Thursday, December 29, 2011

End of 2011--Some important things

There are 3 days left until New Years Eve. Sunday begins the New Year!

It has been an interesting one for me. I have covered events up to summer. Our end of summer came with Hurricane Irene. It brought work. Work brought machine repairs neglected for 4 years with more in the wings as each machine still has a major problem: truck / Bobcat / Chipper / Stump Cutter. Nowhere near profitable yet after 4 years in a wasteland economy.

My 93-year-old mother has moved to a more round-the-clock care facility. Thank God she wisely bought a Long Term Care Insurance policy which protects what little nest egg she has from the busted economy and investment delines in the 40% range! Anyone not having such good sense is guaranteed to be, either poorly cared for, or a serious burden on the family trying to supplement the cost of care or provide it themselves.

We celebrated Christmas with our daughter and her 4 boys. It was the first one in 3 years in the "normal" range. The boys are much improved. They still have Lonya helping. She is giving a stability their mother cannot provide. Sara became manager of the Bed, Bath, and Beyond store in Greenville, NC. This means longer travel hours and more time away from her boys. They are slowly becoming a little more responsible for helping with the house and TC loves to help prepare the noon meal when everyone is at home. They are lucky to have such a caring Gam! With Sara's disturbance she needs a mother as much as the boys.

The sun is now rising on a beautiful and calm Pamlico River. The glory of the sun rising and setting on this river is beyond verbal description. You would never imagine the terror and destruction of the Hurricane a few months ago.

Our cottage has been here since the early 50's. Never, in all that time, has water gotten closer to it than 3' beneath. We were right here as the eye of the hurricane passed across the river from us. It was wind in the 80 mph range, but it slowed down and pushed water from the Pamlico Sound up and under us. This time it came within 1" of the sub-floor. It took out all the insulation we had painfully installed. Water was splashing under the door facing the River and against the asbestos siding! We were going outside every 20 minutes to raise the generator higher and higher. The pictures are posted on Facebook---and they are dramatic!

As the water finally started receeding, we had 4-6' breakers crashing in the yard. A number of houses at lower levels had water going through them. Just up our street toward the Sound water was almost waist deep. Toward Bath it was the same and we were almost cut off from escape! There was still a route out, but limbs and trees were obstacles there. It was comforting to know I had my machinery and saws right here if I had to make an emergency exit!

We know our house must be raised by 10' to be safe in the future. We had no insurance including flood so we are in clear FEMA coverage territory. Thus far we have gotten $700+ in emergency funds. Our damages required an application to the Small Business Administration for help---that was denied. This puts us into FEMA Grant territory which is now in the processing stage. We are asking for $52,000 to cover the cost of the required high water survey / engineering plans for the raising / a concrete slab with hurricane resistant support and new roof. The details will kill you to put together plus the cost in money we do not have for the already done survey and engineering. It is a journey into faith for us!

I had placed a zip line for the boys last summer. The starting post on the beach reaches some 12' into the air and ends at a large post in the water. They enjoyed it at end of summer. Dilyn is the only one with courage enough for the full ride! When he hit the water for the first time he rose sputtering, "Pa Pa is a genious!!!!" Music to any grandfather's ears!

The high water survey mark is half way up that 12' post! It surveyed to exactly the same height of the actual flood. It was based on old records for high water plus some extra feet to insure safety in building margins above old water records. The inland marker is at the base of a light pole half way to the street from our house. That was exactly where the water reached after going under the house.

We have a good contractor giving us a reasonable bid for the process. Our greatest fear is that we have to live in it as it is raised. Thus far, most of the houses raised have sat for weeks on temporary supports until concrete could be poured, supports set, and the house lowered to its final resting position. When finished, we will have a bird's eye view of the River from the deck that must be built. We have a total ultimate ending point above $100,000 to be worked out---again in faith.

My work dramatically increased as trees were on houses and stumps uprooted everywhere. It paused abruptly 3 weeks ago as Christmas wants exceeded tree needs.

Across the River from us, near Arora, some communities went totally under with houses washed off their foundations. Bridges are having to be rebuilt. The areas of greatest destruction were on points of land closest to the Sound. Compared to them, we are more than fortunate! Most of the riverside cottages around here belong to working folks like us. We can't afford them without keeping them up ourselves. It is a "poor man's paradise."

For sure, next year will be another adventure when life should be stable and slowing down to a retirement pace. I doubt that will ever be the case for us. On the other hand, who wants to just sit and rust away playing cards and drinking youself to death's door?

As Dumas wrote: "It was the worst of times and best of times."