Last week Laffie dodged "a major bullet". Feel like we just did the same with Hurricane Irene gone and damage minor. Our street is currently quarantined as we wait for a downed power line to be made safe and the tree limb that brought it down to be removed.

But we have power this morning. We lost our electricity last night when they cut power for an hour to work on the downed line.

Hope everyone else survived - particularly thinking about Saef.

Glad to hear there was only minor damage and inconvenience in your area Bill. One of my online buds in NJ had about the same but her power didn't even go off.

I hope all went well for saef. I guess it depends on how her apartment fared during the seawater spillover in lower Manhattan.

Good Monday all!

Dagmar

saef, hope you are well and that your home didn't suffer any damage.

Thanks for your prayers, everyone. I am okay, physically, but mentally, I'm not okay at all.

My apartment is full of five feet of water and I have lost most of what I own.

And also my homeowners insurance does not cover flooding.

I got out with two suitcases and some important papers and other stuff. And as I mentioned, my upstairs neighbor -- the upstairs apartments did not flood -- took in some things for me. That's all we saved.

I'm staying at a Super 8 near our office in Connecticut,. The motel lost power at 7 AM yesterday at the height of the storm & it still hasn't been restored in that neighborhood, which is a poor neighborhood. I couldn't find any Wi-Fi bars and my laptop battery ran down.

Our Connecticut office actually opened this morning, though it's very empty, with a lot of people at home without power or working from home. So I'm here, as it's reassuringly normal. Or rather surreally normal, since my life as I've known it has pretty much capsized. I have a lot of waiting to do (for waters to recede, Fire Dept to pump out some water, Dept of Health inspections, contractors, etc.) and am going to try to work through this waiting, though I feel physically shaky.

Our office has a gym. Thank goodness for that.

And a new NSV for you: All that upper body work I was doing in the gym? Was such good preparation for lifting furniture and carrying it upstairs to my neighbor's place. And for going up & down stairs. And lifting furniture on top of furniture in my apartment (which I thought would save it, if the water didn't rise too high -- but it did). And for walking fast around town before the rain came, trying to get cash & batteries & etc. All I know is, I'd rather be in physically good shape when evacuating & facing this kind of emergency than fat as I was, at 247, out of breath, losing it at the sight of a flight of stairs and sinking down sweating & exhausted after every effort.

saef, so glad you are OK and am so sorry about your apartment

I'm so sorry, Saef.

We decided to adopt a new kitty. We went to an adoption event Saturday morning and fell in love with a little 18 week old orange tabby and brought him home. Within hours, he knocked over a piece of artwork that we bought in February. Had it been a bit farther away from the edge of the table it may not have broken, but the weight of it caused it to fall to the tile floor where it exploded into a million little pieces. I really liked the piece, but all we have now is the wooden base. I just have to remember it's just stuff. And no one (including the kitty) were hurt.

New Kitty

lost artwork

Oh crap, saef. I'm so sorry. When I saw there had been flooding in Manhattan, I was afraid for you. I wish it had been different. So sorry about your not having flood insurance, too.

I'm glad you have an office to go to where you have electricity, internet, etc. I hope power is restored to your motel soon, if it's not done already.

At times like this it's easy to see that what we get so used to considering normal and routine are pretty illusory.

Stay safe, saef.

Jay

Oh, saef. You are safe which is the most important thing. Oh, dear. Sending you lots of love.

So sorry Saef. I didn't realize the extent of what you've been through when I read your post on the exercise thread. I am so very sorry. The very worst point in my life was also surrounded by water. My dh and are were suffering with infertility and I had just had my second miscarriage. It was right before Christmas and we had a hard freeze (lived in Houston). All of our pipes froze and then burst as did EVERYONE in the neighborhood. We came home to many feet of water in our house, ALL of the ceilings had come down, all of our furniture, appliances, TVs, cabinets, etc. were ruined. Our animals were safe but scared. We had to go and live with my parents (whom I did not get along with at all) for over a month while we began repairs. We moved back in when we had walls and ceilings-- no floors or anything but we had to get out. The most surreal time was Christmas when we got together with my in-laws who were trying to make things normal when we just wanted to mourn.

Just put one foot in front of the other. Hopefully you will find support in co-workers and friends. Red Cross may help?

Allison-- the artwork was beautiful. So sorry about that loss too! But your kitty looks right at home with your dog! So cute! How is your other kitty with him?

Ringo is less than happy at the moment. Louie basically ignores Ringo (which is far different from DD's kitten who likes to attack Ringo). Ringo for the most part is being a grumpy old cat who occasionally stalks and attacks Louie. For that reason, we're keeping Louie in a separate room while we're away from home. He has lots of toys in that room, so he should be happy there.

Saef, I'm sorry. I was hoping so much for you. I'm glad you were able to save some things and, yes, so glad you are safe.

Hi all, I'm back from vacation. We had a great time, but I feel bad posting about it when Saef is having such hard times.

Saef, I'm so sorry about your apartment. Glad you managed to save some essentials though. Perhaps once everything is cleaned up and cleared out, you can find some joy in shopping for new antiques to replace the furniture you lost.

Went back to my rheumatologist this morning. Since the prednisone didn't really do much, we are back at the beginning again. There aren't really any more tests to run. Unless I develop a new symptom, it will just be a mystery. In the meantime they are going to continue to treat me with Lyrica and Tylenol and see me back in 3 months. I also got scheduled to have the ganglion cyst in my wrist deflated. Plus my podiatrist said he wanted to do more diagnostic tests, so there is that.

Relatedly I am going to attempt a gluten-free diet to see if it helps. Anyone have any advice? I've started researching it and attempted to buy enough food that I can dive in right now. I also need to lose some vacation weight (and then some) so I thought maybe it would be good to just change up my diet and see what happens.

So sorry Saef about your apartment and belongs. Where is it? in Westchester? in Connecticut?

So far the report from Long Beach Island says our 5 boats there are fine. DH is working from home today, tonight he will drive up to Jersey City and find out how our sailboat managed the surge in NY Harbor. Probably not a problem or Liberty Landing Marina would have call by now.

Yesterday, we cleared the front and side yards of tree limbs, leaf branches, acorns, and the huge crop of mushrooms we have from the rest of the month's rainfall. Today, when DH takes a break, we'll clear the backyard. Every time we work in the yard we always say, next house will have a much smaller yard.

We're going to try to put our house on the market this coming spring and move me to a place near Tom's River, so I'll be on the Eastern side of the state and much closer to DH during the week and the beach on the weekends. Plus, they have a good art community, where around here there's none. Have to go into Philly or NYC to get my art fix.

Jessica~my DD's roommate is gluten intolerant. I've been looking for recipes for her to make for him. Gluten Freely and Gluten Freeville have some good recipes, advice, etc.