Hurricane Ike

[lil mermaid]

First off, let me say that I know that my family is lucky that we are alive and well and that we only minor damage to our home. We are still without power, and we will be until at least Sunday, it looks like - but again, we are fortunate that my DH's big evil oil company employer gave us a generator to use...

But I want power back. It is hot here. My house is kind of stinky.


We have two very large pine trees down in our front yard (well, one has a small part still in the ground) and another on in back that is damaged and needs to come down. We just had a tree service come out - apparently it is a company that is here from SC and is working with a tree service that we have used twice in the past. Well, their quote today was rougly three and a half times more than what we paid last year to have three diseased trees removed, taken away, and stumps ground. Oh, and those trees were HUGE. This quote includes taking down the damaged tree (smaller) and taking down the tree in the front yard and cutting up all of the wood into piles and stacking it in the front yard. They don't have to even take it away, because the county is coming out to do that. Also, stump griding is apparently extra.

I am so frustrated - we have had numerous tree services come to our door and offer to do the work for much less than this quote. We felt that it would be better to go with a company that we know - because we don't want someone who doesn't know what they are doing dropping a tree on our roof. Now I wish we had just gone with one of the others....

I know that things could be worse. But two weeks of no power is getting to me...

 

[Mr Man]

I empathize with you and hope you get power back soon.

My parents are still without power also (they have our generator- darn those oil companies indeed- lol). Their neighborhood is an older one with lots of big beautiful trees. Unfortunately, a lot of these fell on power lines, cars, houses and yards. They are still clearing the neighborhood and do not expect the power back on until early October.

My parents neighbor had a large tree that fell on their house. Asking price was 3k to remove the tree, cut into manageable pieces and move to the street.

On average, it is about $500 per tree to remove them and clean up the area. YIKES!

Glad I live in a new neighborhood with skinny, small trees......

 

[brerrabbit]

First off, let me say that I know that my family is lucky that we are alive and well and that we only minor damage to our home. We are still without power, and we will be until at least Sunday, it looks like - but again, we are fortunate that my DH's big evil oil company employer gave us a generator to use...

But I want power back. It is hot here. My house is kind of stinky.


We have two very large pine trees down in our front yard (well, one has a small part still in the ground) and another on in back that is damaged and needs to come down. We just had a tree service come out - apparently it is a company that is here from SC and is working with a tree service that we have used twice in the past. Well, their quote today was rougly three and a half times more than what we paid last year to have three diseased trees removed, taken away, and stumps ground. Oh, and those trees were HUGE. This quote includes taking down the damaged tree (smaller) and taking down the tree in the front yard and cutting up all of the wood into piles and stacking it in the front yard. They don't have to even take it away, because the county is coming out to do that. Also, stump griding is apparently extra.

I am so frustrated - we have had numerous tree services come to our door and offer to do the work for much less than this quote. We felt that it would be better to go with a company that we know - because we don't want someone who doesn't know what they are doing dropping a tree on our roof. Now I wish we had just gone with one of the others....

I know that things could be worse. But two weeks of no power is getting to me...

I bet I know what part of the Woodlands you live in. My co worker who sits right next to me lives in the Woodlands as does several other people here and all have power but him. We all work for one of those big evil oil companies as well. I wish you well and hope you power comes back soon as I know what it is to have no power. Ours came back on Thursday of last week. There are still a lot of folks around me in Pearland that don't have power yet either. A good friend that lives down the street had theirs come back on Tuesday of last week but as of last night it was back off.

 

[lil mermaid]

I bet I know what part of the Woodlands you live in. My co worker who sits right next to me lives in the Woodlands as does several other people here and all have power but him. We all work for one of those big evil oil companies as well. I wish you well and hope you power comes back soon as I know what it is to have no power. Ours came back on Thursday of last week. There are still a lot of folks around me in Pearland that don't have power yet either. A good friend that lives down the street had theirs come back on Tuesday of last week but as of last night it was back off.

Yep, that little part in the back of Sterling Ridge that has Centerpoint. Grr...

Anyhow, thanks y'all for letting me vent. I just want our lives to get back to normal...

 

[Gina]

First off, let me say that I know that my family is lucky that we are alive and well and that we only minor damage to our home. We are still without power, and we will be until at least Sunday, it looks like - but again, we are fortunate that my DH's big evil oil company employer gave us a generator to use...

But I want power back. It is hot here. My house is kind of stinky.

I feel your pain... I'm in the STILL-no-^%#$&-power group, and both my understanding and my patience -- and possibly a goodly chunk of my sanity -- ran out days ago. There is soooooo much damage, and I get that... but it is almost 90 degrees, and enough is enough.

Here at work (same 77581 zip as my house) we got power back on last Friday. Then about 7am this morning, there it went. It has been dead since. If that happens at my house, after all this, I think I might go on a shooting spree or something. lol That will send me smooth over the edge.

