Rita - I was lucky

I didn't have any problems that a rake couldn't remedy, but my surrounding neighbors weren't so fortunate.

My back deck...

My driveway (which initially made for some crunchy driving)...

A new house in progress across the road...

This tree fell across the neighbor's deck directly east of my house...

Three pines and a pole came to rest at the top of the hill...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Bill celebrates his 63rd (or 90th, depending on whom you ask) birthday today....someone please send some Polygrip!

Power to the people

Two days, 20 hours and 45 minutes later, I'm no longer powerless.

I saw a crew working about a mile and a half from my house around 8:30 p.m. Monday evening. With hope springing eternal, I proceeded to the local Pub to wait, have a brew or two and watch LSU succumb rather pitifully to Tennessee.

Heading back around 10:45, I saw the crews were on my road. A short chat revealed that they'd come down from Nebraska to help and estimated I'd have power in about 20 minutes. And so it came topass.

All righty then. I was running around the house reconnecting the alarm system, re-programming the thermostat, etc. Fifteen minutes later the power went out again. Not particularly pleased, I jumpedinto my vehicle and scoured the neighborhood for the crew. No sign.

Back at the sweat shop (my house), I called Valley Electric. After a lengthy update recording, I was stunned to be connected to a real human bean. First time that had happened since my power went out. I was told the crew had found some threatening limbage and decided to
turn off the power before remedying the situation. "They'll turn it back on soon". And indeed, it came to pass... at 12:15 A.M. And so it still is... at the moment.

My house was hovering around 88 degrees. Now it's around 84, but psychologically it's ultra cool to me.

--Donnie

Message from Ouita

We talked to Bing's parents in Buna, TX, 35 miles north of Beaumont
at the southern part of Jasper County. They chose not to evacuate.
Besides their home, they have a motor home with a generator and
another gas generator is hooked up to fan and deep freezers in house.
Several other families came to stay with them. They lost all of their
75 year old oak trees, but luckily none fell on the house or cars.
They have no power in the home, and had phone service until a line
was cut by clean up crews. They parked everone's cars in an open
pasture, so those are fine. The motorhome and one other car is
blocked by trees. They are almost out of gas for the generators. FEMA
and Red Cross are set up in a church in Buna, so they are going there
to get food, water and ice. They don't need the food, but you have to
take it all as a package. A close friend is staying with them because
her husband was in the Beaumont hospital and her was sent to a San
Antonio hospital and his wife wasn't allow ed to go. The hospital he
was in at Beaumont is totally destroyed. They can drive part of the
way to her house and then walk the rest of the way so they can shower and use her phone since she has phone service.

Bing is worried about how long they are going to be like that and the
fact he can't get in to help them - law won't let anyone in. Also we
don't know if we can buy gas to get home even if he manages to get
there. The parents are both almost 80. Their spirits are good so far.
I called a tree service in Austin to see how much it would cost to
send them down there to clear the trees. The man said there was
already one of their units down there, and they are going to contact
me back about helping my inlaws. I wish they had listened and came
here. Then I guess they would have been trying to return too soon to
check out damage.

Buddy, I didn't go by to see you Friday because we had a call from
one of his cousins that is a nurse in Jasper who was detained there
for her services. A doctor was flying her into Austin in his plane
and she was to stay with us, so I bought groceries and returned home
to cook because I thought we were going to have a house full. It
turns out her husband's family met her at the Austin airport and took
her to Bryan, TX. When I finally caught my breath to call Mathilde's
you had slipped off!

Happy Birthday to my cousin "Tidder" who doesn't look a day over
48!!!!!!!I better get back to work before I get in trouble.

-Ouita

RE: Buddy, Amy & Rita

Lessons from Katrina with regarding gasoline:

People here who had relatives in the affected areas. Bought and borrowed gasoline cans, filled them up here and drove them to there relatives who were in a similar situation. Just passing that on.

Gayle, Happy Birthday to you, Our cell phones are still not working in some areas and they are asking us to stay off the phones due to people in greater need to let their families know they are okay. Hope to see all of you soon...I agree with Ouita about your looks. Thanks for all the concern about me and I was more worried about Buddy, due to the extra 30,000 people who are here and the ones that were under mandatory evacuation made a lot harder to evacuate this time. I felt the people in the low lying areas were in greater need to get out of harms way and they were.

Amy

RE: Buddy, Amy & Rita

This is Donnie -- still broadcasting remotely -- still without power.
I have running water (including hot) so the ability to shower is
definitely a plus. I have gas stove but not much desire to eat
anything hot. I bagged up all of the perished perishables from the
refrigerator and wiped it down. Been meaning to do that the last few
years anyway.

Last night the house was barely tolerable for sleeping, so if they
don't reconnect me today, I'll probably sneak into Gayle's garage
tonight.

I got a message from Ouita that didn't appear to be addressed to
anyone else, so here it is:

[clipped and posted by Daniel]

Ross's Landing, Chattanooga

OK, I will be the first to post kid pictures....

This is the kids at Ross's Landing, a new riverfront development in Chattanooga meant to attract visitors, and kids especially. The main feature of this area is the "water stairs" for lack of a better word; they are traditional concrete stairs, but with a cascade of water rushing down them.

This was a Dad's night out thing; Michelle was out of town, so I took them to the newer of the two aquariums downtown, out to eat, and then here. They rode home in their underwear, for obvious reasons. Dad wasn't farsighted enough to bring towels. Heh!

RE: Buddy, Amy & Rita

We’re well here. I just finished wet-vacuuming the part of the carpet that got a little wet under the door-stop towels. I tripped a breaker using the vacuum, can’t find the breaker associated with the socket, now the outside lights won’t come on, then I had to fix the vacuum cleaner after gumming it up (I’ve never vacuumed before - almost). I’m doing more damage than Rita. Just call me Hurricane Buddy.

