July 2014 ......

I'm thinking that some nice deeply set concrete pillars along the road would be a good idea. What a colossal mess! You've done well to get so much of it cleaned up and ready to rebuild.
I'm with Carol. Get the insurance company to pay for a contractor to do the work for you.
I guess this will be an opportunity to put in extra insulation along that wall, as well as a new window. With a bigger new window, you might have a chance to see them coming next time.   
Is your truck going to be repaired, or is it considered a total?
Boy, I'd sure hate to have to pay your neighbor's new insurance premiums after this.

Our truck is being repaired. The other two trucks were totaled. I haven't heard yet when we will get our truck back, but we sure do miss it! We need it to haul building supplies to repair the house. The woman's insurance is good.

We have a carpenter coming in the next week or so to work on the house. We have had him here before and he is a good one. We are keeping track of our work hours to charge the insurance for our labor, but we are getting bad vibes from the guy's insurance. It is not the same as the woman's insurance and we may be lucky to get anything from them. Either our personal insurance or our pocketbook may end up repairing the house and replacing the broken things. They haven't been returning our calls or emails. We are going to sic our insurance guys on them.

We have been thinking about some sort of barrier to protect the house. We thought our trees would, but these trucks from across the road keep slipping between the trees.   

Ark, how about a nice stone wall like the ones so often seen in that area? Decorative, but protective.

HUGE storm last night down in the valley………….Horses are fine, two walking mud balls.
Trees are down in our hood and one neighbor had their porch & roof blown off.  My daughter went over at 10P and then back at 5:30A,  she said our house fared the best around……… Remember last year we had 30 ft trimmed off our big trees…………every now & then we come up with a good idea.
The good side is we don't have to irrigate for 4-6 weeks.

Hope everyone has a good day!  Prayers for ALL.

Wow, Graymare! Thank goodness your horses and your house are okay. Sure was a good thing those trees are shorter.

GRAYMARE
I am very glad your house and horses are okay after the storm! How is the baby doing?

ELLEN
We are thinking about various kinds of stone walls. There is a space problem with how the bank drops off from the road into our yard that will have to be solved. A stone wall would be in the right-of-way, even though it drops about four feet into our yard directly from the edge of the road. Tricky situation with trees interspersed along it.

We have had over an inch of rain today with two strong thunderstorms. We need the rain badly. Storms have been going around us and we are dry as toast. This rain will help. I can hear the grass whispering, "thank you, thank you!"  

Annie and I have been organizing the horsey stuff I have in the t.v. room and moving it out of there. We want the room completely empty for the carpentry work coming up. We've already moved out the furniture and broken stuff. The room will get carpeted while it is empty, something we have put off for years. I keep my saddles in there, they have to live elsewhere....

Ark, how about a decorative wall with a little patio sort of place that would parallel the house, maybe 5 or 6 feet from the house? It could go the length of the house, to protect it. If that new larger window became French doors or sliding doors, it would give you access to that side of the house and a nice little sitting area. Move the door farther to the left side of where the old window was. That would leave plenty of wall space for the TV.
Of course, I'd make sure that decorative wall was well reinforced with rebar and concrete.
My evil side says to put some spikes along that wall on the road side.   Okay. Maybe not. 

ELLEN
Your evil side is funny   .

Not bad ideas about the patio!  

ARK: Has any of the involved insurance companies given you an estimate on the cost of repairing your house?  Your insurance company should issue your check and then go after the other guys insurance (it's called subrogation). You shouldn't have to do any of that.

As to the insurance company that is not answering your calls just like Florida Virginia has a toll free number to call if you are not getting responses from an insurance company.  Looked it up for you..... http://scc.virginia.gov/boi/boi_contact.aspx

You actually have two accidents so two deductibles will apply.  Make sure you let ALL of the insurance companies know you're not paying that because it is clearly a situation of liability on the other parties side.  They'll try to stick you with that if you don't make an issue of it.

Just an old salt insurance adjuster adding her two cents worth.  

