Flood Clean-up Day Tasks I Didn’t Think Of

Saturday is fast approaching.  I ordered a three cubic yard dumpster for Friday.  It’s Wednesday and I feel like…

I can’t pull my car out of the mud and I’m in the middle of nowhere and its pouring rain and I can’t get the top back up and my paycheck’s all blurred and my foot went right through the gas and my girl’s screaming bloody murder because she’s scared of the dark and a stroke of lightning splits my motor in half and my suit’s shrinking up fast and I start up the windy road on foot and sixty yards of barbed wire hits me right smack in the puss and we both fall down in the mud and then a wild animal comes over and runs away with my shoes and my car blows up suddenly and my windshield-wiper ends up in my mouth and I can’t move and the mud’s rising up to my nostrils and I’m sinking fast and I don’t hear my girl screaming anymore…

I need to occupy my mind.  I need to think about the things that need to be done and stop thinking about the terrible things that might happen next.  How about tasks for the work crew this weekend?  I cleaned the house flooring of debris so that preparations for construction can proceed.  I pressure washed the barn and garage so that no one slips and falls doing their appointed tasks.  I picked up broken mirrors and scattered nails so that cuts and punctures are minimized.  I made a list of tasks.  What tasks did I leave out?

Here’s a task: rock raking.  When the flood waters rushed over Nichols Sawmill Road and out of the angry creek, my pebbles were displaced.  Someone has to take a long and stealthy rake and smooth out the driveway path.

Here’s another task: timber stack attack.  There is a stack 200 landscape timbers which was carried across the back pasture and is now pinned against the far fence.  Someone has to pick them up, two by two, and re-stack them back in the center of the field.

Here’s one more: feeder foundation fixing.  There are four fifty-pound capacity poultry feeders lifted by the flood waters and carried on the cement blocks.  Those heavy wooden contraptions need to be scraped and emptied and returned to the appropriate cement block pedestal.

Here’s a task: Coop II resurrection.  This chicken coop is impassable and needs to have several items removed before even its chicken feeder can be accessed.

Here’s a task: rose garden flowerbed timber job.  The entire landscape timber border was lifted out of place in tact and needs to be re-positioned by a couple of strong bodies.

Here’s a task: wooden telephone pole removal.  A ten foot piece of telephone pole is wedged near the front porch and needs to be removed by a couple of strong bodies.

Here’s a task: barn frontage trash removal.  Several garbage bags and cans of refuse sit outside the barn and need to betaken to dumpster.

Here’s a task: refrigerator extrication.   My garage refrigerator was picked up by flood waters and placed in the middle of my sixteen-foot trailer but must be removed and moved to the salvage yard.

Here’s a task: lumber load-up.  I have several pieces of dimensioned lumber which needs to be gathered together into the yard known as the picnic area.

Here’s a task: wire roll-out.  The different types of fencing wire on the trailer and in the field need to be put in one place for future organization.

Here’s a task: burn notice.  Anything that will burn without fumes or hazard should be pile in the back for later blaze.