A tree limb hit the main water line going up into the house and weakened a PCV joint, and water started spewing everywhere. But the water fountain started after we got back and I fixed it pretty quickly, so no problem there. All in all, we were very lucky.

Happy Birthday, Gayle. I hope everyone has fun blowing out the bonfire on the cake. Bill has a birthday on the 28^th. I think he’s about 90.

Well, I need to go. I saw a dove flying in the direction of my hunting lease about 20 miles away. I’d better get out there and get him before someone else does.Take care.

Buddy

RE: Buddy, Amy & Rita

This is Donnie, broadcasting from another location.

I've been without power since 3:30 A.M Saturday. A call to Valley Electric last night resulted in a rather meandering recorded message saying that "major substations" were damaged and that it would probably be Monday before power is restored everywhere.

I suspect Gayle's power may be back now because I got an answering machine when I called instead of nonstop ringing. Of course it could be voicemail... hard to tell the difference these days.

--Donnie

RE: Buddy, Amy & Rita

We are fine up here. We didn’t have cable until recently so I couldn’t check the email. Leah and Jon spent the night here because they had no power. All is well…we had a small tree fall over but other than that, we kept our power the whole time. Gayle and Jeff just arrived here too. They haven’t had power since yesterday morning. We are celebrating Gayle’s 60^th birthday up here today. Hope all is well with everyone!

Natalie

Re: Buddy, Amy & Rita

Buddy arrived home a little after 11am. He is so smart. I just knew he would get turned back by state troopers as the governor of texas announced that no one who evacuated due to Rita should return to homes. Leave it to Hyams stubbornness and the trauma of a 15 hour trip that usually takes 3 1/2 hours to a successul sneak-in under the radar..His electricity is still on. He could see no damage to his house. Darren had put towels at doorways which stopped moisture pushed in by high winds. No flooding in their home.

 

I wa not planning on calling Amy again because I reached her during the worst of the storm. Winds have died down considerably in Lafayette according to CNN.

 

Now we need to look toward natchitoches and shreveport and ruston with predicted many inches of rain and possible tornadoes. Jeff, would you fill us in? Natalie, what is going on your way? Bill, have not heard from you. Ouita's in-laws stayed in beaumont which had significant floodind and wind damage so, Ouita, please let us know how they are fairing.

 

I am signing off for now. Going to Austin City Limits Music festival and won't return until after 10 pm. Donnie, I am going to see buddy guy. Allman brothers were superb last night.Wish you were here to enjoy this.

--Mathilde

Re: Buddy, Amy & Rita

Just talked to Amy. Lafayette was having wind gust up to 50 mph. TV says now gusts are up to 35mph in lafayette. There is flooding at end of Amy's street and no damage to her home that she knows of. Her house does not usually flood.They have new roof courtesy of hurricane Lilly so she is hopeful that roof will remain in tact.She sounds fine.

Buddy left around 7:20 this morning for friendswood taking whatever highway route that works.. While they have not announced that it is okay to return to Houston/Galveston area, he hopes that will happen as he nears friendswood. I am praying that his trip back is a fast one instead of the 15 hour trip to get to Austin that they just endured and that his house has not been damaged. Will keep you posted.

--Mathilde

Re: Buddy, Amy & Rita

Talked to Amy about 30 min ago. She is not going to evacuate. She is still hearing that Vermillion Parish and Cameron will get the brunt of the hurricane. I continue to fear that if hurricane curves more to east, then lafayette will be hit hard. Let's just pray for her family.

Buddy is recoering and darren is still sacked out.

Until the next email.

Buddy, Darren, and Amy: Current Status

Recap....

As of now, Darren and Buddy have been heard from, and should be just about to Mathilde's about now. Amy is staying put for the time being, unless the hurricane swings closer to Lafayette.

[UPDATE] As of 10:10pm, Mathilde reports that Buddy and Darren have arrived!

Buddy, Amy & Rita

With Rita's change of direction, it appears both Buddy and Amy could
be affected.

Has anyone heard anything from Amy?

--Donnie

And now for a tranquility break...

Taken from my pier a while back... (click to enlarge)

Re: Buddy Hyams and Hurricane Rita

A message from Mathilde Flores (Mary Hyams):

I will let everyone know if buddy ends up in austin. I tried to call this morning and his land phone rang and rang. I planned on telling him that if the hurricane, hits as 4 or 5, his younger sister orders him to evacuate. The "5" has me really nervous. I am also concerned about my friend, sylvia. I have not heard from her. She has to stay because she is a nurse and works a UTMB. However, I heard that they are evacuating hospitals so maybe she will be wherever the patients end up. Due to predictions of tornados and high winds here, people are stocking up on gas, water, canned goods, batteries and ice. We are swamped with evacuees from coast and houston area as the city has almost placed 4000 katrina evacuees into housing here. What times we live in.

If the hurricane turns more to east, Amy, will your area be affected?
Plan to call you.

Buddy Hyams and Hurricane Rita

Since Houston is currently in the crosshairs of Hurricane Rita, I
wanted to check on Buddy. I couldn't get through to him in Houston
via phone (cell or landline) yesterday.

Mathilde Flores (Mary Hyams) spoke to him earlier this week and said
Buddy told her he was waiting to see if Rita would turn. If not, he
and Darren would either head to Austin or Louisiana.

I'll send updates when I get them.

--Donnie

Introduction

This is the brand-spanking new Hyams Family weblog, which I hope to use to keep up with the entire Hyams clan. Stay tuned; Hurricane Rita is currently bearing down on the Texas coast, and we are trying to find out the status of our folks in that area.