I flew home Monday and thought i was pretty smart getting a flight out of Charlotte to Chicago and then on to Rochester arriving before 4:00. And I think I was but from the time I got home things went down hill.
The weather was beginning to deteriorate but wasn't terrible yet. We were the lead volunteers for a homeless dinner at the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN.) We got going a bit late to get down to the Universalist-Unitarian Church downtown, our partner in this. We had to stop at the grocery store on the way down to get a packet of cole slaw dressing to go with the ham dinner. In the rush to do that and exchanging credit cards, my card was lost somewhere in or near the store. We didn't realize that until we pulled up at the church and then we already late to get dinner on the table for the guests.
We called the store and they couldn't find it but would keep an eye out. Once we had dinner ready, I left to drive back to see if I could find the card in the parking lot. If it had fallen there, the 30 mile per hour winds gusting above that would have carried it somewhere else. So I called Capital One and requested a new account after verifying that our purchase was the last one on the card. In a couple of days, we will get our new cards. Bummer.
However, fate was not done with us. We got home through the worsening weather. I causally went down stairs to check on the computer there and saw my lifelong nemesis: WATER COMING THROUGH THE BASEMENT WALL. We cut away the insulation to find the leak and found that it was coming from a crack that had been repaired almost seven years ago. After several futile attempts, I stayed at home to mop up and Marilyn went to The Home Depot. She came back with a product that could be applied to an active leak. I tried to apply it but not very successfully. It had to be exactly the right consistency. Marilyn took over and in time we got it mostly stopped. I meanwhile continued to mop up.
A little after 11, we decided we had done all we could and were too tired to do more. We turned on the television as we got into bed to get caught up on the storm. At 11:23 we lost power. It is now Tuesday, the next day, around 5:20 pm and I am at the local Starbuck's charging our devices and checking email because our power is not back on. There are approximately 130,000 people without power in Monroe County. It is our bad luck to be in a group of 21 impacted by a single problem, whatever that is. Our neighbors across the street have power and we have shifted some frozen items over there. As of five minutes ago, Rochester Gas & Electric had no "restoration estimate."
All is not lost. We are going to dinner at new Greek restaurant on Jefferson Rd, Opa! The gas fireplace works and so we will be comfortable. By the way, the problem with the water in the basement came from rain and wind coming from the north and northeast, an unusual direction for us. That side of the house has flower beds that appear to be more mounded than flat and so trapping the unusual moisture between the mound and the house. Water pressure will always find a way...particularly if I persist in doing dumb things.
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