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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 4:50pm
Post #1 of 39
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I just visited my house last night...
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No, I don't have pictures or anything, I just wanted to tell yall what it looked like (Ike doodled though on Friday night). I also wanted to say that I'm really thankful that our house for the most part is ok, so I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or anything like that. It was all just kind of a little shocking.
See, the neighborhood that I've almost always lived in was really beautiful because of the trees- there were lots of them, really really tall and thin, that kept the entire place in shade, and the neighborhood would glow kind of green on really sunny days because of the sunlight going through the leaves. Now, it's nearly impossible to drive through, because most of the trees are blocking the streets, and there are no leaves to block the sunlight anymore. A house down the street was chopped in half by two large trees that had fallen through the middle, and another house got a tree through the roof. There are trees strewn all over the streets, yards, and the water in our pool has overflowed to cover the entire backyard, including all of the fallen trees in it. It's weird, because I used to climb a lot of those trees when I was little! There is also some water in our kitchen and a broken window, but it's not too bad, compared to some of the other houses; we were relieved about that.
The scariest was seeing a house practically explode- the power's kind of going on and off, and a transformer was acting up, and the house seriously caught fire, and there was a small explosion (I practically had a heart attack). Lucklily, nobody was in the house.
Oh- I also live really close to our school, and I was semi-amused to see a huge tree blocking the entire entrance. One of my friends texted me to say, "at least Ike did one thing right." Still, I was disappointed to hear that we were not going to have school until Wednesday, at least- I actually have all of my homework done, lol!
I've heard from most of my friends and close contacts, but not from a few of them, and while I know that they're all probably fine, I'm still a little nervous and an eeny bit worried, and probably will be until I get a call or text message or email (or a PM, in one case) from them.
Anyway, I'm currently spending my time on here, and reading any news article that I can get about Houston/Ike, and I just wanted to share with yall what's been going on. Again, I realize that it could have been a lot worse, but it's still a little weird and sad.
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"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
(This post was edited by Draupne on Sep 14 2008, 8:20pm)
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Jazmine
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 4:54pm
Post #2 of 39
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I'm glad for the most part your house is ok
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Though it must be upsetting to see your neighbourhood changed in such a way.
My thoughts are with you and all the people who are left to clear up after Ike's rampage x
*Jazminatar the Brown*
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Peredhil lover
Valinor
Sep 14 2008, 5:36pm
Post #3 of 39
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for all the trees that were felled by the hurricane, but I am glad to know your house got off rather well *hugs* It would have been terrible when the storm would have thrown the trees on your house. From what I've seen in the news, it must have been pretty bad, and all the people who are suffering from Ike are in my thoughts.
We don't get this sort of hurricane over here in Germany, but the storms have increased, and in the garden of my uncle a tree was thrown down last year. That is why he then felled some trees in his garden - all of them were higher than the house and placed at the side of the house where most storms are coming from. He was very worried they would not weather the next storm and then damage the house. It's a pity, but probably sensible for safety's sake.
I do not suffer from LotR obsession - I enjoy every minute of it.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Sep 14 2008, 6:25pm
Post #4 of 39
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Yes, the shock of the destruction will leave you mentally reeling - for a while! I am so glad your house - and everything in it - remained intact.
I hope you hear from the rest of your friends before too long...
As you go around helping with the cleanup, here's a good opportunity to start thinking about what should be done to replace the trees, or if there's any other areas where the mess is giving you a chance to "start over" with something new - you could all be Sams!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 7:15pm
Post #5 of 39
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As you go around helping with the cleanup, here's a good opportunity to start thinking about what should be done to replace the trees, or if there's any other areas where the mess is giving you a chance to "start over" with something new - you could all be Sams!
I won't be permanently back home until later this week, but that's a good idea! My little garden in the back (yes, I keep a garden) is gone, of course, so along with remaking that, I can also think about replanting some of the trees! A couple of my neighbors would probably like help remaking their own yards, as well, and since I helped them make it the first time, they would maybe like it if I helped them the second time, too- that can be my project for next weekend or something. That sounds really fun, actually! (I love planting things)
Thanks, dernwyn, that really is a great idea! 
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 7:19pm
Post #6 of 39
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That is why he then felled some trees in his garden - all of them were higher than the house and placed at the side of the house where most storms are coming from.
There are two trees in our backyard that I have not gotten a chance to look at yet- they were twin pines right next to each other, and easily twice the height of our house. I didn't get to see how our house looks in that area, but I just kind of assumed that those two probably fell- hopefully, in the opposite direction (we're too far away from any neighbors to have any of our trees hit their houses).
