civilized ku # 1093-1101 ~ there's always an oddity and the bastards are at it again
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 02:41PM 
Swimming pool deck ~ AU Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Swimming pool deck ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Ruined furniture ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Collapsed garage ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Jersey bridge ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Prisoner work detail ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Stickney bridge ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Morning after ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Washed away yard ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenIt seems to be a law of nature that, with every disaster, there is always some weird happenstance dealt out by nature's fury. Here in Au Sable Forks, tropical storm Irene wise, the wind and water swept a pool deck out of someone's backyard, down the street, and hung it up on a tree - the deck completely intact. Rather bizarre. The pool was left as a crumpled wreck about 20 feet away.
In any event, and what an event it was, our personal troubles - new electric panel box, a furnace rebuild, a yet-to-be-undertaken professional basement cleaning (lots of mud and the threat of mold), the loss of our freezer and all of the meat therein (1/2 a cow) - and a few other minor (relatively speaking) issues - don't seem to amount to a hill of beans when compared to others in town who have lost a lot - to include their houses. Roads and bridges are still closed, with hasty repairs underway. Businesses are cleaning up and trying to stay open but, needless to say, it's gonna be awhile before the town gets back to anything resembling normal.
After installing a new electric panel with all new circuit breakers, we got our electricity back late Wednesday afternoon. Water has been restored, albeit under boil water warnings. The basement, after being pumped out 3 separate times on 3 successive days, now resembles a wading pool instead of a swimming pool. Ground water is percolating up through the basement floor and will continue to do so for the near future. Our sump pump is waging a holding pattern battle, water level wise.
All of that said, true to their idiotic form, the Republican / Tea Party controlled US House of Representatives is doing its best to fuck things up while holding hostage those in need of assistance and relief, FEMA wise. FEMA is woefully short of $$$ and Eric Cantor and his band of Tea Party morons are playing politics once again - insisting any additional funding for FEMA must be matched by equal budget cuts somewhere else or too bad for us.
What a gang of brain-dead dip-shits.
FYI, while most of the above pictures are self-explanatory, it is worth noting that the Washed away yard picture depicts the small brook that did all the damage to our street and house. The washed away yard illustrates how high the brook overran its banks.
The Morning after picture of the west branch of the Au Sable River depicts the river well above flood stage but well below its height during the the night before. For reference, the Main Street bridge (visible on the right) had water and debris on its roadway.
PA - thanks for the well wishes and concern.
Reader Comments (4)
Here in the UK, I don't understand all the political stuff, but your images speak volumes. I can't begin to imagine the disruption you and your fellow countrymen presently have to deal with. For what it's worth, you have my thoughts and best wishes; regards, Colin.
It's also true, of course, that Mr. Cantor wasn't worried about spending cuts when his little corner of the world needed federal funds a few years back. You're right - he's a certified, full-fledged moron!
I agree with Colin - the images "speak volumes". I never would have thought that that could happen in the Adirondacks.
I wish you wouldn't restrain yourself when speaking of the idiots in congress; sorry for being redundant.
I say, have at them!
You live in "the best democracy money can buy" and unless you knock it down and start over, you'll always have these types of morons messing you about. Sorry. I don't have any suggestions, though. Sorry again. I've lived the past 40 years in a socialist country that's only just succumbing to the American poison and must say I'm glad that I'll be dead before it's completely fucked here.