Aftermath - Day Four

The only drawback I can think of to this wonderful cold front is having to take a cold shower by candle light in a cold front. It was one thing when it was so hot, it's another when it's less than 70 degrees in my apartment (which is miraculous for September in Houston, by the way).

After getting ready (quickly!) I made my way to Borders to use their internet connection and charge up my laptop. As you can tell by the picture, there were many, many people there doing the same thing...and this is just the coffee shop. There were people spread out all over the store! It was kind of a fun experience. They were even giving away free coffee...apparently their espresso and regular coffee machines weren't working and they were brewing one pot at a time in a home coffee maker. But hey! it was free :-)

I tried taking a picture up close of the notes on the doors to Borders, but they didn't turn out cause of the glare, so instead is this general shot. The notes said "Come in and charge your laptops and cell phones here" and "Store hours are 10am to 7pm because of curfew". It felt really wierd to have a curfew. They finally lifted it to midnight starting Wednesday night. They also lifted the boil-your-water order on Tuesday - thank God!

Jim and Susan live next to some property owned by a slum lord. The tenant said she'd called multiple times but he wouldn't return her calls, so Jim and I offered to go over and cut down all the banana trees that folded over during the storm, as well as some other broken branches in other trees. This piece of bamboo from Jim and Susan's yard was laying in their neighbors and I thought it looked like a giant joint...or so I imagine a giant joint might look.

Some of the spoils of our labor. Banana trees are AMAZINGLY easy to cut down, almost like cutting butter. And they are FULL of water! It would literally come running out as we would cut and carry them away. There were a few that had already rotted and they did not smell to good...

And here's some of my other spoils of my labor - scratches from one nasty bougenvilla. For such a pretty plant, they have got some FEROCIOUS thorns. But maybe they'll turn into some cool "hurricane scars". That'll really win over the ladies - "ooooh...how'd you get those scars on your hands and face?" "Hurricane Ike, ladies. I survived Huricane Ike".