The Water Logged Blog

OK, OK, so I missed doing an update last night – sue me.  If you win, you can get my house and I get yours. Deal?  OMG – I crack myself up. Quick shout out to my family in Miami.  My aunt, who lives in Miami Beach was initially not going to evacuate and when questioned on her safety and the possible surge her answer was “Don’t worry, I have a floatie” (seriously that is what she said).  After that the Vegas Odds were 3:2 – my aunt vs Irma although eventually she saw reason and is now staying with her brother.   Just a little aside, as I thought you want to know that my family is as crazy as me. Regarding Houston, we finalized our approach to getting the house back together.  On Monday/Tuesday of next week our contractor will finish up the more complicated demo, Wednesday we will have a water remediation crew in, and then about 3-4 days later we will do a final mold treatment.  Once we complete this process we can start the actual rebuilding.  For those that are unfamiliar (li

Today I thought I would have a shorter update and post videos.  (Videos are at the bottom) One of the awesome things that happened today was our generator arrived .   THANK YOU NetSuite!  (see pic)   Lisa and I are very thankful and grateful for this gift and while I know many people were involved in this I want to give a special shout out to Matt DeLauro and Brenee Staples. As for the day, it was a pretty straight forward Harvey recovery day.  I got back into work while Lisa began to organize our belongings (no small task once you see the video).  In addition, we reviewed our first contractor bid, received a bid on water remediation, and took Lisa's car to the shop (it runs but has more lights \on the dashboard than a Christmas tree) in addition to having taken on water.  We are learning a lot about the process while also trying to navigate insurance, FEMA, and the different stages of rebuilding.  More on this in the next few days. With regard to the videos, I have

Well, what can I say…Lisa stole the show today.  This morning Lisa and I drove together for her yearly check-up at MD Andersen. (Quick background - in March of 2007 Lisa was diagnosed with Stage 3c breast cancer and after surgery, chemo, radiation, and more chemo she has been cancer free.)  Today for her appointment she was told, for the first time since she had been diagnosed, she would be able to stop taking a cancer prevention medication.  This is a HUGE milestone and awesome news.  For a while, there was no Harvey, no damaged house, no flooded streets…there was just Lisa.  It is a terrific feeling. After the appointed we decided to celebrate by having lunch at one of our favorite places, Torchy’s Tacos, which is about 2 miles or a 10 minute drive from our house.  This is where Harvey stepped back into the picture as it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to go the two miles from lunch to our house.  CRAZY! To explain, look at the map below and you can see that after rush ho

Today was another long day of working in the house doing the remediation (aka demo).  Lisa and I arrived at the house around 9:00 and our crew came over around 10:00 (pic below) and worked until 5:30.  I thought I would try describe the drive into our neighborhood and to our home.  There are multiple pics attached as I think someone once said a picture is worth a 1,000 words.  As I take the first left into the neighborhood I see a squad car (DriveIn1) because a squad car is posted at each entrance, there are 4 of them, to our subdivision.  The police are there to reduce the traffic and in the evening you need an ID as there have been looters.  (I too agree that there is a special place in heck for looters).  After I pass the police car I go through a sign (DriveIn2) that is there to let people know you cannot exit through the back of the neighborhood (people are looking for shortcuts b/c of flooding).  Then I pass a sign (DriveIn3) that tells me where to go for high water to la

What a day, what a day!  Again, today was a day where we really took the bull by the horns and put ourselves on the road to recovery and rebuilding.  We spent the day, again, working on clearing the house, getting our belongings aggregated, and preparing for the next stage.  Given our situation it is easy to look at the negative but having so many friends around and being grateful for what we have vs what we lost has kept us on the lighter side.  Yes, there are down moments but not often.  Especially when we had another awesome crew show up to help out – see pics below (two different teams today). An example of the lighter side - I woke up this morning and was complaining to Charlie (my friend of 20 years  and with whom we are staying) that my back was killing me and complained that I wasn’t built for this and Charlie’s response – “Are you kidding me, your people built the pyramids!”  It was just what I needed in the morning, a good laugh to start the day.  For me, it is the

