Set Fire to the Rain

Well. 

It is February 18th.

Almost 6 weeks after the fire.

THE fire.

Bruce and I are getting ready to move back home. I feel more nervous about it than Bruce does. Bruce has wanted to move back for WEEKS.

I have been more hesitant.

I have LOVED our time at the Marriott Courtyard. It has been a haven and a refuge.

Thank you to Naomi who got us a room at a sold out, overbooked hotel the day after the fires. Every hotel in the valley was sold out - thank you massive evacuations from multiple fires.

She got us a king room on the first floor, right next to the laundry so we didnt have to listen to neighbors at night. The hotel is next door to Trader Joe's, down the street from Whole Foods, across the street from the cutest neighborhood that is perfect for walks, 5 minutes to Ella who took such good care of us - washing our clothes and feeding us dinner. Just five minutes from the back way to our canyon which has been SO helpful getting back and forth. 5 minutes from Ella's ward who housed our many cars for many days, 20 minutes to the Santa Monica Ward - where our ward will meet until PCH and our building re-open. 5 minutes from TWO Home Depots - all Bruce's dreams coming true. Had there been a bathtub in our room, Bruce would have been tempted to stay at the hotel longer. :-)

We eat breakfast in the hotel lounge on Sunday mornings - I get the Egg special and Bruce gets the egg/quinoa bowl. Then we go to church.

The first Sunday after the fire was verry emotional. We walked into the building and felt such emotion to be with people who had experienced something similar to what we had experienced. It felt so good to hear each others stories and see the faces of people we love.

After a week or two of hotel living Sandra suggested we could move to a bigger room a few doors down - a King Suite - for not much more money - DEAL! We were overflowing our little room with computers and clothes and a printer - re-creating the office in our room. And it has been HEAVEN. We have lots of space, we have a mini kitchen, we have a sofa and an ottoman and two desks so we can both work. Although Bruce can't work here - he just.... can't. So we moved his computer into the bunker - which will be the office until we get to re-builidng. 

But now it is time to head back home. The roads are open enough to live there. The air testing says everything is totally safe. 

Cross your fingers it isn't too weird.

 the past few days (we are a tad behind)

lots has happened - and not happened the past few days.

this is a pattern we are trying to be patient with.

power poles are going in on the street!! We still have a generator.

Lucas and rey put in the ACTUAL pole for Blair - that's legit skill there.

we got the results back from Dave Gold - we are neg for asbestos and lead and the particulates aren't bad inside - especially considering it was tested pre cleaning.So now it is time to CLEAN. Need to get the rugs and upholstery cleaned and i think that will help the smoky smell.

we have been doing battle with the SBA, FEMA and CFP - trying to get some funding - we will continue our quest!pro-tip - call first thing in the morning - shorter lines and everyone is fresh.

We got flagged for fraud back in 2020 - so dad and I spent some quality hours at the police station getting a police report to get that resolved.

Pro-tip - read lots of books and practice your journaling - it will help in ALL facets of life. Our poor officer was having the HARDEST time following the story and transferring it to a report.

Zeke got his Citizenship award - go ZEKE

Dad and I were asleep before 830 last night - best sleep in a long time - hooray.

Hope Jasper is feeling better -poor guys has been the MOST cheerful sick baby ever. This bodes well for the future.

Rain starts today - praying for just enough to clean the air and not too much to make for mudslides.

We love you guys!--

 Wednesday

Today was a good day.

I didn't get much done on my list - but still got lots done. Reminding myself that I need to be flexible. Another life lesson.

Had a nice walk in my new neighborhood. Had a very long chat with sara keller - she is excited to be able to get back into her house! yay!

Dad has done about 18000 runs to the home depot getting concrete block and steel.

Lupe and Nico are rocking the new wall at Blair. Ray and Lucas installed beautiful metal at the house. Lucas' painting skills are  

Met Saira and Aura at the house - they got the downstairs clean, I cleaned the freezer in the garage and started flushing the water from the pipes in the house. 

Picked up a couple of new Air Doctors and watched as the SCE guys installed a massive new generator in the driveway at the house. It runs on diesel and is surprisingly quiet inside the house. Very nice to have power and now we can run the air scrubbers while we are gone!

The house smells A LOT better with a bit of cleaning. Next step - cleaning the rugs, carpet and couch cushions.

While I was in town I picked up my snazzy pass so I can drive on the PCH - while in line I ran into Wade and Kristi, AND Domenic Mastripolitto AND Susan Cosentino. A party I tell you A PARTY. Cosentinos are living in the little house at the nursery. Wade and Kristi are adjusting to their new life and Dominic offered to host Esme's reception if needed. Malibu is full of lovely people I tell you.

