Its Tuesday evening. I can hardly keep track of the days b/c it has been so weird the last couple of days. Here’s a brief recap since we’ve been out of touch with most of the world…or so it seems.
Friday afternoon we rounded up all of our hurricane supplies, boarded up all of our windows and got everything secured. We were tracking the storm via TV and I wanted to scream if I heard someone else say “hunker down” haha. I was hoping they could pick a different word, but it didn’t look like the reporters could. The wind started picking up around 9 pm. It was an eery feeling to watch flooding all day in Galveston and see a storm and the weather reports on TV, but not know fully what it would be like. As the weatherman put it best “you don’t fully know until you know.” Very true! We tried to get some sleep but my nerves got the best of me. We went to sleep around 2 am and had full power. 4 am (Sat morning), our power went out and the storm was full on! We live about 90 miles inland so it took a while for the bands to hit us after they made landfall. It was crazy to not see anything b/c of the early morning hours and our windows were boarded up. I started wondering when this ordeal would finally be over. The last bit of hard rain and wind (tropical storm force) cleared out around 12 noon-ish on Saturday. It has been about 6 hours of intense rain and wind.
We turned on the radio and learned that our electric service provider has suffered “catastrophic” loss and our power stations and transformers were destroyed. They will need to be rebuilt and shipped in, then repaired. So we’re looking at 2-4 weeks without electricity. I had mentally prepared myself to be without power and all of the accompanying amenities for 2-4 days but NOT 2-4 weeks!!
Team Patton started getting together an extended game plan. Over the last 2 days we’ve worked so hard…we’ve gotten a generator (after waiting 6 hours in line), repaired our fence, put a tarp on our roof where there’s a whole, moved all of our stuff back outside, waiting for gas multiple times (3 1/2 wait each time), made a couple of trips to Lowe’s, installed a window unit for a/c. We’ve been busy!! At night we’ve watched Andy Griffith re-runs on our DVD player as we’ve relived “the good ole’ days” in real life!!
Our “thankful list” has increased dramatically over the last couple of days- hot showers, cold a/c, being able to open the fridge and grab food, not waiting hours for gas, warm food not from a can or pouch, just flipping a switch, internet, having a house that’s not flooded and still standing, the money to cover some of these extra expenses! all things that we usually don’t think about until they’re no longer there. We’re both keeping a really positive attitude. There’s really nothing you can do to change the situation, so we’re trying to make the most of the things. We’re keeping each other laughing and encouraged-which makes me glad to be married to JT!
Work wise- our office is officially closed until they get electricity. JT & I will probably go in Thurs & Fri to do some work. They’re offering some incentives to those that can come and since we don’t have kiddos to worry about- we’ll probably be there.
Alright, I need to wrap up and go pick up JT from the laundry mat. We’re in AggieLand (College Station – Home of Texas A&M). It is about an hour away and we’ve come to get gas, eat a good meal at Cheddars, do laundry, and get some cold/perishable food. yeah for fresh chicken and produce!! I don’t know when I’ll be back online but call me if you need anything. Our cell phone service has been some what sporadic. I just wanted to give every one an update. We are okay. None of our property or “stuff” was really damaged and after watching TV footage for the first time today at Cheddar’s – we have NOTHING to complain about. Now that we have a generator and a/c window unit, we are golden!! Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts of concerns! We really appreciate it and are doing excellent all things considered.
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