At first we were enjoying watching the gathering storm like we’ve done before (last time they never hit us). Then with a rush and a smash it collided into us and we barely had time to grab our folding chairs and run inside before intense winds and rain crashed into us.
Then it got really out of hand - gale force winds so intense the H had us evacuate to the car “just in case”, and as we did, gum ball sized hail pelted down. It reminded me of our experiences in Utah last summer - a little scary and vaguely life threatening…? I don’t personally think we were ever in any real danger, but boy did I underestimate the weather out there! I figured the heat would be our biggest issue - but no. I forget how close we are to Arizona, and thereby are subject to those same monsoons. As the storm abated we had a moment of being trapped - the H wanted to drive to the community center bathroom but couldn’t because of flash flooding on our little dirt road. I wondered if we’d be trapped for the night and figured I could throw together some semblance of dinner from Mac and cheese, bagels, and eggs. Thankfully we had spent the sunny part of the day assembling the kitchen stuff I brought (much to my delight, everything I bought worked out great). As it turned out we were able to head to the Palms for dinner once the flooding went down.
I was SO glad we hadn’t done as planned and cut a hole for a window!! That would have been a disaster of epic proportions. The H also thought if we’d put a window on that side the hail could have broken the glass. Good idea to get some storm shutters. Hey, at least we never have to worry about power going out.
A very worrying thing happened, though. We had a contractor come over - the boyfriend of the woman we met at the Palms last time - mostly for informational purposes, since he had already told us he’s too busy to do any work for us and charges too much. He wasn’t terribly helpful - as much as he was a nice guy and is a good contact to have out there, he mostly told us horror stories of county inspectors coming out and making people tear their places down because they’re not to code, and/or seizing their property and putting it up for auction. I’m starting to have ptsd flashbacks to my last real estate disaster that I’m still paying for (buying a four plex in New Orleans days before Katrina hit). Will this all end horribly? Will I end up in some extended drama with the county that will drag on for years and end up with my property being taken from me? Well, the only real problem is the height of the building, which the H and I both hate and never wanted - if we had just rehabbed the original structure as planned we really would have nothing to worry about. Now I’m wondering if it’s worth looking into taking that second story off just to avoid future troubles. The H thinks it’s a waste of time and money and I’m half in that camp, too. After all, we may never face this issue - or may not face it for many years, who knows. But it definitely gives me pause. Between the weather and this Cassandra, I came away from this weekend wondering, am I in over my head with this place…?
Despite the weirdness I have to admit I did enjoy this weekend, which went mostly exactly as I wanted. We set up the new kitchen and everything worked great. Rather than suffering through trying to put in a window ourselves we spent Sunday driving up to Amboy to walk the crater, something we hadn’t gotten to do last time we went there because it was too hot. We got to go to the Palms, and I think I *might* have a solution for our toilet issues - buying a camping cartridge toilet, which, while not cheap to buy and operate, still may be the only way to have a toilet out there (the contractor also warned us that any composting or pit toilet we put out there would be immediately overrun by maggots and flies…which…sounds truly horrible. If the kids are afraid to use it, what’s the point??). Having a close place to poo, that we don’t have to worry about being a code violation, would make a huge difference in our comfort level.
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