There's no way I can sleep this morning, which is what I really need to be doing. I am at the point of having a migraine because of no sleep. I don't want to start having a seizure. We don't have time for that.
For those of you who bugged out: the weather man just said we can expect strong Category 1 storm force winds in our area - probably around 80-90 mph. Holly - your house will be fine.
The outer rain bands are beginning to come on shore now. Really early this morning (2:00 a.m.), we were outside. I know...we should have been asleep, but we were still up checking the weather advisories, trying to determine whether or not we should go to the church or stay here. And we could smell smoke from a wood fire, so we were trying to find where it was coming from.
This morning we have decided to stay here. We always have the option of leaving. At 2:00 this morning, the outer cloud bands were just coming on shore, with no rain. It was an awesome sight. Storms would be really neat if they did not cause so much death and destruction. All that we have been seeing on the radar images, is now just beginning to reach us. It is getting really breezy outside now, but at 2:00 a.m., it was so still it was weird. And the humidity was so thick you could cut it. Beth has a friend from Minnesota who asked once if we were aware that you can drink the air in Texas 
The storm's eye is projected to go in at the Sabine Pass/Port Arthur/Beaumont area, which is on the Texas/Louisiana border. We will be on the "weak side", if there can be a weak side of a cat 4 storm with 140 mph winds. We are technically in the storm surge area for a cat 4-5 storm, but it is going in (hopefully) far enough to the east that it should not be a problem. We did not flood here, even in Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, which dropped about 36" of rain.
We are trying to get the last things out of the yard and do things we need electricity to do, while we still have it. Last night, we took in another kitten that somebody apparently left to fend for itself. Rachael just told Beth (they are text messaging) that we should name the kitten Rita.
This morning, a bus on the way to Dallas, with elderly people evacuated from a nursing home in the Bellaire area, exploded and killed some people. They are now saying there are 24 of 45 people dead. They think the brakes may have caught on fire, which caused an oxygen tank to explode.
A levee in New Orleans has broken again and the 9th ward is flooding.
We are the only family left on our street. | 
