Our Fall Flowers

Planter filled with various flowers and vines, including hybiscus...in the front of our house.

Looking from our front door out into the the courtyard with vincas on the left, and geraniums at the gate, plus a cactus! There are also some lantana, rain lilies, succulents, aloe vera, and a couple other potted plants in the courtyard.

After having so much fun with our Summer garden and getting some great veggies from it, we decided to put some plants out for a Fall garden! When Mom and Dad were here for Labor Day weekend, they helped aerate and dig up the soil.

My strawberry plant had enjoyed sending running vines all over a corner of the garden, and even out into the yard. About a month ago, Jason and I dug up all the little strawberry plants that had taken root from the runners. We dug the entire garden plot up some more, too, because it had settled somewhat since Mom and Dad worked on it. We made rows and planted the strawberries in two of them.

Fresh Basil!

Our garden area, with new little plants and seeds in the ground.

Then went to Lowe's to get baby plants for the fall planting season! We chose cauliflower, tomatoes, collard greens, and brussel sprouts. We also got seeds for rutabega, and radishes. We also got a bunch of mums to brighten our flower bed and to plant in three barrel planters for our back patio. Our car was fully loaded with plants!!

Our first task was to plant the mums in the circular flowerbed in the front yard. The summer plants had died off, and only some red and green-leafed caladiums and sprouted iris bulbs remained. We took those out so that we could save their bulbs for next year. It was a struggle to work with that small plot of soil, because it was overrun with roots!!! We were not sure if it was the crepe myrtle roots coming up or the root systems of the irises. It was a mess!! We had to dig all those roots out...urrr Jason had to dig all those roots out. It was a BIG job!! We thought that planting the mums would be quick and easy, but it turned out to be an "all afternoon" job. We finally got most of the roots out, and filled in some garden soil. Then we planted our red, yellow, and orange mums! They are doing great and look gorgeous! Although it was almost dark by the time they were in the root-free ground.

So, the veggies had to wait to be planted. We took them to the backyard and watered them. A couple days later, Jason came home from work early and started planting the cauliflower, greens, and brussel sprouts. I helped plant the tomatoes when I got home. We have not put the seeds in the ground yet, but plan to do that this week. Everything else has already doubled in size!

Jason also suprised me by bringing home three barrel planters for the backyard, and so that night we planted the rest of the mums in the planters! They look great...now we need some patio furniture so we can enjoy this wonderful cooler weather, and the new flowers and plants in our backyard.

Clown flowers in the backyard garden...they came up on their own!

Our Kitty Cats

Our four little furry beasts are sooo cute! Here are our spoiled kitties --Romeo, Tommy, Fluffy, and Cali! Aren't they cute?! Romeo is such a pretty kitty!

Tommy and Fluffy like to take their afternoon nap in the same corner...

It's a sunny spot by the window on my desk area.
Callie thinks she is a piece of paper coming out of the printer.

Callie and Romeo like to sleep on my tote bag.

Seabrook After Ike

Seabrook is a beautiful coastal community about 20 minutes from our home. Jason and I like to spend afternoons taking a walk or birdwatching at a park in Seabrook.

We were so sad to see the terrible damage that was done to the houses in that neighborhood, and also to the fishing pier on the bay.

Returning to Houston after Hurricane Ike

We stayed in Louisiana for five days. The positive aspect of evacuating was having time to spend with our family and our nephew, Brady!

We got in touch with our neighbors, who let us know that there was no visible damage to our home. They let us know that our backyard had the left side of the fence down, and tree limbs and debris scattered in both the front and back yards. They also told us that our other neighbor's metal-pipe type chimney had fallen off and landed in our back yard.

We also found out that we had electricity, which was a big luxury--considering that a large percentage of Houston did not get power back for up to two or three weeks.

Fluffy was allowed to ride freely in the car for part of the way back down to Houston. She did not tolerate traveling in a cat carrier very well, but was remarkably good when we let her out in the car.

The cats were happy to return home, and we were thankful to have our home. So, many people in our neighborhood had trees on their houses, siding blown away (revealing the beams underneath), and roofs that had leaked. Once we arrived in Houston, the drive was not like it normally would have been. Destruction was visible everywhere. We saw many businesses with their signs blown over, roofs blown off, or debris everywhere with trees down. We saw yards with debris piles 8-10 feet tall.

This is our backyard afer the storm. There is debris that is difficult to see in this photo...everywhere! Also, the left side of our back yard fence is blown down.

Debris piled up in our neighborhood when we got home. These piles grew to 2-3 times this big, and they were everywhere...not just our neighborhood, but every street around in Southeast Houston area.

This is looking at the neighbors directly behind our house--They share our back fence.

Once we arrived at home, we turned on the TV to see what was happening in Galveston. The destruction there was devastating. Many, many people lost everything down there.

The way people responded to the disaster was heartwarming and gave me a deep sense of American pride. American pride came from the fact that people came from all over the US to help. There were hundreds...no maybe thousands of workers and volunteers who immediately came to help and stayed for weeks. Leaving behind their families or other responsibilities, they came to help put Houston back together.

Currently, there are still volunteers and workers who are replacing roofs, building fences, and making life better here in Houston. Galveston is a whole other story--thousands have given aid to the people down there, and have given time and manpower to do as much as possible to rebuild Galveston. The progress there is going GREAT, however they have a long road ahead.

Please pray for all who were affected by Hurricane Ike--that God will bless them and restore their lives to be even better than they were before the storm.

