Flood control day six: Linoleum not only hides a multitude of sins, but also keeps moisture from drying out the hardwood floor underneath. Six days after the flood we finally got the linoleum removed from the bishop’s room in the back of this photo where the water pipe broke. The latin inscription over the doors to our monastery’s cells reads, “This is my place of rest, here is my habitation, because I have chosen to be here.” That’s one of the psalms. Our habitation hopefully will soon be dry. Then the restoration may begin. Any donation will be gratefully accepted. Checks may be sent to Carmelite Fathers at 5151 Marylake Dr., Little Rock AR 72206. May God reward you. Guide us Noah, to a dry dwelling place. Then we can rest.

Imagine, if you will, a rain forest coming down in the pool room. This monastery’s main entrance is seldom used, for it faces the lake. The entrance used is the back door close to the parking area. The room one would enter through the main door has been used for years as our pool room. Someone gave us a pool table, and we acquired wooden benches which surround the table. The ceiling was old acoustical tiles now soaked in water pouring in from the rooms above which rained down on the table, littering the floor in a wet mess of biblical proportions. That’s the scene that welcomed us as we returned to the monastery last Sunday from our weekend Masses.

A water pipe had burst on the main floor of the monastery. This happened in the guest section where noone lives. It was not noticed for hours. Water flooded three and a half rooms plus two hallways, seeped through the floor and poured down into our lakeside floor where it flooded as many rooms as upstairs including a room and a half where our provincial archives are kept. Our main library downstairs was spared except for a little water seepage into the carpet. This is the mess we have had on our hands all week. A Restoration company came out Monday to haul out the ceiling tiles and set up fans and dehumidifiers to dry the place out before mold set in. I ripped out the carpeting and sponge padding upstairs while Fr. Marion mopped up the water. The two of us had the upstairs free of standing water before the Restoration people got here. We hauled the carpets outside where our 100 degree heat dried them out rather quickly. The sponge padding under the carpets was a total loss. Whether the carpeting can be salvaged or not, we doubt.

The pipe burst under the sink in what we call “the bishop’s room.” I think Bishop Albert Flecther who dedicated this monastery in 1952 once took a nap in that guest room. From there it ran into the sacristy next door and into our bathroom on the other side. From the bathroom it crept into my room.

Here’s a picture of the sacristy after we removed the carpeting. For some reason the bishop’s room, hallway, and half the sacristy floor had been laid in linoleum prior to our renovation in the 1980s. The linoleum not only hid a multitude of sins beneath, but also kept the hardwood underneath from drying out. The hallways of our guest section and the section in which we live are now littered with furniture from the flooded area. We now pray for funds to repair the damage. Who’s the saint of flood damage? Noah?