Thankfully we weathered the storm just fine although it was an anxious night to say the least.  We were lucky that our power stayed on until 2 am, just as the storm got bad here.  I even managed to get some sleep as the wind didn't seem to be as scary where our bedroom was compared to the family room at the back of the house.  It's not just the wind, it's the odd noises and moans and groans that you can't identify and can't see out during the night and shouldn't be near the windows anyway.  In the morning we were stunned to see lots of tree branches down, our chimney cap off in a neighbor's driveway (one of the weird noises no doubt!) and a big branch on our garage, but the house was fine as were the cars.  Fortunately, in our neighborhood, of the parts I have seen, the big trees and branches that fell seemed to land in the street rather than on top of a house.  Miraculously our power came back on the next evening, but it is rare to have power.  I've learned the most important thing is to have ice!  People are standing in long lines waiting for ice, water, and meals not to mention gasoline, where there is some.  Generally speaking, we are just inconvenienced in Houston, but Galveston took a terrible hit and some other areas without the seawall are all but obliterated.  Even so, some beach houses stood and look in pretty good shape.  Now it looks like hundreds and hundreds of power trucks and workers have arrived and are staging at the race track so hopefully lots of people will get their power back on soon.  Here are some photos of the tree damage in our yard and neighborhood.  While shocking to us at first look after the storm, they seem like nothing after what we have seen on TV for days.