Wednesday, Feb. 27

Up at 6:30, but didn't go to the pool for water aerobics, because I wanted to accompany Hubbie a town about two hours east to do what we could for Hubbie's son, who lost him home to a fire yesterday evening. I was scheduled for a haircut today, too, but as soon as I could I called to re-schedule for tomorrow afternoon.

I packed a lunch for ourselves and family in the other town, but since we needed more bread and chicken salad, we stopped by the grocery store and a cafe' before we headed out of town. We also stopped at a gas station to fill up.

It was around 10 a.m. by the time we got on the road. It was an uneventful trip, and we arrived at Hubbie's sister's house in the other town just before noon. Son's house, as well as his Mother's house (where is staying for now), are on the same block as Sis's, so Hubbie immediately went to visit him and assess the damage to the burned house.

When we were told about the fire last evening, we understood that it had burned to the ground. But it did not. The walls and roof remain intact, but the inside was burned beyond repair. Appliances and furniture that did not burn are both smoke and water damaged. Nothing can be salvaged.

Naturally, Son is completely devastated. He is a disabled man, who depended on computer repair to supplement his income, but he lost all his tools and equipment for the job. Two computers belonging to other folks were also lost.

I wondered if he would have appetite enough to join us for lunch, but he did. Hubbie's daughter arrived as we were eating, but she didn't join us, since she'd already had lunch. She had taken the day off work to help Son shop for some clothes, and meet with a representative of the Red Cross to see what assistance can be provided. Hubbie had provided Son with packages of new underwear and socks, as well as a few shirts, but he needs much more.

After lunch, Son and Daughter went shopping, and Hubbie and I went to the burned house to snap a few pictures of the damage. I'm not sure why we need these photos, but we've got them if anyone wants them. We headed back home after that.

While we were gone, Mother and Sis made a big pot of Dragon Soup, which we served later with Sis's homemade bread. It was such a comforting meal on this winter-cold night.

Spent a couple of hours after that playing Skipbo. Sis won two games, and Hubbie and I each won one. None for Mother tonight, unfortunately.

Mother and Sis went to Mother's house around 8:30, and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team as they played to a loss. I should say that we tried to watch the game...I'd recorded it on DVR, but I think our DVR is messed up, because the sound and picture were distorted most of the way through the game, which was very annoying. This happened while we were trying to watch recordings last night, too. Looks like we'll be contacting our cable company tomorrow.