Thursday, December 14, 2000
Third Disaster - To LTF
Thought you'd enjoy this update. I certainly am...:
We've been in our Mesa house since Monday. When we initially entered I noticed that it was unusually damp and smelled dank. After hunting for two days I found the problem. We have major water damage here. Much of the north side wall of this home is bulging at the bottom. We've had a very slow but very persistent leak on that side of the house for some time. It's been slow enough so that we hadn't noticed it but persistent enough so that after three months of being away with the water turned off (which we always do here when we're gone) it became obvious simply by smell. I'm not sure but my guess, from the signs, is that it's been going on for so long that it probably isn't covered by insurance. I have no idea what the extent of the damage is but I am expecting the worst.
Today I'm meeting OCC from our last water loss (and home-parking lot fiasco) to gather the last ammunition needed to get the insurance company to finish paying them and get the final bill for the extras we asked for up in Prescott. I guess I'll have them take a look at this.
I am numb. I guess I should call a plumbing company, probably the company that replumbed our house back in 1995 after The First Water Disaster During My Stay With My Mother. I thought I'd talk to OCC first. I'm losing my ability to perform the simplest tasks, like walk and talk.
The room it is affecting the most, the one that smells and feels the worst, the back master bedroom (where I sleep), has become The Girls' [our cats] favorite room. I don't know why they like it back there. It smells like a guaranteed case of pneumonia to me. Makes me wish I was a cat.
I told my mother last night that I'm not going to engineer Christmas this year. I can't face it. She seems to be taking it in stride although a couple hours later she asked me when we could go out and get a Christmas tree.
Last May, when we were knee deep in water loss problems in Prescott, I joked with OCC that I have a history of trailing water losses behind me. It's a short history but it's true. Twice when I took care of my sister's and brother-in-law's house in Chandler various pipes in their house burst. The winter I lived in Pinetop I woke up one morning to a frozen lake in my bathroom where the pipes had burst and the water had frozen over the floor. Then Mesa. Then Prescott. Now this. I'm beginning to suspect that I shouldn't have said anything. I may have set in motion a retroactive self-fulfilling prophecy. I wonder how many other water losses I'll "remember" from my past.
I've set a goal. I want to make it until May. I believe that my manuscript has a good chance of being chosen for [a reputed poetry award] and I would like to know how that turns out. I am not looking beyond. I can barely see that far but at least I have one very large, relatively distant sign post. Otherwise I don't think I'd believe there is anything to look toward.
A few weeks ago I thought I'd make it through December uneventfully. I was looking forward to it. Now I'm expecting anything. And dreading it.
I'll alert you about further disasters.
We've been in our Mesa house since Monday. When we initially entered I noticed that it was unusually damp and smelled dank. After hunting for two days I found the problem. We have major water damage here. Much of the north side wall of this home is bulging at the bottom. We've had a very slow but very persistent leak on that side of the house for some time. It's been slow enough so that we hadn't noticed it but persistent enough so that after three months of being away with the water turned off (which we always do here when we're gone) it became obvious simply by smell. I'm not sure but my guess, from the signs, is that it's been going on for so long that it probably isn't covered by insurance. I have no idea what the extent of the damage is but I am expecting the worst.
Today I'm meeting OCC from our last water loss (and home-parking lot fiasco) to gather the last ammunition needed to get the insurance company to finish paying them and get the final bill for the extras we asked for up in Prescott. I guess I'll have them take a look at this.
I am numb. I guess I should call a plumbing company, probably the company that replumbed our house back in 1995 after The First Water Disaster During My Stay With My Mother. I thought I'd talk to OCC first. I'm losing my ability to perform the simplest tasks, like walk and talk.
The room it is affecting the most, the one that smells and feels the worst, the back master bedroom (where I sleep), has become The Girls' [our cats] favorite room. I don't know why they like it back there. It smells like a guaranteed case of pneumonia to me. Makes me wish I was a cat.
I told my mother last night that I'm not going to engineer Christmas this year. I can't face it. She seems to be taking it in stride although a couple hours later she asked me when we could go out and get a Christmas tree.
Last May, when we were knee deep in water loss problems in Prescott, I joked with OCC that I have a history of trailing water losses behind me. It's a short history but it's true. Twice when I took care of my sister's and brother-in-law's house in Chandler various pipes in their house burst. The winter I lived in Pinetop I woke up one morning to a frozen lake in my bathroom where the pipes had burst and the water had frozen over the floor. Then Mesa. Then Prescott. Now this. I'm beginning to suspect that I shouldn't have said anything. I may have set in motion a retroactive self-fulfilling prophecy. I wonder how many other water losses I'll "remember" from my past.
I've set a goal. I want to make it until May. I believe that my manuscript has a good chance of being chosen for [a reputed poetry award] and I would like to know how that turns out. I am not looking beyond. I can barely see that far but at least I have one very large, relatively distant sign post. Otherwise I don't think I'd believe there is anything to look toward.
A few weeks ago I thought I'd make it through December uneventfully. I was looking forward to it. Now I'm expecting anything. And dreading it.
I'll alert you about further disasters.
