March Wrap-Up

Since I missed doing a Thursday 13, I thought I’d do a March wrap-up for the random things since my last Thursday 13.

A cat picture is always a good place to start, so enjoy this one of Charlie in a basket.  He doesn’t exactly fit in the basket, but he still enjoyed hanging out in it.

We were close enough to some of the NC wildfires to get a lot of smoke and falling ash from them.  I’m not sure how well you can tell in the pictures, but the haze is from the fires.  

We had rain yesterday and today, which has helped with the fires.  Even though we desperately needed the rain, it’s still making me nervous. 

Last week made six months since we were hit by Hurricane Helene.  The recovery process is ongoing.  Storm damage was a contributing factor to the fires.

Our wonderful neighbors have been helping us dig a dry well for drainage.  It didn’t occur to me to take a picture while anyone was in the hole.  Hopefully, you can tell from these pictures how deep it is.  I just dangled my legs in for the pictures because I didn’t want to have to climb out of it again just for pictures. 

We had four tons of gravel delivered last week for the drainage project. 

I started some seeds (only for cold-tolerant plants since we’re not past our last frost date yet) last week.  Hopefully, I’ll be sharing seedling progress soon. 

I’ve decided (at the last minute!) to participate in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  You can read more about it here, but the basic idea is to blog every day (except Sundays) in April, starting with A on the 1^st and ending with Z on the 30^th.  Some people do themes.  I’m not doing a specific theme; I'm just trying to blog more regularly and hopefully catch up on some of the things I’ve meant to blog about. 

So, how was the rest of March for you?  Are you planning to participate in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge?

Thursday 13: Another One Without a Theme

1.    I think a cat picture is always a good way to start a Thursday 13, so here’s one of Caroline.

2.    One of our favorite local restaurants that flooded during Hurricane Helene reopened recently, so we went for dinner last week. 

3.    They make all of their own sauces, and everything is so good.  The food is wonderful, but the sauces are incredible.

4.    When we said it was our first time back since they reopened, they showed us where the waterline had been during the flooding.  It’s a little hard to see in the picture, so I circled it. 

5.    You can see why it took a little over four months for them to reopen!

6.    In happier weather-related news, we’ve been enjoying some warmer weather this week.  We’ve gotten almost up to seventy degrees almost every day.  It has been wonderful! 

7.    I know it probably won’t last, but I’m enjoying it for now. 

8.    So are the flowers.

9.    The daffodils are starting to come up.

10. We have a tulip just starting to come up.

11. We have a hyacinth that looks like it’s very close to blooming.

12. I’m hoping it won’t get cold enough to kill off the flowers!

13. A cat picture seems like a good ending for this Thursday 13, so here’s one of Tara.

How was your week?  

Thursday 13: Cats, Finally Some Good News, and Leftovers

This week’s Thursday 13 is another one without a theme.

1.    Mortimer and Theodore don’t typically cuddle together, but Nick got this cute picture of them hanging out together.

2.    Theodore is at that very active kitten stage where most of the pictures we get of him are blurry or when he’s sleepy.  Here’s one of him napping.

3.    We finally got some good FEMA news! 

4.    As I said last week, we were notified that we needed to submit paperwork from a company detailing the damages and the cost of repairs.  Even though we had already submitted all of that before, we submitted it again.  We heard back fairly quickly that we were approved for aid.  Finally! 

5.    The total amount ended up being just under half of what all of the repairs have/will cost.  After pretty much giving up on getting any FEMA aid, we were thrilled.  It makes sense that they can’t fully pay for everything for everyone, but getting significant aid is a huge help.

6.    Ironically, about half of the aid we received was for “immediate” needs, such as temporary housing.   I wouldn’t call February immediate for something that happened in September, but we’re still very grateful to have gotten aid. 

7.    This is what the backyard looks like right now. 

8.    Remember, once upon a time, it was kind of pretty?

9.    We’re still working on fixing the drainage problems.  Funding and weather have been the holdups.  We’ve mapped out the plan for catch basins, pipes, and dry wells.  The red yarn represents pipes and the orange plates represent catch basins/dry wells.  I know it’s kind of weird, but we don’t always picture things the same way, so something like this works to make sure we’re actually talking about the same thing.

