The good news is that FEMA responded to my appeal and granted me more money to fix my road. It's about 1/10 of what it's going to cost me, but certainly is welcome.

This is what my upper driveway needs to look like:



This is how it looks now (in case I haven't shown it to you many times before this):



The bad news is that a second excavation contractor has confirmed that my upper driveway is indeed in really bad shape and might not make it through the winter, never mind being safe to drive vehicles on.

He showed up after dark last night, so just imagine me here alone and headlights appear at the end of my bridge. Looters? No, it's Larry.

Larry says that it'll take at least 100 truck loads of dirt to fill the side of my driveway, and to save money we should take dirt off my property where we can find it. I think I've got some to spare behind the red cabin, saving tens of thousands of dollars, although it will not be 100 loads worth.

I know it sounds kind of silly to say 'we can't find any dirt' on the 30 acres where our cabins are, but between the rock cliffs and the river and the cabin yards, and the tons of sand deposited by the flood, there isn't very much just plain dirt suitable for fill.



Having confirmation that my road may not make it through the next bout of wet weather is definitely not good news. It means that when I see it start raining or snowing I need to go move my truck up onto the highway somewhere. This will last for several months until major work can be done, and there is some question about how the equipment would get down here to start that work.

But anyhow, news is news, even when it's bad.