July 4 through 9

[chochiyo_sama]

Sunday, July 4

My Sunday morning Zoom meeting with DeAnn was good, as usual.  It was a shorter meeting than usual as she had to go somewhere at 1 pm, but it was still productive and motivational.  When we finished our meeting, I caught up with my DW journal.  Later in the day, Caleb came over and took my garbage and recycling bins to the curb.  Both were very full.  My only other accomplishment today was filling my pill caddy. 

I posted about what would have been my dad’s 90^th birthday today on FaceBook.  I put up a picture of Dad on his 40^th birthday with his parents and my brother Jack when he was just a little boy.  My dad was 64 when he died. It’s hard to believe that I am now older than my dad was when he died. 

It was very hot today, so Mom and I opted out of going to the fireworks in Owatonna.  We had gone to the Beaver Lake fireworks yesterday, so we really did not need to go and roast ourselves tonight.  Last night’s fireworks lasted about an hour and a half.  Tonight’s would only last between 20-30 minutes.  So no great loss.

 

Monday, July 5

I finished my laundry, finally.  My house is filled with flies.  I have no idea how they are getting in.  It’s disgusting and annoying to have dozens of flies all over the house.

In the late afternoon, I took Mom and Lily to Blooming Prairie where we got supper at the DQ.  Lily got a chili dog that smelled just fabulous.  Mom and I got BBQ chicken strips.  We all got ice cream as well.  Lily ate her chili dog right away, but Mom and I took our chicken strips home.  They were a disappointment.  The strips were dry and over cooked.  They were more like chicken jerky than a nice, moist chicken strip.  I doubt I will be getting those again any time soon.

I didn’t do much today—just picked up a few things, looked at doll stuff on Etsy, and poke around on Facebook. 

 

Tuesday, July 6

Today was a day of historical significance in my life.  (HA)

Mom had been complaining that she was out of a lot of her vitamins and that she really wanted to go to Walmart to stock up on vitamins and buy some cat litter for Mojo.  Since we are both fully vaccinated now, I told her I would take her, but I wanted to go EARLY in the morning when there were not many people there.  So I got up early and we were in Owatonna shortly after 8 am. 

There were not many cars in the parking lot, but I was surprised that there was only one electric cart available.  It was only about half power, too, so the whole time I was in Walmart, I was afraid it was going to die on me.  We did a pretty quick tour of Walmart.  I bought stuff that I was low on, like soap and toothpaste.  I bought four good sized totes so I can continue sorting and organizing my stuff for a possible move to Lily’s house.  I also bought two small garbage cans with lids—one for the soft food containers Peaches’ food comes in.  The lid will keep the flies out of there and also keep any unpleasant smells confined.  I picked up a few really cute, summery fat quarters of fabric to use to make some cool summer clothing for my three new baby dolls.  They are still naked at this point.  I am sure they don’t mind, but I hate seeing naked dolls laying around.  The only other stuff I bought was two loaves of bread (one French and one pumpernickel), a bunch of Diet Coke, a box of apple fritters, a box of tiny eclairs, and a big bag of really yummy looking dark, sweet cherries.

After Walmart, Mom and I went through the drive through at Caribou.  We each got a cold, fruity beverage and a breakfast sandwich.  We ate them at the dam at Morehouse Park.  Back in Ellendale, I brought Mom to my house to drag my empty garbage bin back to the house.  I feel guilty letting her do it, but it is literally impossible for me to walk while dragging the big, clumsy bin back to its place.  It isn’t heavy—just awkward.

When I got home, I managed to get in one tote with the food products in it.  That was very hard for me to handle due to my mobility issues.  I decided to text Caleb and ask him if would stop after work and carry the rest of my stuff in the house.  By that time, the recycling truck will have collected my recycling, and he can haul that bin back up to the house too.

