VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Bruce · Last edited by Bruce on Mon Feb 19, 2024 3:41 pm; edited 3 times in total

UPDATE: Construction Crews have been very busy with over 1,000 homes damaged by falling trees from the storm on January 13th. So it took them a few weeks to get to our skylight and related damage. They removed the drywall ceiling only to find another ceiling (popcorn style). They tested it all for mold (lots of it in humid Oregon) and the popcorn bit for asbestos. Ding, ding, ding, we have winner. Wednesday next week they will remove just that section of the living room ceiling, remediate the area, and then we wait until another crew can come and put everything back together. There was a leak into my studio window from the holes in the roof above and they tore out drywall around the window and sprayed for mold. The good news, we can stay in the house while they do all this. -- end

We've had one of the busiest and most stressful weeks of our lives, and are now recovering, slowly but surely. I waited to tell you all until things had calmed down a bit.

Saturday last weekend, about 11 a.m. we were sitting in our living room convivializing, when all three of our skylights went dark fallowed by a building shaking kaBoom! My first thought was an airplane had crashed into us. Within seconds we realized a 60 foot spruce had fallen onto our condo and a neighbor's. Here's the view of the missing skylight and the tree that shattered it:

Where did all the snow, tree debris, and thousands of shards of glass end up? Right on Emma's head. Somehow she only suffered several small cuts on her hands and scalp. Here's the sofa:

The hole is covered with a sheet of plywood for now with big improvised funnel made of plastic sheeting feeding a big bucket with snow melt and rain.

Here's a shot of the lower part of the tree from our neighbor's balcony:

And here's a short video from the back of our deck, panning from our neighbor's condo to ours and back. Notice the terrible twists in the metal railing of our neighbor's deck, click on the small image to play:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a3wJxWBNE4zZcqfrZ9Y6OTwA

Of course an hour later the power went out in our part of the city. We had a terrible windstorm underway from that arctic blast and got down to 12º that night. We were led to believe the power would be restored soon so spent the night huddled on a spare couch I have in my studio. Nope. Hopeless, so a friend with snow tires on a Prius picked Emma, my 95 year old mother, our Boston Terrier, and me and took us in for what turned out to be a 6 day stay. We're back home now with power, a dead furnace, and a truly difficult cleanup. Thank goodness for space heaters.

We're glad to be safe now and healthy, and that both we and the condo association have insurance to fix and replace things which, since much of the city suffered damage, may take quite a while.

B
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melissa eX · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 6:06 pm Post subject:

Those are some pics! Good thing no one was hurt!

todd ellis · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 6:55 pm Post subject:

Yesh! Glad everyone is ok. Good luck rebuilding ... this is becoming a habit for you!
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Mike Paul · Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2024 11:50 am Post subject:

Definitely worse than that time an American Sycamore branch fell and destroyed the trunk and rear window of my car during a terrible storm.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, especially with the weather slowing everything down. What a mess.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2024 2:57 pm Post subject:

You and Emma plus Boston are still with us. For that I am truly grateful.

audio'connell · Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 6:34 pm Post subject:

Sorry you went through all this. Glad you are well
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Moosevoice · Club 300 Joined: 16 Nov 2012 Posts: 390 Location: Iowa

Oh wow, Bruce. That must have been frightening.
Glad everyone's okay.
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George · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2024 1:40 pm Post subject:

Holy crap, Bruce, that's terrifying to have gone through. Pictures of ice accumulation from Portland during the cold snap have been making the rounds and that makes for some icky aftermath.

So glad that you and yours are safe and relatively unharmed. Hopefully it all gets cleaned up soon!

Bruce · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2024 2:29 pm Post subject:

Our 30 year old furnace died during the storm and could not be resuscitated. It will take another 2 to 3 weeks just to get a permit to install a new one. We're getting by with electric space heaters in some rooms. Considering the city wide damage it may be weeks before the holes in our roof are repaired. We have a giant tarp over part of the house. They came by and took a small chunk of our ceiling drywall to be tested. If it's moldy they'll have to replace all of the ceiling in our upper floor. Luckily the studio is fine and I'm getting a decent amount of work. Thankful for that!

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

todd ellis · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 4:04 pm Post subject:

And the hits just keep on comin'! Bureaucracy, such fun!
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bobsouer · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2024 1:23 pm Post subject:

Bruce,

I'm just seeing this post now. Good heavens! My heart goes out to you and Emma.
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Bruce · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2024 3:42 pm Post subject:

Update at the top of the original post.
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2024 3:44 pm Post subject:

At least you were wearing your colander to prevent head trauma.
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Mandy Nelson · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2024 1:43 pm Post subject:

The dreaded remediation! Remember that time I bought a house in Maine and we discovered it had 2 roofs over what would become the kitchen and so many layers of asbestos tiles in the then-kitchen? The company we hired went ahead and removed the asbestos and all but those kids doing the work didn't wear so much as a mask.
Best of luck on some fast fixes!
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