Thank you all for your kind words and support. Many of you have also gone through this special kind of emergency restoration of your homes, and while it's a hassle on steroids, it does all get resolved in the end.

Yesterday was A+. More progress on necessary rip-out work was made; we're down to removing tile from two bathroom floors and a stretch of engineered flooring. Next up is treat the crawl spaces then blow warm air to dry the space, joists and subfloors.

The plumber fixed the two gas leaks, so I confidently called NJNG to get someone out to remove the lock from the gas main. Ummm .. no one was answering the emergency line, let alone the regular line. Isn't that kind of dangerous? Hmmm .. time for a little ingenuity. Our neighbors thought the same - they sprung a gas leak, so called the fire department. Can you imagine trying to roll fire trucks up a 50 foot wide street with cars parked on either side and debris still spilling into the pavement? Dicey!!

Just then, we get another code red call from the borough - there are volunteers in town who need jobs from homeowners. I had not signed up for help, as the interior of the house has too many tripping risks, spent nails, etc. I saw one crew raking the river debris off my neighbor's yard. That's a great idea! No risks to the volunteers, so off to borough hall to find a crew to help with the outdoor stuff. Along the way, I spy a big NJNG gas truck in a parking lot. He managed to dispatch a crew over to the house and - voila!! heat, glorious heat. That party only lasted a few hours, The mold specialist shut it down overnight until he can spray the crawl spaces with the microbial mold treatment.

I asked for 2 and got 5 terrific volunteers. In 2 short hours, they had the entire yard raked, debris bagged and smiles on their faces. A big shout-out to Siobhan, Allison, Pete, Katie and Brian and their fellow 65 volunteers for all their help and friendship. That allowed us to run the gas situation to the ground, finish a sweep-out of crumbled drywall, nails, beach sand (! - we're a mile from the beach) and the like. Mr. Clean saw the light of day as I even made one pass on the remaining tile floors to clear off the residue of the flood water.

We are nearing the end of the time-sensitive work needed to dry the house out and do necessary mold remediation. Constantly conflicting information on these topics makes separating what's fact; what's urban legend; and what should actually be done difficult. Ask 3 people who have experience with wet homes, and you'll get 5 opinions.

The government websites are equally confusing. The stuff on the FEMA website includes a 52 page power point presentation - probably a response to a Congressional committee inquiry; EPA only discusses air borne issues; broken links to other promising documents prepared by the National Park Service.

I am a tireless internet searcher. Homeland Security! A three-pager filled with language I equate with "under certain circumstances" - good enough to tell you certain do's and don'ts.

Lovely dinner with the friends who were the last to get power. We were struggling to stay awake so were not very good company. Sharing salty caramel ice cream, though, and the two weeks to get basic services back following a superstorm, makes that friendship all the deeper and dearer.

Hopefully, it's a half day today. Maybe even a football game in our future tonight.

Cheers, Anne