By now you've figured out that I'm cheating, and I am part of the biggest loser contest.
Before I move forward, I must say that Saturday afternoon we spent the better part of an hour lifting our generator up higher, but still in the trailer. I didn't get pictures of it, but it was a redneck joke waiting to happen. Our future disaster plan involves a wrap around porch and a permanent home for the generator. Our next storm will be much easier to endure.
Saturday was a long day for us, but not so much that we couldn't enjoy a nice dinner with each other and catch a show or two. We made our way to the comfort of our own bed and went right to sleep - amazing what a good nights rest will do. This respite was soon abruptly truncated. At 6 a.m. Sunday our phone rings.
"KKK, this is P, your neighbor, they are taking the river to flood stage by noon today. They expect the river to go to 7 feet above flood stage before this event is over."
I'm awake now. The Lord is good to me. What if my kids had been here? I wouldn't have been able to get everything done that needed to be done... What if I hadn't done so much work yesterday cleaning the floor of all the oil that would have coated the walls with it's ick? What if... That's where I had to stop. The "What ifs" were beginning to rack my brain. What about our books, our pictures... What about our house?
In a state of panic I made a few phone calls: "Dad, please help!" was the first. Before long Dad was here with BB and a couple trailers. Another couple, B&MW, showed up with their truck to get things belonging to them. Moving as quickly as possible, we loaded our trailer with large items that just must go up and out. Quickly - that's an interesting word. Remember, water is rising rapidly over our entire yard. Our driveway is a low spot. I have on crocs and my waders. Everything is slippery.
I look around the basement. I see all the things I could have done if I had just obeyed over the past month. Oh to only obey. I start pitching junk:
Cardboard boxes
Plastic Grocery Bags
Plastic plant pots
Tarps that are torn
Over the course of three days we pitched three truck loads of trash - it all came from our basement. Shame on us.
My dad, being of sound mind and body, insisted that the freezer and little fridge be unloaded and trucked out of the house. Apparently he's seen a few rotten freezers in his day. So, before they left, B&MW helped us unload all the freezer contents into coolers (of which we have plenty). They have a freezer that they hadn't hooked up in a while and it was ready to be filled. See, God is good to me. I'm really glad my dad was there.
At the end of the day we had loaded our truck and trailer with all the expensive equipment and moved it to higher ground. Power had been cut by about 3 p.m. and there was nothing left for everyone else to do, so they went back home (and BB prepared to go to NY... I wonder how his trip went?). In the next few hours I prepared to evacuate our personal stuff. Laundry to be folded, computers, curriculum (all the good books we read), a few final groceries, and all the essential papers we need.
Why did it take three hours to load our van with what we felt was important? We had to boat it all to the road. The river is now three feet deep in our driveway (remember the low spot?).
Next time: Two ways to relieve stress when things are out of your control...
2 comments:
Oh my goodness! What a glimpse into preparing for a flood. Somehow I must have been missing this post for the last week or so...hence my lack of comment.
Don't we now know that everything is okay out there? But its the "not knowing" that is really so scary, isn't it?
Family is soooo good to have around in a crisis...okay, family is ALWAYS good to have around!
Meg, I've been trying to tell you that I'm cheating. There's a way to pre-date your blog entries. I've put a coded message in each blog on which I've done that. That's why you are missing all my posts. Until I'm done with the river saga, I'll keep doing it.
Just for you: We are in our house. Everything is getting better. We all have sinus issues that are driving us mad - mold is the culprit we hope, not E. Coli.
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