Thanksgiving 2008

It's been a while since I have written. We've been busy getting our lives and our beach house back together. We are lucky, grateful and nearing completion of our repairs. This 30 year old house proved sturdy with only "cosmetic" repairs. Nothing structural to be dealt with. Speaking of grateful, I would have to add that our contractor, Luby has been easy to work with and made our lives better for knowing him. We decided to ditch having carpet in the house and did a considerable upgrade to more practical ceramic tile. We'll go down this weekend to see how it all turned out. Only a replacement door is on our list of "to do". It would seem that most of the off island world has forgotten about this storm and how Galveston is struggling to get back to some sort of normal day to day life. City government is angering many with their meager knowledge of what to do with it all. I think that many will leave.

Then, there is that nagging gambling issue. Some islanders think that this will make it all better. If one would visit Atlantic City and see the neighborhoods and the problems, maybe it would change one's mind. Gambling never decreased crime, promoted a strong family lifestyle or worked to a community's betterment. I've never heard anyone say that a casino made their neighborhood better or lives enriched. I have heard of gambling addictions and the problems that engulf cities that have the casinos from crime to zoning. It won't help Galveston. I can only hope that it stays away from here or at least from the beach! We have enough on our plates.

On with the Contractors!

After walking the beach; a break from packing up my personal items for the restoration, Allen and I came upon this "tombstone" marking where the house once stood for the insurance adjusters. It is a sobering sight to see that the ocean just swallowed up the house and all that is left is a piece of slab and a piece of timber.

We met with the insurance person who handles personal effects for our policy. He was patient, very young [children can work now?] and went through my list with respect and care. We have really been lucky with the flood, windstorm, structure and personal effects adjusters. They all are trying to facilitate the losses in a fair and workable manner.

Now we have a very nice contractor and crew who will be getting started soon now that a permit is in the near future for the roof. If one doesn't have the proper inspections for the roof before and after, one can be denied windstorm coverage for the future so we are paying careful heed.

The tides were much lower this time. I will hopefully sleep better with that vision in my mind. When tides are high, it is just scarey!

The"best news of the day" is that Shrimp and Stuff restaurant is now open again! We went with Cal and contractor, Luby to check it out. There is a new owner [We cannot believe this!] but the food is just exactly as it has been for the past 20 years that we have been eating there. A small event that made us largely happy [and full!]

Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton in Bermuda Beach

I was surprized to hear from Cal and local TV news that these important people were in Bermuda Beach to look over the damage from the storm. Bill Clinton was on the news asking for donations from private individuals for relief efforts. Somehow this just doesn't "chime" with me. This is one time that the government should be facilitating the process of rebuilding and restoration. Facilitation doesn't necessarily mean funding. Some people have asked me how much money we have received from FEMA. We did not apply even for the blue roof tarping. There are many many who need help and I think the resources should be there for them. Cal has told me that it takes hours and hours of standing in line to try to get a permit for building or an inspection date. Now there is where help is needed. Our son tells us that he has to use a land line phone to call about any of his insurance or housing questions, as he spends hours on hold and this wastes his cell minutes. Many people still need help and housing is in short supply. West end homes without water and power are renting for a small fortune to contractors and those working to restore some sense of the normal. Inch by inch, it is coming....

I'd better give credit to the Galveston Daily News/10/14/08 for the photo!

Adjuster Day at the Beach

Walking down to the deserted beach, I found a hopeful sign of life. Our neighbor, Peter, who is with the Beach Patrol, has returned to his house and brought his two dogs. They live under a large palapa and seem to guard the neighborhood.

The insurance adjuster came today and with a tall ladder took a leap onto our roof to assess the damage. He looked around, made copious notes, jumped down and investigated the inside of the house. As far as adjusters go, [I have only met a few] he was pleasant and did the interrogatory. We will be able to see his findings in a week or so at our insurance companies website.

So now it is a "wait and see". It seems an appropriate caption for this picture....

Looking Around...

Friday we took a drive down to Galveston to pay our contractor, Casey for emptying out the garage of the debris from the disappearing blue house on the front row that landed in our yard. Allen, Cal and I took a walk west as we had not really done so after Ike. The front row is totally gone and the row in front of it seemed to surface as cut pilings of the houses that were moved years ago.

