I know, the tomatoes are the least of my worries, lol. easier to stay calm focusing on that though. we're as prepared as I think we can be. got plenty of water for everyone, stocked up on non perishables, batteries, etc. got a freezer full of ice blocks and a cooler to get a few more hours of refrigeration. got a stocked first aid kit, have a working mental list of who else is around to help each other out (doctors, guys with big trucks, neighbors with generators, etc). the worst power outage we've been through was a couple of days (iirc it was three and a half, summer of 2001 when most of the northeast went dark), definitely not fun. I'm hoping it doesnt get that bad, but time will tell. about 5 years ago we got hit by a northeaster at high tide, JFK airport can open floodgates to prevent flooding of the runways and that caused flooding in my area. assuming that will happen again, although afaik, the airport is currently closed to all incoming flights and most scheduled outgoing flights have been cancelled. my sister in NJ just told me they've issued a tornado watch in her area, that scares me abit 'cuz I've never been through that before. but then again, we just experienced out first earthquake here last week. crazy weather patterns these days! thanks for the prayers, zackey. trying to stay in a good mood for the kids. the last thing they need is a stressed out mom (or they will all end up in my bed tonight, and that's the last thing I need!)

We had gusty winds in the mid morning, then rain for about an hour, then nothing for a couple of hours. Around 2:30 it started raining again and blowing hard, and this lasted 3-4-5 hours. No big damage that I'm aware of-- maybe a few trees down in town, lots of leaves and small branches down in/on our lane, but nothing serious. So, two big joys: No serious damages or injuries, and WE GOT RAIN!!!!! The weather map on one of the TV stations claimed our area probably only got an inch & a half to 2 inches, but that's SO much more than we've had in ages, that it is indeed welcome! Glad you're okay Rita, and that Houston/Galveston didn't suffer much. Poor Port Arthur looks just like New Orleans. I was realizing today that this is one of the first times I've ever been "this close" to a hurricane before. It seems like most of the others, if they send rain our direction, the rain comes several days after the hurricane makes landfall. WE got to see the storm's progress all morning, huge deep gray clouds building & billowing all morning, then the winds and rain in the afternoon. WAY cool--from this safe perch at least. The "funny" of the day: some woman was being interviewed in one of the more Southern East TX towns, and she said, "The wind came by us -at us- just like, well, a hurricane!" LOL! Both she and the reporter realized her unintentional pun! Susi Oh yes, our power went out for most of the afternoon-early evening. We had ice in the ice chests, and even went to Lowe's to get another propane tank for our grill, but didn't need either. The power came on not long after we got home. I don't think our food was damaged. For a while as the power was trying to decide if it was going to be on or off, it was funny! The power went off, so I went in search of candles. Found one, found the matches, lit the candle, the lights came on. So I blew out the candle, and the lights went off. Lit it again, and the power came back on! This happened SEVERAL times in a five minute span, so I finally just left a few candles burning and then the power was out for good!

There are always idiots like that in these hurricanes. I haven't been watching TOO much local news because it can really get to be too much. But I was listening to a local TV station a couple of hours ago and apparently there has already been some major flooding in Galveston, Channelview, and some other low lying areas near the gulf and Galveston Bay. That was as of 6 this morning. A lot of people who THOUGHT they would ride it out were evacuating this morning. And some people were carrying stuff out of their house into their cars by wading through a couple of feet of water. You have to understand, the last major hurricane to hit Houston was in 1983. That was 25 years ago. And every time one of these storms hits the gulf, we are inundated with predictions of where it might hit for at least a week in advance. And so many times they are wrong - including this time. So, after so many "near misses" and especially after Rita 3 years ago when many evacuated and then it went east, and after Tropical Storm Eduard just about a month ago where many people evacuated, people just get immune. It's not easy to be told to evacuate over and over again and then you'd have been better off staying. It's nobody's fault, because there really is no way of REALLY knowing where it's going to hit that far in advance. But by the time it really does hit, well, it sort of becomes like the boy who cried wolf. Of course there are some who never listen as well. Anyway. It's still pretty quiet here at my house. I don't expect to see much before the wee hours of the morning. Hope Karen and Jim and Brenda check in soon!

