Fugee-la

We’re sort of like refugees the last few days. It’s all well and good to hunker down and camp out in your own home, but having a 3-month old complicates things. We hightailed it up to Canada, and came by to check on the house today. The basement is flooded like crazy. So, we started generator hunting after we got the wet boxes up off the floor of the basement.

Loads of calls and driving around Canada, we discovered that every generator on the Niagara peninsula was sold out, according to most. So, we called Sears out in Toronto and they directed us to a “special” Sears on Islington near the 401 where they might have generators. We dutifully went and discovered that it was a Sears outlet that had lots of stuff, more people, and was full of dingy deals. No generators, though.

So, we started down Islington to head to one of the malls where there might be a Home Depot or a Canadian Tire, and we came across a Home Hardware. Looked all around, and asked a guy coming out of the stockroom if there were any generators there. He said, no why? I said, “I’m from Buffalo, and I’m looking for a generator.” Reply? “No shit.”

After regaling him with stories about hairy driving, 3 feet of snow, and flooded basements, he and his manager started furiously calling Ronas and Home Hardwares while I called Home Depots. Jackpot. One 5000 watt generator down Dufferin, and one 1850 watt one up Dufferin. After some deliberation, we decided on 5000 watts, and headed up there with a printed spec sheet.

When we arrived, it was a different model, but same specs, but $50 more money. The owner had ordered it when Toronto had had some bad blackout, but couldn’t unload it and had had it in stock for a long time. I was as happy to take it off her hands as she was to give it to me. And she took the $50 off, too.

So, I’m in an undisclosed location (hint: there’s a waterfall or two here), and will hook up the generator to the sump tomorrow to begin the cleanup, which I’ve dubbed “Project Mudhen” which is named after my misnomer for the Batavia Muckdogs.