My family is safe, for now. With all the people coming back into the Houston area, things may go from bad to worse. There are power lines down. Most of the stores are closed. There are no utilities in many areas of Houston and Galveston. No water, unless you stored some. No gasoline, except at a couple of stations. There have been shootings at gas stations, 'fueled' by those who took more gas than they needed and left none for others, maybe even people more needy than they. Other people are doing ruthless things to get to the front of the long lines and get in front of those who have waited hours in line for gas. Some lines are a mile long. The dam for the city lake has been weakened from the storm. The high winds caused big wave surges on the lake, which pushed the boulders that hold the earthen dam to the point that it is threatening to give way. All that holds the water back now is the earthen dam. If that happens, the flooding below the dam would be catastropic. Their is a whole community built down there below that dam. (Now how stupid is that?). So the city alerted people that they had to release massive amounts of water on the morning after the hurricane and again the next morning to lower the lake so they can make repairs and shore it up. They went door to door and told them that it would most likely flood the homes closest to the river and that they had to leave. Once again, some people refused to leave their homes - the water was released. My son and his family had been preparing for the probable advent of big, bad hurricane since Katrina hit, so they were well prepared - enough to last for weeks, he told me. To some people, it is a game, evidenced by the signs they paint on the boards over their windows. To ride the "big one out" shows you are gutsy, and not afraid. Good grief! I am glad my kids are more mature and responsible than that. Nonetheless, I have not had much sleep all week. We talked for hours every night on what they could do to get out of there, and then when that became hopeless, what they could do to survive a direct hit - at that time, the projected path was directly through Galveston and Houston and would have followed I-45 North...right through their house near the Woodlands. It always floods there and the tall pines tend to fall over on houses and make formidable projectiles in the band tornadoes. They boarded up their house cleared the yard of any thing that would be projectiles and taped cardboard over the windows on the inside to keep glass from shattering on them. Then my son and his brother-in-law went to other areas in town to help some elderly folks board up their houses, too. I was proud of them, but I was more than worried, let me tell you! Even after the hurricane shifted, they still got the edge of the eye bands with 100+mph winds, which the news did not mention or played down. The bands were weird. They would come through out of the north, and then in a few minutes come back through out of the west. In between, it would be calm and the sky would even clear and there would be rainbows. Then the next band would blow in with 100-80+ mph sustained winds. This pattern repeated from 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning through Saturday afternoon when the winds finally calmed down to about 15-25 mph. The Houston-Galveston officials kept warning people not to return to their homes. There is known structural damage to high- rise buildings, and they are worried there is more unknown. There is the potential for electrical fires from damaged lines and maybe gas fires. Power poles strew the streets and big trees lay everywhere. WHole walls of buildings collapsed and some may yet collapse. Potentially hazardess materials may be on the ground in some places and the water may be contaminated in some areas. There is limited available food, and no water, no electricity or other utilities in most areas, and then the potential flood danger in the Trinity area. The fallen trees on houses and in the streets of housing areas add to the problem. There will not be any trash pick up until Tuesday or so. No sewer in areas. SO the city officials need time to check things out and make sure it is safe for people to return. But, many people did not listen. They no longer have faith in the officials and leaders, and who can blame them, I guess. And yet, they need to exercise an ounze of freaking common sense, something that most Americans just don't seem to have anymore. Still, there is the fear that there maybe many more deaths in the aftermath. And oh, by the way, my DH got a job offer from a company in Raleigh, NC. Uh....just what I thought I really, really wanted all summer - to move to the Carolinas, so we could be closer to my daughter and closer to his folks who live in SC, and where I would be in gardeners heaven and be around all you really groovy people I have come to adore....and maybe even get back into my art, and start painting again. Uh,....what's that old addage - "Be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it?" - something like that. Tell me that the Raleigh area is not in the hurricane zone. Uh, Waaaaaahhh. ~Annie

Thank you esh ga!! I took your advice as soon as I came in the door LOL. I've noticed since I moved out here, Aleve is my bestest newest friend! :-) Thankfully, only a little stiff this morning and during the workday it wore off. We went back out this afternoon, which was even more beautiful than yesterday with no wind, and finished them up! So we ended up with 102 planted. There were a few more, either very intertwined toward the bottom of the box. And I had about 5 or so that were pretty small so I doubled up on a couple of the holes. DH is getting into this now, he actually said this afternoon, "have you thought about running a line of landscape timber in front of them?" Wow, that tickled me, it's usually a whatever you want to do dear response. I think he is starting to enjoy this and actually is getting a good mental picture of what I'm striving to achieve here. So we measured off and will start installing landscape timbers to help define the lines of the hedge and protect the little ones from careless UPS drivers! I'm really happy with the way this project is moving and very happy with the way it's turning out!

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for your time and for responding to my question. I took another look at the tree yesterday, took some pictures, and will be working on posting them probably tonight (if husband can make it work!). Also noticed that there are 2 trees; the largest is made up of 4 trunks and the other, just as tall, has 2 trunks. The needles are too high for me to reach and count, but I did take a shot of the closest branch I could see. Don't know if there will be enough detail to closely examine the pine cones, but both trees are loaded with them. These trees have got to be pretty hardy around here, because they are right on Ill. Route 31 where it meets Route 72 in West Dundee, Ill. This is a very busy intersection, and no doubt road salt gets splashed up into the ground during the winter. So they must be able to withstand some pretty brutal conditions. In looking up into the tree yesterday, it appears that the undergrowth browns out, and the new growth which faces outward is nicely green. I took some closeups of the bark, so if anyone is knowledgeable enough to ID a tree by its bark, maybe we can get closer. I'd bet these trees have been there 30-40 years, the trunks are probably close to 18" in diameter (not circumference). I did not see any evidence of either up-limbing or top trimming; the trunks just naturally branch widely into a beautiful flat canopy. Thanks for giving me some possibilities; I'll search for some photos and see what I can find. Maybe I can get to the nursery that used to have that corner, which moved a few towns west, and find someone who knows something ... but from what I see at that store, most of the kids probably weren't even born when the nursery moved! So the search continues -- but again, many thanks to you all for your responses. Aunt Peach in Elgin, Ill.

That's a beautiful picture, sdogwood. I think your problem is one that will be repeated a lot. People are cutting down a lot of trees in fear of hurricane damage, and I guess I don't blame them, but I sure don't want to part with mine. An arbor would be a good idea, and plant some smaller trees if you have room. I'm thinking a cost/benefit analysis would be a good idea; we've saved I have no idea how many hundreds of dollars on air conditioning because of trees we planted, and one formerly small live oak we left. I guess a smart thing to have done would have been to estimate the money we saved and put it in a savings account to pay damage! Better than the way some insurance companies seem to be paying off. And it seems to me that if global warming is a fact, and I believe it is, the more trees and other plants we plant the more possible it would be to keep it from tipping over to really terrifying potentials. So plant! (As if we needed an excuse!)