On the links

Kees plays the 8th hole... with just one club... and it has Snoopy written on it... and dang if he didn't play it better than I could!

More Ike damage here: 50-80 feet of beach lost!

Wow... the hurricane's powerful storm surge sheared the fronts off dunes, leaving them as vertical as cliffs. Portions of the islands lost between 30 feet and 50 feet to erosion caused by storm surge and some lost as much as 80 feet, according to recent estimates by local scientists.

Green tree frog!

I walked out the front door and found a green tree frog on the porch which the kids caught and fed crickets. After thinking about it Kees felt bad for Senor Frog and decided to let it go. I've never seen one that close and it's a pretty exotic-looking animal.

First game!

Kiersten's first volleyball game, and within a couple of minutes she had a perfect bump for a teammate which resulted in a score! Apparently tiny girls can play volleyball ;-)

Button!

Here's our little Siberian Dwarf Hamster, Button (as in "cute as a button!"). She's only about three inches long and weighs only 1oz. (32g)!

They supposedly run up to 5 miles a day and I wouldn't be surprised if that's true because from what we've seen (and heard) it appears that she runs on her wheel all night long!

And best of all: she doesn't stink or bite, like lots of rodent's do!

XC #2

Well... things went much better this time... Kiersten took 2 1/2 minutes off of her last race and moved up 7 places, almost in the top 10. As always... she was the fastest at her school and got a cool medal which her teammates all admired. She needs to take off another minute... lets see how it goes!

Dance time!

It's invitational dance time again... where little kids dress up like big kids and learn how to waltz and tango and stuff ;-)

Gotta admit, though... they do look cute!

After Ike

Thank goodness the storm was guided north by a cold front that moved down the state and we were spared the brunt of the storm... unfortunately Houston and Galveston were not so lucky.

Contraflow routes opened on I-37 for evacuation

For the first time the I-37 contraflow evacuation routes will be opened... southbound lanes will be reversed to carry two lanes of northbound traffic in addition to the three northbound lanes.

The troops arrive in Corpus Christi for hurricane Ike!

C-130's are flying in almost every 90 minutes to bring troops and to evacuate people with medical needs and disabilities. The National Guard is rolling in as well with troops to aid where necessary with medical triage or evacuation.

It's getting serious.

Ike strengthening and getting bigger...

Landfall now slightly north of us... still in hurricane-force winds though... go north, go north, go north...

Schools closed...

The school district has announced that the schools are closed the rest of the week. No evacuation ordered by the city yet but hotels in San Antonio, two hours inland, are almost full Friday and Saturday night. The Naval base is evacuating thousands via ships and planes.

For anyone interested the best updates are here:

http://www.caller.com/

Hurricane Ike: the preparations begin!

With most computer models predicting Ike to become a category 3 or 4 hurricane and striking within a few miles of here, water, canned foods, generators and plywood are flying off the shelves. The navy base is evacuating and the schools are planning closures. Having been through five hurricanes myself I'm waiting until it's closer until deciding whether to stay or evacuate.

Stay tuned!

Cone of uncertainty narrows

Much worse!