Training for the Ragnar Relay (Oct 24-25)...

The race is from San Antonio to Austin!

What is Ragnar? It is a 180 mile 24 hour 12 man relay race that originated in Utah of all places. All the runners do three different legs over the course of the race. I joined a team with one of my friends from church.

Me running in the Echo Triathlon

I'll be running a 6.7-mile leg around 6:00PM. The next begins at 6:15 AM with another 6.7 miles, and finally another 4 miles hill section to finish up my legs. I'm expected to run a 8 minute mile. The worst part about the last triathlon I did was that my legs were dead by the end, so hopefully all the training will pay off. At least I get a break in between all the running!

Ragnar was a 9th century Norse King. He was a pirate, a raider, a conqueror, an explorer, and a wild man. The tough, fearless, rugged attributes of this Norse King are shared by all who participate in a Ragnar Relay. In much the same way, a Ragnar Relay provides runners the freedom to roam, to explore - a free-spirited curiosity to get out there and experience outdoor adventure. And maybe even to conquer. And though tough or rugged may not perfectly describe you, these attributes become a goal - something to strive for.

It took forever, but I did finish that triathlon...

In a Ragnar Relay the wild nature of this Norse King is embraced by many participants. Participants who aren't afraid to paint their van plaid, to bring along their own hair band, to join together in yelling as they cross the finish line. You may think that you are not one of them, but you are. Everyone has a wild side and nothing brings it out of you like a Ragnar Relay.

Power's back. Thanks to ALL who helped!

What most of Galveston currently looks like

So we finally got power back last night which, if you include Friday, was our sixth day without power. I guess we took for granted all the wonderful comforts we enjoy today. Too bad for the 1.4 million people in Houston that are still doing without and although they say that 75% of the people will have power by September 21st, some will be well into October before they have anything. Again those from Galveston are going back to pretty much nothing and our prayers go out to those families so directly affected by the hurricane.

A lion makes herself at home in a church after Hurricane Ike

And if Galveston didn't already have enough problems people are afraid of returning because there is a lion that escaped during the storm. Here's a little clip of a news article on the lion at large.

Jim Yarbrough, a Galveston County judge, said the authorities were working out a way of evacuating the big cat. "When you think you've seen everything, you find something else," he said.

Locals did - when they discovered that a tiger is also on the loose.

Officials in Galveston County, the coastal area worst hit by the storm at the weekend, have called in animal experts to find and catch the freed tiger, which is thought to have escaped from an exotic pets centre.

"The tiger was understood to be hungry so we're staying away from him", Mr Yarbrough added.

(4) Florida at Tennessee

On a brighter note, for Doug at least, he can now watch the Tennessee v. Florida game this Saturday in clear crisp High Definition. The Vols have a young quarterback and are kind of the underdogs, but if anyone can pull up an upset at home, it is the real UT. Go to http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/features/take2?gameId=282642633 for the scoop.

Thanks again everyone who called to check up on us and for all your thoughtful messages. A special thanks to Cosme & Judy for their hospitality while we waited for things to get back on track!

Hurricane Ike Hits Houston

Houston hasn't seen a major hurricane since Alicia in 1983. Well our luck changed here in September 2008, 25 years later. The local missionaries were on the same boat as me (Doug) - excited we were going to get to see and experience a big hurricane. In fact, we were hoping it would be bigger than a category 3. I really got my hopes up when The National Weather Service gave the following warning on Friday (Sep 12th) to residences of nearby Galveston: "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death."

Waves coming over the Galveston waterwall Prior to Ike's Landfall

When even that stern warning didn't get people to evacuate, officials quit trying and told the residents to "write your social security # on one arm and their drivers license # on the other so we can identify your body." For some reason that got people to leave. Ike hit Houston really early Saturday morning and we were wide awake watching the trees dance. When daylight broke that morning we were able to finally see what happened.

One of the neighbor's fallen trees.

Earlier in the day, even before the hurricane hit, we saw on the news that several places were already getting damage from the gusts of wind Ike was bringing. After it passed we saw that, in fact, most of the damage in our area could be attributed to just that. My in-laws lost part of their roof or their arbor completely and our neighbors had trees down.

That water is NOT supposed to be there.

Cosme and Judy (my in-laws) also got some water damage but they did get a new lake view on their golf course. We were fortunate enough to only get a bunch of limbs and scattered debris, leaving no structural damage to our home.

The wind blew so hard it plastered leaves to the walls!

Today, problems were worsened in our area by additional rainfall which led to flooding around us only because the bayous were already very full.

This bayou between West & Longenbaugh is normally dry!

Also, our power is STILL OUT! Fortunately, I have some very hospitable in-laws who put us up so we could stay cool and watch BYU take UCLA "out back for a good old fashioned beating" (Vs. Channel) with a shutout at home of 59-0. This was all SWEET redemption in a round about way for my Volunteers who gave the game away to UCLA last week in a painful one point loss. Well...we'll keep all of you updated as the clean-up begins.