For those of you who are looking for Oakes family reunion photos.....they'll be here in a few days. Why so late?

On Monday night Windsor got hit with a big storm. The sewer backed up...right into our basement. Not the storm sewer - the sanitary sewer. Yep, that's right, an inch of raw sewage covering every square inch of our basement. Imagine my distress, when getting up Tuesday morning, going to the basement to iron something to wear to work. I flipped on the basement light, hit the landing, looked down towards the basement floor, and wondered, "What the....aw crap!!!!" (Literally)

We had someone come to see how much it would cost to clean up before we called the insurance company. When they told us that would cost at least $3500, just for "Emergency cleanup" (only the sewage cleanup and sanitization), we called the insurance company. An adjuster came out right away. Everything is covered, including the laundry that I left on the floor to finish the next night. Thank G-d I'd washed my dainties...no one needs to see THOSE...

Today, the restoration crew came in today, with a dumpster, cleaned up the floor, removed all the debris, brought in EIGHT industrial fans (GEEZ these things are noisy) a de-humidifier that can remove 120 pints of water in a 24 hours period. They also had us crank the A/C down to 20 C (68 F). It's freezing in here. All the furniture is getting turfed, except Greg's desk - it can be dried satisfactorily. None of Greg's books/DVDs/etc., were harmed, nor was his computer.

On the plus side, all the scrap wood that was in the basement from the workbench demolition, and various other projects, is getting carted off - FREE!!! WOOHOO!!! The drywall that flanks either side of the water heater and furnace is getting replaced - the bottom half where the damage was. The panelling that was on the freezer wall is getting removed, and I think they're going to replace it with drywall.

The only out-of pocket expense I'm going to have from all this? The cost to have the drain snaked out - $80.25. Oh yeah, and the hydro (electricity for my American friends) costs to run all these fans and the de-humidifier, and the A/C. The fans are estimated to cost a dollar a day EACH to run, and they'll have to run for quite a few days. The $250 deductible gets taken from the amount that we get for replacement costs for the furniture, etc. Greg will even be reimbursed for his work.

Now, I know I'm not doing the work, so what's my excuse for not having the pics? We just got a new secretary in the Department, the other is on vacation this week, and I've just come back from a two day vacation, and the basement stress on top of it. I just want to sit and do nothing when I come home!!! So you'll just have to wait for a few days.

Just so you know... some of the pics turned out GGREAT!!!!! Just not the ones with ME in them ;)

Stay tuned.....