I finally looked at some pictures I took when I went with my family to see where our cottage used to be. This picture pains me so much. I love my grammy and grandpa and really can't stand the pain they must feel for losing our cottage. My entire life has been a part of this place.

This Fall's shoreline sweep is on Saturday 9/24. I'm going to go clean Squaw Island again.

Honestly, I don't know why I even bother. I'm so disgusted by people in general. The trash is overwhelming.

I think this time I might focus on sweeping up all the glass. I see kids throwing glass botttles all the time and I have gotten probably like 10 flats this season. I never used to get flats, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I even spent extra money on Kevlar tires and I wish I didn't cause I have only gotten more flats. At least if I clean up the glass I might get less flat tires. If I clean up the trash they just come and dirty it all up again in as little as a day.

It survived the flood of 72 and a tornado with my grandparents in it. It was built in 1935. I really love the river and will always have very fond memories of this very special place.

This is our cottage 15 miles downstream. There is video that I haven't been able to watch yet. We all cried pretty hard. I never would have imagined this, we always thought it would be there.

The river crested last night and ended up breaking the 1972 record. We are all very concerned that when the water recedes that the cottage may not be there anymore. Almost the entire structure was below water at the highest point of the flood.

It is just for summer vacations and not anybodies home but it is a huge part of our family and would forever change the way we stay a family if it is gone. My great grandfather built it with 10 other families during the depression and my grandmother has gone there all her life. I was there when I was a newborn when my great grandparents were still alive and have gone most years since then. This year Mike came for the first time and we celebrated my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary there. It connects our family in a way that we could otherwise never be connected. It provides our family with an opportunity to be close for at least a brief period of time which is so important when we all live so far away from each other.

There is federal flood insurance that would cover the monetary damages but they would never let us rebuild anything similar. I agree with not being able to rebuild and it wouldn't be the same anyways. The water will not recede until Sunday and I'm sure someone will venture out through the mud to see if it is still there. I really couldn't imagine not having it around anymore but if it is gone, it is gone and at least we were fortunate to have it all these years.

Lots of people are losing their homes and have no flood insurance. Most of my relatives were hit hard in the Binghamton/Endicott region of NY. Everyone had water in their basements even though they weren't in close proximity to water. My mom's cousin was evacuated and hopefully won't lose the home she grew up in.