rita

So yes, my family (and our numerous pets: 4 dogs and 1 cat) left Deer Park yesterday morning at 4:30AM and ended up getting to College Station, which is where my sister lives, around 12:30ish. Because we don't have flood insurance at the bridal store, my mom rented a UHaul and my family took all of the weddings gowns and dresses with them. Everything is absolutely crazy, but at least they are all safe now. Luckily the storm has gone down and won't be nearly as terrible as it seemed yesterday. Mainly we've all been worried because when Tropical Storm Allison hit the water got as high as our front door. I remember my dad's old Crown Victoria was parked on the street and the water went all the way up to the top of the windows. Hopefully it things won't get too terribly bad.

My sister's fiance works at a chemical plant in Freeport. They were scheduled to report to work 12 hours before the hurricane hit to shut down the entire plant and then leave 10 hours before it hit to Brenham. That means they were supposed to leave at about 5 this morning, but now because of the downgrade of the storm they have made plans to keep the plant running and to stay there.

So my sister's fiance's parents also went to College Station because his dad was transfered to a nursing home there. Betty, the mom, owns a bunch of birds and took them with her. This afternoon they were cooking tortillas and Princess (a parot my sister gave her future mother in law as a gift to keep her company because her husband had go to into a nursing home) began to cry out for her mom. Ends up the pans they were using had teflon in them, which are poisonous to birds, and killed about 6 birds - including Princess. It was pretty sad. They had a burial earlier today.

Fancy, our 14 year old chihuahua, has lost almost all of her eyesight. My sister said she can't walk around too much because she bumps into things and cries when she's confused. They keep her in their laps to keep her comfortable and she can sense when one of my siblings isn't holding her. She is really good and hearing voices and can walk towards someone calling her name. If someone is holding her and she hears my brother or sisters' voices she'll start crying because she knows they aren't carrying her. Poor thing.

On the bright side the hurricane has gone down. Yay.

I hope all of you who either were in the dangerous area or have family in that area are now safe and sound.