It's Beginning to Look Alot Like A POOL!

Pool construction is in overdrive. Hurricane Ike didn't cause any delay. Luckily the gunite was applied 2 days before the evacuation and the pool had to "cure" for 10 days so everything is on schedule.

Last Saturday at 7:30 a.m. the tile and coping installers arrived to unload rocks for the waterfall, flagstone for the coping and the tile. The work was completed by that afternoon.

Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. the electrician arrived to wire the pump and filter.

Tuesday a small clean-up crew arrived to remove forms and do the make ready for the deck work.

Today the concrete/deck installers formed the deck and reed bar. City inspectors will inspect the work tomorrow and concrete is scheduled for Monday.

All that remains is the concrete and cool-deck application, acid wash clean-up to interior of pool and finally the plaster.

Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, the pool will be completed and ready to enjoy in approximately 2 weeks; just in time for our first snowfall!!

What We Did On Our Hurricane Evacuation

Craig and Kyle did what they could to keep their minds off the Hurricane.

Ike Update

Hurricane Ike came and went in a hurry.

While the neighborhoods around us look like a war zone, our home and neighborhood was spared destruction. As a matter of fact when we came back after the storm we were very surprised. A few homes lost some shingles and fences but for the most part you could hardly tell there was a storm. The pine tree in our yard was blown over. (We didn't like the tree anyway so we were not heart broken.) Our fence is still standing; not one section was blown over.

Just to the east of our neighborhood is a different story. Near the bay is tremendous destruction. Many areas are still without power. Trees are down, power lines are down, yachts and boats are in the roads. We have only seen the pictures on television because there is a 24 hour curfew..no one in or out. I honestly would feel like a vulture driving around seeing others misfortune.

Galveston is in ruins. It will most likely be months before anyone is allowed on the island.

Never fear it will be rebuilt. The people who live in and around the water love it. It is their home and it will survive.

It will takes some time but the Houston/Galveston area will be back better than ever.

I'm Always Digging Holes

A few years back, Josh's friends asked him "What does your mom do?". His answer was " she digs holes." He was being sarcastic but there was also truth in his answer.

The reason is, I love being in the yard either planting something or digging something up to move to another location. It is very therapeutic and it is a great way to clean your pores; No need for an expensive facial. Plus, there's nothing better than getting a little dirty and sweaty. It gives you a sense of accomplishment.

To my dismay we have hired a hole dug in our backyard....it's a pool!!!

As long as Hurricane Ike doesn't delay the construction too much we should be swimming by the end of September or early October.

I really think if I would have had a few good weeks of weather and a good shovel I could have saved us a little money on the dirtwork. Josh just might agree.

Slowly but Surely

Our home is slowly getting organized. We still have some boxes in the garage but they are mainly boxes of books. Everything we need is already unpacked so the rest will be done at our leisure.



View looking into kitchen and breakfast room.

View of family room with hallway sitting area to left.

Craig's office

Was a dining room but we are not dining room people so we changed it into a piano/sitting room.

Left side is the hallway sitting area; right side the entry to piano/sitting room.

Looking down hall into den

Josh's room

Kim's room

Exercise room

That's all folks!

SCUBA-duba-du

For the past few weekends I have been taking classes to become a SCUBA diver. I am happy to say I finished my final open water dive and am now a Padi certified diver.

The certification involved 8 hours of classwork and testing, 8 hours of contained diving and 4 open water dives.

The classroom work was done at the Diver's Paradise Scuba Shop. The contained diving was in the swimming pool at LaPorte High School. The open water diving was at 288 Lake.

There were 3 people in my class and believe it or not my dive partner, Rusty, was from Amarillo. What are the odd?

I have to say the first time we were in the pool I was a little nervous because the idea of "breathing" under water kind of freaks me out. That is the whole idea of starting out in a pool. You are in an area you can stand up if needed. By the time the first contained dive was over I felt more at ease. The second day was in the deep end of the pool where you can't stand up. We practiced safety proceedures over and over.

