As I was painting this peaceful scene, Hurricane Ike was out in the gulf and on a path aimed straight at our house. Like so many hurricanes in the past, we anticipated that it would change directions and go someplace else. This time it didn’t, it passed right over our house. Unlike so many of our neighbors, we did not have too much damage to our house and trees. Since we had no power to operate the circulating pump for the fish ponds, we lost 10 large, over 20 inches, KOI fish. They each had a history, a name and a personality and I miss them.

Our son-in-law had a generator sent to us which arrived on Sunday night a week ago. Since then we can power the circulating pump for the fish ponds, a refrigerator, a few lights and this computer. There are thousands of work crews here from all over America to remove the trees off of power lines and repair the electrical power lines. Six crews from Kansas have been in our neighborhood for the last three days removing trees from power lines. We are hopeful that the electrical lineman can start today to repair the power lines. I listen to the tone, that might imply a problem, of the noise of the generator more than I do the pulse of my heart. 

If the power is restored, my wife and I plan to go to Colorado on Thursday of this week to visit our friend’s ranch in the San Juan Mountains south of Gunnison . In the meantime, hurricane or no hurricane, I have been very busy preparing for having a booth in the Bayou City Art Festival, in downtown Houston on October 18 and 19^th.