Hurricane Rita part 2

The neighbor behind us has boarded up his lower windows. We have pretty much decided not to board ours since they don't directly face the wind direction. People on our street are pretty calm, out exercising, the kids are playing. I think we feel like we've prepared as much as possible and are ready to ride this thing out.

There is a strong breeze and the air is comfy. Must be in the low 80's, it feels good.

You can kind of see in the latest picture (outside my house) the swirling pattern that the clouds are taking.

11:00 am central. The guys took off to see if anything was open, our friend must have convinced my husband that something should be done with the big window. I don't think anything is open at this point, but since they were going out, I asked them to see about getting some more eggs and some shredded cheese too (why not?). They'll probably be back here shortly. I was going to make breakfast but they left! I guess I'll just have a couple of pieces of toast to go with my kaluha & coffee.....the perfect drink for hurricane preparation. I'm trying to do as much laundry & clean up dishes as much as possible before this thing hits, so at least we can have clean clothes.

11:30 am central. The wind has picked up more now! More clouds are rolling in. The animals still are not acting any differently. The lizard that adopted my big bromeliad outside is sticking very close to it. I don't know much about lizards but I imagine this is normal.

Ok, somebody make it stop!!!! I'm sick of the media making a huge circus out of this storm!!! It's an awful attempt at trying to dish disaster before and after it happens, since they missed all that with Katrina!!!! I'm sorry for going on a rant here but could we please simply have relevant information and not all the speculative bullsh*t that they keep throwing in??? Stop making it a horrible train wreck that you've grown sick of hearing about but are too hooked to not look!!!! 4 million people evacuated...2 million people evacuated...does anyone know for sure? Can't the media, for once, stick to journalism and stay away from spectacular gossip? I don't care about speculation, I want to know what's going on now and what is coming and how I can prepare myself best! If things hit the worst case scenario, I need to know where to go or what to do! I don't even know what the emergency broadcast radio station is to tune into in case of a power out, what does NOAA broadcast on, am or fm? I need to know this stuff! CRIMENEY!!!! Sorry, I just needed to say that.

12:15 pm central. I suppose I'm being a bit neurotic by wanting to have stuff clean before this hits. I don't even understand it myself but there it is. My wrists really hurt!!!

We're supposed to start getting rain later tonight, I imagine we'll probably lose power shortly after. I'll do my best to get pictures to show later, as I promised in yesterday's post.

Since there's nothing else to do but wait, I think we should make a drinking game out of Rita! Every time thunder rumbles, that's a shot. Every time lightning strikes, that's a beer gulp or a drink of a mixed drink. yeah, that will be fun!

1:00 pm central. The guys aren't back yet, I hope they aren't too far & used up a lot of gas in my car. We might need it later! I've noticed more of our neighbors have boarded up & taped up their windows.

1:20 pm central. WHOOOAAA! The winds have really picked up into strong gusts now! Already a couple of large branches have blown down in our back yard! Not huge but big enough that they get your attention!

Oh! The disappointment! Rita is now a lowly CAT 3 hurricane!

2:15 pm central. My fingers, wrists and knees still are badly bloated. I don't know if these are storm signs but I can't stop sneezing today, finally had to break down & take something...and it's a good thing I decided to do the husband's laundry, I found ants trying to drill their way in! It's making its way in, stay tuned for more!

At least the guys called and are on their way back now! Nothin is open, only bars. I figured as much! I'm almost jealous.

2:45 pm central. Whoops! May have to shut down sooner than I thought, we just had a power flicker. Computer re-booted itself! I took a shot of the sky right after it happened but I'm having trouble sending it to myself so I can post it. May have to wait.

Forget saying a prayer for Texas, that's just wishful thinking! Take action & donate to the red cross!

Ok, the picture will have to wait. The tower must be having trouble. Here we go! The rollercoaster ride has begun!

3:30 pm central. It has gotten really hot again, must be upper 90's....and HUMID!!! I can't put anymore pics up right now, sorry.....my phone can't send a signal to my email for some reason. The server that hosts my cable modem isn't working too well either right now, it's very slow. But the clouds are getting darker, more circular-looking and the wind is stronger. The guys made it back & are out in the driveway watching nature's show. I'll still keep taking the pictures tho, just not sure when I can get them posted. The dogs (our friend brought his) are getting a bit agitated & testy...but I think the one dog was upset that his daddy wasn't home, he seems s bit better now. I'll stay on as long as I can. Some of our neighbors have opened up their garage doors to have their own hurricane parties & watch the storm approach. Almost all the neighborhood has done this with each storm we've had so far, especially when we all lost power....it's kind of cool. It's like a way to check on each other too, you can yell to each other if you need help or whatever.

This is funny....and they might get mad at me for telling but it's still funny....they guys are pretty happy & lying in the driveway letting the strong gusts blow over them....I just messed with them a bit, I'll try to get a shot!

Oh yes, that is funny!!! good shots! ^_^

5:15 pm central. The sky is much darker, you can feel rain in the air. It seems the hurricane will hit louisiana but I still think the eye will pass very close to where I am. There will still be a bad storm. We'll see what happens!

6:00 pm central. Skies are even darker now, lots of wind gusting, very blustery. Rain is spitting here & there, it's beginning. I understand that it's hitting the west edge of Louisiana....that really isn't that far from here. All the satellite images I look at still show me that we'll get a nasty dose of this storm. There's nothing else to do but wait for it all to happen.

Now, after a few minutes, the winds have died down to strong breezes again. It is much cooler now, I've had to put on a sweatshirt. The direction of the clouds has changed, they were moving north since yesterday, now they are moving south, a little slower than before. Just waiting for the big boom to start!

7:00 pm central. Now that it rained slightly earlier, the wind direction changed and it's gotten cooler, I don't feel so swelled up & my wrists, fingers & knees quit hurting. That's a relief! The animals still hav'nt really changed their behaviors.

The guys decided to destroy our old propane grill that was falling apart. For the last half hour, they've been hacking away at it with an ax, breaking the thing up into trash. The wind has slowed and the rain is still spitting here & there. There was a nice break in the clouds where the sunset streaked through so it was purple clouds with a bright yellow streak through it. Got the shot, it's very pretty. The wind changed to the southwest direction. Still waiting for the storm to hit!

my phone finally decided to work so i can post some pics! It's begun raining lightly, the storm making its way to the house. We're just watching the weather channel.

10:00 pm central. Ok, I'm going to be completely sarcastic here. Where's the monster storm cat 5 that the media kept going on about? It's a Cat 3!!! Where I am, Rita is peeing on us! I don't even know if it's still going to be a hurricane by the time it gets to me, it may just be a sad thunder storm! All these businesses, even the city of Houston itself shut down for this! There's no major catastrophic storm here! Maybe it will act up by morning but I doubt it! I'm a bit disappointed, not by the storm, nature does what it does....but by the huge media build up over basically nothing! What the hell? I don't mean to be ungrateful that there won't be a huge catastrophe like Katrina here....but if it hadn't been for the media hype, people wouldn't have been so freaked out over this! All that is happening in Houston is a lot of wind! I don't think they even have any rain! How crazy.

10:30 pm central. We just started getting some rain.
I expect to lose power overnight. At least I don't have anywhere to
be tomorrow. I didn't today either! Since things are not too exciting now, I'm going to shut down. Maybe there will be more to report tomorrow. We'll see!

See you after the storm!