After nearly twenty years, Jennifer convinced me to take a couple of days off this Thanksgiving. I wasn't crazy about the idea since I have always worked on Black Friday and generally on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as well so I can hit the ground running on the following Monday.
UPS takes a very long weekend this time of year and jams up our shipments, and since we received a large order of hardback cases and children's book interiors and covers, I wanted to make sure that the 150+ books I'd bound last Tuesday were ready to go out on Monday.
When I walked into the office this morning, water was streaming down the inside of the windows.
We've had heavy wind and rain the past few days and a two-foot piece of flashing, tar paper and composition was torn off the roof allowing water to pour directly into the wall. Once it had sufficiently soaked the drywall, it started pooling on every available surface from the window sills to the floor. Two storage and assembly tables which were flushed against this wall were drenched with rain water, destroying nearly all of the books which were waiting to be packed for shipping.
I've already filed an insurance claim via fax, cleaned up the office and taken out my frustration over this by ripping down not-so drywall. The clean-up effort is going to take some time. The books will have to be reprinted.
I wanted to let people know as soon as possible.
These titles were destroyed and will have to be reprinted: When Flamingos Fly, Emma and the Mashed Potato Monster, I'm Not Afraid of That, Bock Bock's Rock, A,B, C... X, Yoga Z and The Four Friends. I'll keep you informed about the revised time line for shipment.
I've posted some pictures below. --Cris
Rain water pooled on the interior window sill.
The ceiling.
The ceiling and adjoining bubbled wall.