Well, my friends, yesterday and today we beat the snot out of Harvey and stood strong. Yesterday we got electricity back, the water final receded from the house, we moved into a friend's house, and we could actually drive up our driveway.  It was quite the day.  I think Friday was a real low point for me and I needed a solid day like Saturday to get me back on track.  Yes, if Friday was like getting a gut punch, Saturday was like getting your favorite dessert and you actually have the room to eat all of it.  It was a lot of change and all of it worked together to make us laugh, smile, and stress in a good way.  The electricity enabled us to turn on AC, start the dehumidifiers, and get the last remaining water out with a Wet Vac.  (Can you guess the last time I used a Wet Vac?  If you guessed was the 5th of never, you are correct).  It was awesome to put myself into something that was productive and working towards the path of rebuilding.  (The generator will make a huge d

(See Guest Post Below) Doug  Love it!!!  Amazing story about the ho gs and thanks for sending out the blog today. For those that don't know, Doug is a machine about giving to others and supporting his community.  This is a small glimpse into the source of strength he has been for many, many people in Houston, including me.  As for That Guy, he beat the snot out of Harvey today. Talk tomorrow. Nat Sent from my iPhone Guest Post from a Friend So Nat has been providing all of you an interesting view into the mind of a Middle Age Jewish Guy, I thought I might hijack the blog with a perspective from the Older "but more fit" suburban white guy that didn't get flooded. It's actually pretty difficult to sit in you dry house that still has power and internet and watch your friends and family struggling with the aftermath of this storm. Any for many it's now a race against time. How fast can you get back into your house and tear it up in

I sometimes wonder who is reading the notes I send out into the ether, maybe like a modern message in bottle.   I float one off my little island in the hopes of return or rescue.  In the end I think these notes are more for me than you as I think this is just the way I am processing this crazy experience. Today was up, down, left, right, and straight up exhausting physically and emotionally.  Not even sure where to begin so I guess I'll start at the logical place, the beginning. We walked out of the neighborhood as we watched an older gent heading further into the subdivision to gather his things (pic below).  We walked out by both staging areas and to our waiting friend.  We relaxed in the calming atmosphere of his amazing technology called 'Air Conditioning'.   As we walked in we felt the sense of calm, quiet, and exhaustion that comes over you when you are in a safe place after significant stress. It was terrific.  Charlie is the consummate host and has cool Co

For some reason I have the following refrain from A Day in The Life by The Beatles going through my head - Woke up, fell out of bed Dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup And looking up I noticed I was late Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke Somebody spoke and I went into a dream Now, I am not sure what exactly this means but I would be happy if one of two things were accomplished. One, somebody takes a stab at the psycho analysis and two, this tune gets stuck in your head as well.   Anyway, good news on the home front as our water receded to little less than 8 inches.  This continues to be a good sign and with any luck the rate of decrease will increase.  We spent the morning, 6:30 or so, going through the house to plan our next steps.  There are several things we need to do to get ready for rebuilding. We need to take lots of pictures to document damage, plan on

Right now, as you open this note, you are wondering - read with the voice of a 1940s movie promo announcer - did Nat survive Harvey?  Did he encounter monsters?  What is up next for our hero in the adventures of 'Middle Age Jewish Guy'!  (I crack myself up!) Again, another productive day and some pics to provide perspective.  My adventure was simply walking about .25-.5 miles out of our area by wading through water (about mid thigh at its deepest) and walking on lawns of neighbors to walk in either shallower or no water.  During my walk out, which was uneventful save for being a new experience, I saw more examples of my neighbors being amazing, awesome, and inspiring. The first pic below shows a neighbor about a block away that, since he still had lawn left, created a staging area for people to head further into the subdivision to get their belongings from their flooded homes.  On his lawn, at no cost, he has water, soft drinks, ice, gas and oil for boat fuel, and

