An-Ike-Dotes

Dispatches from around the city, as told to Houstonist by various friends:

In Seabrook, a doctor's lakefront home was under four feet of water on Saturday. When the waters receded on Monday, the family went to begin cleaning and salvaging the house and its contents. Among the stranger findings: on the front lawn, the television from a guest room, two dining room chairs and a bottle of wine, all grouped neatly together; in the pool, several hundred dead fish; in the backyard by the lake, a lone salt shaker; in nearly every cabinet downstairs, even more dead fish; and in a coat closet, someone's pet parrot, also dead.

At a Kroger store in Humble, a five-hour long wait for bags of ice led to a minor incident. A woman who had been in line for only an hour left. She returned four hours later, after filling her car with gas, expecting to get her place in line back. When she walked to her former spot in line, the other patrons were uninterested in allowing her to cut in line after she'd been gone for 1/6th of the day. The woman became confrontational and pulled out her Taser, threatening to Tase everyone in line who didn't allow her back in. Police and store management quickly defused the situation by taking the woman's Taser away and taking her into custody.

In northwest Houston off 290, a man went outside on Saturday afternoon to check out the backyard of his home. He noticed a slight rustling in some leaves by his garage and went to find the source of the noise. Peeking under some bushes, he found a tiny knot of exhausted, wet, frightened hummingbirds huddled together, peering up at him in fear. In disbelief that they had all made it through the storm, he filled his hummingbird feeders with nectar and hung them all up as quickly as he could. The hummingbirds gratefully clustered around the feeders within minutes, seeking sustenance and a return to normalcy after a trying night.

At a California Pizza Kitchen in Memorial City Mall, hungry patrons were thrilled to find a restaurant open on Monday afternoon. The restaurant's staff and manager were even happier to have the business. The manager came around to every table, checking on people and listening intently to their stories of the hurricane, their lack of power and any damage sustained to their homes. And although the restaurant had only bottled water and bottles of Mountain Dew to offer their patrons, the manager graciously gave them 50% off their total bills in appreciation for coming in that day.