Long, long time lurker, sometime poster.

My husband and I heard that the price of lobsters had hit the floor in Maine. Because of the recession, people are not treating themselves to lobsters in restaurants. Our immediate mission was to travel to Acadia National Park in the RV, and spend all our mealtimes supporting the lobstermen! It is a tough job but someone must do it! We planned to travel from Wisconsin to Michigan, cross over to Canada, and make our way to Maine. After a few weeks there, we would travel down the coast to Georgia, ending our vacation visiting my sister and her family in the Atlanta area. (It is great to be retired!) I put my ebay business on vacation settings, and off we went.

Plans oft go astray.

We reached Detroit, and checking Facebook on my new Blackberry I learned that my sister was experiencing flooding in her home. I called her and said: 'So do you need us?' Her answer: 'No, don't change your vacation plans!' I said: 'We'll be there in two days.'

See my second post for a video of the flood taken by one of the neighbors.

My sister's house is the one where you see the mailbox first. What you can't see in the video is that the entire basement/garage is underwater. You can just barely see my sister and my brother moving around on the porch, trying to save what they could. The water came up six inches into the first floor. The life vest you see at the end belongs to my brother-in-law. A great many of the things stored in the yard were washed downriver.

As soon as we arrived we were put to work! We removed sodden carpeting, particle board subfloor and drywall. She hired a crew of men to clean out the basement, where her husband had a 'mancave' filled with his hobbies and tools.

Her kitchen cabinets were in part made of particle board and had to be removed also. We arose at 5 AM and worked until 9 PM to beat mold growth. A great many people showed up to help, but even so, it was a gargantuan job!

We had to vacate the house one day for 3 hours so the crew could spray the home with mold retardant.

I told my sister I would like to gift her with some knockout roses to commemorate the flood. We went to a great discount nursery in the suburbs, and purchased 5 Peach Double Knockouts and some burgundy mums.

I know lots of you don't like the Knockouts, but my sister is not the gardener to take care of more demanding types.

We planted the garden by the driveway entrance, and once everything was in, my sister had a great idea: we would use the damaged particle board and some of the drywall to mulch the garden, covering it later with the more suburbanly acceptable cypress mulch. Sheet composting, if you will!

We finished the garden and I joked: 'This should be on the news! A victory garden for the flood! It has these meanings: Knockouts bred in Wisconsin like my sister and I, peach color for the Peach State, and Double Knockouts for the double knockout flood.' We had a good laugh, ate supper and went to bed.

The next day my sister and I went to the newly opened FEMA center in her neighborhood.

As we went from station to station gathering information, the local news came in and starting filming us.

They asked my sister a few questions, and then asked if they could come to the home and film the damage. Well, you guessed it, our garden made the news!

Click on the link below to see the video, then click on "play video" on the right in the video box.

You can see me doing my crocheting in the FEMA office.

Quite the adventure! My sister is now on her way to recovery, all the potentially dangerous material was removed. FEMA was wonderful, she has already received a check that will help, but in no way will cover all the damages. They will be living on plywood for awhile until they are able to recoup. She is worried that Thanksgiving won't be the same - my thoughts were: everyone knows what you have been through, they will put up with a less that perfect house! (She usually hosts my parents from Florida, my sister and brother-in-law from Milwaukee, and all the local relatives in the Atlanta area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fox 5 video