Happy Thursday, Cincy! Hang in there.

🌧️ Today's weather: Chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high of 88.

🎵 Sounds like: "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliot.

🎉 Situational awareness: Join us Thursday, Aug. 27 at the Cincinnati Lager House to celebrate the launch of Axios Cincinnati! RSVP here.

• Featured guests include Mayor Aftab Pureval and Tim Massa, Kroger's executive VP and chief associate experience officer.

Today's newsletter is 972 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Mark Ramler has spent much of his life looking at things other people might discard and imagining what they could become.

Why it matters: Historic homes in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are tangible links to the region's past, and Ramler believes preserving their original character keeps that history alive.

State of play: He's restored over 20 houses, including his own, and is now working on his new office — a turn-of-the-century home and former school in Newport's East Row Historic District.

The intrigue: Old houses sometimes reveal pieces of history along the way.

• While renovating a vacant 1860s Newport home about a decade ago, Ramler found a roughly 10-pound object wedged into brick in the attic, stamped with a backward "US."
• It turned out to be a mold used to make belt buckles for Union soldiers during the Civil War.

What he's saying: Ramler believes owning an old home makes you its temporary caretaker.

• "This building is gonna be here for hundreds of years past me," he tells Axios. "We're stewards."

Flashback: Ramler bought his Newport home in 2008 when it was a rundown three-unit building.

• He spent years bringing it back to life, at one point living with little more than a stove and refrigerator in a gutted kitchen.
• He's still tinkering with it today. Asked how long the restoration took, Ramler jokes: "I'll let you know when I'm done."

Zoom in: Ramler's first advice for anyone bringing an old home back to life: Don't start swinging a sledgehammer.

• Instead, do "selective demolition" — carefully pull up carpet or remove newer materials to understand what's underneath before making big decisions.

More pro tips:

🏡 Shop your own house. Ramler salvages original floorboards from rooms that will be tiled and uses them to patch damaged floors elsewhere.

👀 Look next door. Similar homes nearby can reveal what missing trim, cornices or other details originally looked like.

🪑 Don't add old stuff just because it's old. A salvaged piece should fit the home's period and architecture.

💡 Expect surprises. Old sewer lines, wiring, termites and structural problems can quickly change a renovation plan. When in doubt, call an architect or engineer.

When we started our bathroom series highlighting Southwest Ohio's MIPs (most interesting potties), we knew Jungle Jim’s had to make the list.

The intrigue: The famous grocery store feels like if a Bass Pro Shop, a Rainforest Cafe and a three-ring circus had a baby. No elaborate setup is spared, and that includes the bathrooms.

• The facilities look like a pair of porta-potties — right down to the doors. But open one and you’ll find the door conceals a full-size restroom with multiple stalls.
• A harmless prank you can hit your friends with? Weird, unnecessary and completely on-brand.
• They've even landed on lists of the world's best bathrooms, leading the pack back in 2007.

The backstory: Jungle Jim Bonaminio asked Rumpke if it would provide some porta-potties for the store. Rumpke apparently said yes, and the joke stuck.

• "This is just a perfect example of Jungle’s creativity and wackiness and fun," says Zack Cobb, the store's creative director.
• Cobb says the Fairfield location's bathrooms date to the late 1990s or early 2000s. The Eastgate location has had its bathroom setup since opening in 2012.

The scorecard:

🚽 Flush factor: ★★★★★

• A porta-potty door concealing a full-size, multi-stall restroom? Five stars for commitment to the bit.

✨ Party factor: ★★★

• Pretty tame once you're inside, but clean!

📸 Photo worthiness: ★★★★★

• You’re going to want the evidence. You don't have to actually go into the bathroom for the best picture, which is less awkward.

The bottom line: Jungle Jim’s sells groceries, but it also sells the experience of being at Jungle Jim’s. The bathrooms are Exhibit A.

💡 Duke Energy crews continue to restore power across the Tri-State.

• To report an outage, text "OUT" to 57801 or call Duke at 800-543-5599.

🌊 A bystander jumped into the Ohio River yesterday to rescue an injured woman after her vehicle entered the water near the Anderson Ferry ramp. (Local 12)

🛝 Sawyer Point got a $100,000 boost from the Rotary Foundation of Cincinnati to help rebuild the 1,000 Hands Playground destroyed in the 2024 Big Mac Bridge fire. (Movers & Makers)

🎶 Summer music returns to Ault Park with a free evening of live music, food and family activities from 6-10pm Aug. 20. (Cincy Magazine)

👋 Swilley here. My power has been out for 24 hours and counting after Tuesday's storms. Shoutout to my in-laws for letting us crash while Duke Energy works to get the lights back on.

State of play: Over 100,000 Greater Cincinnati residents lost power — meaning plenty of us may need to clean out the fridge.

Threat level: Food can become unsafe even if it looks and smells normal, the Cincinnati Health Department warns.

• CHD says an unopened refrigerator keeps food safely cold for about four hours. A full freezer can last about 48 hours — or 24 hours if half full — if the door stays closed.

If you're at the 24-hour mark like me, toss refrigerated meat, seafood, eggs, dairy, leftovers and cut produce that have been above 40°F for more than four hours.

• CHD's advice: When in doubt, throw it out.

💡 Swilley is dancing in the dark (literally). Send help!

😫 Casey misses living downtown where he didn't lose power once in 25 years.

Thanks to Tyler Buchanan for editing.