Post-hurricane alarums and excursions

It’s been a busy hectic shambolic sort of day.

I’m finding it just about impossible to line up roofing, siding and tree-removal contractors. They’ve all got more than enough work to keep them busy for months: and if you tell them, “Guys, this is an insurance job, and you’ll have to wait for payment until after the bondholder has inspected your work and approved it for payment,” they basically flip you the bird. There are too many people needing their services who are willing to pay cash up front! I’ve already asked my insurers and bondholder what they’re willing to do about this, and (as I mentioned earlier) I’ll be writing to the Governor to ask him to find a solution to the problem. I can’t blame the contractors, of course – if I were in their shoes, I’d adopt precisely the same attitude!

Fortunately, ServiceMaster are honoring their pre-hurricane commitment to do the post-fire cleanup, and they’ll be here on Monday. I’m hoping that a hotel bed will be available by then, as they tell me I really, really don’t want to live at home while they strip the house around my ears! The painting and repair contractor has also honored his pre-hurricane commitment, and will move in the following Monday to do the painting and repairs to the fire damage. I’m hoping that if I can break loose some funding by then, I can also get him to tackle the storm damage: but since he won’t work on delayed-payment terms, I’ll have to sweet-talk my bank about that one. We’ll see.

What else today? I went to Sherwin-Williams to get two more paint samples. As I mentioned earlier, their online paint selection tool is a wonderfully useful thing, but there’s still no substitute for actually testing samples of the paint on your walls to see what works. I’ve had to change my earlier choice for the living area walls, as it proved to be too close to white for my liking. I’ve switched to a very, very slightly yellower shade, to give me the warm, cosy effect I’m looking for, and I’ll paint squares of it on the walls to check it out in various light conditions. On Monday I have to notify the contractor of the colors I’ve selected, and he’ll then have Sherwin-Williams mix them in the necessary quantities.

I hit Lowe’s, to select the ceiling tiles; the bank, to fill in more loan forms (!!! ??? @#$%& ??? !!!); the Post Office to collect mail; my favorite gunshop, to put some guns on consignment sale (I need money for repairs more than I can afford to keep the guns, I’m afraid); and sundry other errands.

This weekend I’ll be clearing out the house as best I can, in preparation for next week’s major cleanup. Almost everything I own has to go into my outbuilding, so that the house can be scrubbed from top to bottom, then painted throughout. Servicemaster will do the heavy lifting, fortunately, and bring everything back inside once the work’s done. I’d never have believed how much work is involved in rectifying what seems relatively minor fire damage. The amount of sooty grease deposited on everything is remarkable. One can’t easily see it with the naked eye, but if one runs a couple of sheets of white tissue paper down the wall, they come away bearing a black smudge. Icky! Servicemaster will be erecting what they call an “ozone tent” in one room, to fumigate my books and take the smell of smoke out of them. (I asked whether it would work for people, too, but they strongly advised against it!)

Meanwhile, we’re all (rather nervously) keeping an eye on Hurricane Ike. His currently forecast track looks like he might move into the Gulf of Mexico, then come ashore somewhere in Louisiana.

Just what we don’t need right now! Go away, Ike!

Peter