I don’t know if I mentioned that I got my city water/sewer bill last week and that it was almost three times higher than it usually is.  I realized this on Saturday, when the city offices are closed. They were closed on Monday because of the Federal Holiday too, so I called them today when I got back from Owatonna.  Steve Engle, who was in my high school graduating class, is in charge of a lot of the business of City Hall, so I talked to him about my bill.  I thought they might have had a computer glitch that charged me twice or something.

Well, he said that my water consumption for the month of June was more than I usually used in an entire year.  I have done NOTHING that would result in that much water usage, so Steve asked if I had left a hose running outside or if some device was leaking in the house. Well, I have never used the outdoor spigots, and nothing in the upstairs is leaking.  And if something were leaking in the basement, it would have been leaking for a lot longer than the month of June!  The only person that goes to the basement is the Culligan man, and it has been months since he was down there—I’ve missed his last two visits due to either Lily or Mom needing to be driven places.

Steve then suggested that maybe my water softener had gotten stuck on “cycling” and had run for many days.  I said that was unlikely as it is only about a year old. We talked for quite a while and I told him I would have my nephew check the water softener to see if it was running when he stopped by after work. 

When Caleb came, he carried in my stuff, brought the recycling bin back to the house, and headed to the basement to check the water softener.

Well.

That was when my life went directly to shit. Literally and figuratively.

He discovered that my basement was literally covered in shit.  He took a picture with his cell phone and showed me.  The toilet was covered in shit.  It looked like a volcano that had erupted.  Instead of lava rolling down the sides of a mountain, there were rivers of shit on the sides of the toilet. It had spread out about five feet from the toilet all over the basement floor and had pushed up against various things stored in the basement.  OMG. 

Well, at least the mystery of where all the flies were coming from was solved.  I was so aghast that I didn’t know what to do for a while.  Then I realized that I needed to call Jim and Dude’s (my plumber) and find out who in this area does professional cleaning as there was NO WAY I could clean that level of filth up on my own.  I called the City first to tell them what was gong on. 

Several years ago, there was a scandal here.  A guy whose last name was Misgen was hired to hook all the houses in Ellendale up to the sewer system.  Well, he was a corrupt asshole.  He randomly connected about half the houses in town to the sewer but left the others unconnected.  Of course he charged the City for connecting all of the houses and left with pockets full of cash.  One of the houses NOT connected was my Aunt Darla’s.  It cost them a fortune when a foot of shit backed up into their basement.  Not only had they paid for sewer service for years, but they were left to clean up the mess on their own dime as the City refused to take responsibility for any of the fraud perpetrated by their sewer guy.

So I feared that might have been a victim of that same issue.  Even though it has been years since this happened, every now and then, someone’s house gets flooded with shit and it is discovered the house was never connected to the sewer.  I would have thought every house in town would have been inspected when this fraud was discovered, but apparently the City decided that would be “too expensive.”  No one who had this happen was ever reimbursed for all the money they had paid for sewer served for years either.  Small town corruption.

Obviously, this situation caused me a maximum level of stress and anxiety.  I think I did a pretty good job of handling the situation, all things considered.  Obviously, this situation has taken over my life, too. 

I called the plumber and explained the situation.  I asked them for a recommendation of a cleaning service, and they gave me Service Master.  The plumber told me that they were booked up until July 19, and if I had them prior to that date, I would have to pay $140/hour overtime for their workers.  Then I called my insurance agent’s office and talked to his office lady.  He was up in Duluth over the 4^th, and she wasn’t sure what my policy provided.  So, she told me she would call him and get back to me. 

Now I have to switch out of the daily update mode and put it all in a glop of information as everything runs together in my head and I was too busy dealing with this situation to keep notes to reconstruct my days in writing.  So----

Wednesday, July 6 through Friday, July 9

I had to take Lily to her physical therapy appointment at 10 am on Wednesday.  She had no one else to take her, and she is still not allowed to drive after her hip replacement surgery. While I waited for her in the parking lot of the rehab facility, I called Service Master and talked to them about the situation.  They told me a ton of stuff that I don’t remember anymore.  Part of it was about insurance and part of it was about payment.  I remember that they told me I would have to pay $500 up front before they would do anything.  (Ultimately, they never collected that, even though I offered to pay it when the cleaning crew came.) 

