Status

They started hanging sheetrock today.  Not sure how much farther they are going to get since they are having trouble finding insulation.  Thank goodness we aren't trying to do it on our own. 
We went to the music store this afternoon to start looking at digital pianos and W has already chosen the one he wants - a Clavinova by Yamaha.  An electronic instrument makes so much sense for us - since the condo gets so hot and humid when we are away for the summer, it is hard on an acoustic piano.  Plus, this one comes apart so we can carry it upstairs in the event of another flood.  Afraid that is now going to be a part of our calculation as we buy replacements for things. 

Status

The sheetrock is finally all removed, leaving the entire ground floor open into the garage.  Thank goodness the temperatures have been moderate - with a springlike 65 today.  Today I painted Drylok on the exposed concrete block.  Most of the moisture left was coming from the outside, not a result of the flooding inside.  Hopefully the paint will block some of that.  The big news is that we have decided to hire someone to do the sheetrock/taping/spackling.  The job was just getting too big and this crew is doing a lot of the work in neighboring units and seems to be good.  Now I just need a call back from them to schedule the work and then we should be able to relax for a while.  We'll still install the ceramic tile floor in the entertainment room and do the painting.

More Progress

Fortunately the nor'easter did no further damage.  No flooding here, but lots of snow, especially west of here where there was a foot in some places.  Hope that is not a harbinger of things to come this winter.  We've had quite enough of Mother Nature already.

Electricity came on last evening and cable/internet today.  Furnace replacement was moved up to tomorrow and the washer and dryer arrive on Sunday.  Then it is "just" a matter of sheetrock, taping, spackling, painting, laying the tile floor, replacing the molding, and replacing some doors.  And can't start any of that until the walls are thoroughly dry.  The furnace should help a lot with that.  It's going to be a long slog.  Not sure how much time we'll have for the holidays this year.

Hurricane Sandy

The following says it all. 

We spent Oct 28th emptying as much as we could from the bottom level of our condo.  Then we evacuated to a hotel in PA not too far from A's house.  The storm hit Monday the 29th and Wednesday the 31st we drove back home to assess the damage.   Here is the high water mark in the garage - 19 inches.

We removed the soaked carpet from the entertainment room and hired someone to remove the soaked piano.  The rest of the furniture in that room we had put up on blocks so it is ok.

We have now removed all of the sheetrock from the bottom half of all the walls on the lower floor.  Have to wait for the cinder block and studs to dry before we can replace it.  And that requires power (who knows when it will be restored) and a furnace, which is due to be fixed on the 14th.  This is what my quilting room looks like at the moment.  At least the tile floor there survived.



The cleanup effort was amazing.  Large front-end loaders were picking up debris by Sunday

We feel very lucky. We lost the 40-year-old piano because we couldn't lift it out of the flood.  We lost the 19-year-old car, knowing that was a possibility when we left it behind.  We lost the carpet in the entertainment room, but had been wanting to replace it with ceramic tile anyway.  And we lost my cabinets in the quilting room - too many and too big to move.  We'll worry about replacing them after all the work is done.  It will be many months before we get everything back in order.

We are now back in PA having fled the nor'easter that descended on us today.  We don't think our property will flood again, but we could not afford to lose another car so we left just in case.  There are no hotel rooms anywhere with so many folks without power and still evacuated.  So we and S (who received a mandatory evacuation notice) are at A's for the night.  We have to be back home tomorrow to meet with the FEMA inspector.

An Unexpected Paddle

We drove to camp yesterday to be here for the fiber installation today (yeah - high-speed internet).  The installers were early so we had time to enjoy the gorgeous weather by paddling from our place, up the river, carrying around the dam, and paddling into Tupper Lake then heading back home.  It is a good thing we got to enjoy our time here, because it looks as though we have to drive back to NJ tomorrow to do what we can to get ready for Hurricane Sandy.  Sigh.

Quilted Jacket

Paddling Summary 2012

What a strange and interrupted summer.  We didn't get much paddling done.  I did the following 16 paddles:
Axton to Raquette Falls
Bog River
Cedar River Flow
Church to Jones Pond
Floodwood Rollins loop - twice
Henderson Lake
Lake Abanakee
Little Tupper
Lower Osgood
Moose Pond
Raquette Lake to Blue Mountain Lake
Round Lake
South Creek to Second Pond
South Creek to Weller
Upper Osgood

Traditional Paddle and Picnic on the Bog River

Today is Columbus Day and therefore the day to put in at Low's Lower Dam and paddle up the Bog River to the picnic area on Hitchins Pond.  About 20 of us enjoyed the good food and company.  The temperature was about 40 degrees when we started out but the sun was warm.

We drive back to New Jersey tomorrow.

A Raft of Loons

We drove to the beach at Lake Clear today to look for the loons that were reported to collect here every fall.  With binoculars we counted about 40 of them in the distance, but it was too windy to put in the boats and paddle closer.  Maybe next year.

Paddling Henderson Lake

A group of us paddled Henderson Lake today.  We were hoping to see the leaves at their peak but the rain the last couple of days had knocked off lots of them.  It was still pretty, though we didn't get much sunshine.  It rained a bit, but mostly while we were in the lean-to having lunch.