Tony and Joanna's call lightened our mood so we turned off the news coverage and are watching the Dog Whisperer now! I am sure when the first big gust comes, back to the live coverage!

What's with all the lawn mowing today? My husband did the same thing. Weird.

I'll be keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers tonight. :hug:

The winds are picking up but no rain yet! We lost power, something blew close to our home. We lost it on and off for a few minutes but ok right now. It's going to be a long evening. Best to everyone.

Nancy

Stay safe Nancy and check in when you can!

keeping our fingers crossed for all of you

Peggy

Karen, Betty and Nancy, Did you see Jim Cantore? ;) Hope all is well and you haven't lost power

Thinking about Karen, Betty and Nancy this morning. Hope ya'll are ok.

From CNN...

The storm cut off power to more than 4 million people in the Houston area after it made landfall at 2:10 a.m. CT on Galveston Island.

I doubt we will be hearing from our friends for a while. Hope everybody is OK. Please check in when you can.

Latest Doppler image.

I was hoping to see some news from them but I guess that they have lost power. I hope that they are safe and didn;t have too much damage

Just received message that my sister, in Houston near Karen & Betty's area, had just gotten a cell call out to friend in Dallas. (Cells are being tied up by emergency teams & damage.) Sister charging phone in car. Water high is some areas. She was told that the power may be out for as long as 18 days...cannot imagine this in that humidity & heat. I'll bet it will be back on sooner than that!(We just arrived in Cape Town - frantic to find out any news - unbelievable, we had CNN on TV in holding lounge in Dakar, very nice but HOT.)

Dear Houston Friends - you probably can't read this but I'm hoping you are safe and sound. It's miserable without power, so I hope the 18 day estimate is really wrong. Hang in there, we are all hoping for the best for you.

Ditto what Margo says. The reports are looking scary. Greg manages Charter internet systems in Portland, Rockport and Conroe/Spring...he has been checking all day to see if he can "get into" the equipment remotely, and says all is up and running (on generators, of course) - but that means good news as far as structures go, they must be still standing. I am sure power is out nearly everywhere. We saw a lonnnnng convoy of power trucks along a local highway here and we were thinking/hoping they are headed down south to help out.

Can't wait to hear from our Houstonians!!! Our thoughts and prayers continue.

Here I am, the first one to check in!! Our cells weren't working and we could only text. I texted Betty but haven't heard back. Our electricity was out for 12 hours, not too bad!! The damage was minimal, some roof shingles, a big mess of branches and my poor papaya tree was toppled :(

Last night, the wind was howling for a good 6 hours straight and one window started to leak when the rain was pounding on it but other than that, I think we faired pretty well, most likely due to all the LCT vibes and the big guy upstairs!

Karen, I'm so glad you were able to check in and you are safe....please let us know when you hear from the other Houstonians.

Yay!! :banana: So glad to hear you're OK.

I hope the rest of the LCTers are as well and you all have power soon. All in all, while it was a nasty storm and there is a huge mess to clean up it is wonderful that loss of life looks to be minimal at this point.

Poor Galveston!

Hi Karen,
SO glad to hear that you're OK! 12 hrs without power is excellent compared to what we've been hearing!

What a RELIEF, Karen! I am so glad to hear from you. You have such a positive attitude, no doubt that helped out with the situation!

Hope to hear from Betty and Nancy soon!

Betty just got through to me on her cell. She still has no electricity but she is OK. I just went outside to see the damage on our street, the guy on the corner seems to have taken the most damage and the is a huge scary mangled trampoline in his driveway. I wonder where that came from!

Whew...sure was great to read your post Karen and that you are all ok! :)

Karen, glad to hear that you're doing okay!!

Karen, I'm so relieved to hear that both you and Betty are o.k. Glad you now have power and hope Betty's will be restored soon. Thanks for reporting! Hope we hear from Nancy soon.

The good news is, this one didn't HOVER like a lot of them do (Fay!!!)...Ike is a quick mover, thank God.

Glad to hear that you are OK too, Betty, and I really hope your power is restored soon!!!!

Karen and Betty -- so glad you're OK. We're getting a little rain and a few gusts here, but nothing to write home about. It looks like downtown Houston really got hit hard--so sad.

Like the others, I'm so glad to hear that both Karen and Betty are safe. Here is hoping that Betty's power comes back on soon and that we also hear good news from Nancy.

Thanks for reporting in Karen and Betty (via Karen). Once we hear about Nancy, we can breathe a sigh of relief. But, I know there are many who have suffered damage to their homes and maybe even more. My heart goes out to all of them.

I have been thinking about Nancy all day, I hope she can check in soon!

I am way far away now, in South Africa, but sending my best vibes to my Texan lct friends!

Oh Karen, have been checking all day and am so glad to hear from you, and that you guys and Betty are OK. Now we just need to hear from Nancy.

Sounds like you came thru your first hurricane in pretty good shape. Thanks so much for checking in and updating us.

Whew - Glad to hear you and Betty are okay. Two down, one to go...where are you Nancy? Please check in when you can.

Karen and Betty... so glad you came through it OK. It was quite an experience I am sure.

Marc was on his computer all day yesterday tracking it and wondering about all of you.

Sorry to hear about your tree Karen. When we went through the 3 hurricanes in Florida in 2004 we had the same sort of damage and Marc called it "a landscaping opportunity"

I just got off the phone with Betty, still no electricity and now her water and home phone have both died. I think she should come here but I don't think she wants to leave her house empty. It is really steamy out now, I think she would be more comfy here in the arctic zone!

Yikes. Glad to hear that you're both ok but hope that the electricity and the water get turned back on soon for Betty!

Karen and Betty, we are glad to hear that you are okay. It's awful to be without electricity, water, gas, etc. The last intense hurricane for us, Fabian, really tore up our small island, and left us without electricity for 3 weeks. I really feel for Betty. Just so glad you are safe!!! Keep us updated. All of us in the ...huricane zone...hate this time of year!!

Talked to Betty few minutes ago she called as had short term use of her phone - no power, no water, no knowledge on when it will be restored - she is amazingly "sane" given the circumstances - keeping fingers crossed her neck of the woods gets power asap - I tried to fill her in on Roar arrivals etc - and she knows we are all pulling for her -

J:

Glad to se that you are giving B her LCT "fix" - LOL!

Any word from Nancy ??

Our power went out last night and just came on now. Let's hope it's on for good! I am patiently waiting for the hot water tank to heat up so I can get a shower in before it goes off again.

Mark and I continue to send our thoughts and prayers for a quick and complete recovery from Ike ... :angel2:

You know that your South Florida friends "feel your pain!"

Karen...thanks for keeping us posted on the conditions in Houston. Like everyone else, I'm so happy to know you and Betty are fine. I hope Nancy fared as well...it will be great to hear from her too.

Just take care and be careful, I've been watching people on the news - things are still a little crazy out there - especially in the gas lines!

Glad to hear that you're safe. Hope Nancy chimes in soon and the electricity comes back on!