HURRICANE KATRINA
Wednesday, September 28, 2005.
I stayed home today to work on cleaning up my yard. I had some help, and had a neighbor who needed help, so we got to it pretty early. Larry lent me his chainsaw, so I could do some of the work. It's a little Echo from Home Depot, and for an inexpensive little saw, it's really pretty good. Here's a shot of the front yard before I started:
I also wanted to clear the branches that fell on my neighbor's house and into his yard. Here's the monster coming over the fence.
This is from the other side:
I also needed to clean up the back yard. Here's the back corner where Virginia's swing set used to be:
Turning slightly north:
Of course, I'm not sure what to do with this big branch just setting 30 feet up in the tree. I guess I'll have to wait for the professionals on this one. That branch is a lot bigger than it looks. A LOT bigger.
So I decided to get to it. I started off in long pants and boots, and was quickly drenched in my own sweat. I switched over to a Speedo and my Chaco sandals, and started hosing myself off ever 30 minutes or so. That was a LOT better. Of course, running the chainsaw in a Speedo, you have to watch where all those little bits fly...
Just as I was finishing up the front yard, Pat came by - my lawnmower man - and he cut my grass! What perfect timing! Here's a shot of the front now. That's a lot better. I feel really good about it.
Of course, all that stuff had to go somewhere, and it went out on my street. The government claims to be sending crews out to pick all this stuff up... Nobody light a match.
I moved the bigger logs in Virginia's wagon. The wheelbarrow has a flat...
Gosh that looks better... You can just barely see the patch I did on my neighbors roof where the tree put a hole in it. It's just below the silver vent in his roof, right in the center of the photo. It didn't leak during Rita, so I guess it's a good patch.
Here's Pat cutting the back yard. You can see that I got most of it out, but I still have a little left to do on Saturday.
All in all, a very productive day!
For the first time, I heard birds today. I haven't heard any birds since we got back. I haven't seen too many bugs either. It's fairly quiet around here... I've seen more lizards than normal for some reason...
