Good neighbors + borrowing stuff in a crisis and otherwise = NeighBorrow.com
On the evening of Friday, January 2, 2009 (just one day after we had 3 inches of rain in a 24-hour period), I went down to our basement family room to peruse the DVD collection and unwind. My husband, dear man, was ostensibly putting the kids to bed but really listening to a basketball game on head-phones. Before I started the movie, I noticed a dark spot on our carpet. I figured one of the kids had spilled a water bottle and forgotten to tell me. Yet when I knelt down to examine the spot I realized the whole carpet was soggy, and this one spot was just soaked. As the horror of a flooded basement dawned on me, I did what any reasonable EnviroMom would do. I opened a beer and watched my movie, staying far, far away from the especially squishy spots.
Quite frankly, I did not know what to do. There are times when I'm surprised to find that I'm the grown-up in the room, and everyone's looking to me for answers, and I'm like "Um, well, humpf." This was one of those times. My husband eventually came down to see what I was up to after the basketball game was over, and I shared the wonderful news with him. He did not know what to do either. Luckily, just the carpet was wet. We don't know how to water got in, only that it did. Basements. Three inches of rain. What-are-you-gonna-do?
So the next morning, Saturday, we called my dad. I remember his basement flooding numerous times in the years he lived in the Chicago area. He would know what to do. I also called my friend and favorite real estate agent because she knows about houses, and is always quick to give me referrals when I need to hire a pro. My dad suggested we call some neighbors to see if any of them had floods as well. No to that, but all of the neighbors jumped to help us. It was really lovely. Our next-door-neighbor, who has been in the 'hood longer than us, said our basement flooded in '96 (a year of great rains in Portland). And that the '96 flood was much worse. We are oddly comforted by this knowledge. Another neighbor talked to this neighbor as he's en route to our house, calls to get the details, then brings over a steamer vac and fan so we can start drying out. My dad came over too, with ideas and another fan.
Long story short, we dried it to the best of our ability, working like dogs. But lo and behold, an alarming whiff of eau de mold appears the next day... At my dad's recommendation, we started hunting for a dehumidifier. We called all the neighbors in the vicinity. We phoned a rental place (they were all out). We hit craigslist. We phoned just about every Home Depot, Sears, Lowes, and Ace Hardware in the Portland Metro area. With luck, we found one in the 'burbs. We put that bad boy to work, and man, if the mold smell didn't start going away almost immediately. And it sucked out gallons of water from the air in days.
So where am I going with this? Mostly, I'm just spewing my angst. Thanks for listening. But! I have finally gotten my act together to set up a NeighBorrow-Hood. I don't fully understand how it works, but I like the idea. You set up a free online database or library of things you have to loan. Your neighbors do likewise. Then you all share your stuff: movies, games, baby gear, tools, whatever. I'm thinking ours may be primarily for tools. But who knows how it will evolve. If I understand it correctly, it's in beta, and you can make your items public or private. I found adding each item a bit tedious, so I hope that won't be a hard sell to the neighbors, but I really like the idea of a free online space where we can share what we have and not have to play "go fish" during times of crisis:
"Nope, go fish."
Anyone using NeighBorrow.com or another online or offline neighborhood lending solution? Do tell. We'd love to hear about it. And keep your fingers crossed on our behalf. There's a forecast for 3 more inches of rain tonight...
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