Update: 6:20 pm

They're getting hurricane force winds in Galveston. We still haven't gotten much more than some gusts around 40 mph. Here's a pick of one of our trees in the backyard in a big gust.

From Hurricane Ike

We still have power (obviously), which is nice. We managed to have dinner, and it's cooling on the counter before we put the leftover in the frig. Want to keep the frig as cool as possible for as long as possible.

There have been some big fires in Galveston, and the fire department can't get to them to put them out. Galveston officials say that after 9:00 they won't be responding to any requests for help. That's rather scary. The news says that up to 40% of the islanders didn't evacuate. That's nuts.

The water hasn't risen in the last few hours, but that's because the tide was going out. Soon it'll change and then the water will rise pretty fast.

The house behind us already has some shingles flapping in the wind. We went out to look at our house, but so far, everything looks tight. Another neighbor dismantled part of his fence to use as hurricane shutters over his windows.

We're saving our non-power activities for when the power goes out. Right now, I'm keeping up with the news and internet.