Please except my apology for not updating this blog lately, but things have been a little different at the Arlo household since “The Storm”. This is the new look for our hallway post “Ida” we have been “knee deep in the hoopla” as the old saying goes. The following posts chronicle the storm and its effects on parts of our home, but what is not shown is the soaked carpet & area rugs, shoes floating down the hall, along with items from the other bedrooms, and closets. Wet hand tools, power tools, gardening equipment, clothing, furniture, electronics, albums, c.d.’s, artwork, cherished photos, and the list goes on. Bottom line though is every bit of that is just “stuff”, Lauren, Brigette, both dogs, and I are all safe, and sound. (except for me, the others really are sound though) lol  Only a couple weeks after the storm our good friends Todd & Leslie, Christopher, and Pam came over and shared Thanksgiving with us. And we shared that dinner in a house that had furniture and boxes stacked everywhere with narrow paths between the household goods, and the drying equipment. Having friends like that is such a blessing. I’ve been wanting to sit down, load up some photos, and let you folks know what was happening, but just haven’t had the time. This week I’m on vacation, and decided to stop tearing out walls, and ripping down 30 year old paneling long enough to catch everyone up on what is happening. So here’s the update!    p.s. we did buy a new washer & dryer(front loaders)pretty cool, and some new furniture for the bedroom that all matches. YEAH!!!   By the way let me just mention “Thank God for flood insurance” :- )

I know…Don’t touch!!!!

Eventually, but not this evening…..  After “Ida” we got everything dried out then the damaged areas had to be cut out. This is the new ambiance of our dining area. Please note the post modern expressionist look, in particular the concrete floors, and stark half sheathed appearance of the wall covering. :- )

After the nasty water went out of the house the restoration company brought in a whole new way to have fun at home. Giant high powered fans and huge dehumidifiers in nearly every room, and hallway. By the way they’re great for improving both your vocal skills and lung capacity. It is truly amazing how loud you can learn to scream without damaging your vocal chords. After a couple weeks it was almost like moving back to my old house beside the runway at N.A.S. Oceana, we got used to it.

My poor garage…..This picture was taken the morning after “Ida”, and if you look closely you can see Thursday nights’ high water line on that big blue trash can that we use for birdseed. It’s also visibal about 4” above the bottom of the dryer door.Yuuuck!!! Outside the water was still knee deep in our front yard, and fortunately our vehicles were parked up the road on higher ground. My only way to work that Friday morning was wade/swim to the other side of our street, then hike about a mile to my truck. I called work to let them know I could come in later when the tide went out a little more. I’m so lucky in so many ways, first I have a job I really love and I work with some of the best people in the business. Like my boss  Mike Beck who told me not to come in, just stay home and do what was needed. That was only the second time in 34 years that I have missed an air shift due to weather. The other was during the Blizzard Of 80’ back then the station was in downtown Norfolk, I lived in Oceana, and even the Interstate was closed.

Because our backyard is subject to occasional tidal flooding, before the previous owners installed a pool back in the early 70’s a huge earthen mound had to be built-up in order to dig and not hit water. What you can’t see under that murkey mess is a set of steps that are about 2’ above the yard. Those steps lead up to the pool deck, but the back part of that walk way around the pool is about 3’ to 3 ½’ above the ground. If you look closely you can also see the top of the 4 ½’ tall picket fence sticking out of the water behind the bird feeder. And yes that’s our wooden lawn furniture bobbing around out there, two redwood chairs with cushions, two small drink tables …perfect!   :- )

The Eastern Branch Elizabeth River isn’t normally this close to our back deck.

The tide was going out, and the water was nearly a foot lower than the “high water” mark when this picture was taken