Hurricane Rita

Pat called on Sunday, the 18th, to say that it looks as if Hurricane Rita, now in the Gulf, is heading toward a direct hit on Galveston, Houston and Baytown. She and Rudy decided wisely not to stay home since Rita had grown into a category 5 and will be a bad, bad, bad storm. If Rita continues to take the path it is on now, they will come here. She called again on Tuesday, the 20th, to report that Mike had come and helped her to secure patio furniture, etc. and Jack, their neighbor, was putting up plywood on the windows. She said they would plan to leave tomorrow. On Wednesday, Pat called around 3:00 to say they were leaving and hoped to be in Tyler by suppertime. Around 6:00 she called to say the traffic is horrendous and they had only made it as far as Dayton - in three hours!!! They will push on. I fell asleep on the couch a little after midnight. At 5:00 am I called Pat's cell phone and she said they were still caught in the evacuation traffic and were just passing through Seven Oaks....unbelieveable!!! I went on and showered and got in bed but slept fitfully and the phone rang a little after 7:00. Movel. She has decided not to come to Tyler after all since the weather looks so bad and we are predicted to get huge amounts of rain. I told her Pat and Rudy were on the way and what I knew about their trip. She couldn't believe it. Finally, around 10:00 Pat and Rudy got here. When they got to Lufkin after so many hours, the traffic sorted out and they breezed on in to town in a couple of hours. Total trip time was 19 hours! Pat had cleaned out all three of her refrigerators and freezers and brought most of it with her. She thought the power would go out and she didn't want to deal with smelly, rotting food when she went home. We pushed and shoved and rearranged and finally got most of it in the freezers. Other things we left in the coolers and I went to the store and got some dry ice (crap, that stuff is expensive!) and hoped for the best. I grilled some pork chops and made some rice and salad and Rudy ate like he was starved to death. They both finally ran out of steam about normal bedtime. I don't know how Pat was staying awake but she said it must be adrenaline. Pat and I stayed up until about 1:00 Friday night watching the hurricane coverage. Rita had been doing a sidestep to the east all day and finally came ashore right on the border of Texas and Louisiana leaving Baytown and Houston on the "clean" side of the storm. Lake Charles took a big hit as did Port Arthur, Beaumont and all due north of that area. Pat went to bed feeling a little relieved. The phone rang a little after 8:00 Saturday morning and it was Jack Rackley, their neighbor. He said one of the trees had fallen on Rudy and Pat's roof but he and some others were working on it and it didn't do just a lot of damage. Pat finally got up around 10:00 and I told her to call Jack. She was near tears talking to him but afterwards felt that it could have been so much worse. The power is out there as well. Since Rita moved east we did not get the 10 inches of rain that had been predicted. It rained most of Saturday...a slow, steady rain and there were gusts of wind most of the day and though the lights blinked off and on a few times, we never lost power. The back yard was littered with twigs and small limbs but nothing major. We heard a transformer blow a little after noon but it was on Richmond Road. Those folks did not have power Saturday night. Bill and Movel decided to come on down Monday. Talk about a house full of people. I was glad I went ahead and had the water heater replaced in the computer room. We needed that bathroom and shower. Jack called Tuesday evening to let Pat know the power was back on. Pat was excited and told him they would head home on Wednesday. They left around 1:00 hoping this would be a faster trip. Pat called around 7:00 to say they got there about 5:30 without any problem at all. The yard and the downed tree look much worse than what she imagined but they can deal with it. Bill and Movel left Thursday morning around 10:30. Movel said she will probably be back sometime next week so don't wash the sheets. Silence never sounded so good.