Watch Out For That…

December 9th, 2020:

It was a weird week with stretches that were fairly nerve-wracking.

Things started with an ear infection that pained me for several days. Then I was notified via snail mail that new funding had become available for pandemic unemployment. While that’s a great thing, the government keeps changing its story almost daily: “There’s no money. There is money. There is funding until April. No, end of December. March. Yes, we have always been at war with Eastasia.” The moving benchmarks make every week potentially the last, however I’ll accept the uncertainty for whatever assistance I can get to keep from falling more behind. It took time to fill out the paperwork and submit things, but it was worth it even if it all ends next week.

On Saturday the first major winter storm of the season began, and in the early hours of Sunday morning the wind and snow broke a tree and slammed half of it into the roof of my house. And there it stayed:

Thanks 2020, I needed that as much as another hole in my skull.

No one was hurt, but it kicked off three days devoted to dealing with a new problem along with the fear that the roof was seriously damaged, as we were not equipped to inspect it ourselves. Because there were a lot of downed trees after the storm, it was very hard to get a callback from an arborist. However, after a day I had the good fortune to reach an excellent professional that was able to clear the roof and down the remains of the tree for a very reasonable price, relative to the scope of the job. That was great because my homeowner’s insurance won’t cover the removal cost of a dead tree. The work was finished yesterday, and better still their inspection of the roof didn’t find any damage beyond a few scuffed shingles. We breathed a big sigh of relief after that. The house in sum only seems to have taken nuisance damage— the cover on the chimney is askew and a birdfeeder is damaged— which is a welcome outcome given the fragility of our savings at the moment.

I didn’t get much writing done given all the other activity, but I did keep up with my daily microfiction. Yet the outlook looking forward is much better after the renewed aid, and my plans to shift into new writing gears will work just as well next week as they would have this week if they hadn’t been interrupted.

Take care everyone. Be safe, and keep writing!

~Jason H. Abbott.