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We love Texas, too! It will always be home, and it may be "home base" sooner or later. I hate the heat there, but I love the Hill Country, Austin, the food, wildflowers, and all the other things that we think make Texas special.
My mother-in-law is in Garden Villa nursing home in El Campo, Texas. It's a small, older nursing home, but it's in excellent physical condition--clean, modernized, bright, cheery--and the staff has been wonderful to Clara and to us. She's 97 and failing quickly, but at least she's safe, a relief to all of us. We tried to convince her to come live with us before she became so ill, but she wouldn't leave her home. We'd still like to move her to Parkview Manor in Dillon, a very nice place, but she's too frail to move at this point. Also, she doesn't know where she is, who she is, or much of anything else now, but she is calm and no longer cries all the time.
My brother and his wife in Chappell Hill, Texas, received very little rain from Ike, although they did lose their power for a bit. No problem--they moved into their Montana for the duration. My friend Kay, just down the road from him and a bit outside of Navasota wasn't so lucky. She and her husband have been without power since the storm came through there. Kay's e-mail to me tonight says, "As I was coming to work this morning there was a roadside electric sign stating “all Bryan/College Station shelters full” – in other words, keep on a-going! Right now we don’t have a food issue, but as time goes by and the resources are depleted here in this area, we might have a problem. They are declaring Galveston Island totally uninhabitable and ordering ALL to leave. So, you’ve got all those people scrambling for places to stay. There are long lines for everything – gas, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. It’s pretty crazy around here! No power, either." My daughter and her family in Bay City had lots of rain and wind, but her windows were boarded and her husband had purchased a generator, so they managed just fine, too. Their power has been restored.
One of our friends did lose most of his home when a tree fell through it. He lives northeast of Houston and seemed to have the full brunt of the wind and rain. No one was hurt, and the house can be rebuilt.
We are so thankful that people heeded the warnings and got out of harm's way down there. This storm, as bad as it was--residents of Houston are suffering terribly--could have taken the lives of many, many people. Texans are tough--they'll get through this.
Wayne and Carolyn
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