Thanks, PL!
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
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a.s.
Valinor
Sep 14 2008, 7:23pm
Post #7 of 39
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I'm really glad to hear your house was spared the worst of Ike, although I'm also really sorry to hear about the trees. I remember the shock of seeing treeless streets where once shade covered all, after Isabel blew through my part of Virginia. It was hard to even find a clear path out of my long-established neighborhood, so many trees and limbs were in the road! Thank goodness for neighbors with chain saws...
a.s.
"an seileachan"
Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
Call Her Emily
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Rosie-with-the-ribbons
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 14 2008, 7:38pm
Post #8 of 39
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I can imagine the shock, seeing the destruction.
Good luck with getting everything back in the right order, luckily trees can be replanted, although it will be a few years before they give such a nice shade.
I hope all your friends turn up ok.
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Peredhil lover
Valinor
Sep 14 2008, 7:56pm
Post #9 of 39
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that the pines, if they fell, at least fell away from the house!
I do not suffer from LotR obsession - I enjoy every minute of it.
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Ainu Laire
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 9:03pm
Post #10 of 39
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I saw some pictures of Ike's destruction and it looked absolutely terrible- it's good to hear that your own home survived. I'm glad that your family is well, too.
Keep us posted on news of your friends and such.
My LJ
My art site
NARF since age 8, when I refused to read the Hobbit because the cover looked boring and icky.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Sep 14 2008, 9:41pm
Post #11 of 39
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I'm so glad you're all right, and your house mostly is too. I've been thinking about you a lot the past few days, as well as the other TORnsibs in your area.
I'm so sorry about trees. That does sound shocking. Of course trees can be replaced, but it will be years before the saplings grow up. And it must be very hard when so many of the fallen trees were your friends.
You don't sound at all like you're complaining. But no one here would blame you at all if you felt sad over the loss of trees. Tolkien himself mourns the loss of a neighbor's tree very poignantly in the intro to his Essay on Fairy Stories.
Again, I'm so glad you came through the great storm uninjured!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 10:29pm
Post #12 of 39
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I wasn't sure if I should post this here, or just wait for the next Friday Fiesta, but then I decided to post now...and LOL about neighbors with chain saws!
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2008, 10:32pm
Post #13 of 39
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I've been thinking about you a lot the past few days, as well as the other TORnsibs in your area.
That's the PM I'm waiting for. I know it's silly, because pretty much all the power's out, but it's still ok to get a little worried, right? I know she'll update me when she can- it's just nervewracking to wait.
Thanks, {{ADB}}
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Sep 14 2008, 11:57pm
Post #14 of 39
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and the devastation was horrible. They called it right when they warned that this was going to be bad. I'm so glad your home survived and that you're alright. My thoughts and prayers have been with you all.... *shudder*
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
I really need these new films to take me back to, and not re-introduce me to, that magical world.
TORn's Observations Lists
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orcbane
Gondor
Sep 15 2008, 12:08am
Post #15 of 39
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When I was a kid all the trees in my neighborhood were leveled in a freak storm, and some houses and cars mushed. Mostly tall oaks. We ended up hiding under the beds, me, my sister and mom. But it was so fast. We came outside and Wow....
Hope you find all your friends soon. I have been in many storms since, and most recently 4 floods. Homes washed away, evac's. But you know what. Worrying did absolutely no good. I gave up. Sometimes are just out of your control. Nature is wild but it is not evil. The trick I think is to go with it, change with it. But the coolest thing is to walk out into the face of the storm and shout 'Is that the best you can do!" 
The upside of Global warming - http://au.youtube.com/...&feature=related
An Ent juggling spikey things ?
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weaver
Half-elven
Sep 15 2008, 2:50am
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Even if your house if fine, it's still hard to process something like that...
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I think it's hard when you are up against anything like that which you have absolutely no control over -- even if your home and your family are all ok afterwards, just being that close to something like that is hard. I know that's how we felt went through a fire, which I posted about on here -- on one hand we were glad that no one was hurt, but on the other hand, the loss was really hard to absorb. So give yourself time to come to terms with it.
I've also been in communities hit hard by weather events that took out a lot of large trees like that. It was really hard to see that kind of "carnage", which is what it felt like. After things were cleaned up though, there was a lot of comfort in seeing that not everything was destroyed, and the change of the landscape helped me to appreciate other aspects of the nature around me that I had not noticed before, because the tall trees were so dominating. So I hope enough survived that you can experience some of that "healing" as well.
