Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Update on the Storm

Hello everyone, I wanted to take a moment to give you guys an update. There have been so many words of encouragement from so many people. Phillip thanks again for your post on Dirt Therapy, your loyal readers have left wonderful, wonderful notes for us and with each one we’ve felt a little better. Things have really started to fall back into place. One of my biggest concerns was the original estimate of damage done by the insurance company. I wondered how in the world we were going to get everything done with the small amount of money that was given to us. This past Tuesday a second adjuster came by and took another look. Evidently she thought our first estimate was grossly under projected and saw fit to give us a huge supplement payment. We now have the money to fix all the damage that was done. Plus! We had heat yesterday for the fist time in nine days! It was wonderful! Sadly they did "Total" my convertible, the repairs were twice as much as the value of my little emerald baby so she will have to be retired at the tender age of thirteen years. It is going to be very hard to say goodbye to something I've pampered for so long just because of extensive cosmetic damages. Chrysler parts are outrageous and she took a severe beating from the flying debris. If I had adequate storage I would buy her back from the insurance company as salvage. Unfortunately, any convertible parked for a long period of time will start to dry rot almost instantly and before you know it all that is left is a crunchy mildewed mess.

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Now to the garden, the most remarkable thing has happened. News of our troubles was posted on the Dave’s Garden Website by a gardening friend and there have been numerous offers of help from Master Gardeners meeting in Tupelo in April. All wanting to contribute to the rebuilding of our garden I’m terribly afraid I won’t be able to make it there because I’ve missed so much work, but just the offers of assistance were encouraging all on there on. In addition the most wonderful kind hearted lady by the name Martha even went so far as to mail us a gift card to the local garden supply chain. How can you possibly get more compassionate, kindhearted and caring than that? It literally brought me to tears. Martha if you are reading this I asked the angels for a special blessing for you and I’m certain I heard them say Amen. You are one in a million and a child of light in the truest sense. I’m starting to see this more as a new opportunity than a loss and Jamie and I owe it all to you guys and your support. Thank you with all our sincerity. Today, I even went and bought two new Eastern Redbuds to replace the ones broken by the storm. See, it’s already begun. The sad part is the house still isn’t even completely repaired yet. LOL Hey, a gardener has to keep his priorities strait you know. *wink*

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that your spirits are being lifted. It is wonderful that the insurance company increased your payment - that goes a long way to easing worries. So sorry about your cute car; it is a shame that it is a lost. It will take a little time to get through all this, but I'm sure you'll find this is a great opportunity to do new things and come out stronger.

Jan Always Growing

Phillip Oliver said...

It's good to hear that things are looking up and I'm glad that bloggers who found you via my blog made you feel better. Gardeners are wonderful people aren't they? Let me know what kind of plants you are interested in and when I start digging and dividing in a few weeks, I'll be happy to send you plants. I have tons of monkey grass! LOL

Randy said...

Jan, you are most certainly right. It does go a long way to ease the worries. Now that the initial shock has worn off I am looking at this as more of an opportunity to re-do a few things.

Phillip, I'm not sure when we'll be able to start reconstruction on the new and improved large bed, but I will certainly let you know, we would love to have part of your garden in ours. Ours seems like a raindrop in a pond compared to what you guys have done around your home. We will get there; my optimism has really increased as repairs on the house have moved forward. Thanks for everything~ Randy

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

What a wonderful update, Randy and Jamie ! I saw the beautiful redbuds in bloom along the highways in Alabama and Tennessee. They are among my favorite trees and I sell a lot of them at the garden center where I work.

So glad to read of your good news.