Regrets

So, I am no expert when it comes to spiders (okay, maybe I am), anyway we can say that I have a "better than average" knowledge about them. Today I noticed a spider while I was walking up the stairs and thought that it had really beautiful legs (don't judge me!) The spider's legs were long, with dark bands around them. I recognized that it wasn't one of the more common spiders that we have in our house, and that it also had a really great spider shape... really small head, large abdomen with distinct brown makings and longer than normal legs that flair (can you see where I am headed with this... anyone?) Yep, if you guessed that I was looking at the classic 'widow' shape you are correct (and a total spider geek)! So while I am enjoying the beauty of our visitor, my mind catches up with my eyes, Do I really think a Brown Widow should be in my house? I am watching the girls from next door and my sweet spider lover, Ian, is an inch away looking at the spider with me. I don't want to freak anyone out, so I just calmly tell the kids that I think I am going to kill this spider and to stand back so that I don't lose it. I got a Kleenex and came down on the scared little spider. Surely I would not have died if this spider bit me, but I definitely killed it. I regret the fact that I crushed it so hard that I couldn't even make out its hourglass on her underside. I regret that I didn't have a jar or something that I could capture it in just to look at her without fear of injury to one of my kiddos! I really didn't want a (probably not deadly) but certainly dangerous spider in my house, but I regret that I had to destroy it too!

Here are five fun Brown Widow Facts. 1. Brown Widow spiders are often called the brown button spider. 2. They are cousins of the famous Black Widow, they have the same body shape, are around the same size, and have an hourglass shape on the underside of their abdomen, the brown widow's hourglass can be anywhere from brown, orange, yellow and tan. The black widow's is always red. 3. Researchers believe that the Brown Widow venom is twice and potent as the blacks' but it is confined to the tissue and does not spread through the bloodstream. 4. The brown widow egg sack is spiky. 5. There are over 30 types of Widow spiders, and they are found on every content except Antarctica. The Brown Widow is very common in Texas, and we just had a hurricane, poor little babies are bound to come indoors. Man I really wish I would have a least taken a picture :(
As for me, I will be looking out for spiky egg sacs tomorrow.

Nothing Like A Good Book!

Check out this cutie! I asked Ian if he wanted to sit down and read some books, and he said "yes". He went and got all of his favorite books and sat down on the couch. Well the book I was reading was sitting there too. He decided that he would rather read my book. He didn't want me to read with him he just wanted to look at Ender's Game. There are no pictures in that book, but he sat on the couch for 20 minutes just turning the pages and looking at the words. Perhaps he was looking for the reason I just stare into it all day. Or maybe he was just imitating me... You don't have to look to hard to see how your children perceive you (I guess reading isn't that bad!)

If you are looking for a good Sci-Fi book... You could take Ian's advice and Read Ender's Game. Oh, and wouldn't you know it, I was borrowing this book! I have a very strict policy about not letting my Children even breathe on borrowed books, Children tend to destroy! So Jana, sorry...I hope you don't mind a little 3 year old love on your book.

Seriousness and Silliness!

Sunday Matt and about 30 guys (and a few gals) from our ward, went to Galveston to help clean out homes affected by Ike. He said they just went door to door helping people with what ever they needed. He said that they even moved a piano (glad he brought the piano dolly!) Galveston was hit hard... there were boat everywhere, even lining the freeway, and houses were flooded and destroyed. I am glad that he was able to help some people out.

(boats beside I-45)

Since half the men were away on Sunday, my friend Kelly invited me over for lunch. We let the kids play and we visited. Here is a picture of the silliness at her house! The kids decided to Dress up in Aurora's clothes (nothing like the one girl to get the 3 boys to dress in her clothes)!

(sorry for the low quality... Cell phone picture)

Crystal Cave

Most people know that I have a love of geology, specifically mineralogy and Karst Topography (caves, sinkholes etc.) I started writing why I love caves and minerals so much, but it got rather mushy... and nobody wants to read that! Anyway today I discovered these pictures of the "The Cave of the Crystals" (cueva de los cristales). WOW, I know that caves are magnificent but this cave really out did its self... it's the supermodel of caves. Some of these selenite gypsum crystals in this cave are over 12 meters large! The crystals were able to get so large because of a really warm temperature, water, and some remnant calcium sulphate left by volcanic activity millions of years before . The anti-chamber of the cave has an area called the cave of swords because of the 400ft deep walls of dagger shaped crystals (more naturally sized) from ceiling to floor. When the cave was discovered, it was used to mine gold, silver and copper and zinc, and the water (that was needed to grow the crystals) was pumped out. Scientist were able to study the cave (that's good) but some people have started to break and steal many of the crystals (that's bad) and it makes me sad. Hmmm, I didn't know that Superman's Fortress was underground in Mexico?!

Hurrican Dictionary

We came across new meanings for otherwise normal words during our past week of Hurricane drama. Her is our dictionary for those of you who wanted to know, also for our Houston friends feel free to add to our dictionary in the comments.

Refrigeration: An Ice Chest on the floor filled with Ice.

Ice: An element more precious and then gold or jewels it is difficult to find, and even more difficult to keep in it's frozen state.

Stir crazy: A family confined to their home with no A/C and electricity.

Worm Jar: a jar where you keep the dozen or so worms that invaded your house to escape the hurricane

Sware Switches/Light Switches: A devise when used with electricity turns on and off lights, without power it is still used but the result is no longer light, but sware-words.

Tall Trees: Roadblocks/ Roof Decorations.

Tree Limbs: Lawn Ornaments.

Co/op Quick open: An effective means to extract something from your powerless (but still cool) refrigerator. Where one person opens quickly and closes the door quickly while the other grabs the needed item, letting out the least amount of cool air.

