So we just came back from mom’s place. This is my first time driving and walking in the area. It’s just… the smell is like charcoal in the air, constantly. I mean above and beyond smoke it’s just this burned stuff. One of the orchards looks crispy. I can’t remember who owns that anymore because many of them changed hands so many times. One of those freeway signs for food and stuff is burned but still standing, legible. The man that was missing and thought possibly dead was actually there, told us he escaped with his dog and that was it.
The sheriff and one police officer was there to chase away looters… not really anything to loot. I was glad mom was with me to take these pictures because they might’ve thought I didn’t belong. A lot of folks like that often assume that although I am working on 3 decades now being here, and that limitation is… I’m just not that old yet.
Anyway, I think driving in hit me harder than looking at the ruins.
Two family members fought for years over that little red truck. Just one of those family things that seems stupid now because, well you can’t even tell it was red.
My sister and I spent years gathering money to buy mom a china set and then we spent 3-4 years after that getting those unique pieces, the dessert tray, the gravy boat. It wasn’t like it is now, back then even in the 90s or so people still had china huts and liked china, so it was just trying to give mom something nice. There is a WW2 set in there that was brought back from WW2 / Japan by a member serving. When grandma passed it came to here. No evidence of the antique sewing machine that was another grandma’s.
Just random stuff is identifiable,
That’s an old propane take one of the neighbors used.
I got mom an umbrella stand from JCPenney.
I don’t even know why I remember that purchase precisely except is was incredibly heavy to carry around.
I have no idea why this didn’t just melt:
I got her that computer from Staples because she was struggling with the one she had. I told her the next one will be a laptop. It won’t take up much room in her room.
I don’t know why her adjuster told her to take pictures. I seriously doubt they’re going to take my word for it, but it was just a task to do.
FEMA has their fliers up at the site, basically saying they won’t cover anything insurance does. This insurance company is… it’s been a week, nothing. And the thing that gets me is my mom has a place to stay; we’re making the lists, calling the companies, ordering the SSN cards and birth certificates, got the address changes… hell just charging her flip phone. Her neighbors… some of them, they don’t have insurance, their computers are gone and they’re too poor to have smartphones to do all this. They’re over there looking for cats in cars for the ones that were able to even leave with that.
This whole process infuriates me. And we’re… lucky, at least that’s what mom says as she’s sitting at my desk changing her stuff.
We’re lucky we have her, still. I absolutely agree, but a part of me wants to grab that phone from her and tell these companies hey, do something right now. She needs help, right now. My mom won’t let me buy anything big for her until she feels like he insurance companies will pay her back, and I’m like… who cares. Let’s get the damn mattress. My guest one kind of sucks, and it wasn’t meant for someone who is over 40.