When she got out of the rehab place, I took Lily to Aldi’s to return the pool she bought for her great-grandchildren to play in over the 4^th.  They gave her a full refund in cash, so she was very happy.  She wanted to take me to Culver’s for lunch, so we went through the drive through and got food.  She got a fish sandwich and I got a fish dinner with 3 pieces of fish, coleslaw, and onion rings.  Lily had no idea there was a lake in Owatonna, so I took her there and we ate our meal there. I ate the sides and one piece of fish.  I saved the other 2 pieces for another meal.

Now this is where I am not sure the order things happened in as I was very stressed out.  I had a plan.  I followed the plan.  Stuff got done. 

The plumbers were scheduled to come after 4:30 on Wednesday, but they ended up coming closer to 2 pm, which was better as that would not result in me paying them over time.  They clean two clogs out of my system—one that was under the house and one closer to where the pipes meet the sewer.  The happy news is that my house is connected to the city sewer.  One less thing to worry about.

The cleaners also came and they worked at the same time for a while.  The plumbers left before the cleaners but then had to come back the next day as the cleaners discovered the main drain in the center  of the basement quit draining.  Presumably all the debris that spewed up from the sewer abyss and coated the basement got washed down that drain during the cleaning and plugged it up again.  So the plumbers drilled down into it and broke it up again and the cleaners went back to work.  This time, the only thing that got plugged up was their suction hose.  It got plugged so bad that they had to take it outside and work for an hour to unplug it. 

The two cleaners looked like kids to me, but I suspect they were in their early 30s.  They were friendly ad kind and hard-working.  It took them three days of hard work to get the basement clean. Both they and the plumbers checked everything and found NOTHING dripping or running.  So the excessive water usage remans a mystery though the main suspect remains the water softener. 

Once the basement issue is resolved, I will be calling Culligan to send someone out to give it a thorough checking over.  I don’t want to waste all that water (or pay for it) again.

A dumpster was ordered for all the ruined stuff, and the cleaners spent a whole afternoon breaking up ruined shelving and dragging all that disgusting stuff up the stairs and out to the dumpster.  They also hauled out an old area rug that was very nasty and stained from cat vomit while I was in the hospital.  It was rolled up in the garage, and the shorter guy carried it out and threw it in the dumpster.  I am going to see if I can get Caleb to come over and throw the broken railing from the fronts steps and a few mystery things that I think Kim’s spawn brought here out.  As long as I have a dumpster, I want to throw as much as possible into it.

Remember when I said I had a house full of flies?  Well, about two days ago, I found a maggot crawling on my living room floor.  I threw it in the garbage and found another one in about the same place.  I assumed the nasty little bastards had ridden up from the basement on a worker’s shoe or one of the tools that they carried up and down. 

I didn’t think much about it.

Well, the next day, I found more maggots—two, then five, then random singles.  I threw them in the garbage, but they crawled up and out as fast as I threw them in!  So I got a large ziplock bag and started throwing them in there as I found them and zip locking them in.  After I had picked up all that I could find, I swept up all the fuzz, cat hair and crumbs in my living room and grabbed my floor scrubber device, sprayed the area with water and Mr. Clean, and scrubbed.  When I looked back at the scrubbed portion of the floor, seconds after I had scrubbed it, I saw a mass of wriggling, squirming maggots right where I had scrubbed.  I turned the scrubbing pad over and saw that the bottom of the pad was just ALIVE with a mass of maggots. 

