We have survived this long. I'm not sure how, but we have. It is hard now to be patient simply because nothing has been accomplished and so much time has passed.
On the bright side we have the computers -- and we now have internet. I've spent the last couple of days typing my entries from my journal into this blog and it's been weird to read it all. Not that I've forgotten any of what I wrote as is usually the case when looking back over journals and such -- but instead it's the dates that are bizarre for me. I can't believe it has been two months.
We are getting along okay with stud walls and a concrete floor. After a month of sweeping most of the dust has been taken out and our allergies are much better. We had our first rain shower in a long time today and it was a relief knowing we at least have a tarp on the roof - but then I was reminded that it's not very good to not have a car to take the boys to school. They have been walking ever since they returned to their school building - and so it hasn't been so bad for Dave to take the car to work. They walked again this morning but I worried all day that a thunderstorm would break out about the time they would be walking home. We were spared but it reminded us we do need better transportation. Especially when I called Dave to tell him about my concern and he told me that the mini-van was at the dealer. It seems he developed a flat tire on his way to work this morning. Sooo tonight we don't have a working vehicle at all.
Dave got a building permit on Monday and confirmed that we will not have to raise the elevation of our home. Surprising, but the lady at the code enforcement office told him that we can still build on the ground in our neighborhood. It's all well and good but it's not like we would have been able to elevate our home anyway. He was told that those people who live in Flood Zone A and whose homes were over 50% damaged were not being issued permits because the city has to decide how high they will have to be rebuilt. I can only imagine how frustrating that is to people with no where to live at all. We are still classified as Flood Zone B. I guess we were thinking they would change the zones after this hurricane - but this was our 500 year flood. I hope they're right about that. In any event, an inspector came from the city today to inspect our house for mold. We passed and he said we're ready for drywall. Progress!
We were supposed to hear from the foreman for the Christian Aid Ministries crew tonight. I don't think he's going to call this late. I was really hoping they were going to come start work tomorrow. Dave probably isn't going to work anyway since he doesn't have a car - so it would have worked out nicely. I'm not sure they're coming now though.
In the meantime, we've been putting primer on what's left of the walls to prepare for the new drywall. It's going to be difficult to get paint to take on both halves of the wall so we have our work cut out for us. Yes, we have to paint the whole place ourselves. At least I know how to paint -- but there is never a lot of time during the day with Yvonne running around at full speed and Emily to rock and change and feed. Then there's Judge running under the ladder and the boys knocking over paint buckets. By my estimation I figure we'll have half the house painted by the turn of the century.
Ah but it's really nice having the internet and being able to catch up on news and keep up with friends. I have a long list of people to thank if I ever find a way to get in touch with them all and this will be a good place to start.
No comments:
Post a Comment