What can I say, "yIKEs!"

So, we passed up trying to hold back IKE at Surfside beach, and it's a good thing, because Surfside beach may not be there anymore. According to news reports one lonely moron decided to wait out the storm in his beachfront home, and miraculously survived, but for those who may think this was a good idea consider what happened to those that tried it in Galveston, where those that stayed behind were not so lucky. Here are some pictures of what happened to this guy's neighbors in Surfside:

Damage typical of beachfront property in Surfside

A late evacuee decides to use a kayak to get out of Surfside ahead of the storm.

Staying with Tad and Jessica was as fun as it could have been under the circumstances, and we really appreciate them taking us in, but we packed our bags and returned home this morning to see how we fared. I feel we are both very blessed and very lucky. In our area power outages, minor flooding, and roof damage were the main damages caused by Ike. We have no power, but avoided other damages completely, except a destroyed back fence. Not bad for being in the bullseye of a 600 mile wide hurricane. Our neighbor has a generator and has very generously lent us a line so that we can keep the fridge running and have a little light, we are also mooching internet from him, so Tony has been a complete life saver. In the next few days I should be out and about helping to repair property and assess damage with the ward. we will do our best to keep y'all posted, and will share any information we get, especially on Lake Jackson, as there seems to be very little information going in or out of the city.