I started gagging instantly.  They were everywhere.  They were squirming off in every direction!  So, I put the head of the scrubber into a big bag and carefully peeled open the Velcro which held the pad onto the head.  I checked the entire body of the scrubber and found no more maggots on it.  I tied the bag shut to keep them in.  Then I started rounding up all the free roaming maggots and adding them to the zip lock bag.  It took me about four hours to do all the maggot hunting and confining.  The cleaners arrived in the middle of that task, and I told them what happened and showed them the ziplock bag of confined maggots.  They were horrified, and the smaller one took the tied bag with the scrub pad outside and threw it in the garbage bin immediately. 

Eventually I ran out of maggots to find, and I have not seen any more “loose” maggots since.

The days run together, so I don’t know exactly what thing happened on what day. 

I know that I am really glad that the weather has turned much cooler.  Lily had wanted me to come to her house and help her go through things and decide what to get rid of in preparation for her move—though she is now leaning towards NOT moving.  I sorted and started another week’s laundry, washed a bunch of dishes, and wiped down and put away a lot of pop and iced tea bottles.

At one point, I think it was Thursday, Tammy called and informed me that Mom was telling everyone that *I* was trying to blame “poor Kim’s precious boys” for my sewer back up.  This is NOT TRUE.  I specifically told my mother that it had been over a year since they lived with me, so I didn’t think they were to blame, even though Lucas always used enough toilet paper to choke a horse and frequently plugged the upstairs bathroom and left it for me to plunge despite my deep, open abdominal wound. 

Tammy went off on Mom and yelled at her, telling her that SHE is the one keeping all this shit going while whining and crying about “her family being soooo divided.”  She told Mom that we had talked and that I had said that *I* was afraid that THEY were going to accuse me of blaming “the boys” (poor abused and misunderstood victims that they are) for this mess.

Tammy is sick of her crap.  She was going to come down to visit this weekend but has now decided to come down, rent a hotel room overnight, and have a meal with her high school friend then return to her place without seeing Mom at all.  Mom is destroying her relationships with her kids HERSELF by running her never ending, bullshit filled mouth constantly.

I was so sick of Mom’s shit myself that I took off for Owatonna by myself instead of asking her if she’d like to come along and get a burrito from Taco Johns.  I usually ask her to come along so she can get out of the house.  Not this time.  No one else feels obligated to keep her amused and give her opportunities to enjoy her life more. 

I bought myself 2 burritos, some potato ole’s (from Taco Johns), and a chocolate malt (from DQ).  I ate one burrito and the ole’s and saved the other for a meal another day.  It was so peaceful and pleasant to go to Owatonna without my mother harping about “poor mistreated Kim” and her “poor, abused sons.” Or about the “whiny BLM people” and the “lazy welfare people who would rather lay on their backs and holler ‘helllllp me” than get one of the “many many jobs” currently available—just “look at all the help wanted signs” on every business.  ARG!!!  She doesn’t listen to the fact that those “many many jobs” are all minimum wage SHIT jobs that do not provide a living wage.  By the time I listen to that bullshit for an hour, I am ready to kill her, myself, and any random other within my reach.

It was good to get away without her bitchy ass riding shotgun.

On Friday, I had a long conversation with the insurance adjuster.  He told me a lot of stuff, most of which I do not remember.  He did give me hope that the plumbing bill would be at least partially paid for and that the cleaning bill would pretty much all be paid.  After the deductible, of course.  I told the adjuster that most of the stuff in my basement that was ruined was of little value.  None of my dolls were damaged.  The Christmas tree was probably the most valuable item that had to be thrown away—and I only paid about $100 for that several years ago, so I am sure its value has depreciated to about $10 by now. 

I had a nice chat with the cleaners close to the end of the day and told them how very much I appreciated what they had done and told them, “Whatever they are paying you guys, it isn’t nearly enough.”  The bigger guy said, “It is a shitty job.”  LOL.  I responded, “Literally and figuratively.” Then I gave each of them a $20 bill which they did not want to take.  I told them to PLEASE take it.  Their kindness and moral support made this whole ordeal much less painful than it could have been.  I know that I will be paying plenty for this, but I am sure that only a pittance will go to them.  This way they can at least have a really nice dinner and a few beers on me.

