A very long day

Well, Servicemaster completed the cleaning of my home yesterday (Thursday). Their crew did an absolutely outstanding job, finishing the entire house in just two days (including packing just about all my possessions, including a 2,500-book library, and moving them to storage while the painting and repairs are going on). They'll be back in the morning to steam-clean my furniture with a special solution that removes the smell of smoke, then their initial work will be done. They'll return when all the other contractors are finished, to move all my stuff back from storage and set it in place.

I also received the checks from the insurance company yesterday. Hurricane Gustav delayed the checks for the fire - I actually received the check for the hurricane damage before the others! - but they arrived eventually. Now I have to liaise with my bondholder, get one check to them, and arrange to submit the bills to them for payment. I just hope they note those that say "Already Paid" on them, and reimburse me, rather than pay the contractor(s) twice, leaving me to try to get refunds from businesses swamped with hurricane repairs!

Speaking of the latter, the contractor who'll be doing the repairs and re-painting called yesterday. He's so swamped with urgent hurricane repairs that he won't be able to start work on Monday, as originally agreed. He hopes to be available by next Wednesday, but that may also slip a day or two. I'm not worried about that, of course. There are many folks needing the roof over their heads put back in place! That's got to take precedence over a simple refurbishment job. I can use the time to sort out a fair amount of stuff myself.

I finally collapsed yesterday evening. You see, following my disabling injury in 2004, I've been left with a fused spine and nerve damage in my left leg. I'm still fairly mobile, but my sleep is badly affected, as I can't get more than three or four hours at most without waking up in pain from my back and leg. I therefore sleep twice a day, in the afternoon and in the small hours of the morning, getting my normal ration of sleep in two doses rather than one. Unfortunately, since the fire, and then Hurricane Gustav, I haven't been able to follow that routine: so my sleep deficit has steadily worsened. Yesterday, it clobbered me. I could hardly keep my eyes open in the afternoon, and fell into bed with a double dose of pain-killers at about 6 p.m. I woke up after midnight, which is a minor miracle for me to sleep that long!

I've been catching up on e-mail and the Intarwebs, drinking tea, and popping a few more pain-killers. I'll update the blog, then it's hey-ho for a bit more sleep. Tomorrow's another long day.

Peter