Friday Evening Update

11:38 p.m. -- Well, I hadn't made it to bed yet when the power appeared to be going out. It was off for 30 seconds and came back on. I'm assuming it will go off for good at some point. Just read the following in an online story of the Houston Chronicle:

Police rescued four people huddled under an overhang outside the locked downtown civic center in Lake Charles. "There's probably going to be 4 feet of water where they are now," Hines said. "So they need to get out of there."

Thought to myself that I was there last December as the Civic Center is where the start and finish of the Swamp Stomp Half Marathon was.

11:20 p.m. -- Gena and Waverly went to sleep in the living room about 40 minutes ago. It is time that I gave in and went to bed here in the master bedroom. If things get bad, I guess I'll hear it first since the room is in the northeast corner.

I have the alarm clock here set for 6:30 a.m. though. Why? Well, depending on the weather and the situation outside, I may be going to The Woodlands in the morning ..... :)

Have a great evening, stay safe and pray for the folks in Cameron, Louisiana and Sabine River area.

8:00 p.m. -- First significant gust of wind while I was outside.

7:20 p.m. -- First sign of rain in Spring, Texas.

4:25 p.m. -- Channel 11 here in Houston had Matt Musil out along the North Freeway showing a gas truck with 10,000 gallons filling up a Texaco station just north of Tidwell (and south of Little York). As soon as the tanker truck started to fill the tanks, people in line said that the operator changed the price from $2.70-something to $2.99. Do you consider this price gouging? Or do you think that the operator might have had to pay more from the wholesaler to receive the gas? And if so, do you think that the operator should have taken the loss for the goodwill of the people? Just something to think about. (The latter side, of course, wasn't presented in Channel 11's coverage.)

3:40 p.m. -- The winds here in Spring are starting to pick up a little bit.

Have been watching the news conference with Mayor Bill White and other officials. White and County Judge Bob Eckels have been doing a yoeman's job. If I lived in the city of Houston, I'd vote for White if he was up for re-election. (What I don't understand is that, at this moment - late in the game, we had to see Tom DeLay and Sheila Jackson Lee swoop in from Washington and get face time on TV. Ugh! I can just see the footage being used in their next re-election campaign about "being there when their constituents needed them the most.")

I like the sensible, but "have to draw a line somewhere" standpoint of the Sheriff's Department of Harris County. They said, "We'll make one more sweep of all of the freeways and the Toll Road System for people that are stranded at 4 p.m. We encourage you to get on the buses so we can get you to a shelter."

It has also been stated that "don't come to Houston from outlying areas to seek shelter" (i.e. it's too late for that and we can't handle it at this point), plus that "hospitals are not shelters."

1:30 p.m. -- It's been good to hear from everyone. Thanks for dropping in and saying "Hi!" I'll stay connected to the Internet as long as I have power and a phone line. :)

Not much new to report other than the fact that we've had a good hearty bite to eat (fish and macaroni and cheese - needed to use some frozen goods and milk so it won't spoil). However, I'll have work to do to take the pound or two off after it is over.

My wife and daughter have already gotten a shower. I'm not too far from it myself right now. We've got as many things off the floor as possible in case of flooding. We realized that we've got a major clutter issue to try to resolve as we put things back into place once things are finalized here this weekend.

I went outside to take a picture or two and the winds are picking up a little bit, but nothing like we'll see later on.

PLEASE be safe wherever you are at!