Helene Update Day 9,10, and 11: The long(er) wait begins

 Note: posting these updates a couple days late due to returning home on Day 7 but without Internet and spotty mobile service it has been difficult to get anything done online.  Fortunately, my company has office space still which has power and internet so after years of working from home I am back in the office.

 We returned to a house with power and a nasty mess in the freezers and refrigerator.  We had cleaned most of the freezer items out but on the off chance we got power back we left frozen tomatoes and peppers from the garden harvest this year so we could can them in jars.  That was the wrong choice and I should have thrown them out when I visited the house earlier in the power outage.  So we had to turn off the freezers and let them thaw which we then followed up with some cleaning.

 The fridge was mostly cleaned out except for some items that could withstand longer durations, but we still chucked a bunch of sealed food such as orange juice bottles and stuff like soy sauce.  Having an empty fridge gave us the chance to give it a good scrub down and we are now proud owners of a very clean fridge.

 The fridge/freezer cleaning inspired us to get some more kitchen cleaning done.  That in turn inspired some clean up in the office and then the great room.  It's amazing what you can get done when you put your mind to it and don't have Internet-connected devices distracting you.

 We then took on the task of getting the yard in order.  Fortunately we had no trees down in our yard but plenty of branches and debris.  We also live on the bottom of the hill in the neighborhood so had lots of washed out areas in the yard that needed attention.  

 The wash out reminded me I need to get the grading/drainage situation in the yard cleaned up.  A recent Spectrum cable repair in the yard compromised some of the drainage to the street and that's causing water to pool around the AC unit during these events.  I also need to see if the HVAC company can raise the AC unit.  So much to think about and get on lists to wait for companies to have resources to check out.

 Then it was back inside to relax and catch the Packers game on TV.  We were fortunate that it was an afternoon game on CBS and broadcast in our area.  I had to chuckle to myself after explaining to my oldest son on how over the air TV works even though Internet does not.  

 I also helped myself to an "adult soda" (as we call beer in the household) which is something that is a rare treat as I only have beer a few times a year.  The beer was from a brewery, Sierra Nevada, in western North Carolina which was heavily impacted by Helene and may be out of brewing for a bit so there was a tinge of guilt to go with it.

 Some gaming activity did return to the house.  Personally, I've been too exhausted each day to get any gaming in myself but my oldest son has latched onto Starfield again and is playing a good bit of that.  It was neat to see land vehicles introduced in the game and over all seemed like a better experience.  I need a few things to calm down at work and in real life before I jump into some offline games. Wreckfest is my normal go to.

 Lastly; we wait for Internet to return and for school to start back up.  Tentative plans are the kids go back tomorrow (10/9).  Internet (our provider is Spectrum) is an unknown.  They are not even giving estimates.  Communication is actually very poor from Spectrum currently and when they do give updates they are combative/defensive about the situation.  AT&T and other providers are providing much better updates and are facing the same widespread challenges as Spectrum.  None of them are working in our area.

 There is the option of going with 5G home internet from a provider like T-Mobile so I am weighing that option even though I know coverage is not great and all the major carriers are also heavily impacted for capacity due to the storm damage.  But it may be an option vs waiting likely weeks if not months for Spectrum repairs.

 I'll leave on a positive.  While cleaning up I walked past our fig tree and was greeted with the first ripe fig of the second crop it has set for this year.  It brought a smile to my face.  Mother nature marches forward and so do we!