I'm Thankful For. . .

[hemibee]

This Thanksgiving will be a little, no, a lot more meaningful for our family. With my health the last few years, each Thanksgiving should have been more meaningful but I just let it go as I'm paying for my lifestyle and the mistakes I've made. My back issues and now my knee are a result of a rough and tumble life on bikes and playing baseball. I've never been much of a drinker, I do enjoy a drink every now and then but I've never been one to get really drunk. Drugs never were a problem, I don't like the way I feel when I'm under the influence. Pain pills with my various injuries have only been taken right after the injury and I get off them ASAP, I don't like them. Smoking was an issue for me, I liked it. But that's gone and has been gone for years. Now I have a group of health care professionals that are watching out for me and being proactive in getting my health where it should be. I'm very thankful for that.

I've got two great son's that mean the world to me and I'm very proud of the men they have turned out to be. I couldn't ask for better sons.

The events of today really got me to thinking and that's the reason for this post.

My oldest son and his girlfriend we're at church when there was a fire in his apartment. I don't know all the details and I haven't heard if there has been an investigation into the cause so I won't try to go into that. What I do know is it involved the stove and that it wasn't due to cooking or forgetting to turn off the stove. In his apartment at the time of the fire was Harvey, Charlie, and another dog that he was watching for one of his former roommate's. The dogs were a bit shook up when he returned to the apartment but they did not appear to be injured as the smoke alarm and sprinkler system did their job. All the damages were just material items that can be replaced. I haven't seen them yet, I was already at work before I heard about the fire, but I suspect Alex and Becky are a bit shook up too.

So, this I won't have to wait for Thanksgiving to be thankful. If you've read this far in this post, I just want to say I needed to say the above and I didn't have anyone here at work I could sit down with and talk. My crew is out busy doing prep work for one of the most hazardous tasks we are faced with. Thankfully this task only comes around every ten or so years. See there's even more I have to be thankful for.

 

[Rocky]

Nice post hemi

Very sorry to hear about the fire.

We all have a lot to be thankful for and often take too much for granted.

 

[shanered6]

That was a very close shave and im glad every one was ok ! .... and your spot on there is allways some one worse off than you , im like you the stupidity of my youth is now starting to catch up with me and not to mention taking on a saw mill at yearly 50 ..... what was i thinking !! .......... i wasnt thinking thats the trouble

 

[DaveM]

What an insperational post Hemi and yes we do have things that we can all be thankful for but at times it takes a bit of a jolt for us to see them.

Nice to hear that you have so much right now to be thankful for.

 

[Mad On Triumphs]

Hemi, so pleased that all are OK. Also glad that you're getting help to get you back to full fitness, so that you can enjoy many more Thanksgiving days with your family.

We all have a lot to be thankful for and often take too much for granted.

This is so true Rocky, my friends wife took a tour of Alaska, strangely the same tour we took a few weeks later.
She was taking a walking tour in the forest and simply fell over, and is now paralysed from the neck down.
She was a nurse all her working life and always helped others. Where's the justice in that. So sad.

 

[hemibee]

Sad to hear about your friend MOT. Just goes to show you that things can change in the blink of an eye.

 

[hemibee]

I grabbed a couple photos of Harvey this morning. His snow white belly hair shows the soot he was in.

When the firefighters broke open the door, Harvey ran past them and headed down the hall. One of the firefighters had to chase him down, no easy feat when you are chasing a fast, low slung dog and you're wearing bunker gear. That must have been one fast firefighter. Charlie was in the bathroom staying away from the fire and the other dog was in the bathtub.

The Vet gave all three dogs a clean bill of health. Both Charlie and Harvey are acting like nothing happened. They seemed pleased this afternoon playing with me and their new toys.

 

[hemibee]

More information is available for the fire event. The sprinkler system actually malfunctioned, it did not shut off after the fire was out. The fire department told Alex it should have shutdown and they don't know why it didn't. This allowed almost a foot of water to build up in the apartment. With this amount of water it could have become very serious especially for a Corgi trapped in the apartment. Just a little higher and it could have reached all the wall mounted electrical outlets. It's not known if the electrical feed tripped at the time of the fire or if the fire department shutdown the power.

This afternoon Becky was going to the apartment office to thank them for finding Alex a new apartment so quick and offering to help them move his items that were not destroyed or had to be left for the insurance adjuster to view. As she entered the office area she heard the staff talking about the fire and heard the manager state they were going to go after Alex's insurance to pay for the damages in other apartments caused by the excessive water released by the sprinkler system. Becky and/or Alex, I'm not sure who it was, found out the maintenance man that has the key to shutdown the sprinkler system in case of such a failure, was not on site and couldn't be reached by phone or wouldn't answer his phone. It was also learned that the maintenance man was fired. Alex's college roommate is married to a lawyer and they spoke with her. The lawyer told them to write down everything they heard and were told about the incident and provide the insurance adjuster a copy of their letter. If the apartment complex seeks legal action against the insurance company and/or seeks payments from Alex, the lawyer said she would get them one of the top insurance attorneys in the State of Texas which happens to work at her firm, involved on Alex's behalf.

Also, the lawyer stated that the complex has breached the lease with the failure to properly maintain the sprinkler system and Alex is free to move without facing any early lease fees for not remaining for full term of the lease. He has already been contacted by a friend that has a place he can move into that has a monthly lease rate of half or more less than what he's paying now. At this time he is looking at his options. The lawyer didn't give him a time frame of when he had to make a decision but did make it seem like he had plenty of time to study his options.

 

[shanered6]

Bloody hell why is it that as soon as an accitent happens the first thing these people think of is ..... (1) HOW CAN WE GET OUT OF THIS ! (2) AND HOW CAN WE MAKE MONEY OUT OF IT ! makes my blood boil
As fare as i can see the owners of the apartment are liable and that is that !

 

[Rocky]

Wow hemi, what a tangled tale!

 

[Mad On Triumphs]

Just what you don't need after what happend

 

[DaveM]

You think once the fire is over most of your worries are as well but it seems this is when they only really start.