TVs/Computers/Microwaves/Garbage disposals/Hair Dryer etc. : Obsolete items that remind you how you used to live.

Plywood: Opaque windows.

Eye of the Hurricane: 10 min. of sleep.

Shower: A brief walk around the neighborhood.

Unrefrigerated Meat: Neighborhood BBQ

Kite: A dog tied-up outside during the storm.

Car Ride: A brief excursion in your car to have A/C and to charge cell phones.

More Rain: Just when you think you had enough rain during the hurricane you get 12 inches the next night.

Ike's Aftermath

Here is a slide show of our "after" pictures. There are some scary pictures and some fun ones. We had fun as a family, doing plays, telling stories, doing shadow puppets and playing with Lego's.
It's really been a crazy week, things are starting to get back to normal. Matt's back at school and Jason should be heading back this week. Last night when the power came back on Ian was so excited that he ran downstairs yelling that it was working! It was so funny! I still have a few more blogs to go, so hang in there with me. Enjoy our fun and crazy pictures!

See what Ike did!!!

Yep, were up, I have electricity and internet! Whoohoo!!! Here are some pictures and Video of our famous Hurricane Ike!
Before the storm... wasn't it beautiful!

Windy during the storm!
Our Worm Jar!!! These are the dozen or so worms that sought refuge in our house... YUCK!

Some video of the storm!

Still still no power.

Sorry everybody, I have a really good reason for not posting, we still don't have power. The good news is that it should be really soon! There are crews working in our neighborhood and my friend Kelli called me last night to tell me she had power. I can see Kelli's house from our bedroom window, how frustrating that we were still without. Anyway, the weather has taken a turn, and our glorious "fall" weather turned back in to "Houston Fall" weather... humid & very hot! Our house was sweltering so we headed down to Rice for some much needed Internet and air conditioning time. We do have some lovely friends that are trying to keep us cool, and I thank each and every one of them for that. So check back soon for some pictures and updates.

Still No Power

This is Matt reporting live from Rice University. I'm not the usual blogger, but I'd thought I'd send out a quick update. We still don't have power, which is the case for most of the city (Houston is actually under a curfew until Saturday). I came to campus today to check on my lab and get some much needed internet time. Rice is on the same underground utilities line that supplies the medical district, so power to campus was never even interrupted. We came through the storm relatively unscathed, but not everyone was so fortunate. Our area is extremely wooded and there are downed trees EVERYWHERE!! They're blocking the roads, hanging in the power lines, and have done quite a bit of damage to cars and houses. There is a house a couple of streets over (right next to Jason's school) that had a large tree crash right through their living room opening it up to the sky. That was my worst fear! What do you do if something flies through your window or crashes into your house while the hurricane is raging in the middle of the night?! We experience crazy winds and rain for about 18 hours straight, it was quite a ride!!!

Anyway, we've had a bit of luck with the weather. A cold front came through yesterday and it is beautiful. I'd have the A/C off and the windows open right now even if we did have power. Our biggest inconvenience is the lack of refrigeration. Ice (as well as all other goods and services in the city) is extremely hard to come by, but we still have plenty of food and water. We're getting by fairly well, and we've been much more fortunate than many others in the area. Those of you with T.V. probably know better than I do about the damage on the south side and in Galveston. I understand that it was quite bad.

One good thing that has come out of all this is the strong sense of community. It's like the good ol' days before A/C when people used to spend their evenings outside and everyone on the street would get to know each other. I've met neighbors that I otherwise wouldn't have. We talk and share what tidbits of information we have about what gas stations have reopened, what stores have ice, what grocery stores are open, etc. We grilled up all our chicken (because it was going to go bad) and took it over to a friend's house for lunch yesterday, and they used up a bunch of their food. Everyone on the block seems to be grilling every day (especially since you don't need electricity to grill).

Well, this post has turned out to be much longer than I'd planned on, probably because I've been starved for email and internet. I've hear rumors that our power in Spring might be on by the end of the week, but I don't know anything for sure. When we're back up and running Terri will give a real post with pictures and video. Peace out.

Bring it IKE, Bring it!

Ike is getting closer, it's getting gloomy and windy, but we haven't seen a drop of rain yet. The storm is still set to hit us around midnight tonight, and go right over us. For those of you who are familiar with the Houston area, Ike will hit landfall and start heading north east, it's going to follow I-45. Looks like storms like to stay on the major roads, who knew? This is what the latest weather report is for Spring: Sustained winds 60-90 mph, 5-10" rain with flooding in poor drainage areas, isolated tornadoes.

(We are not in a low lying area). We are expecting a loss of power, and we hope that it won't last too long. We're ready for you Ike! Bring it! Sorry Em, looks like I'm not going to get a picture of a tornado for you... it will be too dark :)

Ike

I am quoting from my friend Kelly's blog, I couldn't have said it better.

"We just wanted to let our family and friends know that we are not in an evacuation zone and are planning to stay here during the storm. We have plenty of food storage to get us through the weekend and have all the necessities to sustain us as well. We are expecting a lot of rain along with strong wind, but have not been asked to leave. There are evacuations taking place closer to Galveston Bay where flooding is an issue. We are not in a flood zone."

Matt and Jason do not have school tomorrow so we will all be together. If there are any changes to our plan we'll post and let you know.

A Different Perspective

Some days you get a different view of things, Ian has provided a new perspective over the last few days....
What do you see?

My Perspective: Ian is taking a Nap....
Ian's perspective: Cleaning up!


My Perspective: The house across the street is for sale...
Ian's Perspective: "Are they having a birthday party"

My Perspective: An Owl...

Ian's Perspective: An ANGRY owl!

I have to admit he does have a point!