Flood Update
Well, the Great Basement Salvage continues. It's depressing, but it's getting done. The Big Blue Box (dumpster) is already much fuller than I had anticipated.
The GOOD news:
The furnace and hot water heater were fine. No repairs necessary.
The Ohio Scientific C1P, gem of our vintage collection, survived thanks to HBF's immediate rescue and subsequent ICU therapy.
The BAD news:
There was a box we thought HAD been in one of our bedroom closets all this time but wasn't....and it was full of all our old LP albums and vintage magazines. Probably it was still in the basement because it was heavy and we hadn't relished the thought of dragging it up two flights of stairs.
The main losses there were an original JFK Memorial issue of LIFE magazine for 50 cents retail price, an original ZOOM Catalogue ordered in 1972 from the kids' TV show of the same name, and a first edition of the Star Trek Technical Manual that had been a childhood gift from my father.
The LPs were saddening but the discs can be saved and put into new jackets and most had been replaced by CDs anyhow...'cept for an original "Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles which we're drying out now. My Wanda Landowska "Well-Tempered Clavier" wasn't very damaged at all. We also lost a sentimental encyclopedia set and a LOT of vintage computer books, manuals and discs as well as just-to-read books for which we hadn't had shelf space.
We learned that some pacakaging sucks up water like a sponge and doesn't release it, making it mildewy and very heavy. Ditto fiberglass insulation left on the basement floor by contractors...the cubic footage of water it can retain is amazing.
The computer graveyard has been set up in the northeastern quadrant of the basement and is depressingly full already. Count is somewhere around 15 dead machines.
Oddly enough, Youngest Duckling's talking piece of poo (http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=MEZ10145&mode=retail ) was submerged but survived right down to his voicebox--the stuffed-toy part just needs run through the washing machine.
Of course we're keeping a strict log, not that we're too optimistic about our prospects for eventual reimbursement. We do realize we were VERY lucky--a few of our neighbors aren't even back in their houses yet.
The GOOD news:
The furnace and hot water heater were fine. No repairs necessary.
The Ohio Scientific C1P, gem of our vintage collection, survived thanks to HBF's immediate rescue and subsequent ICU therapy.
The BAD news:
There was a box we thought HAD been in one of our bedroom closets all this time but wasn't....and it was full of all our old LP albums and vintage magazines. Probably it was still in the basement because it was heavy and we hadn't relished the thought of dragging it up two flights of stairs.
The main losses there were an original JFK Memorial issue of LIFE magazine for 50 cents retail price, an original ZOOM Catalogue ordered in 1972 from the kids' TV show of the same name, and a first edition of the Star Trek Technical Manual that had been a childhood gift from my father.
The LPs were saddening but the discs can be saved and put into new jackets and most had been replaced by CDs anyhow...'cept for an original "Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles which we're drying out now. My Wanda Landowska "Well-Tempered Clavier" wasn't very damaged at all. We also lost a sentimental encyclopedia set and a LOT of vintage computer books, manuals and discs as well as just-to-read books for which we hadn't had shelf space.
We learned that some pacakaging sucks up water like a sponge and doesn't release it, making it mildewy and very heavy. Ditto fiberglass insulation left on the basement floor by contractors...the cubic footage of water it can retain is amazing.
The computer graveyard has been set up in the northeastern quadrant of the basement and is depressingly full already. Count is somewhere around 15 dead machines.
Oddly enough, Youngest Duckling's talking piece of poo (http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=MEZ10145&mode=retail ) was submerged but survived right down to his voicebox--the stuffed-toy part just needs run through the washing machine.
Of course we're keeping a strict log, not that we're too optimistic about our prospects for eventual reimbursement. We do realize we were VERY lucky--a few of our neighbors aren't even back in their houses yet.
posted by SamD | 1:42 PM
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