A (Hopefully) Minor Setback in the Playroom
When last I left you, I was proud of my shiny new playroom. Something happened a couple of days ago that made it a little less shiny.
I was in my bedroom and I heard our furbaby Hank bark. He's a bassett hound mix that we adopted from the shelter and he's finding his "hound dog" voice right now, which means he sometimes barks just to hear himself do it. He was crated at that moment, but didn't act upset. My cell phone rang (and later I realized my home phone had rang also but I left it on the dryer--who does that?) and it was a friend from high school. Her church does a tent revival every year in an open field across the street from our house so I didn't find it odd that she'd be calling. I answered the phone and she said, "Someone hit your house." The words didn't make sense. It's like if I said, "That grass is pink," and you'd go, "HUH?". Yeah...like that. She repeated it and said that she was walking over so I opened the front door and I see her coming across the street and to my left is a car with its front bumper around the corner of my house.
I called 911 for the first time ever in my life and told them what had happened. We live in the country but along a state highway. I'll say this, I no longer worry about the response time for emergency services. Within a minute of hanging up the phone, a sheriff's deputy, ambulance, and VFD first responders had arrived on scene. Within another minute, two more guys from the VFD, another sheriff's deputy and state police were here. Of course, Barry's working out of town, so I did the only logical thing a grown woman could do at that point--I called my mommy and daddy. HA HA! None of us were hurt, and the people in the car were being cared for, although they weren't injured either. I really just wanted my dad to come over and tell me that my house wasn't going to fall in on me.
It was at this point that things kind of went downhill for the driver. I found out that immediately after she hit the house, she attempted to start the car back up and presumably continue driving, but she didn't seem to be coherent enough for that to be a conscious decision. My neighbor, whose yard she had plowed through before our house, took her keys from her and gave them to the state police officer. After listing some really potent medications that she was on, the driver was detained and handcuffed on suspicion of DUI. I sincerely hope that once they got her to the hospital, the found that she wasn't impaired in any way. If you're a regular reader or if you are a real life friend of mine, you know that my sister Danielle was killed by a drunk driver (you can read that post here) so someone choosing to drive while impaired has already made its mark on my life. Thank God no one was injured or killed. My neighbor's kids play in their front yard. My kids could have been in the playroom.
The damage appears to be minor. The driver hit the corner of the house and if you'll remember from the interior sneak peak I showed here, we left the brick columns up, so that's actually what she hit, and the brick columns are surrounded with Hardiboard, which is supposed to withstand hurricane force wind. Se was not going all that fast by the time she hit it either, thanks to her taking out the neighbors fiber optics box first. We'll have to assess the damage more thoroughly when Barry gets home but all accounts are that we'll just have to replace the trim boards.
Here are photos of the damage. It really could have been so much worse. Here's the front of the house.
Take a step back and it doesn't look too bad.
Next project--concrete wall around the house? Moat maybe? HA! Sometimes, you've got to laugh to keep from crying!
Joyfully,
Jen
I was in my bedroom and I heard our furbaby Hank bark. He's a bassett hound mix that we adopted from the shelter and he's finding his "hound dog" voice right now, which means he sometimes barks just to hear himself do it. He was crated at that moment, but didn't act upset. My cell phone rang (and later I realized my home phone had rang also but I left it on the dryer--who does that?) and it was a friend from high school. Her church does a tent revival every year in an open field across the street from our house so I didn't find it odd that she'd be calling. I answered the phone and she said, "Someone hit your house." The words didn't make sense. It's like if I said, "That grass is pink," and you'd go, "HUH?". Yeah...like that. She repeated it and said that she was walking over so I opened the front door and I see her coming across the street and to my left is a car with its front bumper around the corner of my house.
I called 911 for the first time ever in my life and told them what had happened. We live in the country but along a state highway. I'll say this, I no longer worry about the response time for emergency services. Within a minute of hanging up the phone, a sheriff's deputy, ambulance, and VFD first responders had arrived on scene. Within another minute, two more guys from the VFD, another sheriff's deputy and state police were here. Of course, Barry's working out of town, so I did the only logical thing a grown woman could do at that point--I called my mommy and daddy. HA HA! None of us were hurt, and the people in the car were being cared for, although they weren't injured either. I really just wanted my dad to come over and tell me that my house wasn't going to fall in on me.
It was at this point that things kind of went downhill for the driver. I found out that immediately after she hit the house, she attempted to start the car back up and presumably continue driving, but she didn't seem to be coherent enough for that to be a conscious decision. My neighbor, whose yard she had plowed through before our house, took her keys from her and gave them to the state police officer. After listing some really potent medications that she was on, the driver was detained and handcuffed on suspicion of DUI. I sincerely hope that once they got her to the hospital, the found that she wasn't impaired in any way. If you're a regular reader or if you are a real life friend of mine, you know that my sister Danielle was killed by a drunk driver (you can read that post here) so someone choosing to drive while impaired has already made its mark on my life. Thank God no one was injured or killed. My neighbor's kids play in their front yard. My kids could have been in the playroom.
The damage appears to be minor. The driver hit the corner of the house and if you'll remember from the interior sneak peak I showed here, we left the brick columns up, so that's actually what she hit, and the brick columns are surrounded with Hardiboard, which is supposed to withstand hurricane force wind. Se was not going all that fast by the time she hit it either, thanks to her taking out the neighbors fiber optics box first. We'll have to assess the damage more thoroughly when Barry gets home but all accounts are that we'll just have to replace the trim boards.
Here are photos of the damage. It really could have been so much worse. Here's the front of the house.
And from the side...
Take a step back and it doesn't look too bad.
Next project--concrete wall around the house? Moat maybe? HA! Sometimes, you've got to laugh to keep from crying!
Joyfully,
Jen
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