Linda, there are other ways to lose your livelihood other than being a commercial fisherman should a storm take out several thousand recreational boats here in my town. Many ways. Just a few from the top of my head...marine mechanics, shipwrights, fiberglass specialists, electronics sales/installation/service, rigging specialists, canvas specialties (several types), upholstery specialists, stainless steel fabricators, crane owners & operators, marina owners, dockmasters, deck hands, fuel, pump-out service companies, painters, those who do the shrink-wrapping for winter storage, Tow Boat US franchise owners & their employees, places like West Marine & the marine salvage yard suffer from greatly reduced sales when the boats are not being used, restaurants & their employees (if boaters are not using their boats they aren't in town needing food), hotels, caterers (we have many very large yachts here all summer. They come up from the Caribbean to, hopefully, avoid hurricanes & utilize local caterers every week.), & retail in general. Boaters' purchases are the mainstay of our downtown area. Recreational boating is big business in the Great Lakes area also as it is all along the country's coasts (west, Gulf, & east). People earn their livelihoods in other ways besides farming. And those other livelihoods also ripple through the entire economy. Despite their farms the mid-west is suffering economically right now. So are Connecticut & Rhode Island. IMO, every job we have in America is important...not just farmers. My town lives or dies by the health of our local marine industries that includes oyster bed farmers, scallop divers, commercial fisherman (Stonington, our government jurisdiction, has the last commercial fishing fleet in CT.), sport fishing charter boats, & yes...recreational boaters and all those who support the marine industry that I noted above. The world's largest marine museum is located in Mystic for a reason. As I've said before, Mystic's life blood is the sea.

Nancy, thanks so much for posting for me. When I phoned we were still in shock and I'm sure I wasn't very coherent. It was a rough couple days. Linda, the antique furniture is probably a total loss. If it was on the floor - it's water damaged. I've got a call into our antique broker but haven't yet been able to reach him to discuss possible repairs (?). It's possible he's also flooded. Still, once it's been flooded - never the same and value will be severely reduced, as you know. So, we'll most likely let the insurance deal with them on our claim. :( We were bemoaning the loss of the antique pieces last night before we fell asleep. Every one had a story that meant a lot to us. Truthfully though, we have so much to worry about right now that we haven't focused on their loss - yet. The structure itself held well so we had no interior wind damage to rattle things around. That means the mulberry is okay as are all of the 18th century wine glasses and decanters. We lost a considerable number of reference books though and you know how hard those are to come by. I also lost my Yamaha Clavinova. :( Things like Dad's accordion we took with us as well as all his sheet music. I lost some genealogy. That's heartbreaking. I'm still working on the inventory list. That goodness we kept meticulous records, receipts, and have a thorough professional appraisal as an addendum to our policy. It cost a bit more in premiums but not nearly as much as the losses. Lpink, have you considered coming through CT to New London and taking the ferry over to LI, going to get your aunt/uncle, and bringing them back the same way? We have ample gas available in CT and there's been virtually no looting concerns. It's a mess here but we are up and running again and safe. The ferry is running again. And thanks so much for you thoughts. Every one means so much now. Bumblebeez - thanks so much. Please keep those best wishes coming. It's going to be a long haul, months not weeks. Chase, on behalf of all Sandy's victims thank you for your Red Cross donation. The Red Cross is doing so much for so many across the region. They are always first on the scene and last to leave. Again, thank you. FEMA seems, so far, to be on top of things. It only took 20 minutes to fill out forms, register, get assigned a representative, etc. and we've received several phone calls from FEMA already and it's only been a week today Sandy paid us a visit. We have an appointment Friday at FEMA's temporary office here in Stonington. /tricia

sue36: "There is no such thing as "unlicensed practice" here because there are no licenses. If they are not supposed to obvious find safety and code violations, what exactly are they looking for?" If there is no code enforcement via licensing, Im not clear on how code violations are determined at allcan you provide a bit more info? That said, even if ones state does not license HIs, it is very easy to determine what is and is not included in a home inspection in accordance with the nationally accepted standards of practice of the HI professional organizations. One can easily review the SOPs (and the COEs) of all of the major organizations on line..or call them to obtain a copy. Otherwise, it is impossible for a buyer to know what to look for in a contract if they have no clue what a home inspection includesor does not include, as the case may be...and this is exactly what leads to these apparently rampant misconceptions. If one reviews the ASHI SOPs for instance, it clearly states that the compliance with regulatory requirements (codes, regulations, laws, ordinances, etc.) is an exclusion.and one would therefore not assume the HI will be performing an inspection inclusive of such. Home inspection and Code Inspection are two separate and distinct professions. This however does not preclude a buyer from searching for an HI who is also a Code Inspector.however, as each code discipline is separateelectrical, plumbing, etc they would have to hire someone who has a proven track record in all. Im not sure how one does that in a state that does not license code officialsbut one could check on how the state determines that a code official is competent enough for hireand go from there. In addition, such an inspection would cost much, much more and take far more time than a home inspection, as much more is involved...and, because of how involved such an inspection would be, most code officials I know who also have an HI license do not perform code inspections for the public. They do so only for municipalities. As far as safety is concerned, a home inspection does include citing safety issues. However, in your state, since the profession is not regulated, the HI can pretty much call his own shots. It is up to the buyer to request the pre-inspection agreement before they hire, and read over what the HI is including in the inspection for the price. If he is not including the items that they expect, keep looking.and of course, check references. Most if not all HI contracts that I have seen waive liability. However, I have also known more than enough HIs who have been sued nonethelessand, if it was a valid caseand not just a buyer looking for home improvement funding, the buyer has won. However, if a buyer signs an agreement which specifically does not include the inspection of certain itemsor the exclusion of certina things...they will be hard pressed on winning a case regarding those issues....especially in a state without regulation. Last but not least, without seeing the contract regarding what was agreed to, and without seeing the report to see what may have been obscured or inaccessible on the day of inspection, it sounds as if the inspection was indeed the typical $250.00 job.

My love of reading probably came from my parents and my oldest brother who read out loud to me from my infancy. However, my other brother doesn't read books for entertainment though he received the same encouragement. Same with my sons: one reads as avidly as I do in many genres, but the other only enjoys instruction manuals, such as How to Maintain Your Airplane and A to Z Home Wiring, which he reads very, very well. I attribute my profound distaste of dystopian literature to high school reading -- my teachers seem to have all been bitten by the same dystopian bug. In three years I was assigned Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Land Under England, and a couple I've mercifully forgotten. If I had read them in a more spread-out period and the teachers hadn't been such sheep, I might have enjoyed and got more out of them, but, as it was, I was soured forever. if you weren't an English Literature major, you probably weren't (or never would be) a serious reader of literature.Georgia, I ran across that sort of pickle-brained professor frequently.