Glad you are ok and thanks for letting us know about how you are doing and dealing with all of this! Please post more on this if you want in the weeks ahead, as there's lots of interest and support to go around here at times like this...take care of you and your family!
Weaver
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Eledhwen
Forum Admin
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Sep 15 2008, 6:47am
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The post-Ike pictures are pretty horrific.
Figwit Still Lives!
Calling for a Figwit cameo in The Hobbit since May 2008
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Starling
Half-elven
Sep 15 2008, 8:05am
Post #18 of 39
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As others have said, it is a horrible shock to see your special place so changed, and it will take a little bit of time to come to terms with it.
Lots of hugs to you ((((((((())))))))))
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deej
Tol Eressea
Sep 15 2008, 12:03pm
Post #19 of 39
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I'm sorry to hear about your house, but know from experience that houses can be fixed and you can always get more stuff. My best to you.
"...and back again."
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Menelwyn
Rohan
Sep 15 2008, 2:07pm
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Reporting in from the ruins of Isengard
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Actually, not quite. I have now left Houston, and am at my sister's home in Ft. Worth.
My house and my father's house are ok. No damage at all to the buildings themselves. One tree did fall in my dad's yard, but didn't hit the house. There were trees that hit houses in his neighborhood.
Of course there's no power at either house (thus the departure to Ft. Worth). Outside my neighborhood, on the big street that leads into our neighborhood the poles supporting the power lines are literally snapped in half, and the wires are hanging over the main entrance to my neighborhood, low enough that they have had to block off that entrance. There's a back way in that's usually closed off, but they've opened it so that people can get in and out.
The power and supplies issues are pretty serious right now. The large majority of the area still has no power. What's more, people really don't have enough supplies. A lot of people bought enough supplies for a couple of days, but not for any real length of time. And you can't get anything new. Very few places are open. There are a few grocery stores that are open (they've been set up as emergency locations) but the lines to get in are literally miles long and any supplies they have can disappear in minutes. Same thing goes for gas. When we left Houston yesterday, we could not buy gas until we were halfway to Dallas, (say 100 miles from our starting point) and even then waited in line for 10-15 minutes. And the wait was only that short because we picked the dinkiest small town we could find to stop in. Even if my dad and I go back (which we will only do if school opens) we're stocking up on supplies while we're here.
Laera's got it right. It could have been worse, but it's still weird and sad.
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 15 2008, 2:14pm
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I'm so happy you're back; it's really good to hear from you! :)
After reading the papers (it was on the front page yesterday that there were some grocery stores that were selling groceries), I was getting really worried that you were still in Houston, but I was happy to read that you left (and good call on taking LOTR, btw).
Thanks for the update, also. My family's still not sure whether or not to go back, but we're probably going to do the same thing and wait until we hear for sure when school's open.
{{{{Menelwyn}}}}
Yay! Ok, I'm off to reply to your message now.... I'm glad you're ok!
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
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Alassėa Eruvande
Valinor
Sep 15 2008, 2:19pm
Post #22 of 39
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I live just north of the Austin area and all we got was a lot of hot wind, same as with Hurricane Rita a few years ago. We were just west enought of Ike to miss any rain, which we need. The wind was over with by Saturday afternoon.
Ike could have done a lot more damage, being about 600 miles wide. It was a good thing it never quite made it to category 3. Still, the news reports significant damage to some of the Gulf oil platforms.
And glad our Houston sibs are okay!
And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame.
SFTH Archive
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ElanorTX
Tol Eressea
Sep 15 2008, 2:53pm
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I'm still working w/Red Cross for evacuees
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as a mental health resource (psychological first aid). Please keep them and the volunteers in your thoughts and prayers.
ElanorTX
"I shall not wholly fail if anything can still grow fair in days to come."
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Laerasėa
Tol Eressea
Sep 15 2008, 3:01pm
Post #25 of 39
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I'm glad that Central TX is alright. It's kind of ironic that yall need rain...and we've got too much of it. I wish there was a way that we could kind of spread the whole hurricane over TX, and it would kind of thin out, and give a light breezy rain to everyone. That'd be nice!
Yes, I did hear about the oil platforms. I've got lots of copies of the Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston newspapers in my room, so I can try to stay updated. My friend's in North Carolina for a funeral, but she said that she was going through a bit of SC at one point, and the gas lines were really long at a few stations (from fear of prices shooting up).
Thanks for checking in, AE!
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
(This post was edited by laerasea on Sep 15 2008, 3:02pm)
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