I was a little more calm before the first open water dive. I was more nervous about not being able to see but to my surprise even in a murky lake we could see in front of us about 15 feet. There were submerged platforms we sat on to practice our bouyancy, equalizing and more safety proceedures.

The last day and on the final 2 dives we were to do navigation. Now I'm the first to admit I'm no good with a compass. Our assignment was to go in the direction the instructor indicated, swim out 15 kick strokes and hopefully return to the same spot. You do this with your dive buddy. One navigates while the other counts kick strokes. Rusty was the first to navigate and he did great; success the first time. Now it is my turn to navigate. I get my direction, set my compass, indicate to Rusty "let's go" and we're off. One kick, 2 kick, 3 kick and I go head first into the platform pole. We had made a u-turn. What happened? I try again; same results. I wasn't holding the compass level so the needle was getting stuck. After a few minutes of underwater instruction on how to use a compass we set out again...success!!! I don't know who was happier, me, Rusty or the instructor Dave.

After we completed all the task we went on a short swim to celebrate our success in completing our certification.

I will always be a cautious diver but I will enjoy getting to look at the fish and other creatures like the little bass under the platform that watched us as we dove and a little crappy that swam along with us on our dives. Wonder what they were thinking?

I Can't Even Imagine

This particular blog may turn in to a rant but I have something weighing heavy on my mind.

Two small children died this week in Houston is a span of 2 days. How they died was needless! They were each left in a locked car for hours.

In both cases the parents had put the child in their car seat in the back seat of the car. When the children were found hours later the parents stated they forgot about them on their way to work.

Because of these deaths the local news had a special report on "devices" to use so you don't forget your kids. There are little pads you put in a car seat for the child to sit on. There is a key-fob which attaches to the parents key ring so if the parent locks the car and walks 15 feet away from the car an alarm will sound. In the report they also suggest setting an alarm on your cell phone as a reminder to not forget your child.

A man was interviewed on the subject and I don't know if he thought he was being funny but his statement really ticked me off. He said "I sometimes forget my kids in the car but I never forget my keys or cell phone. Luckily nothing has ever happened to my kids". Jerk!

What is the deal with these people? ? I can't imagine someone forgetting they haven't dropped the child off at daycare or the babysitters; Plus not noticing they have the child with them in the car.

I can't even imagine needing something to remind me I have kids!! Even though they are grown Kim and Josh are thought of thoughout my day. First thing in the morning I wonder what they have planned for the day; I ask God to watch over them and protect them each night in my prayers. This is not because I have to. It is because I am their Mom and I love them.

A few years back, Josh told me a girl asked him if he thought he was thought about by someone everyday. Josh said yes. She said Josh was pretty conceited for thinking it and she also asked who he thought was thinking of him each day. Josh answered "my mom". Josh told me the girl laughed and told him "nobodies parents think about them every day". I feel sorry for her. How sad must it be to think your parents don't think about you daily.

On Friday of this week, I was driving to a rent house to check on the property. As I rounded a corner close to the house I saw a small child dressed only in a diaper walking across the street. I noticed 2 other children in the yard and seriously thought this child probably was outside with them.

It took me about 10 minutes at this particular property and when I left I rounded the corner again only to see this same small girl walking down the middle of the street about halfway down the block. I stopped the car but was very aware I was going to be asking small children questions and didn't want someone to think I was trying to abduct a child. These kids didn't know who the little girl was nor had they ever seen her before.

I immediately called 911.

I really was concerned about picking this child up so I slowly enticed her out of the street and over to the curb where we waited for the police and ambulance.

To make a long story short; from the time I called 911 to the time the police had gotten all the needed information this toddler was "missing" for over 2 1/2 hours. During which there was no parent frantically driving streets, running, screaming or even looking for this child. The police were going door to door to see if they could find where the child belonged.

I probably will not ever know what happened to the little girl but with this happening and the other 2 kids dying this week I just can't get it off my mind.

As the title of this blog says, I can't even imagine.