Texas is a pretty exciting place. On Tuesday, 8/31 my brother drove to work, getting a flat tire on the way so he called my sister and asked her to go change the tire before she left for work. Joel drives a dumptruck so he was on the road that day. Four hours later when my sister went to change the tire the car was burning so bad that it had to be dragged out of the parking lot. The car was totaled as well as everything in it. It’s pretty obvious that the fire started in the tire. The only thing that we can figure is that somehow the sun shining on the wheel well on the hot pavement is somehow the cause of the fire.Joel had only had that car since October. Full coverage, thank goodness.

There is a creek behind the apartment complex where my sister and I live, Nolan Creek, and there is a public park that runs along the creek so there is a good distance between the complex and the creek. It’s a nice creek. The other day I spent a few hours down there, there are all kinds of different ducks and I even saw a Little Blue Heron. The park is nice too, walking and biking paths, there is a basketball court and a little roofed shelter, water fountains and decorative lights…

You’ve heard of Tropical Depression Hermine? Well it started raining here sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
It was a nice steady rain, not a beating rain. I told my sister how nice the rain was and how this area needs the rain. It rained all day yesterday and all night last night… This morning a little after seven AM I wake up and my sister told me the creek was flooding.
There is a parking lot behind the complex for the people who live in the back apartments, there is a retaining wall between the parking lot and the back apartments. Back there is also where the dumpsters are. By the time I woke up at 7AM the people whose cars were parked in the back lot had been woken and told they had to move their cars and one of the dumpsters had already floated away. By 8, the water was over the retaining wall and the people in the back buildings were told by the fire department they had to evacuate the buildings. We in the front of the complex were told we had to be prepared to evacuate.
9:30/10 the water is receding, my sister leaves for work. Shortly after that my brother calls and asks if I want to go with him to Austin to pick up his new car, I say “Naw I think I’ll stay here and read a bit.” I decide to go out and check on the damage first and am told that a fireman/police said that there is talk of the floodgates at the dam being opened and if that were to happen everyone in the complex would have to evacuate. I start thinking to myself, “Yvonne is at work and Joel is on his way to Austin…”
Joel calls again and I tell him that I will go with him to get his new car. (I was a bit worried about that too because there are roads flooded down there but Joel told me that he knew back roads that wouldn’t be flooded) So we go to Austin, pick up his new car, come back and the water has gone back down to within it’s banks. People are out walking around checking out the damage and there is a TV news crew in the park filming.

Texas is a pretty exciting place