Thank you so much for the kind words everyone and especially to Nick for doing the threads when I couldn't. It really did take a big load off of my mine. I don't post much other than the game threads during the season because between the Game threads and gathering the links for the blog, I really don't have much time. Both of those take hours to do.
I also want to thank every person who contributed to the Go Fund Me account that was from the members here. You were so generous and that money came at a time when we really, really needed it.
As for an update about what is going on here, we are still very much in a disaster area. So much of the housing was damaged or destroyed in the area that housing is hard to find for people now and many are still living in tents 7 months after the storm. We were fortunate that we could still live in our home but there was a lot of damage. We hired a contractor back in November but they have overextended themselves to the point that very little has been done.
They did put a new roof on but it won't pass inspection because they took some shortcuts and things need to be fixed on it before it will pass. But at least it's not raining in the kitchen any more. We still do have a huge hole in the kitchen that goes straight up to the roof. Our laundry room is gutted as is the garage. One of the bedrooms at the other end had gotten wet from a big hole in the roof and needs to be gutted and redone. None of those repairs have even begun.
We did get the electric rewired where it was hit by the tree when it came through the roof. There is a list of other things the electrician needs to do but as with everything else, he is very slow to do anything. We have Air conditioning but since there is a huge hole in the kitchen, our electric bill is very high as some of the AC is going right to the attic. But, I have congestive heart failure so we need the AC and I am thankful for it, even though it is costly.
We had a big metal storage building and workshop in the back that completely collapsed in the storm and we have slowly been trying to take the building apart piece by piece to get rid of the debris from it. Pretty much everything in the building was destroyed. Now they have stopped debris removal because they don't have money to continue it because the government hasn't approved it yet. So, we have to wait to see if they will recontinue it or if we will have to rent roll offs to get rid of it.
We finally got our cable and internet back after about 3 months. Our home phone still is not working. They had to replace every phone line and every electric line in town. We lost 80% of the trees in this area so everything looks so barren and sad. Everywhere in town there are still wrecked buildings just sitting there. More recently there are empty lots popping up where houses and businesses have been completely demolished. There are still piles of debris lining roads and streets everywhere.
Every week now we see some businesses reopening and that is nice. The schools reopened after about a month but they had to go on half day schedules and share schools. Tyndall Air Force Base was devastated and is slowly rebuilding but the funds to continue rebuilding are being held up and so for the time being, construction there has halted. It has been over 7 months and we still have not gotten the federal funds to help with the debris removal and the rebuild. The politicians are using this as a political hostage and so as they fight and argue, this area struggles to try to get back to normal. It will probably be years for many things to get back to normal.
Anyway, I didn't mean to complain or make it sound like I am whining. I just wanted to let everyone know truthfully what is going on here. We are much more fortunate than many and everyone here is pretty much in the same boat so there is a shared misery here and everyone has tried to help each other. There have been others like Team Rubicon and Samaritan's purse who have come in and helped immensely.
Thank you again for all of your kind words, your thoughts and prayers. Eventually we will get everything done but I'm thankful for now that life can go on semi normal with electricity, cable, internet and a roof that keeps it from raining in the kitchen. My deepest and sincere love and thanks to all my fellow Celtics fans here. You really are the best!!!
Topic: My admiration for FLCeltsFan (Read 10634 times)