pyroguysr's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flood Waters In case you've all been wondering where I'm at, I'm homeless at the moment, thanks to Hurricane Ike. No, I don't live near Houston, I live in Munster, IN. Ike came roaring north toward Chicago and we got almost 10 inches of rain last weekend. I live a block from a river and we had the worst flooding the area has seen in over 80 years. I got 5 feet of water in my basement (and thankfully, I'm the only house on the block that didn't have one that was finished!). I managed to save my books and some other artifacts I had stored down there, but I didn't save some old computers, printers and other electronics. Yes, everything that was down there was destroyed. What was really funny was that I had power and internet service the whole time my house was flooded. It wasn't until the waters had receded enough for me to declare my property "no longer an island" and go to work that they shut off my gas and electricity. That was mainly because a house in town blew up (I mean, it went 150 feet in the air, destroyed two homes next to it and damaged 6 others) because NIPSCO couldn't get to their meter to turn off the gas. The house had been in 8 feet of water. So, they turned everything off. Then they came by the next day to inspect and told me I could get my electricity back on, but the gas stays off until I replace the furnace and the water heater. Oh, and I can't stay there because the town has deemed it a "health hazard." Until I get the basemet cleaned, I am not to stay overnight there. Wouldn't do me any good anyway, as I don't have hot water for a shower. So, now I go to the house daily, cart muddy, moldy crap out of the basement and look at my washer, dryer, 2nd fridge and huge chest freezer sitting all askew. Sometimes I just sit at the top of the stairwell and wonder what I've done to piss off the fates. They've been so good to me lately when they pushed Mary-Claude and I together... *sighs* Desk drawers, boxes and other crap floated around and around the basement for days until the waters receded and my basement drained. Now everything is beginning to smell like foul, stagnant river water. And I'm staying at my son's house. Joy of joys. I was going to post something positive here as I was dragged off to my cousin's wedding on Saturday and was able to dance with the girlfriends of several friends. Yes, it was fun and I did get my mind off of the tragedy for a few days, but it's really starting to hit me. I'm one of those types that will throw my doors open to friends and let them stay for as long as they need to and will bend over backwards to make them feel welcome and "at home." I'm not so good at being on the other end of that, though. I was also going to post a video of my granddaughter at RenFaire, but I can't seem to get YouTube to upload it. I'll work on it again tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll just sit and wait this out, wondering how we're going to finance the cleanup. At least the foundation is still sound. 11:19 p.m. - 2008-09-22 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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