I don't like Ike...

[shoottx]

Based on the latest track you may be driving right into Harms way

[dbhost]

Well, we are huddled up in Grimes County, watching the news reports... My location may be changing here VERY soon. I don't know if I am going to have a house, or a job to go back to. The Clear Lake area is getting slammed, Kemah is swamped, and League City isn't looking much better. I am looking at dealing with hurricane force winds 200 miles inland though...

There is a GIANT oh shoot factor going on here now...

[Uncle Cracker]

I don't know if I am going to have a house, or a job to go back to.

We'll pray for the best outcome.

Resist the temptation to go back in and see the outcome until the authorities give the go-ahead. They will need all the space they can to aid those who did not leave, and to get the necessities back on line. You do not want to deal with flooded areas, no power, no water or sanitation, no gas, no ice. It will likely be like a third-world country in there for a while.

[jabe]

Praying for all you Texans. Hope all goes well for you & family. Heed uncle Craker's advice.

[Pappy]

21 out of Aggieville will get you to San Marcos. Forecast now is 30-40% rain winds around 30 mph.

[cgallery]

I hope and pray that the destruction when this is all over will be nominal. But watching coverage on TV and reading the newspapers, it seems like a very destructive storm.

[dbhost]

My neighborhood is okay, with mostly damaged fences, some minor siding and shingle blow offs, lots of broken trees, and the electrical grid pretty much hosed.

On the main street through town there is a strip mall with a bunch of mom & pop shops, including a neon shop run by a very nice couple that has had it's flat roof peeled off like a SPAM can.... , and the contents blown into the next lot...

I described the scene to my brother driving through yesterday as like the pictures of London in WW2 after a Nazi bombing raid. Most everything is recognizable, but seriously damaged.

I am very grateful for the little amount of damage my family and my neighbors suffered, but those in Kemah, Clear Lake Shores, Bacliff, San Leon, and other towns directly on the bay didn't fare so well...

Power is out to most of the area, and again, I count myself lucky to be one of the first areas to have power back, with no spoilage in either my fridge, or my deep freeze. If I had lost the contents of my deep freeze, that would have been well above my deductible on my insurance....

I have been through Allison, Rita, and now Ike. I am getting awfully tired of living on the gulf coast now. I want to take my family and move up to the San Antonio area. Or maybe even leave Texas in favor of Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho... I can't do California. Too expensive to live there...

[Uncle Cracker]

I have been through Allison, Rita, and now Ike. I am getting awfully tired of living on the gulf coast now. I want to take my family and move up to the San Antonio area. Or maybe even leave Texas in favor of Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho... I can't do California. Too expensive to live there...

So glad to hear that you were so fortunate. So many others were not. With my whole life spent in FL, I do know that it can get exasperating dealing with weather, but this is still an area that affords much more opportunity than I could find in a lot of places.

Just want to encourage you not to uproot and go elsewhere in the midst of an emotional crisis. Wait a while for things to settle, and then make the decision that is best for you, rationally and objectively. Hopefully you can use the meantime to figure a way to make lemonade out of that whole mess up there.

[dbhost]

Actually, wanting to move isn't about the hurricanes. I am an Oregonian that has been misplaced in the Houston Metro area for far too long. The job market here has been simply too good to leave... My extended family is still in the northwest... My in laws aren't the closest knit bunch, and we rarely see all but one of each a brother in law, and a sister in law, those we see regularly...

I miss the climate in the NW for sure, as well as access to public land, However, there are many advantages to living in Texas.

#1. Don't need to get on some stupid lottery waiting list to get a buck tag. My hunting license comes with more tags than I can possibly use. Both buck and doe.

#2. Fishing. That same Gulf of Mexico that brings hurricnaes, brings redfish, speckled trout, seabass, black drum, flounder etc... That is gonna be hard to leave...

#3. Barbecue. I got addicted to Texas BBQ when I was a kid, and my neighbors (transplanted Texans) had an offset smoker, and would get Mesquite and Pecan firewood shipped in with trucker friends... Brisket is for far more than Corned beef for sure!

#4. Woodworking. Not sure if anyone else has noticed, but there are a LOT of Texans here, and on other WW sites... There is a very strong tradition in Texas for woodworkers. Being an English language forum, we miss a lot that the Mexicans have to offer in the area of design and technique. Which is unfortunate. A lot of American Rustic furniture is simply a deviation from Mexican designs.

#5. Tex / Mex, or REAL honest to God Mexican food. Not the garbage that folks in any state that doesn't border Mexico have to suffer through. I mean real honest to goodness Caldo de Pollo con Arroz when you have a cold would make any Jewish Mother smile...

#6. Tech. I get to work with some of the most exciting stuff anyone has ever seen. And I am just a sysadmin.... The opportunities here are amazing...

#7. Friends. I have been here a long time, and I am split between the friends I have kept from my youth up north, and the friends I have here. In both cases, I have friends that are far more than just the guys at the office kind of thing. These folks are more like extensions of my family...

So any move away from the Metro area would be with a GREAT deal of thought, and agreement with my family. However, a move out of this particular house (which I bought with my ex wife) and a move inland out of the bay area, and say up more toward the Woodlands, Magnolia, or even Huntsville is not out of the question, and has always been the plan...

San Antonio would be great, but again, If possible, I want to stay in the Houston Metro area for friends and keeping close to In Laws..

[Uncle Cracker]

Perhaps Austin? Far enough inland, excellent economy, music and entertainment abounds, and enough TX BBQ to satisfy even the hungriest appetite (like mine... ).