Please excuse my rant

[bacpacker]

Please excuse this as it nothing more than me unloading some frustrations.

The past 2 + months have been a bitch! We finally got a contractor to repair all our hail damage. He sent the first crew out here in early August, they were here 2 hours and left. Said our roof was to steep, it's only a 6/12 pitch. I had to ask him what the hell he did for a living. The second guy worked a grand total of 3 days out of 12. He tore off all our gutters and soffitt, gutters were suppose to go, soffitt's were staying. That's one extra the contractor is on the hoof for. Third group finally started getting some work done and was doing good work. When tropical storm Lee came up thru here we got over 8" of rain over a 3 day period. Needless to say we had leaks. On Monday (Labor Day) we started seeing water spots on our ceiling in the upstairs hall and bathroom. I called the roofer and he came right out and repaired around a vent pipe and got that stopped. Next day I went to work and by 10:00am the wife called and said our downstairs bedroom and closet carpet was wet. I got right to the house and found the carpet had water standing in it, plus the ceiling is dripping (A lot of my preps was stored in there in plastic totes luckily). Called the roofer back, he came right back and found a attic fan cover had blown off which left a 8" hole in our roof. Got that fixed and hasn't had any more problems with that. I bought a dehumdifier and started running it in the closet for a week now and have pulled 7 gallons of water out., Carpet is finally dry but smells like a wet dog. 2nd thing the contractor is on the hoof for. The insurance adjuster is coming out Friday to see what needs doing, but my biggest concern is with mold. Hopefully they'll pull the carpet up and check that out well.
On top of this all we have had to put all the stuff out of the closet which is large, 12' feet long out into the bedroom which is where my MIL with altzheimers was sleeping which has messed her up even worse than she was. I can keep her out of that room and she tripped over the cord to the dehumidifier and fell down. We knew dealing with her was going to be hard, but OH MY GOD. She is driving my wife crazy and I'm not sure how much more of this she is going to be able to handle. The wife has almost quit eating and is a nervous wreck.
Back to the roof, the workers stayed here Monday night until dark and had about a days worth of work left to do. They came out Tuesday and did almost nothing for 2 hours and left with all their tools and the remaining screws for the rest of the metal. Today they didn't even show up. I called the crew boss and he was beside himself that they hadn't finished and took all the stuff away. He's suppose to be back tomorrow to work on it. The contractor called last night and said the siding crew is suppose to show up Thursday morning and get started. After all this crap I'll believe it when I see it.
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to unload.

[AlphaTea]

Sounds like somebody needs a hug.:o

Seriously, when the shit gets too deep, I go to the range and use up some ammo.
After a few rapid fire mag dumps, I feel MUCH better.
Just like you said in the last line of your "rant", you need to unload.

[RedJohn]

This is something that I don't understand as of late. Jobs are difficult to find and the one that have them don't really want to do them. There are more and more reports like this.

I hope that you get thru it soon ... and without harming someone. This is so frustrating.

[bacpacker]

Alpha great idea, I'm just concerned I might start drawing faces on my paper targets. :)

Your right RJ. 1st 2 crews were all americans, which is one reason I picked the contractor. 3rd crew american led, but either mexican or guatamalon decent.

Oh well if I don't pop my cork again maybe this shit will be done before Christmas.

[mitunnelrat]

Definitely a lot going on there. Hopefully what can be easily resolved, is, and as quickly as possible for you. That way events can stabilize for your MIL and life there can smooth out over time.

I think Alpha had a great idea with some range time, but as importantly: Do you have anyone you can leave overnight (or at least a few hours) with your MIL? A little down time might do your wife some good as well.

[The Stig]

Sorry to hear about your troubles brother. That sounds frustrating as hell, especially since you're already dealing with the Alzheimer's situation.

We're going through that now with my grandmother. It's exhausting sometimes and she's 800 miles away. I can't imagine the stress that generates being down the hallway. I think MTR had a good suggestion...find little times where you and the Mrs can get away. Even if it's for a hour long walk in the park its time to get away and decompress.

As far as the contractors go? Poop in their toolbox.

[bacpacker]

The wife has a sister who lives about 10 miles away. She just refuses to watch her mother more than 1-2 days a month. We've been trying to do all our shopping, errand running thru those, but can't really get her any down time for her. We've even tried for her to leave and go do some stuff and leave the MIL with me. It's good for the wife, very bad for MIL. Plus we're really tied down dealing with the house.

One of my wife's big frustrations has been not being able get in the garden much this year. She really enjoies that. We're still looking for options, just haven't found any yet. I do appreceiate the suggestions and well wishes.

[TEOTWAWKI13]

Sounds somewhat familiar to what my mom dealt with during the last days of her parents lives. I miss my grandparents badly. Anyways, her sister is the type to sneak in and grab some laundry of theirs and take it home and clean it, maybe, but then tell everyone she knows she's just so tired from having to take care of mom and dad! Really made my skin crawl. Bear in mind, I was in my mid 20s when all this took place, but I laid into her stupid ass 2 good times. She's my aunt, not my mom, and I respect everyone, but sometimes the truth is the truth....

