And the Rain Came A-Tumbling Down

Yesterday during the day and last night we had some pretty strong thunderstorms move through here.  While that isn't anything to use all capital letters about, or even anything really unusual, it did pose a couple of problems.

You see, at the not-for-profit place I work, we've been needing to replace the roof.  Actually, we've been needing to replace it ever since I've worked here.  This August will mark my tenth anniversary of employment.

But as not-for-profit places go, the finances are tight.  So tight that we try to squeeze every little bit we can get from every little penny.  Needed repairs are sometimes put to the side so that we can do more helping instead.

But this time... this time we are the ones who need the help.

Last night was proof.

This morning when I came in to work, I was immediately summoned to the uppermost floor of the building.  There I found my maintenance guys busy with the wet vac, trying to suck up all the water that had leaked from the ceiling, through the ceiling tiles and onto the floor.  Almost all the rooms on that level had water damage of some sort, whether it was soaked ceiling tiles or downright leaks onto desktops, floors, shelves, or people.

In addition, we had the maintenance rooms flood, as well as storage rooms in the basement.

It was not a pretty sight.

So now we're doing the cleanup dance.  I ordered eight cases of new ceiling tiles to replace those that were stained.  Roofers have come in to bid on fixing/replacing the roof.  Plumbers have been called in to bid on fixing/replacing the drains. It looks to be an expensive process.

I still remember a scene from the original Mickey Mouse Club - in black and white - of one of the lead Mouseketeers telling a story about a sock.  It seems as though the sock had a tiny hole in it, and the child that owned it didn't fix the hole.  They wore the sock with the hole, and it became bigger and bigger until the whole sock had to be thrown away.  If the child had only fixed the tiny hole to begin with, the sock could have been saved.

(Of course, I now have a mental picture of a child wearing just one sock.)

That story relates to our problems here today.

In the meantime, we'll be issuing umbrellas to everyone on the uppermost floor, and rowboats to the ones in the basement.

That should fix everything, right?  :)