Hi Everyone!  Thanks for all of your thoughts and humor!  It is greatly
appreciated.  So here is the latest.

IKE will be coming in between Freeport and Houston.  These two cities are
only 50 miles apart.  So, in essence, Houston is going to get hit hard for
being on the dirty end of it.

The surge in Galveston Bay will push floodwaters into Houston, damaging areas
that include the nation’s biggest refineries and NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The Ship Channel will also get a huge part of the surge.  So I am sure that
those big ships will be anchored pretty well.  With the surge being predicted
at 20 feet, nothing is safe.  In fact, the beachhouse I like to go to during
the summer is built on 14 foot stilts is already flooded with the surge.  This is
happening 24 hours before the storm hits and 400 miles away.  This is amazing.

Texas is home to 26 refineries that account for one-fourth of U.S. refining
capacity, and most are clustered along the Gulf Coast in such places as Houston,
Port Arthur, Freeport and Corpus Christi. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s plant in Baytown,
outside Houston, is the nation’s largest refinery. Dow Chemical has a huge
operation in Freeport.  DuPont, Shell, Monsanto, Chevron, Valero also have
huge plants along the Houston Ship Channel.  Not to mention that Bay City,
not too far from Freeport, has a nuclear power plant.  But I guess you really
have to look at the good side of things.  At least we will be able to see each
other glowing in the dark when the lights go out!

Being as such this is my ol stomping grounds, I know that I am glad to be up
here even though I will be hit but nothing like Houston and its surrounding
counties.  Dallas and Shreveport, of which I am in the middle of, are expected
to get slapped around as well.  I will be riding this RV like a bronco.  Yee Ha!

Everyone is either going to Austin, San Antonio, or Bryan/College Station along
with up here.  Nursing homes, hospitals and shelters are filling up as you
read this.  In 24 hours or less, I will be feeling the beginning effects of Ike
and will post another update then.  Well, as soon as I get the generator going!

In other news …  here is the result of the little thunderstorm I wrote about
yesterday….

Roof sucked off by a tornado