the_siobhan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_siobhan) wrote2019-07-20 05:07 pm
the_siobhan) wrote2019-07-20 05:07 pm
Entry tags:
gimme shelter
I saw some graffiti yesterday that said "colonialism does not spark joy"
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It was so humid and hot yesterday that when I was walking from the bus there was actually condensation forming on my exposed skin. Because I was cooler and dryer than the atmosphere surrounding me.
That is a fucked-up thing for a mammal to be saying, but this is my Canada in 2019.
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The thing about all this water in the air is that occasionally the sky decides to dump it all out. And in the continuing saga of Shit That Is Falling Off Our House, the kitchen ceiling has been leaking really really badly.
For those of you who haven't heard the story; our kitchen is actually a wooden shack tacked onto the back of our brick house. It's at least 100 years old, the wood is rotten, there is at least one paper wasp nest in the walls, and I figure a few carpenter ant nests as well. We've been trying to hold off on spending more than the minimum on patching it up because the long-term plan is to tear it down and build something with insulation and wiring and fewer non-rent-paying lodgers. But you know, when it starts raining inside the house (and brown gross sticky rain at that) it's time to bite the bullet and throw some money away.
So Axe calls the service that provides out contractors, they contact a roofing company, people come out and look, prices are agreed to, dates are set, our neighbours are informed. And then the roofers just... never show up.
A week of phone tag later, Axe calls the service and tells them to send somebody else because this group are incompetent. What probably actually happened is that they got a bigger job for more money and figured they could quietly dump us as unimportant. Which I kinda get, but at least be honest with us that you don't have time to do the work.
***********************
And while this is going on, on the other side of town my mother's dining room ceiling just fell in. Fortunately nobody was sitting at the dining room table at the time. She filed an insurance claim and they're saying they don't have to pay for it because of bullshit reasons. My mother is not one to back down easily and I have no doubt she'll get the money out of them, but for fuck's sake. Making a senior citizen jump through these hoops is just fucking unconscionable.
***********************
Speaking of insurance I had to give all D's insurance paperwork to his mother to deal with as the executor. I felt bad about it because it's such a nightmare. She told me she is instructing her lawyer to tell them to piss up a rope. (Not in those words obviously.)
Somebody should tell these insurance companies not to mess with the 80 year old women. They will come for you.
***********************
Axe is out of town helping his gf move this weekend and I'm just kind of rattling around the house. I have to finish laundry and throw some more stuff on craigslist and then my chores are pretty much taken care of. I might try to do some writing. It's been months since I've felt like it but it would be nice to focus on something that isn't the inside of my own head for a while.
It was so humid and hot yesterday that when I was walking from the bus there was actually condensation forming on my exposed skin. Because I was cooler and dryer than the atmosphere surrounding me.
That is a fucked-up thing for a mammal to be saying, but this is my Canada in 2019.
The thing about all this water in the air is that occasionally the sky decides to dump it all out. And in the continuing saga of Shit That Is Falling Off Our House, the kitchen ceiling has been leaking really really badly.
For those of you who haven't heard the story; our kitchen is actually a wooden shack tacked onto the back of our brick house. It's at least 100 years old, the wood is rotten, there is at least one paper wasp nest in the walls, and I figure a few carpenter ant nests as well. We've been trying to hold off on spending more than the minimum on patching it up because the long-term plan is to tear it down and build something with insulation and wiring and fewer non-rent-paying lodgers. But you know, when it starts raining inside the house (and brown gross sticky rain at that) it's time to bite the bullet and throw some money away.
So Axe calls the service that provides out contractors, they contact a roofing company, people come out and look, prices are agreed to, dates are set, our neighbours are informed. And then the roofers just... never show up.
A week of phone tag later, Axe calls the service and tells them to send somebody else because this group are incompetent. What probably actually happened is that they got a bigger job for more money and figured they could quietly dump us as unimportant. Which I kinda get, but at least be honest with us that you don't have time to do the work.
And while this is going on, on the other side of town my mother's dining room ceiling just fell in. Fortunately nobody was sitting at the dining room table at the time. She filed an insurance claim and they're saying they don't have to pay for it because of bullshit reasons. My mother is not one to back down easily and I have no doubt she'll get the money out of them, but for fuck's sake. Making a senior citizen jump through these hoops is just fucking unconscionable.
Speaking of insurance I had to give all D's insurance paperwork to his mother to deal with as the executor. I felt bad about it because it's such a nightmare. She told me she is instructing her lawyer to tell them to piss up a rope. (Not in those words obviously.)
Somebody should tell these insurance companies not to mess with the 80 year old women. They will come for you.
Axe is out of town helping his gf move this weekend and I'm just kind of rattling around the house. I have to finish laundry and throw some more stuff on craigslist and then my chores are pretty much taken care of. I might try to do some writing. It's been months since I've felt like it but it would be nice to focus on something that isn't the inside of my own head for a while.
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And I don't think they can replace the rotten wood. It's all rotten. There's nothing solid enough to nail new boards to.
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Ahhh, that's effed up. You can tarp it for several months if you need to, but if the sheathing is wet and buggy, then the whole thing is going to turn moldy right away. Knocking it down sooner rather than later is probably the most efficient use of funds. :/
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