When Weather Turns

This morning, I'm listening to the soft patter of rain as I write.  I thought, as I often do when I hear rain, how nice it is to no longer own a house that's in a flood zone.  Of course, my thoughts also run this way because yesterday I read this article in The Washington Post about how insurers are altering adjusters' reports on hurricane Ian damage, likely to avoid paying. 

I also read the comments, where some people are aghast at how much people paid for that insurance and about how high the deductibles are, why would anyone buy insurance that has a $20,000 deductible?  Because someone who needs a mortgage will need insurance, and in Florida, one has very few options.

And again, I'm grateful that I'm here in the North Carolina mountains, in my very solid little house.  I am struck by how few of the houses we've bought have seemed this sturdy.  My spouse commented that it's the only house we've ever had where we're the first people to have done any updating.  We're not having to fix the problems caused by former owners and their visions for what the house could/should be.

I'm also watching the rain and the temperatures--once again, I have a travel day tomorrow, and I'm watching the weather.  Will the rain turn to snow?  So far, I think I'll avoid snow impacting my travel one more time, and by the next time I make my way to the mountains, it will be early April, and perhaps the snow chances will be done for this winter.

I know that I've been lucky:  we've had a very mild winter so far.  Some part of me expects to be punished in a future year.  It's both familiar and different from the way that I felt in South Florida, where the punishment of weather and warming could have easily meant that our house would be destroyed or unsalvageable.  With luck, we won't be punished that way in our mountain house.