I've been in Texas since Thursday of last week, 97 miserable degrees day after day, which was quite the shock to my system after Dillon's Labor Day snow and continuing cool weather out here at the dam. My mother-in-law, who's in a nursing home in Texas, had a sudden turn for the worse with her Alzheimer's, triggered by a bad fall (hit her head hard). She rallied a bit Sunday and seems to be holding her own again, although she no longer knows anyone but Wayne.
Because I teach an AP course and also am obviously the only person in the entire universe who can produce football and volleyball programs for our high school
, I had to return yesterday. But guess what--Wayne called today and is coming back, too, because of Hurricane Ike. You Texans know exactly where Matagorda, Bay City, and Wharton are--right in the path of the storm at the moment. My daughter Susan and her family live in Bay City and are poised to evacuate any minute. Matagorda, where my daughter teaches, had a mandatory evacuation order at noon, and Bay City will no doubt be getting one soon.
Wayne called this afternoon and said the evacuation in Wharton was still voluntary, but police cruisers were announcing via loudspeaker that the order would probably be mandatory by this evening. He'd planned to stay inn Wharton until the repairs on his mother's home were underway, but he's leaving this early this evening for Austin and then will begin heading back to Montana tomorrow. He already had a hotel reservation in Austin because he needed to be there tomorrow on business. Lucky for him that he made that reservation before Ike took aim at the Texas coast.
By the way: From Dillon to Wharton, Texas, approximately 1800 miles, our 2008 Ford F-350 crew-cab took $700 worth of diesel. Wayne was pulling our 16-foot cargo trailer loaded with junk to add to the auction, so that no doubt affected the mileage. I flew down because I couldn't take off for the 2 weeks he planned to stay; the round-trip airline ticket from Idaho Falls to Austin and back was only $312. (I did have to bring my own water and snacks on board, though.)
I miss Texas (Austin, in particular), but I do NOT miss that Texas heat.
Carolyn