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

Thanks for all the advice/offers. The plants I brought into the house, I just repotted (washed old dirt from the roots) and they already grew new leaves and look good. They never had got the flood water, but did have some mold on the soil surface due to humidity. The ones in the yard.... Charles grimaldi, super nova, red sang., E.pink, double white, and insignis pink all are coming back! I cut them back some and they are getting new leaves. Amazing they lived through the saltwater. The other 30 or so in the ground, are toast. Luckily I had cuttings (the pots from the house) of most of them and can replace the others. I guess I got lucky this time. I have a cactus (night blooming peruvians type) It is in a clay pot and huge. It sat in the yard through both Katrina and the flooding from Rita! It looks great and grew even more! Haha I think I will make it a sign (Survived Katrina and Rita LOL!) Thanks again all ~SJN

I don't know how quickly you want shade, but my house was new 8 years ago in a subdivision that used to be a cane field, so no trees. We have two very fast growing crepe myrtles that we planted five years ago that survived 30+ inches of rain in Tropical Storm Allison and one of them was even uprooted! (Not from the wind but because the ground got so soggy - we had at least a foot of standing water on our lot for 2 days). They were unscathed in Katrina (it was a category 1 or 2 where I live), 60 miles Southeast of New Orleans. They are fifteen feet tall and wide. We also have pecan trees that are 7 or 8 years old and they are about 12 feet tall with a canopy of 8 feet in diameter.

We're having 6 of our 9 pines taken down tomorrow. Two were recently struck by lightning and the others need to come down to make way for construction of a garden shed. I won't be sorry to see any of them go. The needles are great for mulch and they do provide a measure of shade in the yard, but watching them sway with each bad storm hasn't gotten really old. I'm looking forward to transplanting my own choice of trees. Already purchased a Dawn Redwood (like Bald Cypress, but without the knees), Chalk Maple, Winged Elm, and a Silverbell. May buy a River Birch and something else before all is said and done.