Here begins the spamming
I took a bunch of pics of the place and the alpacas this afternoon. (And got a bit of frostbite on one finger for stupidly walking around in the wind and the cold without a glove on.) I'll post the pictures in groups in a minute.
First, though, some updates.
1. We had no heat in the place for about 12 hours starting last night. It turns out that the oil company goofed up and didn't deliver on schedule, so that got taken care of, thankfully. We also have a propane fireplace in the living room that came in pretty handy before the oil truck showed up. Deb (our friend who owns the place) is starting to get nervous about our continual bad luck rubbing off on her. We try to reassure her, but really, we're not all that successful :)
2. And speaking of crappy luck, I got two letters from Immigration yesterday, and both of them were bad news. They've rescinded my status and they're a little pissed that I didn't file from overseas. It's OK, though, because I have 30 days to appeal. ::marathon head desking ensues:: It's a major clusterfuck based on paperwork, but Dar has an appointment to speak with an actual Immigration bureaucrat case worker tomorrow to try to straighten this out. The case worker is going over all of my paperwork and my case file and will hopefully see that they've already approved my status and cashed all of our checks. I just don't even know what to think about this anymore.
3. We heard from the insurance company: the Jeep is a total write-off. As the repair bill started approaching $29,000 dollars (yes, that's thousand), they decided to just say no to rebuilding it. Unfortunately because of the high mileage, they also just said no to a decent buy-out for it.
4. I was sent a personal injury claim from the insurance company, but I'm not filing for anything. Really, outside of some very impressive bruises and some aches, there was nothing wrong that couldn't be solved by taking a Tylenol-3. Still feeling very lucky about surviving.
5. I'm also feeling nervous about driving, and I hate that. I've always loved driving, but now I'm tense all the while I'm behind the wheel. I know it's because the roads are wet and I'm really skittish about ice. I feel the car skidding out from under me even when it's perfectly secure, and my stomach clenches each time a big truck passes by and the wind rocks the car a little. I think this will pass; I hope that it does. I think that there's a part of me that's not going to feel completely safe behind the wheel until the spring is here.
6. We're getting our first real snowstorm tonight. We did a lot of errands today, so we should be good to stay home for the next day or two. We had a very mild November, so I'm not really complaining. OK, maybe a little :)
First, though, some updates.
1. We had no heat in the place for about 12 hours starting last night. It turns out that the oil company goofed up and didn't deliver on schedule, so that got taken care of, thankfully. We also have a propane fireplace in the living room that came in pretty handy before the oil truck showed up. Deb (our friend who owns the place) is starting to get nervous about our continual bad luck rubbing off on her. We try to reassure her, but really, we're not all that successful :)
2. And speaking of crappy luck, I got two letters from Immigration yesterday, and both of them were bad news. They've rescinded my status and they're a little pissed that I didn't file from overseas. It's OK, though, because I have 30 days to appeal. ::marathon head desking ensues:: It's a major clusterfuck based on paperwork, but Dar has an appointment to speak with an actual Immigration bureaucrat case worker tomorrow to try to straighten this out. The case worker is going over all of my paperwork and my case file and will hopefully see that they've already approved my status and cashed all of our checks. I just don't even know what to think about this anymore.
3. We heard from the insurance company: the Jeep is a total write-off. As the repair bill started approaching $29,000 dollars (yes, that's thousand), they decided to just say no to rebuilding it. Unfortunately because of the high mileage, they also just said no to a decent buy-out for it.
4. I was sent a personal injury claim from the insurance company, but I'm not filing for anything. Really, outside of some very impressive bruises and some aches, there was nothing wrong that couldn't be solved by taking a Tylenol-3. Still feeling very lucky about surviving.
5. I'm also feeling nervous about driving, and I hate that. I've always loved driving, but now I'm tense all the while I'm behind the wheel. I know it's because the roads are wet and I'm really skittish about ice. I feel the car skidding out from under me even when it's perfectly secure, and my stomach clenches each time a big truck passes by and the wind rocks the car a little. I think this will pass; I hope that it does. I think that there's a part of me that's not going to feel completely safe behind the wheel until the spring is here.
6. We're getting our first real snowstorm tonight. We did a lot of errands today, so we should be good to stay home for the next day or two. We had a very mild November, so I'm not really complaining. OK, maybe a little :)