 

[EMom]

Checking in from Washington, DC.......As I refugeed up here when I finally figured out we would not get power AT ALL this week. I stayed that first week, since it was relatively cool, naively hoping the power would come back on. But noooooooo! The temps started climbing last Friday and I called DH at work (his company has lots of power and A/C) and told him to call Continental and take advantage of those evacuation fares and get me and DD the helloutta Dodge for a week.

I was freaking tired of hunting for gas, laying in wait for my limit of one or two bags of ice, and eating tuna, peanut butter and pop tarts. Nope, I'd had quite enough. DD's school, in its infinite LACK of wisdom, started classes this past Monday, even though half the kids don't have power. Idgits. I couldn't even pack an ice cooler in her lunch box, let alone get lunch items. What a mess! Anyway, DC seemed like a fine place to go.....educational and all that, ya know. Besides, I couldn't talk the husband into WDW.

As of today, We STILL have no power. A kind neighbor lent us a small generator and DH called to say we are the proud new owners of a cheap A/C window unit, which he is using to cool the master bedroom and bath. Woo hoo! I have no idea when it will be restored.

On the up side, we had virtually no damage to the house and that is more than almost all of my neighbors can say, so I can't complain too much. Of the 4 houses at the end of my cul de sac, 3 were damaged. Well, 2 houses were damaged and one had a tree fall on a car. Only we escaped harm. Ginourmous trees uprooted everywhere, blocking roads, fallen on houses and cars, etc. That tree that fell on our neighbor's car was doomed to fall on our car or his, and he simply drew the short straw. That baby snapped right in half. Ike sat on top of us for 10 hours or so at terrific force.

I don't know which was worse. The hurricane or having to take in my MIL for a few days. Never again. The updated hurricane evacuation plan is this: Take her to the airport and put her on a plane to go stay with the son who ran away to live up north. It's his turn.

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know we're still alive and kicking.

 

[EMom]

ACK!!! Called DH tonight and we still don't have power. Sadly, we must return soon.

However, while checking out the Jefferson Memorial today, we did get to see lots of activity, both in the air and on the ground. With Obama and McCain arriving today, the White House helicopters were very busy making repeat trips to the White House and a motorcycle unit was on every single corner. We got caught in a few blocked off areas, but my friend's skill at U-turning on a dime got us out of the situation every time. We did decide to leave downtown early though. It was becoming a massive mess.

Off to see the dinosaurs tomorrow. Only a few more days of electricity to enjoy.....:

Anyone else regain power today?

 

[Mr Man]

ACK!!! Called DH tonight and we still don't have power. Sadly, we must return soon.

However, while checking out the Jefferson Memorial today, we did get to see lots of activity, both in the air and on the ground. With Obama and McCain arriving today, the White House helicopters were very busy making repeat trips to the White House and a motorcycle unit was on every single corner. We got caught in a few blocked off areas, but my friend's skill at U-turning on a dime got us out of the situation every time. We did decide to leave downtown early though. It was becoming a massive mess.

Off to see the dinosaurs tomorrow. Only a few more days of electricity to enjoy.....:

Anyone else regain power today?

My parents got their power back tonight at 6pm. they live in Carriage Hills off of FM1488

 

[EMom]

Are they with Center Point? I'd be thrilled if ANYONE with Center Point got power these days. Seriously, with Rita, we had Entergy and cussed it because of those rolling brownouts that went on for a solid week or more. Everyone with Centerpoint was sitting around with cool A/C while we suffered. We thought we were doing sooooooo much better to have Center Point at this new house. But NO! The Entergy folks across the street had power over a week ago and we're still sitting in the dark. (Well, actually DH is sitting in the dark. I'm up here in DC being a tourist and houseguest. )

ACK!! I can't win for losing.

 

[lil mermaid]

Well, we are in that one teeny tiny area of the Woodlands that has Centerpoint. We got our power back at 3:30 pm today. I am so glad because I was at the point where I thought one more day and I would crack....

I hope y'all get yours back, and soon

 

[Gina]

We FINALLY got power back on this afternoon. I almost cried from joy and sheer relief. I am now basking in the wonderful planet-killing bliss that is air-conditioning.

 

[RNMOM]

I am apauled that companies can continue to get away with this kind of thing. I'm sorry your families have had to endure so much only to be scammed.

Have you tried contacting your city hall or maybe your power company. Yeah, I know. Here our city has to certify anyone who is licensed to do business here. It can come in handy at times. I do know that if our power company is doing tree trimming in the area they will often give us a good deal on tree removal as the equipment is already in place.

I hope all turns out for you. Please keep us posted.

 

[JennaTX]

I'm in Champion Forest, got power back yesterday at 4:00 pm and we have Center Point. When I saw the four trucks on my street I went and bought them a cooler full of beer.

We were in the zip code that said Sunday or later, so maybe there is hope.

But I feel for you OP, we were nasty and stinky around here too!

One of my friends had a tree fall on their cars and they got the same quote, way over priced and they were not even going to haul it away!

Our school district went back before most of us had power too, but it was nice that they offered free lunch/breakfast across the district for 10 days.

OP we bought two window a/c units, if you want to borrow them, just send me a PM.