Situation all clear.

(Almost) all systems have returned to normal, as of about 6pm yesterday. The Great Flood of 2010 wreaked havoc in Riverotterland- you may know that we own and maintain an eight-family apartment building and four other duplexes besides the one that we live in, and had a total of three basement sewer backups 7/22. We're finally all clean and sanitized with the currently necessary appliances and hot water heaters running. I have a lot of people to thank for assistance and gifts and time and food and etc. So, in something like chronological order:


Kathy, for food, cleaning assist, extra gloves, hot shower, and gin-and-tonics.


Char and John, for emotional support, food, wet vac, dehumidifier, extra cleaning supplies, and cleaning help.


My mom, for understanding, a huge bag of rags and towels, bleach, dinner, and a box fan.


My boss, who gave me the week off. I didn't even have to ask.

Brain's workplace, who gave him the week off and sent "four womens, ready to work!" They did, too. Awesome.


Kreuter, for tireless work and good company.


My dad, for a dehumidifier and a box fan.


Mr Sebald, for - yes- a dehumidifier.


Pabst Blue Ribbon, for making the situation tolerable.


FEMA, for making a dramatic appearance two doors down with Scott Walker and news cameras, and allowing me to tell them ALL about the turds in the basement. With photos. Which I won't show you here. Here's a monarch butterfly instead.

We now have monarch caterpillars on that plant, fattening up and enjoying life, waiting to metamorphose into their next stage: metaphorically, I am as well, even if it's just back to normal.

Oh, crap.

We had Weather last night, alright. This is a pic from after it had mostly subsided. Treacherous flooded streets. Manholes and sewers spewing poopwater like geysers. Cars with blinkers on and people randomly pulling U-turns trying to snake their way through rising waters. Frantic calls to my mom in the next county hoping she could figure out by telepathy or satellite or something which streets were dry enough to drive on. Finally parking four blocks away and scrambling up the incline under I-43 above the flooding, then wading the rest of the way- soaked. Last night was...intense! At least I didn't end up in a sinkhole or struck by lightning. The constant- literally- sirens we heard while cleaning up the six or seven inches of shitwater from the basement served as a sobering reminder that there were lots of people out there who were worse off. Our downstairsika cooked us an amazing dinner and made me a gin and tonic, we comiserated with the neighbors, and then we got to work carrying bucket after bucket after bucket of Hepatitis C and gonorrhea and ringworm and ... out of the basement.

Home Depot was out of bleach this morning and sump pump hoses and dehumidifiers, expecting trucks from neighboring counties to bring more supplies for the gloved hordes. We had one bottle left from last week's sewer backup floating around down there.

Guess I'd better get back to work.