Starting to realize that this tale will have to shuttle back and forth between past and present if I’m to be able to keep a handle on it all. I was hoping I could continue to set the scene and provide more backstory in these early posts, but current events intrude and unless I keep some kind of record I’ll never be able to get them in fast enough to prevent them from receding into the past and becoming irretrievable.

But before I post the most recent update on the what's happening ..here's the where.

Our house in in East Hampton NY...That's out in the eastern (south fork) section of Long Island and more specifically in an area called The Springs. It's not the ocean beach area...that's pretty much fully occupied currently by the likes of Paul McCartney, Steven Spielberg and assorted others whose vacation home narrative would probably begin and end with " I bought it."

Look right above the umbrella at Albert's Landing on the map below and that's about it. Nice spot and the house is just a few hundred feet from a private beach looking out at Gardiner's Island four miles northeast.

And here's a very very flattering shot of our house. One of those Real Estate ad. shots that cover up the wear and tear and somehow suggest that there's more to the house on the left and right...although there's not. Fact is, it's pretty much of a run-down cottage...but location is all and that part we got right.

So right now here’s what’s happening. Seems we have an insurance glitch. It’s not bad enough that getting any insurance at all was a slog since in East Hampton-- you simply can’t get any major insurance company to cover you at all. As if just by having the poor judgement to go and buy something where hurricanes touch down periodically and tides tend to wash away beachfronts you've already identified yourself as a bad risk. But don't get me started on Insurance policies or I'll have to start an entirely new blog. And now that we’re doing renovations there’s the new problem of getting coverage for the rebuilding phase which is apparently a separate issue from “ Builder’s Risk and Liability” insurance. I guess I assumed that was something assumed by the builder…but what do I know...just recently I discovered that you have to pay to have someone come and locate your septic tank. That's right, I said "locate". Seems it's not unusual to not know where the damn thing is. They install it, cover it up with grass and forget about it. No marker, no record no map...so when you have to go back, you've got to find it all over again. The guy who came and did the work looked at me like I was asking a silly question when I tried to understand this mysterious practice. " Yeah, that's the way they do it..." Easy for him to accept, he gets paid to find it every time.

Anyway back to insurance...my fellow Drifters (the other five who do practical and productive things as opposed to writing blogs and whining) have been trying to sort this out today and it seems—as usual, we learned something new …when Ellen questioned the insurance broker as to the necessity of getting new coverage during reconstruction period she got this back in response:

Absolutely there are people who have not changed their policies when they have done renovations. I can say from the insurance side of it once you are not living in the house over 60 days the home is considered vacant. On a homeowner policy if there were to be a loss when the home was vacant a covered claim would be denied for misrepresentation. I can say 100% there are many people who do not and when no problems arise they are fine, it is necessary for the time when something does happen. It is completely your call but do know it would not be proper coverage.

I wish I could write like that. Must be fun not worrying about where to put your adverbs and let all the modifiers just dangle around and fend for themselves. And I love the 60 day vacant rule too. Maybe we could use it to justify dumping this place and moving into McCartney or Spielberg's place when they're off on tour or shooting a movie.

Hoping to have time tomorrow to get back to the back-story.