The hurricane is still a Category 5 with winds exceeding 170mph. It is projected to come in right over Houston at the moment. The refineries and chemical plants are shutting down. They are reversing the southbound lanes of I-45 today so that everything flows north. If the hurricane does come in over Galveston, they are saying that we will have Category 4 hurricane winds up to 140 miles inland. That includes where I live.

I will evacuate us out to Bryan, if it isn't already too late to leave.

But seriously, may Rita lose speed and wind, and get herself back out on the water and well away from you.

While it looks like it will be heading in a northerly direction, it doesn't necessarily HAVE to.

Good luck, Mike!

We're still waiting for Rita. I-45 has cleared up a bit and the rarely welcome sound of traffic fills my ears. The first bands of wispy clouds have arived; with any luck we won't have record-setting temperatures again today.

I'm drugging my children with food and TV. I'll make them play outside all day to exhaust them so they'll sleep tonight.

I-45 is completely shut down at Dallas, 240 miles north of us. There was a bus fire that has completely destroyed a bus filled with evacuees. Most got out. So far the backup is at 17 miles, which is much better than yesterday when backups exceeded 100 miles.

The government must have gotten fuel through overnight. The traffic is moving on the interstate near my house. When it was apparent that the tankers would not do the job, the governer asked the National Guard to fly fuel bladders into strategic locations; military logistics in their best possible use.

The squirrels are hard at work knocking down acorns. They expect to come down tonight to gather and bury them. I took my sons outside to have an acorn war with the squirrels. Gravity was on their side and we used that as an excuse to honorably flee the field of battle.

I took the boys down to the interstate today with water and gasoline to give to people. We gave it away really quickly. We used my cell phone to put about 5 families in touch with their relatives. It was a bit of a mistake, though, as it really scared my older son and now I've had to medicate him and keep him away from his brother. But, it still was worth doing.

There's an old lady in a wheelchair and her family stuck on the side of the road. I told her that if she wasn't out of there by noon that I would come get them.

I remember huddling in my basement watching the news when the F5 Tornado hit Edmonton more than a decade ago (Fortunately it didn't turn and head west to the town where I lived, but it was still a scarey experience). I'm praying for you and your family; hopefully this will pass by as quickly as possible with as little damage.

I told them it was because we were secretly concerned that they were going to buy up all the beer. That cheered them up, and several even added another 6-pack to their loads.

I am pleased with my neighbors and the people who were not pleased with me. Good on them.

Dreamdust for Yankee-boy

I took Llanquihue out for a walk in the lull between storm bands. Blonde dog the size and hairiness of a really bad wig and large blonde man with wild hair and pathetic mustache and goatee, wearing a red plaid bathrobe and sandals. We made a good picture, and I was expecting the press to show up.

Llanquihue (Yankee for short, and he's very short so we mostly just call him Yankee) looked up at me pleadingly from near ground level. "Go ahead, Yank." I told him. "It's your destiny."

He tried; he really tried. But he's a small dog with a bladder the size of a peanut and there were a LOT of branches on the ground. He got a yard, maybe even a meter or so before giving up.

On the way home I took pity on Yankee and covered his eyes as I carried him. He was whining. It was painful to see a little dog's greatest dream turn to ashes in his mouth.

I didn't tell him that more rain was coming and that his effort would be washed away. He is just one more victim in a sea of downed branches.

The press never made their way to us. I can sense their frustration from here. The next wave of wind is coming through. It is time to hunker down again.

Yankee is quiet now.

http://www.munsil.net/images/yankee.jpg

I'm glad you weathered the storm and I hope the clean-up goes quickly.

My sister lived in Ft. Lauderdale during Hurricane Andrew, and while she was on the outer edges of it, she saw what it did to Dade County. Man, move north. Those of us who live here in the Pacific Northwest only have to worry about volcanos. And THEY stay put in one place. You can avoid 'em! Of course, the Oregon coast gets gusts of 100 mph winds from time to time. It's why the trees on the coast grow horizontally.

Here I stay away from Hatrack a couple of days, and look what happens! Flip! Sometimes I feel that if I Hatracked every day nothing would ever go wrong.

I'm very happy to know that you and your family (and your little dog, too) are OK. And that you acted as courageously and nobly as I might have expected.

Yankee is adorable!!!

As for moving - Hawaii is pretty safe too. Our volcano moves, but VERY SLOWLY ;-) We only had two hurricanes there my entire life (almost 40 years) - on the leeward side of Oahu, our house lost power for 3 hours and that was it. Course the housing there is kinda pricey.