…or “Zero to Sixty in Seven Seconds.”

We’ve remained faithfully isolated since March, working from home, only going out for bare essentials (groceries and remicade infusions) and the occasional “sanity drive” to get out of the house.

Just before the Pandemic hit hardcore, we had contracted to have our basement finished (which we promptly put on hold.) Just after the Pandemic hit hardcore, we started having problems with our septic and, one costly assessment later, discovered it needed major repairs. We have been “on call” for the septic repair, waiting for any opening that might pop up in their booked schedule for them to come do repairs (and rationing our water use for months to avoid any back up…stressful enough without all this extra rain.)

In addition, our fence is literally rotting away, still standing (where it is) on luck alone.  We desperately need to have it replaced, but couldn’t schedule that until the septic got repaired, since they need to get large equipment into our yard and any new fence that went up would just have to come back down again to provide access. So, we’ve patched it, as needed, with our meager cover-the-hole-with-a-bucket skills. (It really put a scare in us seeing Harvey prancing around in the neighbor’s yard, having discovered a new hole in the fence. Oy!)

After a l-o-o-ot of discussion and many safety precautions put in place, we rescheduled our basement finishing, which was started 2 weeks ago and is being done by one person (a good friend), who has restricted access to the basement and one guest bathroom (that we’re not using for the duration.) All interactions are  done by text or phone call; or with masks in place, standing at a safe distance, when in-person consult is needed.

A sneak peek of things to come.

Then we had to bring in an electrician to put in some (many) new outlets in the basement…same rules. (SIDE NOTE: It’s a wonder we did not burn the house down with the myriad of extension cords and power strips we used to maximize the only 3 existing outlets in the basement to power our TV, Lamps, and other electronic devices down there.)

Then, this morning, we got the call: the schedule opened up, and the septic folk were coming to drop off equipment and do a pre-repair septic pump before coming tomorrow to fix the septic. Minutes after the call, we heard the giant excavator being pulled into the alley/road behind our yard. (Talk about little notice.) We needed two sections of our fence, two small trees, and a small  concrete “patio” with steps (a weird little stone “stage” in the back left part of our yard, we think may have been a pool deck at one time?) removed, so the septic folk could get all their equipment into our yard. We had a different handyman guy on call to remove the fence and trees, but with so little notice, we couldn’t get him here this morning in time to do it (No big surprise.)  Fortunately, the Septic folk offered to do the work gratis, acknowledging they screwed up and gave us no time to prepare. (Whew!)

They left this behind, but didn’t leave the keys 😦

When monster (vehicles) attack!

Additionally, are septic folk informed us we need to bring a plumber in for a minor (but additional none-the-less) inside pipe repair on our outgoing pipes

So, our yard will be occupied by 3-4 people for the next two days, there are 2 people in our basement for awhile,  with a 3rd – the plumber – soon to be popping in at some point over the next couple of days.  Not to mention, we still need to schedule a fence replacement when all is said and done.

More work. More expense.* More People. More exposure.

My isolationist COVID-anxiety has kicked into mega-high gear.

We will continue to take every precaution, sanitizing everything, masking like mad, and hoping for the best. This would normally be such exciting/good news (and it is), but the Pandemic makes it all feel so risky and dangerous, as well.

* I feel the need to point out we are not made of money and did not have the funds for the bulk of this work. We had to borrow a shitload of money from the Bank and will be in debt up to our ears for years because of all this work. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Who needs a condo in Boca Raton, amiright?