10. We’re still waiting for a decent stretch of time when it’s not raining/snowing and the ground isn’t frozen to be able to start on the drainage work, so we don’t have a firm plan yet.  We’re tossing around the idea of hiring someone with equipment to do the digging, and then doing the pipes, gravel, and catch basin/dry well installation ourselves.  We’re hoping to find a good middle ground between saving money and being realistic about how much digging by hand we can handle.

11. Even though I love to cook, we like leftovers a lot, and it’s nice to have a break from cooking (especially during the week) without going out or getting takeout.  Monday was a perfect leftovers night.  I made tacos over the weekend, and we had leftover taco meat.  So, when I got home from work Monday afternoon, I turned the leftover taco meat into crock pot chili.  I added beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning.  Like this.

12. A few hours later, it turned into this, which was a delicious, almost zero-effort dinner.  I can’t really explain it, but it absolutely delights me when leftovers work out that well.

13. Another cat picture seems like the perfect way to end this Thursday 13, so here’s one more of Theodore.

Thursday 13: A Lot of Randomness

This week’s Thursday 13 definitely doesn’t have a theme! 

1.    Theodore is growing like crazy; he has been neutered, microchipped, and has gotten all of his kitten shots.  I think he looks more like a big cat than a kitten in this picture. 

2.    We are still dealing with applying for FEMA aid for the HVAC system.

3.    A FEMA inspector came to the house last week to look at the damage, which we thought might mean progress. 

4.    It did not.  This week, we received a letter that the FEMA inspector wasn’t able to fully assess the damage (which isn’t really surprising since FEMA inspectors apparently do not go into crawl spaces or onto roofs).  They said we’d need to have it inspected by an HVAC company and send that information for FEMA to review.

5.    We sent that information to FEMA in November!  It was a write-up from the HVAC company about the damage, how high the water was in the ductwork, and what was needed to repair it.  We’ll be resubmitting that and hoping that someone actually reads it this time.

6.    I truly think they make the process as annoying and difficult as possible in hopes that a lot of people will decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth and give up. 

7.    There are still near-constant reminders that, even with the damage we had, we were still some of the lucky ones.  A couple of weeks ago, we helped some friends whose house was destroyed during Helene move from their short-term rental into their long-term rental.  They’ve been told it will be a year and a half to two years before their house is rebuilt.

8.    I’ve been trying to crochet a little more, and I finished an ear warmer. 

    

9.    Here’s the link to the tutorial if you’re interested.  (And here’s the right-handed version.)  It was very simple to make.  I used a thinner yarn than the pattern called for, so I had to do more rows, but it was still easy to follow along with the video.

10. Being cold is a powerful motivator to crochet an ear warmer!  The heat was out at work during one of the cold snaps.  Everyone worked from home as much as possible, but some of us had to go in on one of the days when we had temperatures in the teens.  I made the ear warmer the night before that and wore more layers than I ever had before.  

11. Fortunately, the heat at work is fixed now! 

12. I think cat pictures are a great way to end this Thursday 13, so enjoy this one of Mortimer in the living room chair he has staked out as his very own.

13. And this one of Charlie.

A New Year Catch-Up Post

Happy (belated) New Year! Since I haven’t blogged in a while, this will be a catch-up post to wind up 2024. 

First of all, we have heat. I initially wrote this post (the part below in green) when our heat was first fixed.

 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 27^th, 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 1^st, 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!  

A Helene Update

First of all, we have home internet again!  We finally got it back at the end of October.  It has gone in and out a few times since then, but it seems to be working overall. 

I’m going to try to answer all of the questions from my last Helene post, emails, etc. 

The first thing everyone wants to know is if things are back to normal.  They’re definitely not.  We have times when it feels like things are normal again, but I don’t think an entire day has been like it was before. 

