Life is weird, sometimes.  Yesterday, the management office decided to power wash the outside of our apartment building.  That was fine.

But, apparently they power washed the driveway, as well.  That’s the driveway next to our garage. The one where about 2/3 of our belongings are.  The one that has a small gap below the door; leaves keep blowing in when the landscapers are using leaf blowers. (Yes, I’d mentioned that at the office.)

From the stains on our boxes and the garage floor, the water flooded in just as the leaves do.

Many of our regular moving boxes got soaked.  So did the three leaves to my antique mahogany table, a large box filled with antique quilts and collectible dolls from the 1950s, and some of my posters and art.

It could have been far worse.  HT returned home in time to note the damage last night, and he stayed up and repacked every box that had gotten soaked.  (He’s my hero.)

That prevented the damage from spreading further.

This morning, I took photos of the worst damage, before dragging one of the water-soaked boxes to the apartment office to show them what had happened.   They say they’ve filed a report with their regional office; I’m not sure if I should call a lawyer about this, myself.

But really, it could have been worse.  Most of our books were packed in plastic-lined boxes. Replacing those would have been unthinkable.

One thing that I learned this morning:  Renters’ insurance generally doesn’t cover this sort of thing.  If a roof leaks, a pipe bursts or a sprinkler douses your belongings with water, you’re covered.

Water entering from side/outside — especially if the access is from underneath a door –  is called “rising water.”  It’s in the same category as flood damage, meaning that it’s not covered by normal renters’ insurance.  That’s worth noting if you’re a renter with, oh, an  overzealous maintenance staff who’ve never operated a power washer before.

In much happier news… I’ve figured our driving route, stopping about every 500 miles between here and New Hampshire.  La Quinta is generally a pet-friendly motel, so I’m planning our stops for their locations.  (We have two cats.)

Now, I’m resuming moving preparations.  I didn’t like using my morning to document the damage to our belongings.  It makes me feel angry and sad, and a little frustrated because I don’t have time to pursue this legally, locally.  I mean, the moving container arrives the day after tomorrow.  There are still a bazillion things to do.

Meanwhile, the cats are blissed out.  On the recommendation of other pet lovers, we’ve been trying Rescue Remedy (a health food floral mix) in their drinking water, to see if it sedates them enough for the drive.  It doesn’t knock them out, but it certainly makes them more relaxed and they take more naps.   That’s a good choice for the trip.

So, I’m getting back to work now, and I’m glad that  I’d paced myself so that I could use this morning to document the damage in the garage.