Flood Recovery, Step 1:

Remove everything.

And don't forget to take insurance photos! (for when they claim you coulda just kept and sanded the floors)

Electric Black-Out Care Package

From Leppy in R.I.....everything you need for a blackout, includes:
Votives, matches, chandelier crystals, wire (and extra wire), thread and tacks (to hang said crystals)...2 bracelet/key-chains with lobsters, and his and hers chap-sticks (for candle light smooching????)

I'm amazed it made it through the post office...am I the only one who thinks it resembles a bomb making kit?
Thank you Leppy!

Polski

I think it's funny that FEMA thinks I speak Polish.

Although it makes about as much sense to me as their regular flyers.

Back to Reno

I haven't really been able to blog about the hurricane, mostly because I haven't had internet at home until today, but also because I'm just sick of thinking about it. The previous posts give some visuals of what happened.... By now the moldings have totally popped off the walls and the floors have buckled and warped irreparably.
Todd has begun to rip out sheetrock this week...worried about the mold that has already coating the insides of the walls and wood beams, while we look for a contractor....

Brave People

Luckily we had some friends drop by...Doug and Vanessa, not scared of the sludge (or the smell)-- and helped us clean up. (They also fed us several times, and let us shower at their place which was much needed)

Flood Mayhem and Clean-up

In the morning most of the water had gone down leaving mud and slime behind. We had to pull everything out to the yard and sort through what we thought could be saved, and what needed to be disposed of.

Yeah, that's a couch that got totally up-ended...

Volunteer Central

The volunteer turn out was amazing, including a giant pizza oven planted in the middle of Van Brunt St giving away small thin crust pies.

Storm By-Products

Cats meet air mattress

 And we discover fire-light shadow puppets

Ok, ok, we didn't have power for nearly 2 weeks, what do you want from us???

Disaster Tourism

A term that's new to me, but something we're seeing too much of....

The Morning After

When the rain slowed we took a walk around to survey the damage and gossip with the neighbors.

 Fences and trees down, and a boat washed up to the sidewalk.

The waters by Valentino pier still high and choppy

 And a bit of a pep talk from Fort Defiance

Hurricane Sandy...Waters Rising...

This is the night of the storm, after we ran up and down trying to save as much as we could. The waters still rising, but before we lost power.

Looking down to the lower floor, that's a 5 gallon bucket of paint floating around.

Leaning over the bannister...our bed is on the move....

And out back.