I got a call from Kevin who is the main guy at their Service Master location.  He will be coming tomorrow to inspect their work and see what remains to be done.  I think the cleaners themselves may be done.  They left some (I think 4) dehumidifiers in the basement and said they would probably have to run for a few days.  They will be back to collect them eventually.

Now there is no doubt that I have forgotten completely some of the stuff that happened during this ordeal or misremembered the order in which they happened.  But this is the bulk of what happened and a summary of those things that impacted me the most. 

It does look like the problem is essentially solved and that the basement is actually much cleaner now than it was prior to the disaster.  Now all that’s left is to pay the bills and deal with the insurance.

 

 

 

Comments

[the_godiva]

Sounds like no one in town wanted to pay for a lawyer to sue the city for the years of sewage fees, the cost to hook up to the sewer line, cost of clean up and damages. I would have hired a lawyer and sued the city. And they would have settled with me out of court for every penny not wanting a precedent set and others in the same situation to sue them and win.

If you have a water softener in the basement, why are you still getting bottles of drinking water delivered? Isn't there a system with Culligan to filter or whatever the drinking water too? Seems redundant to have both.

Stop inviting your Mother along. You do more than enough for her. I have been having a peaceful time without going over to my parent's every week and staying until almost midnight. It's been very freeing and my stress level has been reduced even lower than just retiring has done. They keep going on and on about how the nephews take such good care of them. I said good, then I don't need me to come over any more. (That's apparently all either of them are good for. Neither can support themselves with any sort of work.)

Don't dismiss what was damaged. My policy is based on replacement cost. I replaced everything I could, including having to surf eBay to find replacements, and I submitted all receipts to them and after the deductible they paid for it all. Even that cheap Christmas tree and those cheap shelves should be on the damage list. You should be reimbursed for everything, even if it is only worth $10. Put down cost to replace. It is not your job to depreciate anything. Because the adjuster will depreciate your depreciation. Don't forget the toilet, the high rise one. They won't care where you install it and probably won't scrutinize the plumber's bill so you can have the plumbers install it upstairs and move your current one to the basement.

Since the plumbers are coming back to replace the basement toilet, right?, you can ask them about the tub upstairs while they are installing the new toilet up there. If the shower surround could be reused in the basement and how much it would cost to re-install a tub and move the surround to the basement. You might even measure and start shopping for tubs online so you know what you want and how much it will cost. They'll likely only give you a labor estimate. It could be the surround will have to be broken up to remove or the cost of moving it is about the same as breaking it up for disposal and buying a new one for the basement. You'd have to decide what you'd want to do. But that should be the next project after all this trauma. You need a good soaking tub upstairs. With the new high rise toilet up there that will make your bathroom perfect and your house a much more pleasant place to live in since it looks like Lily isn't going to sell any time soon. After that put in that stair chair to give you access to your basement, put on a deck outside and then install that shower in the basement and finish off that bathroom. Those are the priorities right now.

Tub first.

Then stairchair, deck, basement bathroom.

Second tier would be finishing the floor and walls of the basement and some sort of air circulation/filtration system, although once it is finished that may not be as much of a problem. (Make sure there is a functional sump pump down there.) You can install display shelves and a workspace, put a recliner and TV down there and work on your dolls and crafts down there. That would clean out the laundry room a bit. Maybe you can put a bed in there for when Tammy comes to visit or even a bed downstairs now that it will have a finished bathroom. After that, the Catio. Lastly comes the garage extension. Prioritize a list and when you are bored and have nothing better to do, surf the internet for materials and costs so you know what to expect cost wise for your next project. Figure labor to equal the cost of materials so basically double it unless you are talking plumbing and electrical. If you budget for $6,000 and it only ends up costing $3,000, all the better. I think you are going to be surprised that those stair chairs cost less than you expect. I was surprised the one my parents got installed cost as little as it did and including a yearly maintenance check up.

