Surviving Ike

2 trees near the kitchen windows fell over the fence early on clearing the way for the pine tree to fall on the roof over the kitchen and entrance hallway.
The one branch of the pine tree that punctured through the roof.
Waldo posing near the new hill of sod created by the 2 trees falling.
Centurion Tree Service's crane lifting the pine tree off the house with ease.

I'm on Day 6 of no power brought on with the passing of Hurricane Ike over The Woodlands here in Texas. No power 2 weeks ago with heat and humidity would have been almost unbearable. However, we were blessed with an awesome cool front the day after Ike that cooled us off greatly. I've heard that my zip code should have power restored sometime tomorrow. I'm charging up stuff here at work before heading back to the primitive zone for the evening.

I lost power between 1:30 and 2:00 am Saturday morning before Ike even made landfall on the Texas coast. After waking up Saturday morning, I noticed that my 2 trees near my kitchen window had blown onto my fence from a north to south direction. I looked out the window a few minutes later and there was a pine tree that had fallen on my roof where those 2 trees originally stood. Shortly after that, I heard a dripping noise so I went up in the attic to explore. After discovering one branch that had punctured the roof, I put a bucket to try and capture water leaking. While in my garage looking for a nail to secure the bucket to a rafter in the attic, I came across a turtle sandbox that I bought for Waldo to use as a pool this summer. I abandoned the nail in the rafter idea for the turtle covering more ground and got my neighbor's assistance in getting the turtle secured across 2x4's up in the attic. I then placed a bucket in the turtle and made frequent trips to the attic to bail water from the turtle using the bucket. Thanks to the turtle, the inside of my house had little water damage.

This would've been a great week to take a break from the running but this is my last high mileage week before Chicago. So I've been logging the miles that according to my schedule and should get in my 20-21 miler this Saturday before starting my taper. My cold is starting to get better as well.