WE SURVIVED IKE

Well, the power is on and we only lost a few shingles on our house, a few trees down in the pasture but all is good on the ranch. We've been busy cleaning up debris and trying to get back into life. The storm put a halt on the restoration of my house but they think they can finish it and get Zoey and I in it by the start of next week. We are very excited to get somewhere "solid" and get on with our lives.

We hit the rodeo circuit pretty hard this weekend. We had back-to-back rodeos and began with our youth rodeo in Smithville Friday night and then had to be in Wharton Saturday. Zoey rode hard and was a real trooper despite we were all pretty tired by Saturday. She's still sitting in first place for a saddle in the series we went to Saturday with only two more rodeos to go. I'll keep you posted.

Nothing much else to report besides having to answer a million questions from Zoey about why her dad isn't with us and how she wishes she could see him every day. This is probably the hardest part of a divorce and me being the primary parent and having to explain everything on her level. I think this is probably normal for kids going through this, but I explained to her she needs to express her feelings to her dad and he needs to know how she feels and maybe we can arrange for her to spend more time with him in the upcoming months. It's really heartbreaking.

Evacuation Madness

We left out Weds night @ 2 in the morning and decided to begin our journey to East Texas to evacuate Hurricane Ike. About a fourth of the way there, members of our "caravan" and myself pulled over for a break and decided we were just too tired to continue and since we were only 20 minutes away from College Station and we knew they had stalls for our horses, we decided to go there instead. I knew A&M had their act together but I was overly impressed with their facility set up for our Equine friends. We arrived @ 4 in the morning and were greeted by a whole staff of Texas A&M veterinarians and technicians. As we checked each animal in, the techs checked every horse's temperature and heartrate and did a brief exam of each animal to make sure they were not stressed. Each horse then received a painted hip identification number and were assigned a stall inside their coliseum. Their hospitality couldn't have been better. The vets, themselves, and the technicians also helped bring in all of our supplies and helped us get set up. Go Texas A&M!! I now have two nephews, a niece and my daughter who vow to be Aggies!! If you ever need to evacuate your animals, that is definitely the place to go to. They actually had people walk by each stall every 30 minutes or so and check on the horses and replenish their water.

We then realized the storm was heading straight for College Station and they expected to be out of electricity for a few days and were expecting winds up to 80mph. We then made the decision we might want to re-locate since we were not sure our RVs would sustain those type winds and decided to head over to Sequin to their equine facility. Our TAMU friends helped us load up our herd and we parted ways. I can honestly say these people probably saw me at my worst as I made my way to feed each morning with no makeup and in my pj's.

As I was loading the last horse into my trailer, I had a chance encounter with one hottie cowboy. We exchanged brief hellos and where we were from and as he tipped his hat to me, I drove off to my next destination. I had to hurriedly text the other members of my crew and jokingly told them I'll have one of him to go and that I decided to stay behind and ride out the storm with my new found friend.

We made our trek to Sequin and I realized everywhere we stopped, people would stop and talk about where they were from and about the storm. I must say I met quite a few strangers that I otherwise would not have met. Ike seemed to bring strangers together. In Seguin, we didn't even so much encounter a drop of rain. The kids filled up huge tubs of water and splashed around and played "show" dog with our dogs. The seemed to enjoy our "camping" trip. We'll be headed back tomorrow hoping we have electricity by then. God Bless all the people who were less fortunate and lost their lives to this viscious storm.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

As with probably many of you, Ike has totally put a kink in daily life. Being all proud of myself that I actually had a "plan," I soon realized this storm has such a broad span and possibly affecting so many people, it seems nowhere is safe. The original plan was for me and my immediate family and close friends to evacuate to Gonzales, Texas, to the coliseum since they have over 200 stalls and RV hookups. I called to confirm my reservation and was informed that they are going to meet tomorrow and may have mandatory evacuation there since the adjoining county of Cuero had already evacuated. Scratch that plan. Then we were headed to Bellville to a stable there. Now they say Ike may come in at Matagorda and curve upwards and drench Bellville. Scratch that plan. Then we decided to go to Texas A&M since they have stalls available and are setting up panels in the coliseum, but since we have these campers and horse trailers with living quarters that we'll be staying in, we have to be away from any high wind. Scratch that plan. Then we decided maybe to a friend's ranch in San Saba up by Austin but the threat of torrential flooding up there could have us stranded there for days. OMG is there anywhere to get away from this beast? Everyone says they'll know for sure by Thursday where this monster is headed, but by then, traveling with five rigs and 15 horses, you pretty much have to be where you're going by tomorrow. Final plan as of 10:00 tonight: East Texas. If Ike takes an even sharper turn and follows us up there, that's it, I'm staying put next time. All of this "storm running" has worn me out and I haven't even left my place yet. Hope everyone finds a safe place and please, please everyone drive safely to your destination. And if you do choose to just stay put, hold on tight because Ike is on his way!!