HOW SOON WE FORGET

On Valentine’s Day, I attended a ladies’ luncheon at a local restaurant. I had my hair done, and I exchanged my sweatshirt and pants for a suit.

I parked the car, and as I walked across the restaurant parking lot, I heard a familiar voice boom “Hello!” behind me. I didn't know if the "hello" was meant for me or not, but I turned to see “Big Mike” of Disaster Response, the contractor who shepherded us through the renovation of the farmhouse after the great water debacle of 2018. We visited face to face on a regular basis for more than a year. The house was one nightmare while the insurance work was another. Big Mike worked through all of it. We couldn’t have done it without him. Clearly he was calling to me.

“Well, hello,” I said. “I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I guess that’s a good thing.” (In reality, it has only been six months since we signed the final papers.)

“I know that I know you from somewhere,” he said, “but I just can’t place you.”

“Oh, this is hilarious!” I thought to myself. “I’m Kathy of the Gilbert farmhouse,” I said, thinking these few words would spark his memory. I might have done better with this situation, but I was on my way to meet people and somewhat distracted.

“Well, how have you been?” he asked, as we continued to walk along together. I commenced to explain that we were basically fine but Mike had had surgery blah blah blah.

“Mike is your brother?” he asked -- and now I had to chuckle a bit.

“No, Mike is my husband,” I said, realizing that this man with whom we had worked for months and who recognized my voice without seeing my face – truly couldn’t place me.

Just then, he blurted out, “Oh!” and the farmhouse address. We both laughed as he went his way and I went mine. That’s the way it is sometimes when you see people out of context. KW

OH, THE WORK THAT WE WILL DO!

As I was drifting off to sleep Sunday night, Mike said, “I hope this goes all right,” speaking of the big project to replace stuff in the farmhouse. We’ve just been through a devastating water debacle. How could anything that doesn’t go right be any worse than what has already transpired? And so far, it hasn’t.

Early Monday morning, we finished loading the pick-up – already packed except for the the cooler, produce, and last-minute stuff. Mike left on his motorcycle to travel to the farm by way of Nezperce, while Bess and I left in the Dakota to travel the traditional river route. I drove. We avoided construction in Lewiston by taking Downriver Road, but we were stuck on Red Wolf Bridge for at least 20 minutes while a crew worked at the intersection. They finished the job and left, and then the traffic moved. Now, why did they do that little job at a peak traffic time?

The trip up the river went well despite the six-mile stretch of construction between Peck and Orofino (one-lane road). However, I lucked out and made it through without having to stop. At Orofino I messaged Mike to let him know about the delays. Gilbert Grade is rough, but I met the grader on a narrow curve as he was coming down. Whew! We managed to pass each other.

Since the last time we were here, the contractor has visited to caulk the shower and hang the closet doors in our bedroom. Our priority was to make that room usable, so we worked together to get it done.

Before noon, I noticed deer in the far field. I counted ten, and likely there were more. And as I stood on the porch taking pictures, a hummingbird buzzed me. I had no idea where the feeder was, but I found it and quickly boiled nectar. Even though we did not feed them last summer, we have quite a lot of hummers, and they are thirsty!

The TV set was stored on the sun porch through the hot summer of 2018. I didn’t think that was a good idea, but I didn’t like the suggested alternatives either. The fact that it came on when we set it up was a relief, but the screen announced that we had no signal. Not knowing how to solve that problem at the moment, we moved on. Mike was less philosophical when he couldn’t get his computer going. I had no problem logging onto wifi with my laptop.

We also took time to have some fun. Mike hung a chair swing he found at Grocery Outlet. I opened a box of new dishes and ran them through the dishwasher.

Hallie and grand-dog Primo arrived about 4:00. We all took a turn around the pond, and then Hallie did some preliminary work on the kitchen cupboards, insisting that after hours of driving from Seattle, she needed to move around.

As suppertime approached, I turned on the oven to warm my pre-made lasagna. I had checked the oven earlier, but I guess my investigation didn’t go deep enough. As it pre-heated, the stench was horrible! We had no choice but to turn it off and let it cool so that Mike could clean under the bottom panel. We saw signs of mice, but not an actual body, though we are convinced of their presence.

So, after a late supper, I showed Hallie the problem with the TV set. As she and Mike played with the remote, the system leapt to life. They don’t know  what they did. One problem solved! KW

THE GREAT FLOOD OF ’18, PART 7 -- WORSER AND WORSER

Wheat fields -- Little Canyon in the distance

The adjuster called this morning to say that the farmhouse sustained greater damage than initially projected. The field adjuster will meet with Big Mike at the house soon in order to prepare a new estimate. (I’m not even going to tell you the estimated estimate.)

Then Big Mike called, and I passed the phone to Mike. In addition to more water damage, they found old water damage under the refrigerator, including dry rot, which must be corrected but won't be covered by insurance. (That's the least of our problems.) It will be at least July before they can begin to put the house back together.

Off to the north from the grove

A lady at yoga class this morning lamented that the pipe under her kitchen sink had sprung a leak, forcing them to update the kitchen now rather than next year, as they had planned. “Well, let me tell you about our water damage,” I said. I’m sure that as we parted, she was grateful to have her problem instead of mine. KW

THE GREAT FLOOD OF ’18, PART 6

 

Mike and I went to the farm yesterday (Sunday, May 20), and despite the warnings of Big Mike the Contractor regarding mold danger, we entered the house through the kitchen door.

As Hallie and I were painting the kitchen in 2002, we decided to paint our names in a corner before the cabinets were installed. Frankly, I didn’t expect to ever see it again. I thought maybe she would, or that perhaps a new owner would see it and realize the love that we had for “the dear old place.” It was a time in which the three of us could work together to accomplish this work, and now that time is past. Seems like yesterday, but in reality it was years ago and much has changed.

 

I took pictures so that you can understand the extent of the devastation. Putting the sadness behind and looking to the future, Mike and I are discussing changes / improvements that we can make. I still don’t know for sure if the cabinets will be salvageable. I assume that they won’t be, but they are still sitting in the house.

And I was right – the crew has removed ever so much more of the household contents than I could initially imagine, including from rooms that I didn’t think were affected. In fact, Mike went upstairs to make a repair on Bess’ collar with his leather-working tools only to discover that they were gone. The master bedroom is open and bare of furnishings except for the toilet, which sits in the middle of the room. The other bedrooms and main bathroom have been closed and sealed. We obeyed Big Mike’s request that we not enter those rooms.

 

Despite all the removal, the pantry cupboard remains intact. I didn’t think to take extra crates this trip, but with the one I had, I again packed up food that I can use in town. I noticed, though, that cardboard packaging has absorbed moisture. I’ll toss pasta products.

We focused on our outside work, and that’s another post. KW