All day today, my husband and I have been making preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Ike in Spring Texas. I am sure we are probably like a lot of other residents that wait until there's a high probability that a Hurricane is coming our way before we prepare. Today was that day and the Hurricane ... it's name is Ike.
First decision of the day is do we pack up and leave or do we stay? If we lived on Galveston Beach or closer to the coast, it would be a more difficult decision for us. But in Spring Texas, we are located about an hour and 15 minutes from the coast. Far enough from the coast not to experience storm surge so we are staying. After all the old adage is "Run from water and Hide from wind". 
We are going to be on the dirty side of Hurricane IKE which means we are going to get dumped on with rain along with experiencing winds gusts that are projected to be 85 miles an hour. Not an ideal environment to be journeying out to a restaurant for meals which means we need to stock up on FOOD. We didn't need a lot of food but enough to make it through at least three days and the food was to be non-refrigerated.
Out my husband went in search of food. Looking for food the day before a Hurricane is projected to make land fall is similar to foraging for food out in the wilderness. You have to take what you can find and be happy with it. What did my fearless hunter of food bring home? Potato Chips, Ho Hos, Potted Meat, and Bread. My only question was "Potted Meat? What in the heck is Potted Meat?" With shopping crossed off the list, next action item to tackle was Gas.
As soon as I saw the line of cars six deep at the gas station, I knew I should have headed the highway warning signs of "Storm in the Gulf Fill your tanks". But nobody was going to tell me when to buy gas. I was going to buy gas when I was good and ready and not a minute before. So I patiently waited my turn in line, hoping that after filling the tanks of the trucks and SUVs before me there would still be gas left for me. I was relieved when it was my turn and I was able to pump enough gas to fill my tank to the rim.
Next on my list was to take care of some business. I needed to go by all my vacant listings and secure the For Sale signs that had my name riders on them. I did not want to make the local news because my real estate signs took flight and crashed through someone's front window. In my head I could already hear the sound bite "Freakish accident occurs because local Spring Texas Realtor does not secure For Sale sign. I called the sellers of my other listings and asked them to help me not be on the news by putting the For Sale sign in the garage until Hurricane Ike has come and gone.
With my running around tasks now complete I headed home. Home to decide what to prepare for dinner. It would be a rather easy decision because iIt was going to be the most expensive item that was in our freezer. With the high probability that we are going to lose power over the next couple of days, we are going to feast like Kings and Queens instead of having it perish.
Over the next couple of days there will be no real estate business to transact. Everything will be at a stand still. What we will be doing is watching the weather channel for hours and hours while eating potato chips and Ho Hos.
Stay safe and be smart. And If next time you see me I look a couple of pounds heavier, I want you to know that it is NOT my fault. Its all Hurricane IKE's fault.
Hurrican Resources:
- The Weather Channel - what I will be watching
- Houston hide from the wind - projected wind speeds per zip code
Oh one last thing, if you need to get in touch with me over the next couple of days please call me at 281.804.8626. Do not email because our Prudential Gary Greene Realtors corporate office has shut down our servers beginning at 7:00 pm on Thursday. Hopefully they will have our email servers back up and running on Monday September 15h.
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