Happy Hunting on the last day of the quarter!! Attached is a picture of our latest visitor to the house.  Forgetting about the insanity of having a pond in the back and a turtle snuggling up to your window...I think we shall name him Mack in honor of the turtle who overthrew Yertle. The good news first and there is a lot of it!  The water is receding very slowly but receding nevertheless.   Our high point was 14.75" and now it is 13.25.  We have the contractor that we think is great and honest lined up to work on the house as soon as water recedes.  Our insurance adjuster has us in his top 10 priority (based in when you called in claim).   As for the days activities, which I know you are dying to hear about, I will be doing my best to attend to work and then will be going on a walk about which if it was a reality show would called Nat vs Harvey - a compelling story of a middle age Jewish man braving somewhat inconvenient high water for about 6 blocks.  (I mean that i

So...many of you are thinking what does Nat do all day?  What could possible keep his keen and quick thinking mind occupied?  Is this even possible?  The answer is YES.  Today was a banner day.  After writing an incredibly insightful and thought provoking email this morning to all of you I went about the steady business of taking regular measurements, rescuing forgotten knick knacks, helping my follow man, and closing on a new boat house.  An amazing day, yes indeed and all accomplished from the second story of his house.  I take an hourly reading of the water level using an old fashion yard stick.   While this and the results have been interesting the most interesting part for me was what I felt during the process.  To get an idea imagine you are standing on a stair about to put the yard stick in the water but you can't see the bottom.  So when you push the stick down it keeps going and going and you are looking at the number you wanted go into the water.  You begin to f

Good Morning After a restless sleep and checking on the house a few times I woke up at 5:30 for good and began to move final things as we have about 9 inches in the house and it is increasing with regularity 1 inch every hour - more on that later.  As Lisa and were looking for this and that to save I realized how crazy this is.  I had at least two days to fully prepare for the house - including the arrival of the Cajun Army last night to move stuff - and yet there is always something you miss.  We missed a rug my parents bought us for our first house on the bed or the first piece of art Lisa and I ever bought together.  On the other hand we did miss the IKEA furniture and a few rugs - choices of effort and return. One of the items that I realized I had missed was a card collection (MTG) that I have for 20+ years and now Ethan collects.   I am glad I remembered those and the art and the other things that mean so much to Lisa, Ethan, and me.  When I reflect (yay, I know lik

I feel like I am writing a blog.  Maybe I should call it The Water Logged Blog... We spent the day getting the house water free - mopping, towels, blah, blah - once the rain stopped .  I finally learned how joyous the absence of sound can be.  (By the way, I am invoking the Hurricane Harvey rules of grammar here so don't be upset about the dangling participle.) However, it seems that there might be more to come.  While the rain has indeed stopped there is still significant flooding throughout Houston and 2 major reservoirs, Addicks and Barker for the Googlers, are overloaded.  In order to prevent an uncontrolled incident they are letting a controlled amount of water out which will put more water on already overflowing bayous and water ways.  It sounds pretty crappy for me and a bunch of others but it would be much worse if they didn't. Anyway, it is super weird and kinda spooky to watch the water slowly creep up to house in total silence.  There is no rain, no sou

All An update to my update of another update - We had water come into the house around 9:30. Lisa and I fought hard for about an hour and then water just started coming from all sides.  As we were deciding whether to continue the fight or not the power went out and that was that.  After that it was a restless night of tossing and turning - we slept on the second floor. We had about .5 to 1 inch throughout the house.  Surprisingly, even though it didn't stop raining, the water has receded a little.  While disappointed we are perfectly safe and feeling lucky as it could have been worse.   We are currently on the second floor in the back part of the house.  We have beds, water, shower, food...so not too bad. We are in good spirits and appreciate all the offers of support and well wishes from this group. As I try to think of the good that has come out of this I realize that Lisa and I had our first opportunity to manage a crisis together and were still able la

All It looks like the bottom floor of our house will get a few inches of water.   But I mean seriously, who doesn't like boogie boarding to bed, am I right? But seriously, if that happens our power will need to be shut off and my access will be even more limited.  Anyhoo, we are moving to 2nd floor and hopefully will have power up there but depends on rains.  Will send an update later this evening or tomorrow. Nat

All Let night Lisa and I had a minor breach of our palace walls. We might have stemmed the tide for now but my focus tomorrow will be on Lisa, Ethan, and the house.  I will try to make myself available as possible and will forward emails as necessary if I am unable to resolve an issue. Thanks in advance for your understanding.