Life After Ike

Now that Ike left town Clear Lake is busy cleaning up the mess. Our house had only a few roof tiles missing and some debris in the yard. No trees or fences down in our yard. The kids are out of school and we are trying to keep them busy and productive. That is not an easy task. We are also helping in the cleaning efforts of family close by. I have learned a few things over the past few days:

• Being in good physical shape really helps to get through being without power. The rest of my family felt the effects of no power this weekend much more than I did. Those long runs in the summer got me used to the heat and humidity more that I realized.
• I can work longer in the yard than many of my family members and not get tired. Running has given me much more energy.
• I can live without power if needed but water is something I would really really miss.
• I am scared at how crippled we become without power.
• I would still stay through the next storm. (I have stayed through many growing up in Houston. Staying enabled us to assess the little damage we did get while the storm was in progress and we were able to start cleaning and repairing immediately after. This really helped us being that we are self-employed and had to be back to work for our customers when they got back in town. I will also say we were not effected by the surge though we were in an evacuation zone so this is good to know for next time. I would leave if we were in more of a flood prone area.)
• I am so thankful that we are safe and intact.

I did not run Saturday, Sunday or Monday and I really started getting restless. I got back to the gym yesterday. I will probably be on the treadmill for the next few days because trying to run around here is rather dangerous. There are lots of trees down and debris everywhere. I went for a run Tuesday outside and I thought I would break an ankle trying to dodge everything in my path. So that is life for now. My thoughts are with everyone as Houston makes it's way back...