possibly rain" lol. That is more optimistic than I was being. It also said that Sunday should be windy.


I keep going outside to take pics. We went out side to throw out the garbage that we have. This is what we found:

( non sky pics )


Little bit of darkness rolling in.

We have been very busy today. I have done all laundry, nailed a cover to my window, cleaned. Karen has stored away all the kitchen appliances, and put somewhat of a cover on the downstairs Easterly window. Connor has been so much help. He hauled the giant laundry basket downstairs and moved most of the plants outside out of the way of wind. He filled the plastic jugs with pool water, and then a neighbor decided to take about half without asking. Fine..I hope she drinks it, those jugs were green inside. I folded a load of laundry by the pool and let Con swim, and he is being rewarded with a giant bowl of ice cream tonight also. He came upstairs and crawled into a tight spot and nailed the cover to the window where I didn't have room to manuever myself. He is upstairs vaccuming my sister's room right now. I still need to put away laundry, but it is 80 degrees in here, and all I feel like doing is sitting. The cats have slept all day. It is like our exertion has exhausted them. Poor little babies.

I was doing my laundry and thinking of clothes to pack, not knowing how much and having limited space, and realized, all the clothes I like I am leaving here. What if it is blown down and all I have are ugly clothes that I just wear around the house, and never go out in public with. That sucks. On the upside, I like new clothes.

I am really hoping that everything stays okay and dry here. There are things we just cannot take with us: all the photos, yearbooks, all of Con's toys, and the 5 bookshelves overflowing with books. In addition, I am really lazy and don't feel like cleaning up after a hurricane. It was a pain enough to clean up after Allison in 2001.
My sister is cooking up a delicious pasta meal and made a badass Hurricane Salad. That is where you use all of the amazingly scrumptious organic tomatoes we have in the kitchen and a lot of Feta cheese because it is just going to all go bad while we are gone.

I have taken a few photos for Pre Rita here and am kind enough to put behind a cut.



( Lets hope that the  )

Goodness, people are having spaz attacks all over the place down here. Thurs-a Hurricin' a-brewin'!!!
yeah. There is.
Now, some of the people live 15 minutes from the beach, and I get them packing up and heading out early, but there are people who are itching to leave here early today and are freaking out if we have to come in tomorrow and they live north of Houston. Y'know what? As long as the damn thing isn't here yet, it is cool and I plan on coming in.

I need to remember to call the manager of our apts tonight and remind him to send someone to the property to lower the pool some. We likely would not have flooded during Allison, except that pool that was full and 5 ft from my door.

I am not looking forward to the 90 degree 100% humidity that we are going to have, but that is why there is underwear and spray bottles with water and wintergreen alcohol.
edit: Not coming into work. They are closing downtown tomorrow and will not let me in the building either. Guess I am going to stay home and clean, do laundry, and watch the storm creep here.

Called my brother's assistant, Charles, in Little Rock to make sure if we had to, that we could stay there. My brother is still with his crew and fleet of trucks cleaning up in Louisiana.

Connor's school is closed tomorrow. No school dance for him. They also called me to tell me that his after school program (Karate today) is cancelled. Cute. He didn't take his key with him. My sister is swinging home early to grab him and see if she can find some water.