THE SLOW PROCESS OF CLEAN UP!

I began the slow process of clean up from TS Gustav today. I found myself putting on my yard shoes, going out and working up a sweat, and running back inside when the rain started. This afternoon I actually spent the entire afternoon out with only a short sprinkle to contend with. To say that we have a mess is an understatement! It will take WEEKS to get all of the sticks up. We love living in the middle of all of these trees, but storms are the down side. There is not a square inch that does not have branches and big limbs. We are lucky though for the central and south parts of our state are devastated. Our friends in Zachary do not think they will have power for two weeks. Our DIL's mother is still with us since not only does she not have power, but she also cannot get down the streets to her house. She was lucky in that she did not have major damage, but some minor roof damage. She has now been away from her home since Sunday. She is torn between the need to go home and check things out and knowing that it probably better to stay here until her power is back on.

There are still evacuees in the shelters here in town. They are slowly beginning to trickle back home, but we have special needs patients in one of the shelters. I could never explain to you what living in a shelter is like. You are in a huge room with 300+ people-babies are crying, people are ranting and raving, people are crying, you have ill older people, and everyone is glued to the television trying to figure out when they can go home. You share everything with all those in the shelter with you. There is no privacy-NO personal space. It is trying at a very minimum! Hopefully everyone will be able to go home soon.

This is what I raked up off the back decks. This is the initial rake up after picking up the limbs and before blowing off. It is a slow and manually hard job. I am up to the task-but will be sick of it before it is over.

That bright light that showed just a little today is the sun. We were glad to get even a glimpse of it. I had not cleaned off the front walk yet, but got that done and the front yard raked before the day was over. I have the porches, decks, and drive clean and have begun picking up the limbs. Check with me in a few weeks and see if I have this mess cleaned up. OH LORD-hopefully we will not have another hurricane come through, but they are out there heading this way!