All that is left of the front row is this newer construction. It used to be on the edge of the beach but now is clearly in the water as this was taken at low tide. The old Smith house, just beyond it, was ripped off the pilings, spun around and dumped onto the sand as if it never had legs.

The beach is depopulated now. It is possible to walk and walk without seeing a soul. It is dangerous to swim here for now. There are unseen pieces of houses, metal and disoriented sharks to contend with.

We finally found watermarks on the inside of the garage that indicates that there may have been 5-6 feet of water and that it settled down to 3 feet long enough to leave its signature. We were led to believe it was more.

Actually, very little was said during the storm by the mayor. When asked about the West End, she always referred to it as "another matter" which would be dealt with later. All during the storm we waited to hear about the West End. Nothing was said. Only a weather man on the news took a helicopter to show what was happening there. Where was the information from City Government? I have my own speculations.

Another day on the reconstruction.

Well, now we can see where the roof became a sail and travelled down the road. We did have water in the living room but it was rain water and that is better than waves lapping there!

Brother in law, Cal has moved in with his buddy to protect the neighborhood, scavenge for scrap metals and generally observe what adventure means. He has taken to sleeping on the deck; I guess that he likes the sea air! I received promises to find my staircase that was built this past year and had shorter steps for older knees! Also, our bikes need to be found under the garage debris. We only rode them one time on the beach and it was really really fun to do once the sun had started to set and it wasn't so awfully hot.

Even though we do have damage to the house, I feel incredibly lucky that it wasn't worse. Those houses in town [and behind the seawall!] filled up with water and these people are left homeless. That is what haunts us all. These west end houses are mostly owned by vacationers. Sure, there are some who live out here but they should know what the sea can do. Periodically, we are reminded with storms but this one was an especially harsh one.

A few more images

Here are a few more images of the house and the area. We did sustain roof damage and the sheetrock in the bedrooms and living room ceilings ended up on the floor. I am happy that our new kitchen and bathroom were virtually untouched. It is an eerie feeling when you see that the dishes you washed on the last trip are still on the counter and just fine, while the living room looked like a gorilla had jumped through the roof. We are lucky that our son, Juan had a contractor friend who was kind enough to get to the West End and tarp up the roof.

I think we fared rather "midland" in regard to damage. Once we get a roof, we can repair the sheet rock and put in new flooring. Allen, his brother Cal and friend Kevin [who came down from Ohio] ripped up the carpet and tossed it over the deck. That pile is growing fast.

Many of you know that this is the year that we decided to NOT rent it to vacationers anymore. We loved our rental company, Century 21 Bayreef [Kevin!] but after 30 years, we decided to take it for ourselved. We made a lucky move to replace pilings, windows and siding last year and THAT paid off. The second row houses east of us all have pilings now that resemble tangled spaghetti. That blue house that was first row in front of it? Well, it vanished off the face of the earth entirely! I cannot even find the pilings. It must have been taken by a tornado.

We have tried to ascertain just how high the water came up on our pilings but the wooden legs are not talking. There are no marks to show where it ended. We are very happy that the waves were not lapping in our living room! No windows broken in the house but the garage seems to have hidden anything that washed by it. We can hardly see our bikes or the Chihuahuas' stroller. We prided ourselves on not having much in that garage but now we have everyone else's junk and then some! Washer, oven, tiles, a futon and more are all resting soggily under the house.

Through all this, we work on, as do the men on the street. When we finally drove off into the sunset, those men did too...

First Trip to the West End Post Hurrican Ike

Several friends have asked how our house fared

after Hurricane Ike. Here is the first view that

we saw after driving through a new passageway in back of our house. The circle that our house is on is completely covered in DEEP sand and is totally inaccessible.

I could not believe how many trucks [huge ones!] were moving sand from our yards to a huge pile on the beach side. In the course of our seven hours working there, they had moved all of the sand and made one "monster pile" at the end of our street.

I commend the men who really had a great attitude about moving sand around so that the crazy people who own these houses could get back in. After nearly 30 years of having a house on the West End, I have found few Galvestonians from the East End come out here except to work.