Out of commission - again! And a giveaway!!! Read on..

Hi all,

I've been out of commission since October 9th when *another* of the neighbor's trees hit our property (strange given we all trimmed before 'cane season). This time is was lightening that hit the upper part of the tree, instead of interior decay like the last tree. The decayed tree that hit the house in 2008 required a complete demo of the back of the house and a full rebuild. After a year of fighting with the insurance company, finding a contractor and the build itself, we ended up with a much nicer addition. This tree took out my shed, planting table, and yanked the phone and electrical lines off the house - initially. After the electrician replaced my weather head and repaired their end of things, FPL hooked us up.

Well... that's when things went from mild damage to YIKES! A flash fire started behind the electrical panel, ripped across the water heater wires, started to ignite the garage ceiling. I was in the garage with FPL guy! Let me tell you there is NO feeling - in the world - like watching your house start to catch fire!!! By the grace of god, the fire put itself out at the edge of the ceiling insulation. God is the only one that could have stopped it so quickly. There is a *suspicion* that what caused the fire is that FPL's meter box was full of rain water when the guy put it on the outside of the house, but we can't confirm that.

So... we were out of power for 6 days, and without phone or internet for 11 days. The estimated 30,000 volts of power that went through the house (a surge so strong the built-in breaker shut offs never engaged) killed my 2 yr. old washer, fried my fish tank pump, impaired a few cycles on the 2 yr. old dryer, and my electrician is suggesting the insurance company get us a new water heater given we can't assess what interior damage may be present from the surge. We are still in clean up mode with the tree/debris/charred ceiling - mess. And the fight with the insurance company has just began (please say a few prayers that the claim is settled much sooner than the last claim). This whole thing translates into zero clay time and I won't have time to finish my WIPs for Halloween. Boo.


But here's some good news for you: a Halloween Ornament Giveaway from artist Sylvia Smiser!

Go to:    http://www.anaboocreationsbysylvia.blogspot.com






Good luck to each of you.

I'm off to ... repair something.

Have a wonderfully creative day!