Hello everyone!  Lurk a lot but don't post a lot.  Ought to change that habit!

Doing well here.  Pony is a PIA but I love him so we'll keep working on it.
Rich is doing great (I got so lucky when I found that one!!   )

One more thing....who is paying for your rental vehicle? If it's the other guys insurance tell them you need a PU for your daily use. They are supposed to provide you with a like vehicle.

Eli 4 mos………….ha, after 2 big storms, FILTHY!  (but happy)

Maybe he should be called "Lightening"……………

I did some "inquiries" today with the small insurance company that I am on the Bd. of Directors here in NC. Tally Pam has given you some very good advice about contacting Va. Insurance Dept. IF you don't get timely "service", etc.

One additional concern if YOUR company pays you would be a "record" that might make them take pause on renewal. YES...it is NOT your fault, but it would be a "claim" nevertheless. Basically, YOUR company pays you and then goes after the other company to be reimbursed. Fight with them over any mention of a "deductible" that comes outta your pocket.

Your agent should help you also with guidelines / advice.

Good Luck,

Rick

Wow, Graymare! He is going to be a BIG pretty boy! Love the pictures.

Yes Grey mare he is going to be well built like the old bull dog quarter horse and beautiful the whole package thank you for the pics you post

Yep graymare, thanks for making me drool...  

Ark, good advice and good luck in settling it all.

Cloudy and cooler here today...yay...

Not doing much, just kicked back.....

Graymare, what r the temps where u r in the mountains

Tp good to see u here!

GRAYMARE:
Wow! Eli has really grown! He is such a pretty guy.

TALLYPAM and RICK:
Thanks very much!!! We have a call in to our insurance. It is time for them to get to work on our behalf. Coincidentally, the guy's insurance called this afternoon with a low estimate to repair the wall. Donnie said he did not accept that and it will have to be increased. Our guys can fight it out.

Good news on our truck, we hope. The body parts are back together and they are now working on engine and electronics. If they check out, we might get it back in the next couple of days. (Fingers crossed!)

Now the truly strange news....Another red pick-up truck wrecked into that poor maple tree at the end of our driveway this morning. It is the same tree that the woman who hit our truck hit a year or so ago. Had this morning's truck not hit this tree, he would have gone into our yard and possibly hit the house. Annie and I were in the barn and heard it happen and I saw the trees shaking. The road was not wet, the driver just dropped a wheel off the pavement and couldn't restore control before hitting the large maple and smaller sycamore trees. It happened on a straight stretch.

This makes three truck incidents in as many weeks and we are done with it.

The driver was not hurt, but his passenger had a head injury and they airlifted him to Roanoke. They are painters in a company truck, which was probably totaled. Paint and plaster were thrown forward from the bed of the truck and splattered all over that area of our yard and 15 feet up into the trees. The passenger was hit from behind by one of the heavy plaster filled buckets. I hope he will be okay. We felt so sorry for the driver. He is a recently returned vet from the Iraqi war and was so afraid for his friend and that he may lose his job for totalling the truck.

One of the cops asked if I had found my cat after the house wreck. We are practically on a first name basis with those guys...

So after the rescue squad, police, fire truck, wrecker, and ambulance all went away, Annie and I went back to the barn and gathered up our incredulous horses who had watched all this from the pasture next to the road. We went on to Blacksburg and had lunch with a riding friend. Other than the bashed trees, we came out of this incident fairly unscathed.

ARK: OMG do you have a target painted on your property? 3 wrecks in a row in such a small window of time. It's almost unbelievable that people keep crashing into your property, one after another. What the heck is going on??? Thank God you guys weren't hurt. The photos of the house were horrific, what a nightmare you guys have going on.

GRAYMARE: Eli is sooooooooooooo beautiful. He is growing up so fast. Love the face photo and the lightening strike. Faith sure makes beautiful foals.

