Punish the Victims

Sadly it had already begun, in the aftermath of the auto accident which occurred on Friday the victims are in the process of being soundly punished for being in the wrong place in time.

Day two of working with the insurance companies didn't go well. While the at fault driver in the accident, according to the police report, drove away from the scene in his relatively undamaged vehicle, I cannot even seem to get my vehicle brought home to Maryland and furthermore it appears that among many other things the ridiculously low insurance standard in Pennsylvania means he doesn't even have enough insurance to cover the damages to my vehicle.

I see it happening already. I will be the victim multiple times as this scenario plays out. My insurance company is taking over to make me whole--but I am already getting a lot of "no's" from them about what they will not do, like have my vehicle returned home for repairs. I do not live in Dunmore, PA. Why on earth would I want to have repairs done there? And, why should I be expected to go back to Dunmore, on my own nickel, to retrieve my vehicle when the repairs are done?

Then there is the matter of whether the damages to my vehicle exceed the value and that terrible concept of totaling out the vehicle. I hate that. I cannot replace the vehicle for what I expect to receive in payment. That story is still playing out--but I have been down this road before and been low balled by the insurance company.

There has to be a better way. I faithfully, and as required by law, pay my insurance premiums only to be treated like this? Lose my vehicle, not receive enough compensation to replace it, and spend enormous amounts of time negotiating with the insurance companies to be made "whole."  I already know that will not happen.

And the at fault driver drove off.

Being a victim never ends it seems.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Repurposing

What an interesting word--repurposing. The online dictionary defines it as: To use or convert for use in another format or product. I prefer to think of it more as taking something useless and making useful.

Take, for instance, an old shoe factory rack that has been part of our household furniture for the past decades. This no small wheeled rack has been languishing without a well defined purpose in the basement as a collection locale for oversized dishes.

On more than one occasion it has been considered for downsizing by earning an inglorious trip to the dump in the bed of my truck--which is sad because it is not only old, but somewhat unique. It is an antique? Probably not. It, for some reason, has been spared. Probably because it is old and unique--just not overly useful.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, as the rack was again being considered for downsizing Chris had the grand idea of repurposing it as a wine rack!  What a great idea. All it would take was to construct some shelves to hold wine bottles. Best of all, the modifications would not require changes to the shoe rack--it would remain in its original configuration, in case it has any intrinsic value.

The design was fairly simple since the rack already had shelves and so, with a little bit of construction and some relatively inexpensive wood and stain, the former rack of limited usefulness was repurposed and now has a definite role within the house.

What a great word--repurposing. Taking something useless and making it useful again!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Roof Day -- Success

The new roof day was a great success.

Putting the Roofing Shingles into position 

I am not worried about the next hurricane. My new roof will be able to withstand winds of 130 mph.

There was damage--rot. Ugh! Extra costs, but they are repaired now. Although the roof looked good before they started--there was rot. Areas where the rood system had failed. Left unattended, more serious problems and expense would have resulted.

Repairing Storm Damage

What a beautiful day. The sun even shone for most of the operation.

No rain. No crummy weather.

I was worried whether the weather would hold, but it did.

And now it is done.

Yay.

I do not expect to be on the roof during hurricanes or worrying about leaks

Roofs are just one of those things that I shouldn't have to worry about. And now I don't.

The New Roof

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

New Roof Day

It is hard not to be excited about getting a new roof. It is new, after all. It is something that the house has needed for a couple years now--I have been keeping the current roof in service through extra care.

It really became a crisis during Hurricane Sandy, a/k/a/ Frankenstorm, when I was on the roof, accompanied at various times by Chris, Patrick, and Corey working to stem the leaking--successfully, I might add, during the worst part of the storm.

I had the unique experience of driving when the roads were closed to secure roof patch at Home Depot and then climbing up the ladder to try to figure out where the water was coming inside form. Leaks never are where they appear!  It is one of those facts of life. I was, however, successful in stemming the flow.

And now, some four months hence and before the summer begins, the roof is being replaced. It is time to reset and restart the timer on my roof. The 22 year-old builders 20-year roof is at the end of its life. I have known this day was coming for some time as there are many new roofs in the neighborhood. I wish that I could take the rook money and do a nice vacation somewhere--but no, it will be reinvested into a roof.

I do not believe new roofs increase the value of a home--they are one of those foundational requirements--roof? Yes. Does it leak? No. Nuff said!

I'm not planning on being here when it expires the next time. I'm getting a lifetime roof--although I'm not sure whether that is my lifetime or the house. In either case, I should not be bothered by roof issues ever again.

I will say, the process of getting quotes for this job was interesting. The variance between the low and high quotes was incredible. The last of the four company's didn't bother leaving a quote because they were going to be $2,000 above the lowest for lesser quality materials. I appreciated getting about an hour of my life back. Note to self--definitely get multiple quotes for big jobs!

They should be arriving soon. I hope the weather holds. At least I'm taking a day off from work to watch/monitor the progress.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Garage Success--Rear Bearing Hub Installed

Sometimes a successful auto repair actually happens within the confines of my garage. Last evening was an example.

I completed a five hour marathon rear bearing hub assembly replacement on Chris's car. The same repair that I had started on Sunday morning and then been thwarted due to lack of the proper axle nut socket.

The socket arrived Wednesday evening, as promised form Amazon, but I wasn't up for the challenge and so the remove and replace repair waited until last evening. Although I had a good plan, auto repair is fraught with unexpected delays.

Last evening was no different. Everything went fine right up until the time to remove the bearing hub from the backing plate.

New Rear Bearing Hub in Place

No joy! The rust from the weather and almost 150,000 miles of use had effectively welded them together. For two hours, really, I worked with the assembly working to separate the pieces by brute force, creativity, frustration, and even prayer.

They finally parted and I was able to begin the process of reassembly. Thankfully. The shiny new bearing hub was fit up and ready for installation. I was a bit miffed at the manufacturing process. I had read that some of the cheaper, non-OEM parts did not have large enough holes in them for a socket to get through to tighten the back bolts. So I bought a better quality OEM hub. Unfortunately, the access holes in this one were too small as well. This delayed the installation a bit as I had to creatively access the bolts to turn them down until the socket was able to be placed on top of the bolt due to tight clearances.

But in the end, the job was completed and an extensive test drive confirmed the success of the repair. The droning sound heard while driving the car is gone. The new tires, which we thought were the source of the noise, are fine.

I am not sure the $300 I saved doing the repair was worth the seven hours I put into it (considering the time driving around looking for the axel nut socket on Sunday and the two hours of pleading with the hub to separate from the backing plate last evening), but it is done!

Chalk up an auto repair success and now for the next project--whatever it is.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD