ASHLEY FURNITURE LIVINGROOM

Well, I have to make this quick--I'm on battery power.

This morning I went to the doctor. I have a cold and my lungs are inflamed and I have a horrendous sinus infection, so I relented and got some antibiotics for the latter.

I was feeling better, a little, so I went to my last class (of my undergrad career!!) and to a poetry reading.

But then, while I was at the poetry reading for two hours, my apartment was flooded. Flooded, as in, a water pipe leading to the washer spontaneously burst, and two inches of water were sitting throughout the entire place, except for half of the bedroom, including my bed, which was spared... and I'm thinking the closet is okay too. I've been cleaning up for the last two and a half hours. There were men here with wet vacuums sucking up excess water, but the whole carpet will have to be gutted. Apparently that's going to happen tomorrow. They put foam blocks under most of my wood furniture.

I don't think a lot of serious monetary damage was done (nothing like the horrors of New Orleans, etc., thank god), but a lot of school papers were ruined (I still have papers to write, one due tomorrow, and a final to take). Several days worth of cat food got waterlogged. Also, several library books were waiting by the door so I could take them back to the library... I have to take them in batches because they're too heavy to carry all at once. They're completely saturated. My high school senior year yearbook, saturated. The mat that goes underneath the litter box... the bottoms of several boxes... the bottoms of two pieces of art I had sitting in front of my fireplace... all waterlogged. My laptop cord--possibly ruined (hence the battery power.) I'm going to have to call in to work tomorrow, resulting in lost pay.

All of my laundry, which I had in piles waiting to wash, is saturated and soggy, and I've placed it all on the patio. I can't do anything with that stuff until tomorrow, when I can go and get some quarters and head to the laundromat. Crap, even then... how am I going to cart a ton of heavy, soaking laundry somewhere? And get my car wet? Damn. I'm just hoping it doesn't rain, so it doesn't get any more soggy. I wish more than anything that I had my parents or close friends living near me. This sucks.

Crookshanks is seriously spooked too. When I walked in, he was sitting on the arm of the couch, high ground, all scared and puffytailed. Poor baby. He couldn't even get to his litter box because the entire bathroom was flooded. I had to move him into the bedroom while the men worked.

At least my bedroom isn't too flooded, so I can sleep here tonight, if I can find the time. I really have to get things cleaned up so they will be able to move out all of my furniture tomorrow when the carpet people come. I want to clear off all the kitchen cabinets so they can stack stuff there if needed. I'm running on adrenaline right now.

And I'm really wheezing. I need to take an inhaler... this muggy air in here is really hell for my already stressed-out lungs. Crap!

I have to try and get my bedroom window open. It's really stubborn, but I don't think I could breathe in there without fresh air.

Greifenstein Castle near Heiligenstadt (built in 1172, rebuilt around 1550), Franconia (Bavaria) is still in posession of the family von Stauffenberg and nowadays occupied by Otto-Philipp Schenk Earl von Stauffenberg. Amongst his ancestors were politicians, scientists and important divines. But his most famous ancestor is definitely colonel Claus Schenk Earl von Stauffenberg, who made a famous and corageous attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life on July 20th 1944.

The castle can be visited and contains next to many precious items of furniture a world-renowned collection of weapons.

Some additional information about the family and Claus Schenk Earl von Stauffenberg:

Claus Schenk Earl von Stauffenberg never permanently lived in this castle, but he used to visit it quite often. He grew up in a different one as the family von Stauffenberg is in possession of four castles altogether. As far as I know, Claus Schenk Earl von Stauffenberg was the uncle of the present owner Otto-Philipp Earl von Stauffenberg, who's already 83 years of age. ;-)

After von Stauffenberg's attempt on Hitler's life failed, he was executed in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock in Berlin. But not only he, also one of his brothers, who was involved in the assassination attempt as well, became executed and even the rest of the family was punished hardly. Some were sent to concentration camps, some to prisons and the children were admitted to children's homes, giving them new surnames at the same time.

Himmler, the SS national leader, planned to go even further by extinguishing the whole family. These were his words: "This man has committed treason; his blood is bad; there is traitor's blood in him; that must be wiped out. And in the blood feud the entire clan was wiped out down to the last member. And so, too, will Count Stauffenberg's family be wiped out down to the last member." But fortunately Himmler's plans were not accomplished.

In the last months of the war Greifenstein castle was used as a quarter of the SS, whilst its family owners were imprisoned. And later it became a quarter of the advanced US army. But after the family was freed, the castle was handed back to its owners. Most interesting was, that whilst many other castles were looted by GIs, the GIs didn't loot Greifenstein. Every little item was still in its place when the family regained the castle (except of a small collection of coins) - most likely due to the respect of the American soldiers for the family name von Stauffenberg.