Go figure. The one time something nationally newsworthy happens in Keene, I’m out of town and thus missed blogging it.

Thanks to everyone’s who has emailed about the flooding here in southern New Hampshire. I’m okay, and so is Reggie…my basement, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. But unlike the next-door neighbors whose foundation is crumbling or the across-the-street neighbors who had basement water up to their first-story floorboards, the house where I live was relatively untouched, with “only” about 3 feet of water in the basement and no apparent structural damage. My awesome landlord’s been pumping the basement since this morning (thankfully, I have nothing of value stored down there) so he’s hoping to have the basement dry and the heat/hot water restored by tomorrow.

Since I just got back from New York this afternoon, I missed yesterday’s mandatory evacuation of my street, during which time National Guard troops floated in front my house to help my neighbors to higher ground. I also missed (gratefully, thank you) the most graphic photo opportunities, some of which you can see here on the Keene Sentinel website.

Above is the one photo that I think best describes the day-after aftermath of the Flood of 2005: a Boston news team that’s been parked right in front of my house since I got home this afternoon. It’s always surreal going from the hubbub of the Big Apple back to the relative obscurity of Small Town, New England. Today, though, even Big City Bostonians are interested in little ol’ Keene. Given what it took to earn our Fifteen Minutes of fame, I think relative obscurity is looking better by the minute.