Here we go again

Well, We are boarded up but I cheated and never took them down from Gustav. And were packed up but we cheated and never unpacked from Gustav and we are about to hit the road to run from Ike. Best of luck to our friends on the run from these things. Maybe I need to move LOL Naw, just keep on running.

Stay Safe and take care,
Robert

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and anyone else who's down there in the path of Ike, hoping for everyone to get out safe and then come back to undamaged homes when it's all over

me too

Stay Safe Robert & everyone in the path of those terrible storms/hurricanes - praying for you!

Robert, what a year this has been for you; I am so glad to hear you are getting out of the path. Ike is a scary one, please take care, you will be in our thoughts adn prayers.

Stay safe Robert. This could be a big one. Your health is the most valuable thing you own. Everything else can be replaced if need be.

Hoping to hear you and your family are safe Robert.

I believe our good friend Barry was also directly in Ike's path, he is not far from Galveston Bay.

Praying everyone is OK.

edited to add - AmandaTaylor is another whose home was directly in the path. So many of our friends have been inpacted by this dreadful storm.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2008 10:00 AM

Goodness Robert, what a horrible hurricane season this has been for you!!!!

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

Please take care of yourself and the girls :-)

Amanda, I didn't realize you were close too - I sure hope you and your family are okay as well.

karen

Thanks, we were directly in the path of the storm, and due to damage and still not having power, we are and have been in San Antonio, Tx since the day after the storm. The hardest thing for me is that I put my hibiscus in the ground because I'm not great at potted plants and when I have them, there are others around who seem to think they need them more than I do so ... I just put mine in the ground. I lost several of my tropical hibiscus. Thankfully, one of the benefits of weathering out the storm (won't do it again, I was scared out of my mind when trees were slamming into the house with the 80mph+ winds) was that I was able to take care of my remaining plants immediately after the storm.

I'd had a Cosmic Dancer that has been struggling for a few months and it just completely disappeared from my yard. I also lost a Nightrunner. Other than that, the rest were stil in the ground but will need some great tender loving care when I get back, I'm sure. They are getting watered because of my battery-operated timers, and the cold front that followed the storm will help them a bit as well, but ... I'm still dreading what I may find when I'm finally able to return home.

I'm not a palm tree expert, but from the looks of things I lost 3 of my 4 Foxtails. My Pygmy Date, which was WELL established, was knocked over. During the storm we thought maybe we'd lost that one, but the next morning we found the whole thing held together fine, rather it had just completely "slid" sideways until it was laying on it's side, roots exposed. We tied it back up and it should be fine.

After the Rita evacuation 3 years ago, I'd said never again. Never again would I sit for 30+ hours on the freeways trying to get out of Houston and escape a rapidly approaching hurricane. It's much safer to be in your home than in your car, stuck on the freeway when a hurricane hits. But after sitting through this last one, I won't do it again. I'm not going to put my child at that type of risk again. We are all fine, God has really kept his hand on us. We do still have a home to go back to,our family is safe and we have clothes and food. God has been good to us. My heart goes out to those who've lost so much.

I've not heard anything from Barry; he was directly hit as well. I've also not talked with Robert yet ... but I can tell you that my hotel is filled to the max here in San Antonio, Tx with Hurricane Ike evacuees. Hope to hear from them soon, I've got to get off now. Will check later - be safe!

Amanda, glad to hear that you and your family and your house are OK! Sorry to hear about your plants though, sounds like you'll have a bit of a mess to clean up but the important thing is that you're safe!

Amanda, TG you and your loved ones are safe. I have cousins in west Houston and watched the storm carefully and grew concerned as it headed for your area.

Amanda, thank goodness you and your family are safe!!!! As hard as it is to lose much-loved plants, as long as you and your family okay, nothing else matters that much. You and Robert are in my thoughts and prayers.

Has anyone heard from Robert at all? I sure hope he and his daughters are okay...

karen

I have heard from Robert, thankfully, he and his family are fine as is their home. The greenhouses did not fare as well but I am sure he will check in when he can and fill everybody in.

Thank goodness they're all okay!! Thanks for the update :-)

I hope Barry's all right, too. Too bad he's not on the forum here anymore. I haven't seen him posting anywhere else, either.

Amanda I'm so glad you and the family are okay. I heard Barry and family is doing okay however he did sustain damage to one of his larger greenhouse but his main home didn't sustain any damage. Hopefully NO MORE HURRICANES!!

OMG, I was in Alaska and I could not get in touch with anyone.
I am so glad to find out Robert and Amanda are fine!

I've also heard from Barry. His home did not flood and his large GH made it.

Hi Everyone,
We are back. The house faired well. The greenhouses were destroyed. We had 65 to 85 mph sustained winds with the massive hurricane for about 13 hours straight. We are in between beaumont texas and port arthur texas if you are wondering. I have lost about 90% of my babies from downed trees over them to just being snapped at the base. I had a 7' vermillion queen in a 15 gallon pot that was flipped up over a pile of trees. Cant figure out that one yet! At least all of the family is safe and the house is good! Thats about the only way to look at it! I still have the 4" pot GH frame in tact and most of the 4" pots survived. Gallons were just stripped bare of all leaves. and looked like they were toys for the wind to play with. I found parts of my polycarbonate 3 blocks from me. Anyway what a site and now to clean the rest of it up. Will post some pics another day. On the good side of things a seedling bloomed (PIC) a few days after Ike when we did our sneak and peak. I'm calling it "Ike's Angel" because I do not know how it survived!

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers, They worked! Things could have been much worse.

Robert

This message was edited Sep 24, 2008 7:25 PM

Glad to hear about your house, sad about the greenhouses. Sounds like you have a lot of work to do, but at least you're all safe and have the things that are most important.

Amanda I'm glad your and your family are OK! and "Sandy (ILOVEJESUS) to the both of you I will give hibiscus to you just to get things back. I know how you just love them. We are destressing and cutting to get things going again . I hope sandy is ok as well. I have not heard from her. If your there and able to just drop us a line. Glad to see barry is well with little damage also.

Robert

Sandy checked in on a different thread. She is OK but I do not know about her house, etc. .

Aww, Robert you are too kind! I'm so sorry about your losses, but thank God your house and family are fine!

We are still in San Antonio and are hoping to return home tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. My sister-in-law called last night to tell me that our grass is really high - exceptionally higher than anyone else's around. I just kind of thought, yeah ok, we've been gone for nearly 2 weeks since the hurricane so I'm sure. But then I remembered - I fertilized the Friday that Ike hit, just before the winds really picked up! Ha! So whatever fertilizer that was watered down before those super high winds hit probably worked like steroids for the grass. :) Now if only the same effect takes place on my plants ...

She said the remaining plants look good ... but I just want to see them for myself to be sure. I can't wait to get home. I'll have to post pics/videos for you guys later.