Brazoria, Sunday, September 25, 8:45 pm

ANN: We got home about 3:00 pm, with no difficulties. Our route avoiding all major highways had virtually no traffic. We saw bits of minor damage as we trundled through Houston -- stuff like small branches down and big signs and some awnings torn off, but nothing more. On the way out we saw many Kroger stores that were open. Not so many gas stations. There are traffic lights not operating all over.

Here in our yard, we don't seem to have lost any wood, although some of my cannas were laid over like Sarah's were. Power evidently went out long enough to cause the microwave oven to lose its mind, but all the electric clocks still have the correct time, or as close to it as they ever do. And even with the air conditioner off, the house was only up to about 85F -- definitely still cooler than outside.

We have unloaded the van, and we plan to pull off the boards after dinner. I don't think I can face rearranging and putting away all the stuff that I packed up before tomorrow.

NEAL: As Ann noted, we came home via a back road of sorts: FM-521. It's a straight shot from Houston to Brazoria, and crosses the Brazoria Bridge about a mile from our house. But it's not an evacuation (or return-from-evac) route, so there was minimal traffic. We made it home in a bit over an hour, which is typical for our trips to Houston.

Apparently, our local county judge has taken evacuation matters into his own hands: he lifted the county's Mandatory Evacuation order at noon yesterday, two days ahead of the date specified by unnamed "state officials."

It's now after 8:00 pm, and we still haven't gotten the plywood off the windows. Those Plylox clips make it easy to install plywood (as claimed) but it's not easy to get them off later (contrary to the manufacturer's claim). But it's now as dark outside as it is inside, so we're not missing much. We'll get them off tomorrow.

In view of the minimal damage we sustained, we probably didn't need to board up the windows anyway.

And we certainly didn't need to try to evacuate to Brenham. Next time we get a hurricane, we're going to Houston again -- probably via FM-521.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Texas highway numbering system:

• "SH" designates a 2- or 4-lane state highway called a "state highway."
• "FM" designates a 2- or 4-lane state highway called a "farm-to-market road."
• "RM" designates a 2- or 4-lane state highway called a "ranch-to-market road."

Got that?

And for those of you have been following this blog, you might want to scroll through it again. I've added several photos to previous messages.

Feel free to e-mail me if you have comments or questions ... I might want to respond here on the blog. Otherwise, that's it for this blog.