Thursday / "Tonight, I'll be staying here with you"

I think a lot of people got out of town, and a lot of people got ready for the hurricane yesterday. I came back at about midnight from volunteering on a Metro bus to take water to stranded drivers on US 290, the Northwest route out of Houston.

The hurricane is now expected to hit land at 5 in the morning on Saturday. The news has been telling us to use a 12 hour rule for evacuation. If severe weather comes ashore 9 hours ahead of the eye of the storm like they say it will, it is more dangerous to try to evacuate 12 hours before that weather (21 hours). For us, that means it is more dangerous to leave than to stay starting at 8 this morning. Mayor White is reiterating that point in a press conference right now.

The big phrase is "sheltering in place". This means keeping food and water in your home and staying put. I presume that it is less fun than the traditional "sheltering", but does not require the same equipment as "cross-sheltering", "cardio-sheltering", or the trendy "Thai kick-sheltering". My brother Brian points out that beginners who may not be able to shelter all the way, can start by sheltering at chest-level, and working up.

Some of you may have heard about the tragic fire on a bus evacuating people from a Bellaire assisted living facility. The facility, Brighton Gardens, is right off of the West Loop. My great-great-Aunt Mickey spent her last years there, and it always seemed to like a wonderful facility to me. It is extremely sad, but with the impending disaster, it makes me think about what other terrible things are about to happen, and how much closer.

I guess the big questions from yesterday are "Did we get enough people out?" and since there's nothing we can do about the weather, "How ready will be for the aftermath?"

Its really getting close, and I may be reading too much in to it, but when you look to the East from our house now, you see a bright, rising, yellow sun and a few far off, swift, dark, gray clouds.