| The Roof! The Roof! The Roof Is On Fire! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|01:23 pm] |
First of all, thank you everyone for all of the supportive and sympathetic responses! I sincerely hope I don't have to avail myself of anyone's very kind offers of help and succor, but it's nice having them.
My mother – who takes in boarders – has offered us the back bedroom if we need it. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that, either!
Still at the motel, for at least one more night. When I told the desk we'd be staying an extra day, they told me the room wasn't available, but of course they shuffled assignments and freed it up for us. Mrs. Professor, having braved fire, flood, and homelessness, had a broken-spring moment at the no-room-at-the-inn complication (recovering, of course, quickly). I probably should have grabbed a bottle of vodka as well as clean underpants when we left.
We went to the house this morning before work and cleaned out the refrigerator. I had thought, yesterday, that it had begun to smell a trifle funk-ish (remember, the power was shut off Sunday night), but that's the wet ceiling tiles in the dining room. The fridge was actually still cool, and the stuff in the freezer still sort of frozen. We chucked everything, still, sadly, but at least the suspicious chops, thrown in the freezer on the last possible day, are gone. As well as a couple hundred dollars of meat and yogurt and salad dressings…
It is possible that some of it would be salvageable – but would you trust it? I did save a couple pounds of frozen bacon, figuring that it was at least cured, and frozen. If the power goes back on in time, it might be useable.
The landlord's apartment – the second and third floors – may have to be gutted for mold. My thought is that it's all horsehair plaster, not wallboard, and might be savable; maybe not. They might not be able to move back in for months. We have no idea about our place yet – the water remediation guy didn't get scary readings, and he did get sees-a-ghost expressions from his meter upstairs.
Supposedly, an electrician and inspector are going in today. We may be able to move back in tomorrow, which would be nice. (On the other end of that spectrum, we'll never sleep there again. I'm not contemplating that for now, thanks.) We are Watchfully Waiting.
At breakfast today, Janet pointed out that it'd been less than 36 hours since the alarm was raised. It feels like days. Time is flexible in this place!
Also at breakfast, I pointed out that we're functioning as a mutually supportive and co-operative couple, rather than letting the strain fray us. Apparently we really are committed to each other in mutual respect and affection. Nice to know!
We took, from the house, more clean underwear and shirts, all my insulins (to put in Janet's office refrigerator), and a few groceries (still-cool yogurt, apples, cheese, and humus) we thought we could trust. I still threw out a couple of dozen yogurts – I'd just stocked up – as they'd been warmish for over a day and we weren't sure of them. I changed into clean jeans. It's, frankly, surreal, visiting and working in an apparently unchanged space, so familiar and yet now alien. We locked up and came to work.
More despatches once we can lay telegraph wire to the front! |
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