Things are quiet here, busy putting up veggies from the garden. Today we are making pickles and freezing carrots. The fun time has started now that the garden is producing, it will be worth all the sweat in December when we are enjoying the veggies our little fingers grew. I'm not sure what is more work, putting up hay in the hayloft and taking care of horses or picking and putting up veggies. LOL The horses were certainly more fun.

Love & prayers for all.

HOLY COW, Ark!!! Sure is a good thing you have that big tree. Now I'm thinking that a steel shield around that tree might be a good idea.
Maybe you need to talk to the county highway department and see if they will improve the berm along that part of the road.
I hope your truck is done SOON.

ARK, seriously?  Can't be!  Is there any way the main road can be re routed?  And the driveway of your neighbor changed?  Or maybe the county can build a huge protective guard rail at the base of your property?  I don't know Ins laws but I thought you should have had a rental truck paid for during your truck repair………….

CB, our area is 8500 feet, very rural……summer 80's, winters below zero.  Ranch is empty in the winter.
No pasture for horses…….hay is $19-20/bale up here……………my horses are at home.  They haul cattle in for the summer and they are out on range, then hauled to market in the fall.  Fewer cattle on the leased land each year………………….no fires near us this year, than God.  

TRUDY, I have a friend w a garden, she loves it but she works VERY hard to keep it in order.  She has to bend over to work, lol, I don't, in general…………..but it is a lot of work and she is out working sometimes way more than I am.

Thanks gang, I am prejudiced re Eli so partially blind, but I'm still at it…….gads he's dirty.  Today is working on Mama's mane as it is tangled………it all keeps me vertical.

Everyone have a good day……………prayers for ALL.

A sign to post ark.....

This property is now protected by smith and wesson and if you can read this sign you are within range sucka.....

Just a thought.

CB:  
Somehow, shooting careless drivers just doesn't seem like it would solve the problem of them crashing onto our property!  Might make us feel better, though....   

Good news!!  BART (Big Ass Red Truck) is home and seems good as new!    We dropped off the rental car this afternoon.  None of the rental car places would rent a tow vehicle, which is why we just got a car.  

We are still thinking about barriers for the house.  The cops told us that we could petition the county to have VDot put us on the six year plan for a guard rail.  I suspect doing something ourselves would be faster.  We are thinking of petitioning to have the speed limit lowered, though.  While these three truck wrecks are the first in our yard in 16 years of owning this property, there are way too many wrecks along our stretch of road.  Not long after we bought this property, which was on a relatively lazy road, the road builders finished an improved road over a mountain a few miles away.  Suddenly folks discovered that our road was now a shortcut to Radford from Pearisburg.  Lots of non residents began using our road to get to work or college that didn't before.  Then GPS got popular and it directs even more folks thru here.  Our lazy road became a racetrack and careless people unfamiliar with the curves and one-lane bridge often wreck.  The bridge is on the east side of our property.  I don't even know how many people have either hit the bridge or driven off the road in the curves on either side.  Usually our yard is fairly safe because it is in a straight stretch of the road.  Not much can help with fool
neighbors turning their trucks loose on the hill across the road...  

I got in a quick ride on Ivan this evening.  It is so cool, it feels like fall today.

Hooray for getting your truck home! At least it didn't take forever for them to get it fixed and back to you!

ARK: We live on a "shortcut" too, it is a pain in the butt, people think they should drive fast as possible on the short cut. There are times I wish I had a flame thrower as they fly by or a brick to throw thru their windshield. Luckily the township has "fixed" the road and made such a mess of it, the number of vehicles has slowed down, but it hasn't slowed down the local idiots who have to race up the hill. It's a wonder no one has gotten killed out here.

We put a huge hitching post on the corner of the house (where we always thought someone would end up in our living room). It may not stop them. but it will slow them down. It looks like a big L made out of the big round corner posts we used to put up the high tensile fence for the pastures. We have slow down signs but no one pays attention to them. It's sad people have no respect. George has almost gotten hit crossing the road on the ATV & the mower, he did get hit in the truck right in front of the house. So much for the slow life out in the country on a little country road.