The summer has continued to be busy for me. While I have many things I would like to write about, I simply haven't had many chunks of undisturbed time in which to write them.
This week things are finally moving forward with the construction/rehab of my father's house. It's been a long, time-consuming process to get to this point, especially considering that I wanted this to happen in April. Between dealing with other people's schedules, the permitting authority in his city, and waiting for an engineer to draw up plans for the structural portion of the repairs, I have been impatiently waiting for the green light on the project.
This is what we are dealing with:
Extensive termite damage.
Every piece of wood that looks dirty, or grey, is nothing but dust. Although the wood still appears to be holding some sort of shape, if you were to simply press on any of those spots it would disintegrate immediately. There is nothing left but a shell of what used to be there.
Ashes to ashes...dust to dust, I guess.
This type of damage has been found in at least half of the walls in my father's home. If he had lived to see it, it would have killed him. He had been planning to retire and have his house sold by this time this year. Between the downturn in the economy and the real estate market, it would have wiped out all of his retirement savings and security.
Life is unpredictable and things seldom go the way we imagine they will.
A couple pieces of advice:
1. Never ignore the possibility that you have termites.
2. If you're looking for a profitable career, become an engineer. We paid dearly for plans to repair the house. I think the engineer we paid is on a cruise somewhere in the south of France, enjoying life to the fullest with the money he earned from this project.
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