Life's Uncertainties

Life can be so fickle, so unfair. I’ve put off writing this piece but alas I can no longer.

My husband has (had?) a brother just 2 years younger, married with 2 kids. We were really close friends for years, went to visit them when they were working in the Middle East, went camping, kids  (Heidi and Brad), were the same age as ours. The brother died about 4 years ago, fell over from a brain hemorrhage. But this is not about the brother, it is about those who were left to mourn and find a way to keep living.

My niece Heidi, (the oldest child) is only 6 months older than my oldest son, they were best friends when they were young, holding hands every second they were together, inseparable.

About 5 years ago my niece was diagnosed with malignant melanoma on her arm, which was removed with surgery leaving a huge scar. Recently she was not feeling well and finally went to the doc only to find out that the melanoma spread inside and is in her thigh, lung and brain. Needless to say we are all in shock and her family is devastated. She has 3 small kids, a career and so great of a person, only 37, still so young.

And my poor sister-in-law; she lost her husband and now such a horrible situation with her daughter. How she will get thru this, I don’t know. But I know we do thru and go on living. Still I can’t imagine losing my child after losing a husband or anytime.

My own husband had malignant melanoma in his arm but 20 years ago. Our doctor at the time cautioned him that it could come back but inside the next time and it would be too late when discovered. I was worried for a long time but insurance wouldn’t pay for an MRI and we couldn’t afford it so we just learned to live with the uncertainty. Fortunately he has survived but now the Doc’s words seem just a little more real.

 I guess that one of my fears is based on the fact that only a few years ago a cousin, young enough to be a niece died within 4 months from lung cancer. I just can't see a good outcome but hope that I am totally wrong.

And Look, He Has No Pants

Today I had an inspection scheduled at a large construction site where the earthquake damaged a 5 story parking garage. Now the damage is minimal but we had to inspect nevertheless. The insurance company had hired an engineer to inspect at the same time and since we were meeting on his schedule it was imperative that this inspection go on as planned.

The morning started with rain but when talking we decided to just meet and chance the rain. As it turned out the rain stopped and we were fine.

1^st we could not find the location, we passed the engineer several times going up and down the road, finally finding out that they gave us the wrong street name. So we ended up at the office at the same time and found the person we needed to meet.

We walked up to the porch area of the temp office when the construction supervisor told the engineer that he could not go on site wearing short pants. That it is against company policy to wear shorts. The engineer was really quite put out.

The engineer went to his car and looked through everything he had as he sometimes carries extra clothes. Alas, there were no pants.

I suggested that he trade pants with Dale and when the engineer couldn’t find any pants thought that it might be a good idea. Dale, who was sitting in the truck, slipped off his jeans and I handed them to the engineer. The engineer took the pants inside the temp office but came out without his shorts in his hands; he had put the jeans on over his shorts.

Dale had to sit in the truck in his undies!

A Maryland Wine Tasting

One thing that I learned early in my adjusting career is that every state produces wine, some good some bad. Lots of bad to find the nuggets of good.

I’ve probably written about our wine tastings, well I try to buy wine from wherever I am for the next wine tasting. And so it is here in Maryland, I figured that if Virginia wines are good then Maryland must be ok too.

I’d heard about a wine festival on TV, advertised that lots of Maryland Wineries would be there, lots of food and crafts. I thought it might be fun to do a wine tasting ourselves, eat some good food and buy some Christmas Presents at the craft show.

As it turned out we were really late as I had claims in DC. Dolly went sightseeing while I worked, we picked her up and went on to Baltimore. We only had 1 hour before the tasting closed but as it turned out we had quite enough wine in a very short time.

The festival was set at Carroll County Farm Museum, a farm and setting of old buildings. A sort of “Kern County Museum” in Bakersfield. So to set the scene; the parking is across the road and one walks by a grove of trees with a pond to the left of the party. White tents are set up to the right. The farm buildings are not really visible but then I didn’t know what I was looking for anyway.

This was their 28^th annual festival and we were shocked by how many wineries were represented. According to the information about 38 wineries were represented. Unfortunately, one winery used grapes grown in Lodi, CA so I refused to taste their wine. I won’t drink wine made from those grapes at home so I sure won’t here in Maryland. Yes you can call me a snob!

Now I am a pro at these tastings. My first one, in Paso Robles, I drank the entire amount poured in my glass and boy was I happy!!! Just wasn’t happy to be not enjoying the wine. This time I insisted on the tinniest sips and then threw out the rest if there was more than that. I was able to taste quite a few wines and not feel the effects. But we sure saw lots of people who felt the effects of the wine; loud disinhibited levity and then those who were a little sick! (or more than a little)

We tasted a bunch of wine, most of it not what I’d ever drink again but some not so bad and we did buy several bottles of wine.

For a reduced rate Dale became our designated driver. He kept asking me what I thought of a particular wine and I’d say “it’s really different”. Poor guy I said that about so many wines but I couldn’t articulate why it was different. After trying I don’t know how many wines I was tired of tasting and it was time to find some food.

We went around and found some really great Cajun food, and it was gluten free so I could eat.

We finally got to the craft fair when everything was closing down. Oh well, no one needs a present.

Maryland Crab Cakes

Every day is filled with inspections then back to the RV to write the claims up. I’m still way behind and nearly every day the big boss calls; how many inspections are set, how many claims without inspections. Now he admitted that it is the end of the month and they have numbers that they need to reach. It came back to me that bit from when I did work for the company in L.A. so long ago. Well I’ll close what I can.

So we had a claim why over on the east bay, actually a couple so this was the last one for the day. We got to the claim and it was for a really ratty carport and a mobile home on the property. We were nice, I mean why not be nice, people have what they have but it wasn’t the nice place with nice cars.

So after the claim is all over and we had gotten into our truck, the lady comes over and asked if we were hungry for lunch and what we were going to do. I said that we were hungry but didn’t know if any restaurants were around. She directed us to one on the water, said that it was a favorite and we should try it.

We followed the road around thru what is called the blackwaters. Now we know why they are called the blackwaters; the water is dark and it stinks. I don’t think I’d want to walk thru this muck. The area reminds me of the bayous around the New Orleans area but it is just a little different grass. We drove around the bay and finally came upon the place she told us about, “Old Salty’s” a fish restaurant in a nearby town, Fishing Creek, MD.

What a surprise!!! Old Salty’s has possibly the best crab cake in the world. I’d loved the crab cakes in VA but this had nice big pieces of lump crabs and no wheat or cracker fillers. OMG. I ordered the dinner with 2 crab cakes and ate them both, didn’t bother with the veges or sweet potato sides. I brought the sides’ home for breakfast. 

1st Days of Our New Life

Dale and Dolly arrived earlier than we had originally thought they would. Dale called as he was coming off the I-97 onto the 50 and I ran from my room all the way to the sidewalk getting there just as he turned onto the road from the freeway. It was so great to see familiar faces after being gone for a while.

We have now moved to a campground south of Annapolis but it is really nice, lots of tall trees between sites. Of course it is ½ empty since summer is over so we have no neighbors. And the price is right, about ½ of the price of other campgrounds or the motel so we can’t complain. It is a little out of the way but we figure we can drive a little extra and have the trees and space.

It is amazing in a way, this is the first day of our new life; Dale won’t go into work anymore but we will travel together and I will work when possible.

We had planned to celebrate with a nice dinner and champagne but Dale was exhausted after the drive here and I’ve been under the gun to get claims closed. I think that we will go to dinner tomorrow, an early dinner after claims on the other side of the Bay Bridge.

Any Maryland readers here with suggestions for good restaurants? I also need some D.C. recommendations! Help me out here!!!!

Claims Work Include Therapy

I am so tired, I’ve been working until the early morning hours then getting up early and starting all over again. Some days I get set several claims but most days I get 0 to 1 claim. My biggest problem is that I’m behind in writing up the estimates so I’ve had to spend lots of time doing that. Some of the claims are not large but take lots of time for the reports, just a part of the work. Other claims consist of 3 story houses with damages on every floor.

I came back last night to a bunch more work, another adjust got sick and went home so I’d been given his claims. I’m able to incorporate the new claims into the appointments for this week so it will be fine and I’m here to work as much as possible before going home.

One claim, the head of the catastrophe called me about last night requesting that I call the insured right away but gave no other information. I called the insured and left a message with my info. The insured called me back and since I was to be in her area today and could keep the appointment that her previous adjuster had made.

I went to my 1^st two inspections then headed to this particular insured’s loss. We went to her basement to inspect her loss; the basement was flooded during the tons of rain here. The insured started telling me about her recent events; father died, mother with issues was now in some trouble, basement flooded and the insured has health issues. Then she started to cry and I put out my hand on her arm just speaking quietly to her.

I finished my inspection and returned upstairs where the insured was. She then started telling me how someone representing a restoration firm had been there wanting to tear out much of the basement walls and a payment of thousands before starting to work. I advised that there was not that much damage then took her down and pointed out how I came to my conclusions.

We returned upstairs and after I went over how her claim would be completed the woman started to cry. She then told me that she had been so overwhelmed with everything that she had decided this morning that she just might not make it. She had told her co-workers that she was just about done with life, but now I had saved her life. She now knew that it wasn’t the end of the world now that she knew how to handle putting her home back together.

Wow! That stuff was heavy! 

Dale Is On His Way

So I think I’ve written about the fact that Dale will be driving here but now he is actually on his way. For a couple of years now Dale and I have planned that we will follow the storms; he will be back up for me and I’ll work. Then we will travel after we are done working.

We’d planned for Dale to come here after he got the RV and truck in shape but I was so worried about him driving alone across the country.  Then I remembered that Dolly Hei has always wanted to see DC, she would be perfect.