Want to give an long over do update.. Hubby's last treatment (chemo & radiation) were 12/23. He was supposed to finish radiation 2 days sooner but had complications with neck burns; they had to get his pain under control. I asked the radiation oncologist for the morphine pops again; this time he gave it to us but it was a 3 day wait for it to get ordered. I'd called pharmacies in both NJ & Philly; no one stocked it, not even hospitals. He ended up using a Fentynol patch for a few days; he was only able to wear it for a few hours as the Fentynol made him sick. They are supposed to be a 24 hour patch. The pain problem was a dry neck - he couldn't have the antibiotic cream on his neck for radiation because he'd fry; which meant he had to go from the shower, we'd wrap his neck in wet gauze & baby wash cloths plus an ace bandage then he'd unwrap when we crossed the bridge. He lost over 20 pounds, which he couldn't afford to lose anything. Healing was very hard on him. He did so well at 1st but his autoimmune kicked in about 2 weeks out to where his blood counts were really low. I ended up taking him to a natural Dr where he had supplements & a vitamin C drip which seemed to work; unfortunately, he needed 2 drips per week but we couldn't fit 2 into our life (it was an all day thing with ride plus waiting for the bag to drip) plus he did not like the way the girls stuck him or pulled the IV out. His body was still sore from all the needles in Philly, he didn't need more pain. Yes, we complained... He got very depressed because he wasn't healing quick enough. I could not get his mood changed. Different antidepressants were tried but nothing worked. What ended up working was our old neighbors came up from Tennessee on Valentines day (he didn't know); so that cheered him. Then we made the decision to have the feeding tube removed. The feeding tube was a huge source of pain; his intestines always hurt; he was usually found doubled up in pain. It was thought he had gas but from what I researched it could have been spasms. Any puree's that I made, he basically shut down & wouldn't eat them, nor would he eat by mouth because he had no taste buds and no saliva. To someone that likes to eat, this is very depressing. He'd tell me that the puree would sit in his stomach & not digest. We saw the radiation nurse practitioner and I was able to speak to her alone.. she backed me up that the tube needed to come out & that he needed to be able to sink or swim. Had he not started eating, they would either feed him via nose or another feeding tube. On 2/22 we saw the ENT surgeon & lied about how much he was eating by mouth; they pulled the feeding tube out.. yes, held a towel over it and yanked & out it came. 5 months after it was put in, it was taken out & he's been doing well eating. His taste buds are better; he's not complaining about the saliva as he knows he's going to have to drink water with almost every bite just to swallow it. Most food will suck up his saliva like a sponge. We knew our health insurance was going to get canceled & it did. He was going to start physical therapy 2 weeks ago when they called to say it was denied for lack of coverage. We've been on this since December, asking for Cobra forms but they never came. Thankfully I know the rep; he told me when it was sent out & when it did not arrive the following Monday & Tuesday (last week) hubby & I made the 2 hour drive to Port Newark to do it in person. We split the driving because neither of us drive that far. The insurance cost us a pretty penny until we are approved; then they will either refund the money, if hubby gets back to work before we use up our large payment or they will deduct the lower amount from my large payment until he does work. He had a PET scan on 2/4 - we were not supposed to get the results until the following week but the nurse practitioner called us the same day because she knew how depressed he was. He told me a week or 2 before the scan that he was not fighting any more nor was he doing this again if treatment did not work; so I was a basket case as well; especially since it was right before my dad's 4 year anniversary of being gone because of cancer. Had we not had my inheritance from my dad I don't know what we would have done to survive. We were very fortunate that we did move to where we are so he had better treatment options. After making the drive to North Jersey the other day, there was no way he could get treated at my original choice, where my dad had treatment; but he was able to get treated at a very large place; which I'm not sure he would have chosen had we still lived in the old house. So, everything has worked out. The next scan will be in 5 months; so we'll see. I'm not sure when he'll be able to get back into his truck to deliver cars; but hopefully he'll be able to do the yard van to drive drivers to their cars. Hopefully physical therapy will help.