Sunday January 13th;

After not getting to sleep until 3 in the morning pondering the logic of the way the American legal system works and why anybody would not want to expedite saving their home I returned back to the flood area.

I thought I would take a rough straw poll of who needed the most done as it appeared nobody had really considered a social/economic priority. Do I help the working father who is talking care of his 85 year old handicapped, damp, freezing mother and his children? Do I help the young family who is living in their car in the driveway and their children who are muddy in between helping their father move soggy family items and clean mud? Do I continue down the street looking for worse scenarios? Do I recruit the poser volunteers in their yellow and red team shirts so that they have some type of direction? Do I just eat Red Cross food and coffee and seem like I am helping?

Staying on the conservative side rather than the bossy side I figured that I would focus on the family that I was helping the day before so that we can have at least one house somewhat stripped/airing out.

There was an interesting twist, I looked out and saw some dark SUVs with tinted windows and flashing lights approaching with a lot of cops et al. I thought perhaps it was some type of illegal immigrant or contractor raid or similar. Low and behold, Bill Clinton himself strolls out. The lucky ones who didn’t get turned away, (as if a muddy frozen homeowner is a threat) got to meet the most popular man in the world. Being a contrarian, I likened this to the peak of interest when politicians are there for photo ops; I was concerned for the following week. I took another walk around the neighborhood around dusk and offered some of the homeowners who have not really done much to their homes to see if they wanted their water shutoff and they again refused. I had shown many of them basic things like how to shut off water, gas and electricity. Even though I saw the fire dept. cruising and going to a lot of the barbeques, gatherings etc. it surprised and disturbed me that they weren’t shown this. Some homes were still untouched by volunteers and the windows were steaming from condensation. The homeowner I was helping decided to stay late so we had a few guys helping him and we stayed well in to the evening until dampness and frozen foggy weather got the best of our extremities.  I decided not to help him the next day as even he had to check with his attorney to see if he should proceed.

Your Reno real estate Realtor,

Ron Bell

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