Everywhere we go, there’s damage.  The city and county aren’t able to keep up with picking up the debris, so there are still trees down all over the place.  People’s ruined belongings are still piled up next to the street, waiting to be picked up.  So many houses were underwater.  There’s a lot to pick up. 

Most of the parks are still closed.  We went a couple of weeks ago to one that was partially re-opened, and there’s still so much damage.  Several of the trails and fields aren’t open.  We took a trail that went under one of the bridges that was flooded during the storm.  We both drive over this bridge almost every day, and it still seems surreal that the bridge was underwater during the worst of the flooding.  You can see where storm debris wedged into part of the bridge.

There’s a street sign in a creek.

There’s still a layer of silt on everything that was underwater.  You can see a lot of it on this tree.

There are still entire roads gone.  Some people are still using footbridges and ATVs to access their communities.  We’re some of the fortunate ones who can drive to home and work.  But there are still so many roads that are down to one lane or don’t have guardrails.  A lot of bridges are still out.  Several bridges are down to one lane or don’t have any kind of guardrails. 

We had our first significant amount of rain since Helene last week, and it definitely made people a little edgy and anxious.  I have a hard time sleeping when it rains at night.  There are still so many things that aren’t fixed and roads and trees that are barely hanging on.  What would otherwise be minor flooding could potentially cause a lot of damage right now. 

Our furnace isn’t fixed yet.  We’ve been denied property damage assistance from FEMA because there was “no property damage reported.”  We’ve gone in person to the disaster relief center, and I’ve called.  Everyone agrees that our application clearly shows property damage.  They told us to appeal the decision, so we’re currently waiting for the decision on our appeal.  My sister was nice enough to set up a fundraiser for us in the meantime.

That brings me to FEMA.  Everyone we’ve dealt with from FEMA has been incredibly nice.  And entirely unhelpful.  Other people have said the same thing, that FEMA didn’t help them at all, but it was almost hard to be upset about it because they were so nice.  No one seems to be able to figure out any kind of pattern or rationale for the assistance people get from FEMA.  I’m only sharing firsthand stories from people I’ve known for years, but some of the examples are:

A friend had a very similar thing happen to their furnace.  They received a significant portion of the cost of the replacement by early October. 

One friend was without power for 12 days and lost all of the food in their fridge and freezer.  They’re on a well, so they also had no water and had to get bottled water for everything.  They have a medical condition that requires daily nebulizer treatments and had to buy a generator for that.  They submitted a letter from their doctor stating as much with their FEMA application.  They were denied all aid, including help with food. 

Another friend had flooding in their basement.  A FEMA inspector came to their house, and they’ve received what they said is more money than it will likely cost to fix all of the damage. 

So, really, I think if you asked five different people about their experience with FEMA, you would get five different answers. 

A lot of people ask about outside help and media coverage.  Initially, there were people from all over.  There were so many power trucks from so many different states and even Canada.  There were volunteers from all over coming to help with things.  But it has been almost two months at this point.  People had to go back to their regular lives, and there have been other disasters and problems. 

The optics are different now, too.  Initially, there was water everywhere.  It’s easy to see that something is wrong when roads are underwater, and people are in lines for bottled water and MREs.  While there is certainly still an unbelievable amount of damage from floods and landslides, some things look normal again.  Some of the places that don’t have potable water have running water. The towns are no longer underwater, so it doesn’t necessarily look like the infrastructure isn’t back to normal.   Take our house, for example; it looked bad when our crawlspace looked like this. 

It looks normal now, even though it isn’t.

I think, too, everyone thinks of hurricanes as a summertime problem.  I certainly never would have thought about hurricane damage causing significant problems heading into wintertime.  This article is a good example of what some of the smaller towns are facing. 

In reading over this post, I feel like it has turned into a total whine fest, which was not my intention.  We are definitely some of the lucky ones.  Our house is still standing, and we got through the immediate aftermath with the best neighbors in the world.

And there are moments of normalcy every day now.

The chickens still come over every day for their snack.

The cats are still being adorable. 

We all know that things will eventually get back to normal.  And I promise my next post will be more cheerful.