So far, no good
I sincerely hope that the first 10-days of this year are not an indicator of what I can expect for the remaining 354.
On December 31st there were two statements that could sum-up the start of the new-year: “California had some record breaking rain” and “I live near a creek”.
The water filled underneath my house to the sub-floor (nothing like the sound of water lapping against the bottom of the floor at 3:00AM to make you feel all warm and secure). I understand that many people had as much as 3-feet of water in their homes and lost everything… so I’m not surprised that nearly 2-weeks later I still have not had an adjuster come by, but let’s add 2 points to the Stress-O-meter as I’m moving valuables off the floor, looking for my rain gear and watching the water line slowly rise.
The next few days (thankfully holidays) I surveyed the damage. The garage had about 4-inches of water in it (apparently lower then the house) and unfortunately I’ve been using it as storage instead of a place to park my car. The most interesting thing in the garage that got wet – was a pile of dry cement bags (50 of them) for a Fence Project that I never got around to implementing. Now I have a bunker… a solid cement bunker in my garage. We’re going to add 2 more points to the Stress-O-meter as I figure out whether a jackhammer or explosives will best fit the job of removing this sculpture.
A few days later – did you know it only takes 3-5 days for mold to germinate and grow? I didn’t.
Dark patches down low on the walls and under the carpet (which in spite of the constant running of an electric heater still feels moist). I’m waking up with headaches and a nagging cough… could this be mold related? Oh god – stop this train of thinking… I’ve been running around in the cold and the rain and I’m living in a damp house… hopefully it’s just the start of pneumonia – stop worrying (Bing bing bing 3-points)
Animals sense stress. I have a dog and a cat and they both have been pinging this last week. The cat has been jumping off the bed (and not a gentle leap down, but more like a veteran bungee jumper doing it for the cameras), an event that shakes the bed with a violent jerk. He’s been doing this no less then 3 times (as many as 7) during the night. He’ll hit the floor - then tears into the living room and begin a long recital of low mournful meows. The dog, who is 16, is now awake and has decided that he needs to go outside to pee (hell, when I’m 110 I’ll need to pee several times during the night as well). So lack of sleep will add 2 more points to my Stress-O-meter and we’ll call it a solid 9.
Finally – this morning on the train to work… the 45-minutes I can usually unwind, was spent listening to three yahoos in baseball caps (sitting near me) discussing who would win in a fight between a Great White Shark and a Grizzly Bear. And at that moment I realized, the random events of the past few weeks are just that – random. There is no cosmic conspiracy to drive me mad… I’m not that important. And if I were, I sure the hell won’t let some ethereal entity or celestial design make me crack.
As I leave the train, I hear behind me, “What if the shark had a laser on his head?” and I just smile.
On December 31st there were two statements that could sum-up the start of the new-year: “California had some record breaking rain” and “I live near a creek”.
The water filled underneath my house to the sub-floor (nothing like the sound of water lapping against the bottom of the floor at 3:00AM to make you feel all warm and secure). I understand that many people had as much as 3-feet of water in their homes and lost everything… so I’m not surprised that nearly 2-weeks later I still have not had an adjuster come by, but let’s add 2 points to the Stress-O-meter as I’m moving valuables off the floor, looking for my rain gear and watching the water line slowly rise.
The next few days (thankfully holidays) I surveyed the damage. The garage had about 4-inches of water in it (apparently lower then the house) and unfortunately I’ve been using it as storage instead of a place to park my car. The most interesting thing in the garage that got wet – was a pile of dry cement bags (50 of them) for a Fence Project that I never got around to implementing. Now I have a bunker… a solid cement bunker in my garage. We’re going to add 2 more points to the Stress-O-meter as I figure out whether a jackhammer or explosives will best fit the job of removing this sculpture.
A few days later – did you know it only takes 3-5 days for mold to germinate and grow? I didn’t.
Dark patches down low on the walls and under the carpet (which in spite of the constant running of an electric heater still feels moist). I’m waking up with headaches and a nagging cough… could this be mold related? Oh god – stop this train of thinking… I’ve been running around in the cold and the rain and I’m living in a damp house… hopefully it’s just the start of pneumonia – stop worrying (Bing bing bing 3-points)
Animals sense stress. I have a dog and a cat and they both have been pinging this last week. The cat has been jumping off the bed (and not a gentle leap down, but more like a veteran bungee jumper doing it for the cameras), an event that shakes the bed with a violent jerk. He’s been doing this no less then 3 times (as many as 7) during the night. He’ll hit the floor - then tears into the living room and begin a long recital of low mournful meows. The dog, who is 16, is now awake and has decided that he needs to go outside to pee (hell, when I’m 110 I’ll need to pee several times during the night as well). So lack of sleep will add 2 more points to my Stress-O-meter and we’ll call it a solid 9.
Finally – this morning on the train to work… the 45-minutes I can usually unwind, was spent listening to three yahoos in baseball caps (sitting near me) discussing who would win in a fight between a Great White Shark and a Grizzly Bear. And at that moment I realized, the random events of the past few weeks are just that – random. There is no cosmic conspiracy to drive me mad… I’m not that important. And if I were, I sure the hell won’t let some ethereal entity or celestial design make me crack.
As I leave the train, I hear behind me, “What if the shark had a laser on his head?” and I just smile.
posted by Survival Cookies at 9:56 AM
1 Comments:
If the shark had a laser on its head, then you are clearly wrong, and there is a cosmic conspiracy.
Sympathies on the waterlogging.
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