By the way, his “house” was actually a shed he built himself that he slept in, a large garage the he and his son built, and a Spanish style house similar to mine that was not safe to go into. When I say not safe I mean that the roof was mostly gone, the floor was rotted through in several places and the rear room had fallen off the rest of the house. His plan was to live in the shed while he fixed up the house. But with the Hernia he was not able to fix up the house. Talk about a catch 22….

I would have him over for meals when I could because his where cooked outside on one of the small grills you get at a grocery store. I also had an outside shower that he used from time to time. He usually went to the beach and bathed in the ocean. He really was a good guy. He had gotten a divorce and his ex took everything leaving him destitute. I took him to her house once. It was a huge thing with several acres of land, a pond, fruit trees and the whole enchilada. He was still in love with her even through that. He gave her everything, destroying himself in the process. Hopefully she gets what she deserves.

Bah getting ahead of myself. We found a way to get him the surgery he needed. It involved me making him my dependant. It seemed strange to have a dependant old enough to be my father but it worked. I had to show that I was the one providing the majority of his food, living expenses, ect and that he had no other source of income or sustenance. We got this done and he had his surgery. I was happy that I was part of helping him back on his feet.

I tell you this story because once he healed up Dave became an important piece of the restoration process and I like to give credit where it is due.

I got a pretty big promotion at work leaving me little time to do anything at the house. So Dave became my point man for about six months on my house project. I handed him my Home Depot Credit Card and asked him to replace all of the windows in the house except the kitchen ones. It took him about a week to replace all the windows.

Not long after Dave finished the windows we had one of those hurricane near misses I talked about earlier. This one destroyed one of my palm trees, tore the small roof over the porch off, and took the right front wall off the house. (Along with the new window)
I went through my home owners insurance (Allstate) to have it repaired. I got the required three estimates and submitted them with the pages of forms required.

Three weeks later I got a check in the mail for less than half the amount of the lowest estimate. What the hell? I called them up and they said that their man estimated it at that amount and that was all they would pay. I asked them to have “their man” come out and fix it but the adjuster ignored the suggestion. At the end of the conversation he basically told me take it or leave it. (This is just one of several reasons I lump insurance men with ambulance chasing lawyers in my least favorite people list)