Isaac's garden finally produced! (Small bowl usedf intentionally to made product appear larger.) Leah made some killer pico de gallo yesterday using a couple to add some TX heat. I don't know any other seven year olds making it; must be a testiment she belongs to me.

... to let you know what's going on down here as we get ready for tropical strom Ike. Our county (Fort Bend) is not under mandatory evacuation, in fact, no one I know in this area is leaving. They've been evacutating areas close to Galveston, which is already experiencing some flooding. We've moved everything from outside into the garage (or garbage can!) and Paul is just now finishing boarding up the last window: cave dwellers! It should hit Galveston sometime in the middle of the night and they're saying we could experience hurricane winds (75-100mph) for up to six hours. After bathing everyone tonight we'll clean out the tub and fill it with water; just in case the water shuts down it'll be nice to be able to flush the toilet, wash, etc. We're expecting the electricity to go off, we just don't know how long and are hoping it won't be days and days; it heats up pretty quickly down here without A/C. We're just hoping for the best for everyone down here and are really glad we don't live in an area that is expected to flood (I keep telling our neighbors that because they don't know how to swim and are in a state of panic).