Month: April 2006

Yes, we look toward this day with mixed emotions. Mostly anxiety. Not knowing what to do or what not to do. We were all there feeling the same way. The VAE was present to make sure that the board handled everything properly and with proper regard for us. Granted they were all surgary sweet. They all appeared to be solicitous of our situation. (Oh, but we know their true feelings.) I was even approached by our fearless (ahem) superintendent and asked how I was doing. My wish was to waylay him with all my grievances, but I was my “politically correct person”. Some day in the not too distant future, I will have my say and they will know my anger. It will be when I can say farewell to the school system and hopefully be young enough to enjoy myself.
We were asked what school we wish to go to. I replied Eaton Park, 1st grade, the ladies put me down. Mr. Schexneider said Kindergarten or teacher. I replied again. 1st grade. He made a statement which I knew to be putting me in my place- “we will be transferring all of these to Eaton Park in a group”. Once again, my irritation was rising. I left and walked toward Ms. Ann and asked if I had done the correct thing. She signalled me yes. I continued to my place. I promptly told Elaine to ask for the grade level she wanted. Later the principal came to me and talked to me. He stated that he was aware that I actually wanted to be an interventionist, but if it is not possible, did I want first grade for real. I told him I was highly qualified for kindergarten or first grade. And if absolutely necessary to take the classroom position, I would prefer first grade at this time. So as you can see nothing is for sure. But we did not expect it to be. Ms. Ann replied that we will be finding out toward the end of June if and how many jobs will be open for interventionists, BUT we will have to be interviewed for the positions because too many people now want the jobs. Hmmph No one wanted them when we started. Enough. Til next time.

This state of the union is not doing well at all!

Every where we turn we hit walls. We are in a serious predicament. Things in our area have gone from bad to worse. It is no longer the look of the area, though that stills seems to shock us.

We were told right after the hurricane, we could rebuild our home here at Bancker. We have a permit and we have rebuilt the chateaux. Now everywhere we turn, we are told various things are changing.

First problem:
1) If we rebuild, we must hire a contractor and we must abide by the new rules of building. i.e. raise the building or demolish and rebuild.
2) New permits will cost now 1800.00.
3) If we rebuild, we must have a contractor to rebuild, and we must hire inspectors to check on each step of the process.
4) This of course has hiked the price up greatly.
(We had considered borrowing from SBA and building a metal building that would have been much cheaper and be able to build it up having a carport underneath. These buildings can be built cheaper and hurricane proof.)
5) But with the new rules, we can not swing that much money at this stage of our life.

Second problem:
So we decided, well, lets just stay in the chateaux. Maybe later, something will come up and we may move into an inexpensive apartment. Bingo here comes the federal government again.

They are making new flood zones, and anyone in the flood zones will not be allowed to have insurance. We have already purchased both house and flood. They tell us that if we
have purchased it, it will be cancelled. Now we are not sure whether we can live here or not. We know we will have to give the little bit of money FEMA gave us back, because we would not have insurance.

Third problem:
Yesterday, we were informed that we may receive a letter within the near future telling us that the federal government will buy our land for x number of dollars. IF we do not
sell to them and we flood again. They can take the land, because of “eminent domain”. Our land could become natural wetlands.

We can not find any homes now in the area that are within our price range. Even rentals are very expensive. How would we know that we would not be able to live on the land my
family has lived on for so long’ Who would believe,that we may have to give it up or be forced to sell it to the government’ My great grandfather would be very depressed. My father would never believe it either. My little friend went looking for a small (1600 ft home). They told her she would have to pay 84 dollars a square foot to build it. She was not eligible to borrow that much money.

One thought came into our mind. We could borrow some money and buy a camper. We could park it here. If the hurricane comes, we will just hook up and leave. But do we seriously want to do this””’

We seriously DO NOT know what we are going to do. Steve laughed a minute ago and said…”You know we will be alright and it is just that we do not know what to do. But we do know one thing, what ever we do will be the wrong thing!”

According to our track record within the last few years…he is RIGHT!