Golden Daffodils

We've been having an odd run of warm weather that's scheduled to be curtailed by a colder episode that arrives sometime this coming weekend. Welcome to the rollercoaster of weather that is April. T.S. Eliot had it right, methinks:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

The daffodils are gorgeous this year, and every year when they pop up, I am glad I planted them. They are just so happy and springy looking. I went out the other morning and brought in a big armful. You may see some of them, arranged in a blue cup, above. I do love the visual combo of yellow and blue; it always makes me think of Van Gogh.

I had a dentist appointment at 3 in the afternoon: part 2 of the crown that my dentist (located in Philipsburg) started work on back in mid-March. The rear surface sort of slid off one of my porcelain veneers back in November. It didn't hurt and it wasn't visible so I let it go until springtime. On this day, it was time to wrap it up with one more hour in the dentist's chair.

While I was there, my husband walked over to the library and snagged us nine books, including a 2024 J.D. Robb I had not read yet. From the dentist's office, we headed to Tyrone to grab a couple of hoagies (large sandwiches with meat and cheese and veggies) at Mac's. 

I have joked before on these pages about how they overdose you with onions at Mac's, even if you order light or no onions. On this day, we got two Italian hoagies; my husband got light onions and I got NO onions: exactly what we ordered!

We went to Dry Hollow from there and took a short walk and sat in our chairs and enjoyed the day, and our new books. Rain was on the way, but thankfully, it held off until after we had gotten home (after about a 55-mile loop of traveling) and unpacked the car. Of course, I couldn't eat MY hoagie until I stopped being numb from the dental work.

As we were sitting at Dry Hollow, my lower lip was starting to come back from the anesthetic, and it was tingling and tickling like crazy. I started slapping myself on the lip with my hand, trying to make the weird feeling go away. 

My husband looked over at me, whapping myself on the face with some amount of gusto, and he said, "If I didn't know you, I'd think there was something seriously WRONG with you." By 6 p.m., the tingling was gone and I was back in business for eating again. They had told me last time, "No pizza and no smiling" while I had the temporary crown in; fat chance on all of that, for sure!

I am happy to report that on the home front, things in the yard are sort of back to normal, except that the area where the 200-year-old red oak tree fell feels very open and empty and bare now. The tree that fell clearly took other trees as collateral damage. The tree guy informed us that that tree - weighing in at 50 to 100 tons - could potentially have been a House Killer, had it fallen at a slightly different angle. So we are very lucky, I guess.

There's a big empty hole in the forest now, and I find I don't really prefer that. My husband thinks I should plant more trees. As for myself, I wonder if I should use the sunnier more open space to establish yet another butterfly garden. Something to think about. 

In the meantime, it sort of hurts to look at that area in a way I can't even articulate. Every time I look out the window, I see that big tree falling. I can't help it and I can't wash the image out of my brain. I guess that's a tiny bit of PTSD. It's a pretty FAT case of PTSD, though, I'd have to say: about 50 to 100 tons worth!

I am still dealing with the insurance company about our claim, and it has been frustrating. The tree fell onto our backyard and shed on March 16. The tree guy had the bulk of the tree cleared off by early afternoon on the 18th. Friends came and took most of the rest of the wood on Sunday the 23rd, with a final pick-up of a small load by a neighbor on the 24th.

The shed guy out of Mill Hall gave us an estimate on Friday, March 21. He returned and fixed the shed on April 1. So here is where we stand: the tree is gone, the shed is fixed, and now we are just waiting to settle it all up with the insurance company.

Here is a thing that you need to know, if you are a homeowner: there will be times when something unexpected and totally awful happens, and you will need to deal with it, and even pay out potentially lots of dollars out of pocket, rather quickly. 

I called the tree removal guy within 15 minutes after the tree fell; he was on site within a half-hour, and gave us an estimate by early evening; he cut up the tree two days later. However, it took 10 days for the insurance check for tree removal to arrive. 

I wonder, honestly, how many people could swing several thousand dollars of unexpected expenses with that little warning. Vendors, as you might have guessed, expect to be PAID when they actually do the work; this is not an unreasonable expectation at all!

However, an insurance check has not even been issued yet for the belongings destroyed, and for the shed work. The truth, homeowner, is that somebody has to be funding the fiasco, and in the end, you will discover that that party is YOU.

In the middle of last week, I wanted to find an update on our claim. I had not heard back from our adjuster in days. I knew there was a portal for our insurance company. I also knew we had an account; I set it up the last time a tree fell.

But when I went into the portal, and tried to log in, it gave me error messages. When I tried to reset my password, it acted like I didn't exist. When I tried to create a new account, it gave me an expired link to click on. 

When I couldn't get in, I called my local insurance rep, who prodded my adjuster to get back in touch with me. I wonder how long it would have taken her to inform me that they needed further photos of the shed and the actual estimate the shed guy gave me, before we could proceed?

The next day, I received an automated email asking me to rate how useful their website was. Guess what: I let them have it!!! I gave them a big fat ZERO!!!! Also guess what: the next day, I got into the portal with no problem at all. Go figure.

As I type this, it is the morning of Friday, April 4. I have just gotten into the portal, to discover only evidence of a check for tree removal, and possibly a small check for belongings destroyed (a yard cart, a small table); nothing yet on the shed. I have just emailed my adjuster yet AGAIN to ask where we are on things; is there anything further she needs to finalize and FINISH UP THIS CLAIM????

Tom Petty was right when he said it: the waiting is the hardest part. Our soundtrack song is Tom Petty and Eddie Vedder, with The Waiting.