You know it's bad when they postpone the Arkansas/Texas game!

Weellll...we didn't go to Houston. My Aggie husband would say, "I'm not a smart man, but I know what a hurricane is." We decided Wednesday night not to go, so I stayed an extra night with my Mom, and came home today after lunch. Her friends are bringing her supper and a movie tonight, and one of them will sleep over, so I think she's going to be fine, and I thought I'd better get home while I still could! Last night Mike called at 10:30 from Magnolia and said he was on his way to buy gas, because prices were supposed to jump and Camden (~30 minutes away) was completely out. He said the Walmart gas station was happenin'. Well, I wasn't about to drive into town by myself after dark to get gas, so I promised him I would get up and go first thing this morning. And I did, even before I washed my hair! And I pulled right up to the pump and paid $3.49, same as it had been the day before. I chuckled at my silly husband. Then, after lunch, we passed a gas station on our way out of town: $4.69!!!!! In 5 hours!!! Crazy. The drive home was great, except for the last 30 minutes, when we had our first tiny little taste of Ike. It was pouring down driving rain, with pretty scary wind gusts whipping the trees around, and small debris all over the road. I was glad to get home! And now it's cloudy, but calm.
Mike's brother Jeff and his family have evacuated from Beaumont; please pray for protection for their house, which did receive some damage from Rita.
Mike's mom and sister Jeannie and her family are not evacuating from where they live, which is actually north of Houston and not under evac. orders. They're going to ride it out, so please pray for their safety!
Ike's forecasted route used to go right over us, but the last one I saw had moved it north a bit. But our weather guy Ed just said it could still be a hurricane when it reaches southwest Arkansas. That's crazy. That's us. SAU family day was scheduled for tomorrow, but that and their football game have been cancelled. As far north as we are, that's pretty sobering.

By the way, when we were in Conway I got to see my nephew Shorty Mark Philip. He was on his way from Navy basic training in Chicago to his first duty station in San Diego, USS Nimitz. He came over Wednesday night with Mark, Sally, Whitney, Kennedi, Sarah, Jason, and Kelli. It was so good to see him! I still called him Shorty, even though he's 6 1/2 feet tall now! And he calls me Aunt Squirt. :)