THE DELUGE

And it's aftermath. Nothing like Joplin or the areas down there but our own, private little hell.
And the question is, after 40+ yrs of marriage is living in two rooms for a couple of weeks together going to end it? I am kidding. Sort of.

The roofers arrived to re-roof the house, a tear-down so the wood was exposed. They did a lot the first day and the Boss left two guys to tarp the house. I even asked one of them about the tarp because it didn't look very tarped to me, but what do I know, and peering at it from the ground too, a fat, grey-haired old stumpy woman whining that it didn't look very secure.......and guess who was right?

In the morning, the deluge came. Standing in the house was no different than standing outside. It started when I heard the unmistakable sound of water hitting a hard surface very close by: my bookcase, as it happened. I yelled for help and as I did I saw the water pouring from the ceiling in the utility room, and suddenly there was water everywhere: I might as well have stood in the shower or under a waterfall.

I began ripping artwork off the walls, throwing towels on bookcases but, as you can tell things were drenched quickly. I did save most of the art. We ended up putting out buckets, bowls, and whatever else we could grab and dumping almost the second we put it out. I called the roofer. I believe my exact words were "We are in deep shit." (I have a way with words, don't I?) And he said they would be out immediately, and they were, and they worked all day without a break trying to make it right. They shop vacced and tarped and hauled wet stuff out and tried so hard but keeping up with it was not in the books. And then......the living room ceiling.....

Upstairs, above part of the living room, is an unfinished "crawl space". I know they are supposed to be under the house, but ours is not. And that is where the roof was bare, where the tarp had not been applied properly, and/or had slipped or blown off and that room was full of water-- maybe two inches. The insulation, dripping, had fallen...and in turn it seeped down into the ceiling below, the living room ceiling which now had growing splots of off-color and then tiny pinpricks with little drabs of water............

                                  The crawl space beams.

                                   The living room windows.....

At which point I called the insurance company. And they have been fabulous. When this is all over and bills roll in, we will see exactly how fabulous they really are. This is so beyong the scope of the roofers to fix...the insurance company sent a guy to evaluate how wet everything was. He was impressed, especially with the way the ceiling in the living room was now bulging slightly downward. He called the adjuster. They called a company that comes in when there is a disaster and cleans up. They pack your belongings right out the door. They bring in huge four foot high de-humidifiers (in our case) and industrial fans. Suddenly there are more people in the house than have lived there for 15 years.

(The dogs were bustled off to the kennel shortly after it began to be obvious that this was going to be an emergency.)

By mid-afternoon the ceiling had been pulled down, the living room furniture sent to storage, and  two "safe" (as in dry) areas established. It continued to rain.

So that is how we came, today, to be living in two rooms in a motel. I have sprung Cooper from the kennel but tomorrow when I go back to work at the house he will be returned to the kennel. He comes back with us at night. The Boys are stuck. I wish it could be otherwise but they're too rowdy to be here.

What a spring it has been.