The various stories about the roof damages in our area.

I think it is interesting about how the various insurance companies are adjusting the houses here on our street.  My neighbors have various stories about how damaged their roofs are.  My next door neighbor has damage on only the West side of his roof and it was under 5K.

And since it was a smaller amount they wrote him a check on the spot.   Ours was a big deal, and we had to wait about a week for the check.  And we have to prove that we had it fixed as well, but then it is for about twice the money.

Ya just can't convince me that the neighbor's adjuster doesn't know the entire roof is damaged.  He just judged my young neighbor as a fellow that will cash the check and do nothing about fixing the damage.  So they rip off a smaller price settlement and see if it will make the claimant happy.  Blinded by cash in hand so to speak.

The neighbor across the street spent quite a bit of time telling me that his damage is only on one side as well.  He hopes to get a quick check and pocket it too.  They are being played by the adjusters and the insurance companies.  Sorry Mike out in Congress, Az, but that is how it appears from here.  Just get the release signed for as little as possible, and be done with it.

I think I had just better stay the heck out of the other folks troubles, for now.  I will just get myself into more trouble.  And in ten years I will more than likely not be here to see it when they wonder how come their roof is so bad.  They were thirty year shingles when it was built!!!  By then it will take 20K to replace the roof.  That $4500 check they pocketed will seem rather small at that point in time.

I'm not sure what we did today, but it seemed to take all day anyway.  I was gathering stuff to get ready to head back to Red Bay.  I rode the motorscooter over to the post office and mailed off the insurance checks to the bank to be deposited,  since I will have to write the payment check to Tiffin on about Tuesday.

I also dug up the sprinkler box in the front yard and turned on the watering system.  It was off at the stop.  I had the drains closed by the fellow that blew out the system with air last fall, so all I had to do was turn it back on.  Then I ran each zone in turn to blow out the air and see if all the heads worked.  We seemed to not have any broken pieces, as all worked well.  Bring on the big watering bills!!!

Oh, and I went over and got a mothers day card for Loyce.  She always says, "I'm not your mother."  But I know she likes the cards just the same.  Maybe we can stop somewhere on the road for a nice lunch or dinner in honor of the occasion.

They came and put one of those roofing company signs in our front yard this morning, and that stopped the door knockers cold in their tracks.  That was a relief, as I was getting tired of answering the door bell so many times!!!

Retired Rod

Plans and a bike ride.

I think we have determined that the motor home will be complete by Monday or Tuesday.  And since it takes a couple of days to drive to Alabama, we will try to leave on Sunday or so.  We really don't like to stay in a motel, so we will drive as far as possible.

But it is too far to do in one day, unless you flat out kill yourself, and we won't do that for pleasure.  Makes no sense at all.

That leaves us finding a pet friendly motel somewhere in South Missouri or North Arkansas.  We can stay in the coach once we get to the campground even if they aren't done with it.  But we will have to get there before 4:30, because the gals that work in the office go home by then, and it could get locked up in the bays.

So its a plan anyway.  

Today was in the 70s here and about beautiful.  Loyce and I mowed the lawn in anticipation of our travel.  She ran the trim mower, while I used mr john deere.  I did a little weed whacking and we called it complete.

After lunch, she was going shopping, and that was my excuse to jump on the motorscooter and head out.  First to Wendy's, and then over to our local Suzuki dealership.  I didn't buy anything, but rather just checked out the new bikes and overall made sure that they were still doing business this year.  The owner said they had been there for thirty years, and that they would bury him out back somewhere when he passed.  LOL

Well from there, I headed out into the country West of Olathe, over toward the old ammunition plant.  This was a bullet and powder factory for world war II and was used during Viet Nam too.  It covers about 10 square miles out in the country, and has no signs to let you know what it is.  Lots of no trespassing and keep out signs, with the federal seal on them.  Think G men in the bushes!!

From there, I went South and circled back to the West side of Olathe, and then thru town to our house.  About a 50 mile circle.  It was 77 degrees, but the wind had me leaning over toward the South to stay going straight.  That wouldn't be so hard, except that it was really gusty, and the lean had to vary with the gusts.

We had more roofers ringing the door bell again tonight.  The neighborhood is crawling with them.  They seem so broken hearted when you tell them you have already signed a contract with someone else.  I told one fellow he was a day late, and he was distraught, because my neighbor from across the street had sent him over.  They usually give $100 as a referral fee.  This is one of the neighbors that isn't too keen on the motorhome out in the street, when we bring it over here to load it up.  

But I'm his buddy, when he thinks I'm worth a referral fee.  LOL

Retired Rod

On to the roof estimate!

Today was the roof company fellow.  He didn't estimate the roof at all, he just wanted a copy of the adjusters settlement.  He will take it home and calculate all that is wrong with it and seek additional monies before he starts.

Now that implies that he can't come close to replacing the roof for what they estimated.  So therefore he won't start until he gets a lot more from them.  At least that is how I read it.  They use some satellite image to estimate the size and slope of your shingles, and they didn't even climb up and look at the roof.

I have no idea if this is normal.....  But then I didn't give him any money, all I did was sign the contract to let them do the work for a yet to be determined amount.  I suppose he could write in a million dollars and hold me to it, but then that's what lawyers are for.  Who knows?

Otherwise we had Delaney our 4 year old grad daughter over here today, and she was having fun going everywhere with grandma.  Especially when they went to McDonalds and the play land  over in the shopping center on our corner.  That kept them out of our hair while I was working with the insurance guy.

It rained most of the afternoon, and it was really quite cool outside.  Way too cool to do anything that required outdoor time, so the computer entertained me again.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I can't drink anymore, so it is just a memory for me, but perhaps you could celebrate it for me.

Retired Rod

Keeping on top of the job.

Tonight I must report that there is a reason that we keep going back to Red Bay, Alabama for motor home repairs.  Other than the fact that they are the factory and have an almost unlimited stock of parts and associated vendors that will ship parts that they do not have on hand.

This morning, I was called mid morning by the painter that is working on our coach.  Not some foreman in the office, mind you, the actual guy with the paint gun.  This is the second time he has called, and the third call we have received since we left last Monday.

He reports that the color is on the new doors and that he was ready to spray the coach with the clear coat that will protect the paint and make it shiny.  Once that is done, they will allow the coach to sit in the booth for the rest of the day, and tomorrow they will start to buff the paint out to its final shine.

This translates to the fact that the coach will be done sometime in the near future, barring any problems, that are unforeseen.  So even though I am 600 miles away, I know almost as much as if I was right there. Of course I haven't been there to inspect the process as it was going along, but since they paint coaches all day long every day of the year, I am not sure I could add anything that they wouldn't already know anyway.

I was also called by the roofing company that will estimate the roof replacement for the house.  It will be interesting to see how much more they think the job is worth than our insurance company.  They will be arriving tomorrow, so we won't have to wait long for that outcome.

Other than that, this was another of my medical days over at the doctor's office so that fairly much wasted the rest of the day, and doesn't give me much to write about.

We did have our youngest grand daughter again today, and we were playing for much of the day, so it was a fun day just the same.

Retired Rod