Hurricane Ike Evacuation

We woke up Thursday morning, September 11 (the date is kind of ironic) and started our normal morning routine. Jason was dressed, breakfast and lunch packed, and was about to kiss me good bye...as I roll out of bed. It was about 6:30 a.m. Jason had been listening to the news, which is not normally part of his morning routine, and we heard that there would be a news conference with city officials any minute, so Jason decided to stay and listen to it. They put our zip code on the screen as in a mandatory evacuation area beginning at 12 noon.

I couldn't believe it! I had thought about the storm, and worried about it a little, but I didn't want to evacuate. I figured I could survive the heavy storm conditions, and maybe have to be without electricity for one day or something, but I DID NOT WANT TO EVACUATE!

One of the big reasons, was that we have four cats and a chinchilla as our pets. The last time we evacuated was when Rita was heading towards Houston--we didn't have pets then, but we did experience the worst day of our lives as we spent 20 hours in two cars creeping up to Dallas/Keene where I used to live. So, I was very worried that we would again be in the car for 20+ hours, but this time with four cats and a chinchilla.

But like it or not, we had to go. So, I immediately put some clothes on and headed out to get gas in the car and pick up two more pet carriers, some pet food, and a few other supplies we would need for the evacuation. Once I returned, it was a flurry of packing luggage, preparing supplies for the cats and our chinchilla, and loading everything into the car. Our last task was to "catch the cats"... not too terribly hard, THANKFULLY! And so we were off. Heading out to Jason's family in northern Louisiana.

Once we started driving, the cats began a mournful chorus of meows. They continued for about one hour. Finally three of them took a nap, while Fluffy was briefly let out of her carrying case to see if she needed to go to the bathroom, or something. She did not like the confined space, but we couldn't have her out for the remaining seven hours on the drive, so we put her back into the carrier. She promptly went to sleep. They rode quite well for the rest of the trip, only complaining a few times.

The cats stayed in Jason's family's shed, which was a wonderland for exploration. Unfortunately, our chinchilla did not survive the trip--we believe the stress of the eight-hour trip, the changes of temperature, and the loud noises of the car were too much for him to handle. We were very shocked and so sad to find that he had died when we took his ventilated carrier box out of the car.

The trauma of carrying pets during an evacuation added to our already high stress level. We watched the weather channel and news channels almost constantly while we were at the Sasser's house. Once Hurricane Ike arrived and began its path of destruction, we prayed and watched...wondering about the condition of our home.

Labor Day Weekend

My parents came to visit us over Labour Day weekend. We had lots of fun with them. One day, we went to see a 3-D Imax movie about the Grand Canyon. That was sooo great! Now, I'm really wanting to go to Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico! We went on family vacations to all those places when I was little, but now I'd like to see them from my adult perspective...and take some photos. We also walked around the Houston Rose Garden and Japanese Gardens.
We also toured NASA while my parents were here. We all realy enjoyed that. You can see photos and read more about our day at the Johnson Space Center here.

My Mom's birthday was the day after they left our house, so we celebrated with cake! I took a delicious store-bought cake and added fruit to it...yummy!

Next, we took my parents to Kemah Board Walk. This is the wonderful place where Jason and I had our first "real date"...and also where he proposed to me! It is FUN! You can watch boats coming in from the bay, eat, shop, listen to live music, take a whirl on the carnival-style rides, or just stroll hand-in-hand along the board walk overlooking the bay.

On another day, we found some great bargains while shopping on The Strand in Galveston! I had been wanting to go down there, so this was a special treat! We really enjoyed walking along the streets of the historic district, and browsing through clothing, home goods, and pearing into art galleries. Horse drawn carriages passed by a few times, and we could see the trolley tracks crossing the street in zig zags. The trolley still runs, too, but we didn't ride it this time.

Our visit with Mom and Dad also included an afternoon at the driving range. Jason took a golfing class while he was at Southern. His parents got him a nice set of clubs while he was going through that class, and he still has them in our closet.

We decided to have a little adventure...and my parents were game...so we headed out to find a driving range. The first one we came to was closed, so Jason knew of another, and we headed over there.

I hit a golf ball with a real golf club for the first time... COOL! I have played putt-putt golf many, many times! Hitting the balls onto the driving range was lots of fun!

NASA Tour

When my parents came to visit for Labor Day weekend, we took them to NASA. It was a great experience! Jason and I had not been there before, either. We were pleasantly suprised! Some of our friends had told us .... well let's just say they did not exactly give a recommendation for visiting Space Center Houston (which includes a tour of NASA).

But, we found the place really interesting, and the tour of NASA was awesome...especially seeing the HUGE....HUGE rocket they have on campus. We also saw the historic command central room where the message was first recieved that "The Eagle has landed" ...on the moon. Witin that command central room, the work stations were set up with round holes for sending and receiving messages ... Instead of email, they conveyed information to one another quickly by using a system similar to the tubes and round plastic cases banks use to carry your check or deposit slip from the drive thru to the teller. That was a cool fact we learned, and reminded us how much technology has advanced in just 50 years.

We also toured the astronaut training center, and a model of the international space station. The experience took most of the day, and was EXCELLENT! I hope to go there again sometime! Maybe when family or friends come to visit we'll take them there.

Astronauts store everything they need in these cubes and drawers. (see below)

NASA Astronaut training area (next two photos below)

Getting on the tram to go tour the NASA Campus

Saturn V - huge rocket...super COOL!

Me and Mom in front of NASA's rocket, Saturn V