We have heat, we have heat, we have heat!
I wasn't going to go under the house to photograph the furnace, so enjoy this picture of Mortimer. |
Okay, I promise
the whole post won’t just be the same three words over and over again. It’s just so wonderful to have heat
again!
They finished
installing the new furnace/HVAC system around 3:00 the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving. It didn’t make my
Thanksgiving Thursday 13 because I wrote and scheduled that post ahead of time.
We’re still not
finished dealing with everything. I
think I finally managed to successfully update our application with FEMA. I received an email last week about updating
our application if there was additional damage.
We’ve only been trying to do that since mid-October.
Anyway, this
time, I was transferred to a different department that I was told is the one
that handles application revisions. I
started off as caller number 207 and spent about an hour and fifteen minutes on
hold. Oddly enough, that gives me some
hope. A lot of people have had to revise
their applications, so waiting makes me think that maybe, this time, I talked
to the right department. We shall
see. In the meantime, we aren’t getting
our hopes up too much.
We’re still in
the process of getting the HELOC loan.
It’s taking a long time because they’re backed up because so many people
are doing HELOC loans to pay for Helene repairs due to not getting any or
enough FEMA aid and no SBA funding. It’s
like a never-ending loop of delays and problems.
We were lucky
that the cold weather held off as long as it did, but in looking at the
extended forecast, we knew we were running out of time. So, we made the difficult decision to put a
large portion of the cost on a credit card while we wait for the HELOC
loan.
Putting that
much on a credit card is a sickening feeling!
And it may sound irresponsible, but it really seemed like the best
option. We’re 14 years into a 30-year
mortgage, and our house has more than doubled in value since we bought it, so
getting a HELOC isn’t really a gamble.
The biggest
issue so far is that the credit union won’t underwrite a HELOC loan for a house
with no heat. That’s another thing that
has been very frustrating. Ordinarily,
that seems like a very reasonable rule.
However, people here aren’t getting HELOC loans for anything fun or
frivolous. We’re getting them to repair
the damage from a natural disaster that was so unlikely to happen here that no
one could even get insurance for it. I’m
normally very much a rule person, but this has just added one more problem for
people to deal with when everyone is already at their breaking point.
So, we paid for what we could, used the money generously donated to our GoFundMe, and put the rest on a credit card. Now, we’re desperately hoping that the HELOC closes before interest begins to accrue. Even if we do end up accruing interest for a month, we still think it was the best decision in the circumstances we’re dealing with. We’ve had days of the temperature dropping to the low teens and not getting above freezing, and we’ve had our first dusting of snow. We were concerned about the potential for pipes to freeze and create yet another set of problems to deal with. The new furnace was installed just about 24 hours ahead of a big temperature drop.
I know I’ve
shared a lot of personal information in this post, and I’ve written, deleted,
and rewritten it a few times.
Ultimately, I decided to go ahead and share details since so many people
(and before September 27th, I was one of them) don’t understand how
long and complicated the recovery from a natural disaster is. I know I’m paying a lot more attention now to
how representatives vote for things like funding SBA loans and disaster
relief. It wasn’t that I didn’t care
before. I just had the very mistaken
idea that between insurance and FEMA aid, people were at least able to begin
the recovery process fairly quickly.
From some of the comments on some of my other posts, I don’t think I was
alone in thinking that. So, even though
my blog isn’t huge or popular, I think it’s important to document what average
people are dealing with after Helene.
And, I want to
say thank you again and again to everyone who donated to our GoFundMe. It means so much that people, in some cases
people we’ve never met in person, helped us.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, it has gone out so many times since then
that I’ve lost track, so I took the post down.
We think we’ve finally addressed all of the urgent issues, and are
hopeful that it won’t go out again for a very long time. In addition to the entire HVAC system and all
of the ductwork, we also had to replace the sump pump, replace the crawl space
door (it was destroyed in the process of getting the old system out and the new
one in), have some electrical work done, and work on some drainage issues. We haven’t finished everything with the
drainage project since the ground has been mostly frozen, but it’s something we
will have to take care of before the house is back to its pre-Helene
state. We haven’t started on replacing the broken
screen door because there have been bigger issues to deal with.
We closed on our HELOC loan right before Christmas and were
able to access the funds right before New Year.
We’re still waiting to see what happens with FEMA. Honestly, at this point, I don’t think we’re
going to get any FEMA aid.
Since my last post before this was right before
Thanksgiving, here’s how the rest of the year went.
Thanksgiving was a little different. For the first time since 2016, we didn’t take
Thanksgiving dinner to the hospice house.
I still feel a little bad about that, but I also think it was the right
choice. The HVAC company was here all
day the Tuesday and Wednesday before.
The breaker box is in the kitchen, so I really didn’t have access to the
kitchen until Wednesday night. I barely
got everything made in time for our Thanksgiving. We still hosted a big crowd at our house; our
neighbors and several other friends. It
felt normal and good, which was absolutely wonderful.
Christmas was also a little different. We normally go to my sister and
sister-in-law’s, but Nick and I were both sick with what we’re pretty sure was
the flu. Obviously, we stayed home
rather than share that. Our awesome
neighbors dropped tacos off for us on Christmas, which was really sweet.
We were both feeling better by New Year’s Eve. We never go out for it, but I made a lot of
little appetizers and snacks for dinner, and we burned the 2024 calendars. We started burning calendars in 2016 anytime
the year had more bad than good. It
feels good to watch the calendar from a not-so-great year go up in smoke. Here’s a video of the calendar burning.
At my job, our vacation time (over 240 hours) rolls over on
January 1st, so there’s always a big push to make sure all of our
time is entered and up-to-date by the end of the year. We’re encouraged to print out time statements
to make sure everything rolls over properly.
We also aren’t paid overtime, instead, we earn comp time. I worked on some extra projects and worked a
lot of overtime in 2024. So much,
that, for the first time ever, I didn’t use any of my accumulated vacation
leave. I did take vacation time (close
to four weeks total throughout the year), but I had enough comp time to cover
all of it. And I still have some comp
time hours left going into 2025. I’m
hoping not to do that this year! I
didn’t lose the accumulated vacation time.
It rolls into sick time, which we can use to retire early if we don’t
end up taking it as sick time. And,
speaking of retirement, I’m officially halfway (without using any accumulated
time) through my 30 years for full retirement.
I’ve only been in my current job for five years, but the ten years
before are part of the same retirement system.
Realistically, I can’t imagine that I will stop working in 15 years, but
it’s kind of weird to think that I could retire (at least from this job)
then.
Some other 2024 numbers are:
I read 27 books, which is a little embarrassing; my goal
was 52.
It was my second-lowest blog post year since I started in
2012. 2021 remains the year with the
lowest number of posts.
I posted more videos (74) and shorts (23) on YouTube than I
ever have before.
I didn’t crochet much in 2024. The biggest project I finished was making
little purses for the neighbor girls.
So, how was 2024 for you?
I hope 2025 is shaping up to be a good year for
everyone!
I’m so glad to hear you have heat again—what a relief with those freezing temps! The decision to use a credit card for the furnace makes total sense given the circumstances, and it’s clear you’ve done everything you can to protect your home and family. Reading this while waiting for my leather cleaning in austin tx and it’s a powerful reminder of how tough disaster recovery can be. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that your new furnace was installed and you have heat. What a blessing!
ReplyDelete