Lots of traffic to get home and had yummy pizza wirth ella and lucas and LAUNDRY. Also - Dumetz - our new fave secret way to our hotel. I tell you we are LOCALS. LOCALS I SAY.

Good night  beautiful people - Lets hope we just have a 5a m wake up - NOT a 3 am.

 I am a tad behind - these 16 hours days make it hard to summon the energy to think what happened that day :-)

Monday

Met Ed from the Smoke Remediation company.He looked at all the houses.Ours is the worst - but not terrible. He gave us the option to tear down walls and re drywall and paint and we were like - NO.Then he said, just clean the walls, clean all soft surfaces and run an air scrubber. What an insurance racket.Now I understand why poeple have such a long time to get back after fires, storms etc. The remediation companies will say whatever you want to get the insurance to pay. Very interesting.

Talked to Annika - happy P-day!Coast came to the house and fixed the well!!! Hooray!!Dad went to Oxnard to get a new tank so we can make sure we have clean water in the house. We ordered giant metal ones - but those will take a while to be delivered. In the meantime 1000 gallons will suffice.

Tried to fix the tire on Rumfius - no luck - so ordered a new one for Tuesday.Talked to about 300 people on the phone - but that's how stuff gets done sometimes.

Tuesday

Trash pickup has returned!! Hooray!Ordered new cansTalked to claims people from CFP - hope that really expeditesOrdered the generator from SCETook Jasper to Target and to the Depot to get my fresh OJ - YUMWorked on office stuff - money doesn't money by itself.The Blair renters are starting to move out - whew.Blair electrical looks like it won't be as complicated a repair as we thought BIG WHEWDad met Cole and measured houses for future jobs.Dad then went to Bobco to get metal - PCH wouldn't let him back in so he had to drive ALL the way around to get home - he was VERRRYYY tired.More working on applications and reconciling accounts.

Had a not great sleep so can't remember what else happened - oh well!!

 Sunday. 

Also a good day. 

Had some rain!

Had a yummy breakfast. Had a great church at the SM Ward. Chatted with some people. 

Had a little rest at home then had a phone meeting with our insurance person for three of the rentals. Felt good about things. 

Had a meeting at medley with Jacobs to look at the house. They like it. Bev is worried it’ll be too far.  I’m sure they are overwhelmed at all the shock and stress. 

Popped over to the house to see how things were going with the rain. Everything seems great. The rain has made everything really pretty. It’s made the black a deep chalky black. Rinsed off the trees. Praying for some healing in the mountains. 

Had a tasty dinner with ella and lucas. Did some laundry. Chatted with esme about invites. 

Super tired. Ready to sleep. 

Good night awesome kids. We love you!🩵

 Friday and Saturday. 

Friday was a medium day. 

It started out great. We were sad Carlos didn’t come work in the well. But he had a funeral. You can’t always schedule your funerals. 

We had Dave Gold at the house. He tested the air (for 8 hours) and did some wipe tests. 

He does not seem worried. Not worried enough to not wear a mask in or out of the house. 🫠

I hunted down a printer that I can’t get to connect. Thank you WiFi. And found a battery for the generator. Now the generator works!! Yay!!

The bad part of Friday was our medley tenants telling us they’re moving. Which wasn’t a surprise. But they could have just told us and not taken over an hour late at night. 

Oh well. 

Saturday was good. 

Saira and her son came and cleaned. The house feels so much better. 

We got the meter replaced at Blair. Thank you nice Edison guy!

Dad and I went to Pasadena to meet with some insurance people. We learned some things that will help. And we saw the Cosentino’s. They seem tired. I’m so sad they lost their whole house. 

Hoping to get some sleep tonight. Feeling tired. But good. 

Hope you have a happy sleep!!💤

 Thursday

Today was a good day.

Bruce went to work at MAkeMAke this AM-I went to Ella's to play with Jasper and do some laundry.We got lots of regular type office stuff done.Stephanie came and worked.Russell came and set up dad's new computer in our luxury office.:-)Dad had a work call and went to the house and met a guy who got the generator to work!!! yay!I went into Malibu and got our mail and went to CVS and picked up a prescription for dad. It's weird to go back, I get nervous still.Traffic is pretty bad on Kanan and Malibu Canyon. Probably will be until PCH opens up again.Went to Gelsons to get the best chocolate milk. And stopped by Ella's to drop some groceries.Dad went to Home Depot for his nightly run to Mecca and brought home two 20' ladders. Because isn't that what everyone has in their hotel room?

Tomorrow will be a big day - Dave Gold comes to the house to test the air - praying the results are GOOD!! We should know next week if they are.

Goodnight awesome kids. Have a happy sleep.