Tier three: finished basement, catio, garage extension.

Looking ahead and planning your next home improvement project will be fun and something to look forward to. And remember, everything penny you spend to make the house more comfortable for you will also increase the equity. It's possible you'll get 100% of your investment in equity to the house. Putting a full bath and finished that basement will add a big chunk of value to your house. A tub and shower upstairs will too. I think it is so stupid for people to remove tubs. If you want a shower, just add one, don't take the tub out.

You can move things around a bit based on your cost estimates and research. The catio probably won't cost that much so it might be move up a bit. The garage extension will be a big ticket so best that stay at the bottom. But getting that soaking tub back in the bathroom should be number one you are saving for. You've waited long enough and you really need it, both physically and mentally.

If I ever live in my parent's house that is what I'm doing. I'm opening the wall in the back bathroom and adding a shower to the front bathroom from behind to save the wallpaper, then I am replacing the shower with a tub and shower. That way both bathrooms will be full baths, not 3/4 baths. I would try to add a shower to my brother's old room too as it is only a half bath. For that room a small fiberglass pre-fab would do fine. That would give the house two full bathrooms and two 3/4 bathrooms (in the upstairs addition). Three bedrooms with four bathrooms. Two bedrooms would be en suite masters. If the sewing room were retained, that's a fourth small bedroom and if a closet was added to the hobby room (easily done) that would be a fifth bedroom. So five bedrooms, four bathrooms. I'd remodel the kitchen too and put hardwood floors throughout the downstairs but not until the back up situation in the main sewer line downstairs was finally resolved. That front bathroom backs up every few years and causes a flood, ruining the carpet. That needs a permanent solution, not a half ass snaking every time it floods as a temporary solution.

In many ways my 1922 house is built better and in much better shape than my parent's 1960 house.

[chochiyo_sama]

Having a water softener does not improve the quality of drinking water--it improves the quality of water for bathing, doing dishes, and washing clothes. I have a water dispenser which dispenses pure water which can be cold or hot, and it does not taste like the city water which tastes like a cocktail made of bleach and sulfur. Very gross. Also, the water softener adds salt to the water which protects the water bearing facilities from building up hard water scale.

Yes, the program you set out for home improvement is almost perfectly in line with my plans. That timetable is the most logical for home improvements. I am a little concerned about the siding on my house which is peeling in two areas. That needs to be dealt with so the wood under it does not rot. I think that is a pretty big ticket item--and if I reside the house, it seems like I should make the garage bigger at the same time so all the siding matches and is done at the same time.

[the_godiva]

Forgot abou the siding. That does need to be addressed as you don't want water getting behind causing rot and you certainly don't want ice building up behind. I suspect it can be patched until you are ready to do the garage. You're right. If you're going to be building an extension you'd want all of the siding to match and if it has to be replaced, best to do it all at the same time. But I still wouldn't move it up on the list unless for any reason the cracks couldn't be patched and sealed for now. The garage and siding will be a big ticket item. Likely $20-$40,000 depending on materials (lumber is costly right now) and labor in your area.

I think the tub still needs to be #1. I'd do the deck in the manufactured "wood" that is maintenance-free. It will last a lot longer and I don't think the cost has gone up like raw lumber has. You don't want a wood deck. It will be too much maintenance and won't last. The Catio could be done with a small, prefabricated screened room so that might move it up the list.

https://www.moistureshield.com/about/blog/wood-vs-composite-decking-lets-compare/

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/decking/21018023/all-about-composite-decking

https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/a3490/best-decking-material/

[cmcmck]

Sorry you've had such a shit (literally) time and hope this has cleared things up!

[chochiyo_sama]

Just a few more days, and this episode in my life should be over. Then it is just a wait to see what it is going to cost me. I have $1,500 deductible, but I have that in savings, so I am not stressing about that. If I had to borrow the money, I would be a little more stressed.