A bit about Dolly and hopefully I am not repeating myself: Dolly has been a friend since about 1979 when I helped start a food co-op that she joined. Dolly and her husband then came to a couple of our parties and put up a couple of exchange students when we needed to be gone.

Dolly’s husband passed a few years ago so she is on her own. I hadn’t seen her in several years and then ran into her at a peace vigil. We reconnected and exchanged email addresses.

Soon after the peace vigil I got called to Virginia started blogging for the very 1^st time and added Dolly to my list of contacts. I only blogged on myspace then so emailed the blogs to a few friends, including Dolly. As it turned out she was so interested in Thomas Jefferson that I encouraged her to join me for the remainder of my time plus the drive home and the travel I wanted to do: Monticello, Poplar Forest, Mt Vernon and so forth. She came and we have been close friends ever since.

So I thought of of Dolly to accompany Dale here. Dolly has always talked about visiting Washington DC and I thought this would be a perfect time for her. We can drop her off in DC, do our inspections, then pick up Dolly and go back to the RV. She can also come along when we are going to other areas.

Dolly agreed quickly to come along and promised to help Dale out on the drive by reading, talking, helping with meals and so on.

They left on Sunday afternoon. Dale reported yesterday that they woke up at dawn at the rest stop in Cedar City, Utah and started their drive across on I-70. They reported that the colors were beautiful driving down thru the buttes. I was so happy that they got to see that amazingly beautiful area in the early morning light.

If you have never driven that stretch of highway I-70 I strongly suggest that you incorporate it into a trip. It is a favorite highway- whoa; I certainly have a bunch of favorites!

Living Through More Storms

In California we don’t have many tornados and in Central California we don’t have a ton of rain, so it is that the weather has been unnerving for me.

I waited out Hurricane Irene in Fredericksburg, VA with no power and lots of wind and rain. Not real bad, I’d sat out Hurricane Ike while living in my RV in Nola. Figured that being in a motel would be a little better and it was.

Moving up to Annapolis was fine, we had power and everything was open. Fine that is until Tropical Storm Lee came by to visit for a few days.

It rained for about 3 days straight and the rain poured down, so hard. On one occasion I ran from my car up to my room and my clothes were soaked. I had so much water running down my hair that I had to take a shower to stop the dripping. I had thought that I’d not take a shower but then when sweat started running into my eyes I decided otherwise.

Out on the roads driving was a mess. Roads were flooded, I had to drive in the middle of the road. The rain was coming down so hard that it was impossible to see sometimes, wipers had to run full blast.

Night before last we had a tornado warning, or watch, they are both the same to me. I became more and more nervous as the evening wore on. Where would I hide, how do I protect myself? Dale said to get by a wall but I was thinking more of a center room. A TV program told me to get into the center of the place. I put my camera bag, tripod, purse, shoes and car keys in the bathroom while I went into the front of my room in order to sleep with my flashlight by my side.

It was very unnerving to sit out the storm, especially for this chicken! Rain poured so hard and at one point the thunder roared for nearly an hour straight. I looked up tweets on Weather.com and found that others were tweeting what I was seeing so I knew that I wasn’t along.

Finally all of the warnings or watches lifted. I went to sleep and woke up to another day of rain.

Thank You to The Workers

I am always impressed with people who do the cleaning, the people who do the jobs that are not high paying. Yet many of these people work hard and are clearly wanting to do a good job just because they want to.

Since I’m renting a car while here in Annapolis Avis hasn’t made it easy to keep the car. I had to extend the contract once again but forgot when I was leaving my last claim and was nearly back to the motel when I remembered. The over-the-phone computer wanted to extend the contract for $800. I was going to extend but then the computer wouldn’t take an answer so I had to talk to a real person who suggested that I go back to the airport yet one more time in order to save a bunch of money. It was nearly 6pm, bumper to bumper traffic going to Dulles. I was so upset, now it looked like an over 1 hour drive each way, I had not eaten since breakfast and had so many claims to close and to call.

I made it to Dulles and Avis after 8pm parked and went into the office. A young man who I’d seen the other two times was there but I don’t think he recognized me. I told him that I needed to extend the use of the car but the price by phone was over $800. As he worked we talked and being frustrated I told him that Avis was so difficult to work with. He finished the contract and said that my weekly rate would be $200. Well now I told him that I couldn’t complain anymore. I told him that I’d planned to write a negative report about Avis but now he proved them wrong. I promised to mention his name, a shout out to the Avis at Dulles to Dennis.

I also am referring to the people at the front desk of the Best Western here in Annapolis. I have had such a run around with motels and was so glad to have a place to plant myself for a while. The problem was that I was going to have to leave for the weekend because the motel was booked solid. I decided that I just wouldn’t worry about it.

I went to the desk and asked if there were any cancelations and the woman said “no, but she was going to make it work”. And make it work she did. I’m still planted in my room and will be until Dale gets here.

When I working away from home it is difficult enough so people who take pride in their jobs and help make that stay away so much easier.