A Queer Mobile

Garden at mid-summer

I've updated my garden portfolio  with new pictures. This is what the garden looks like when I stand under the apple trees and do qi gong in the morning...

(We're still waiting on the SBA for loan documents...)

Speak of the ...

Folks at the SBA must have read my post from yesterday. John got a call from a loan officer this morning. After supplying a signature on a form so they could get some additional tax information, the loan officer called back to say the loan's a go! Their legal folks will draft a loan agreement and send it off for John to sign.

Now all we need is some shop space...

Shop recovery status

John's washing up odds and ends of tools. He shipped his saw blades off to be reconditioned, and he's starting to buy tools when he can find special deals.

We're continuing to wait to hear back from SBA on a disaster recovery loan. He's also made application to a local group affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce that's planning to provide loans and outright grants to businesses affected by the flood.

We're done! (with the lumber)

Our wonderful friends finished up all the board washing and stacking on the Fourth of July. Here's a video of our wrap-up party!

Behind the scene, John and I put together his SBA disaster recovery loan application - three years of tax returns, a statement of worth, and three years monthly cash flow. He also put together an itemized list of all his losses - both tools and lumber - and sent that along. He had a call from the SBA field agent on the Fourth (pretty good service on a Federal holiday!) asking for some additional information. We sent along the itemized loss and proposed tool purchase list along with information about his rental space. Two hours later we had an email from the field agent saying the list was just what he needed, and that John will hear from an SBA loan officer within two weeks.

I must give both FEMA and SBA snaps for excellent service to folks here. FEMA checks have already gone out to homeowners, and the SBA has been incredibly easy to work with so far.

The garden gets prettier

Here are lilies, Japanese irises, and red yarrow in our garden beds. I've posted more pictures to my 2008 Garden web gallery.

Washed-out trails

Our trail along the Cedar River is in worse shape than I had thought. An old railway bridge washed out during the flood, and the aftermath obliterated the trail, as you see here.

I've posted more flood-related pictures to my 2008 Flood photo gallery.

Close encounters with the SBA and other things

We've almost completed recovering all the lumber. Our faithful friends Joe Clark and Mary Taylor have been here virtually every day washing and rising boards while John stacks stuff. When the weather turned windy and rainy over the weekend we stopped work and switched to the financial side of recovery.

For those not in the know (and I was one of them until recently), FEMA provides recovery support for individuals but not businesses. The SBA handles loans to businesses to support disaster recovery. Over the weekend I pulled tax records while John assembled lists of the actual losses. We consolidated all the loss lists along with the immediate needs for new tools. John then headed out to talk with SBA folks on Monday. He made a dash back here so I could run cash flow reports for the past three years (ain't computerized accounting systems wonderful!) and then wrapped up the application.

SBA doesn't let you apply for a fixed amount of money. They assess your business and then meet with you to talk through what they think you'll need to be successful. We're waiting for a call back soon!

In the same disaster recovery center John met with IRS folks to talk about how best to handle deductions and losses for tax purposes. We'd considered filing a catastrophic loss form with IRS, which lets you refile returns for the past two years to recoup taxes already paid. The IRS folks advised us to check with tax pros before doing that. If the loss isn't crippling, the IRS folks suggested simply taking a loss in this year and rolling forward to future years, rather than attempting to recoup past payments. We'll check things out.