Admittedly, I don’t really believe in bad luck – or good luck for that matter. I believe that “luck” is generally made through hard work, perseverance and sound decision making. Did I say believe? Perhaps I meant believed?
So now I can only hope that bad luck comes in threes – not fours, fives, sixes or more. And if you didn’t jump ahead reading this posting, then I’ll give you a hint and re title this posting “We Need an Ark, Revisited, Revisited”.
Those of you that follow our blog know that our Itasca location flooded in September and we were forced to evacuate over 40 animals from outdoor caging – thankfully without animal casualties. Cages were flooded over 2-1/2 feet deep with some cages up to my mid-chest. Our dedicated volunteers toiled over 250 hours scrubbing and sanitizing caging before the animals could be returned outside. We are planning to repair physical damage to cages this spring.
Enter December 27th with the polar melt and Itasca flooded again. This time the deepest cages were flooded to my knees. Still, we evacuated many animals to the safety of the building and there were no animal casualties. This flood was complicated by cold weather that will prevent us from returning many animals to outdoor caging until after the spring thaw so that we can appropriately scrub and sanitize cages.
Moving on to January 17th at Northerly Island in days following bitter cold during which the city of Chicago was apparently emulating the North Pole…………….. On the day that we’re supposed to participate in the Chicago Park District’s Polar Adventure Days at Northerly Island one of our volunteers arrives at our downtown facility to find that the Polar ice cap has melted – or perhaps it’s just a burst (formerly frozen) pipe in the Men’s Room.
Our facility at Northerly Island that we’ve worked on for so many hours and put any spare money and resources into fixing up for the last three years, is under 1-1/2 inches of water. Our beautiful wood laminate floor is ruined. The flooring guy says that all of the boards will buckle over the next few days and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Our cabinets are wicking up water. Just when the facility is almost done, we feel that we’re back to square one.
Water may be essential to life, but I’m not feeling the love.
Know anyone that will donate flooring and installation?
Dawn