I say all that to say this, maybe you need to have a come to Jesus meeting with the sister and/or her significant other if there is one.

[bacpacker]

Tet you don't know how badly I want to do that. Thing is there are 5 daughters. 2 of them don't give a crap (including the one down here), 1 who wants to tell everybody else how things are gonna be, and my wife and one other who has done what they can. Guess who'll be feelin ok with what they did when it's over.
I'm really just waitin on them to push my wife that last little bit, then stand back and enjoy the show and keep the BIL's out of it.

[TEOTWAWKI13]

I hear ya. I almost had to beat my uncle's brakes off...he tried to get in my face for stating my opinion. Said I wasn't involved in the "sitation." I had to remind him I wasn't a little kid anymore and that at 25-26 yrs old, I stood a greater chance of healing from our wounds a lot faster than he did. :)

[bacpacker]

I thought I'd give an update to this thread.
First off the siding, gutters, and screens are done on the house. Roof should be done tomorrow. Our roofer fired his crew for walking off and has been finishing up by himself. House looks very good compared to what it did after the storm. I will be so glad to finally be done with all this mess.

My SIL called early last week and wanted to know if my wife wanted her to watch the MIL over this past weekend. Sunday was my wife's birthday, so we jumped at that. We ended up driving backroads over to Boone NC in the mountians. The colors were at their peak up there. Spent the night and took a different route back yesterday. We got to spend some time checking out areas for a possible BOL. Found some possible areas for further reseach.

On our way back we kept stopping at produce markets and ended up buying 2.5 bushels of apples (honey crisp, winsaps, and Arkansa Blacks) and 2 bushels of roma tomatos. The wife was so happy. She says she s "cannin all she can". Thats about the truth. She's already filled 2 pie safes with canned produce, plus a bunch in the pantry. Guess I'm gonna be building more shelving unit's soon.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for the thoughts and prayers. They sure have been appriceated. A down weekend was just what the Dr. ordered.

[ladyhk13]

bacpacker...I am so happy for your wife. I know all of this is hard on you but I can't imagine how hard this is on her. After all, this is HER mom. There must be times she goes through guilt of wanting someone else to just come get her and take her away so your wife can have some sort of life back and then on the other hand she knows that her mom is coming to the end of her lifetime. It's a push/pull on emotions which is not healthy for your wife. Add on top of that all the crap with the house, I know all about that too. We have the same thing down here. You would think these owner/operator businesses would jump on new jobs but most of them are so ready to turn them down. We had to go through that with a roofer (soffits, eaves and all that) and a tile person. And the tile job was so easy. We just have been remodeling for 4 years and are plain tired and decided to hire these jobs out and let someone else do the work for a while. They put ad's in the paper and then don't even return calls or don't want to bid (or worse, want to charge ya to bid...like hell!).
Anyway, I'm glad you guys are back on track and it probably feels like a weight lifted off of you so now you can look forward with a clear head and things don't look so bad right now. Take care and keep loving each other!

[LUNCHBOX]

Glad to hear you guys got to get away. Some times its the little things that matter most. (Most wouldn't want to take a drive, much less stop and shop produce on the way) Two pie safes has to be a couple months worth. That's not bad, you guys keep it up.

[bacpacker]

The wife has used her canning as an outlet I think, at least that's my theory. Plus she's. Home a lot more and has made good use of the time.

Lady she bears all the weight of her mom. I go to work every day then working around the place when I get home. I only hear maybe 2 hours worth. Its 24/7 for her. We've always taken road trips good way to see some great sites.
Thanks again

[TEOTWAWKI13]

Awesome! Boone, NC (all that area really) is beautiful this time of year.

[JustAPrepper]

Good on you for taking the opportunity to get away and enjoy yourselves. Sounds like it was much needed, for both of you.

[mitunnelrat]

I'm glad to hear you guy's got a break, that most of your house is done, and that your roof is coming along as well.

[dragon5126]

This is something that I don't understand as of late. Jobs are difficult to find and the one that have them don't really want to do them. There are more and more reports like this.

I hope that you get thru it soon ... and without harming someone. This is so frustrating.
This attitude od entitlement is getting more and more entrenched where ever you go. The lack of a work ethic is only a symptom of a greater issue that we are facing. and those of us that are seeing it are pretty much hanging together in places like this, getting ready for the fall out... Our federal, state and local governments are all encouraging this behavior without a second thought too. For example, the welfare system is an all or nothing proposition. You have a family that is in need but is willing to work, they are encouraged to not work to keep insurance because they would make five dollars too much and would lose all benefits, food stamps, cash payments, energy assistance, and insurance, literally several thousand dollars worth a month when all they NEED is a few hundred dollars a month to carry them through for insurance benefits because of a chronic illness of one of the family members. So they are better off not working in the long run... This creates a society of people who USED to believe in working for a living, but no longer believe in the government that they have paid taxes into for god knows how long. And this is a very common scenario. It even has a name it's called Disillusionment Syndrome.