Day 93

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  It's been 93 days now since we rushed back from Florida to deal with our broken house. Some progress has finally been made. They have filled in the hole where the new foundation was poured. The new interior wall has been framed up and the electrician did his thing. We went over yesterday and met the Charter cable guy who restored our cable TV, phone and wi-fi. Tomorrow the HVAC guy will be there to replace our air conditioning unit. We should be able to move back in shortly. Still have to wait for the county to inspect and approve. That was the original hold-up--the county. What is their problem? Anyway, we can start to see the light.

Things finally happening.

New windows have been ordered, but won't be here for 4-5 weeks. Hope we can still move back with window openings boarded up.

Day 80

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  80 days now since we have been home. Yesterday I dropped Mike off at his physical therapy and then went home to check on things. They have framed up the inside wall and we're now waiting for the electrician to do his thing. Back to pick up Mike with a stop at the library and on our way back to the "homeless shelter" we saw a duck trying to cross 5 lanes of I270 with her brood of 8 ducklings. She turned around right away and went back into the scrub, but you know she'll try it again. Was she trying to commit suicide? Had she had it with her 8 fluffy little charges? If she had made it across the 5 west-bound lanes, then she would have had to get over the cement divider. I worried about this scenario all last night. We're heading out for breakfast this morning, to the car wash, and then back home to check on things. Hopefully we won't find evidence of any road kill on our way back. Looks to be a beautiful day today. 75 and sunny.

Day 78

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  We've been home 78 days now. They have finally poured our new foundation and should start filling in the hole left by the excavation soon. Hopefully they'll start inside in the next day or two. They're ordering the new windows. So, things are moving--slowly, but at least moving. Today was a raw, cold and rainy day. We stayed in all day--watched a Netflix movie, "Identity Theft", and made some reservations for our upcoming trip.

Day 73

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  73 days now since we've been home. They have finally finished pouring the new foundation. They should be able to remove the forms on Monday. What's next? We don't know. I left this afternoon to get my hair cut in St. Charles. Shortly after getting there, the weather turned really stormy. An RV park just west of us had a few RVs turn over in the wind. Luckily, our park wasn't affected. After my hair appointment, I picked up Mike and we went to Tony's for dinner--totally oblivious to the carnage just a few miles up the road. Laurie called while we were there to see if we were okay. Now I know why. Thanks, Laurie! 

Finally, our new foundation!

Day 70

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  It's been 70 days since we've been home and they are just now working on fixing our foundation. Not really sure, since we didn't stop by to check. But we can only hope.

Wild flowers making an appearance.

Day 62

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  It's been 62 days now since we've been home. I got a call from the contractor on Tuesday, seven days ago, to tell us they now have the permit needed to start repairs. However, the cement contractor won't be able to start work on the foundation until Monday, May 11. We were told that the foundation would be completely fixed by the end of that week. I guess we'll see,, won't we? In the meantime, life goes on.

Pictures of historic Old Town St. Charles

Day 50

Sundermeier RV Park, St. Charles, MO:  It's been 50 days since we've been home, and still no permit from the county. But, I got an e-mail from our neighbor, Irma, who said that they took our deck down. Or what was left of our deck. At least something is happening. Mike called our councilman's office. The county says our contractor didn't get them all the information. Our contractor says the county has had everything for a while. I think the county needs to get its act together. In the meantime, we're still in the "homeless shelter". A pretty day today, but really cold. And windy. Really windy.

What our family room used to look like...

What it looks like now.