Black Cherry IBC and Sand

The very idea. Giving a 7 yo black cherry soda for his birthday. The nerve of some mothers; they're obviously rich beyond compare such that the idea of ever cleaning up after such a gift would cause so much trouble would never cross their minds. How dare them.

Really, I'm glad for the gift. It's a mixed blessing, you see, I don't like cherry flavored drinks - unless it's cherry coke (with caffeine that I'm not supposed to have!) or a cherry blo-pop. Why don't those set me off? I guess black cherry IBC is better chilled! However, all my kids like the black cherry IBC flavor. That's the other side of the blessing, M gets to share. It's really fun to watch him do what he's been taught to do. He does it very well and quite naturally. So as they are sharing, S who is always unsettled in his chair at the table, does a 360 with his cup in his hand. There you have it. The source of my new carpet stain. A really rich mom would've had the kids drink it out on the brand new deck, but apparently I'm not that smart.

So, how is all this a real blessing you ask? I have a routine for carpet stains which is why my carpet isn't more stained than it is. It involves a hoover mini-vac that pretty much inhales just about everything in it's path. It's famous. I have friends who borrow it just for special occasions. Well, I worked long and hard on this stain - did I mention that it was black cherry IBC stain on my carpet? I worked on it twice. It may be time for professional help. I digress. When I emptied out this awesome mini-vac which had worked for a very long time on these stains There must have been an entire cup of sand.

We live on beachy sandy soil so sand in the house is a given. But this was ridiculous. How could I clean this area and collect an overflowing cup of sand? Well, apparently this is an overlooked area of my house. It's kinda gross, really. And I use RESOLVE (You know the commercial I'm thinking of right?!) But that's not all. Tonight I picked up the living room specifically so I could vacuum after all the kids had gone to bed - I hate vacuuming in the day time, I have no idea why. I took special care to vacuum the aforementioned area. Again, I picked up an overflowing cup (I really didn't go to the effort to measure it exactly) in my wonderful spectacular fantastic Bissell Healthy Home Vac. If I thought you'd read it, I'd tell you more about my vacuum and how I decided to get it. Suffice it to say, a dear friend bought one, recommended it with caveats and now I own one.

So, to all my friends who've visited before, I'm sorry. I had no idea there really could be that much sand in one area. Guess I'll have to vacuum that every day like Danny says.

For the record, M even shared a root beer with me.

Pictures, as promised

For a full view of all the pics we have of the flood visit this link.

Before we get started you have to appreciate the full effect of Fay on our family. The frequency of baths for the boys increased beyond anything they'd ever experienced. S is obviously exhausted from all the excitement...
When MM arrived home this is what he saw. He towed the boat to the drive and put in right here. Anything going to the house had to be boated in.


Until Fay, this is the highest I had ever seen the water rise.




When I arrived home, this is what I saw. The water had gone down enough that three boys and I walked across, albeit not on dry land like Moses... Now the boys were trapped in the house again and the smell, uh, the smell - anyone got a cold they'll share?



At MMs request I began taking photos... This is what I saw when I walked into our "basement" (please help me come up with a good word that convey's the area's true role). Look closely: There's silt all over the floor - and MM has been working hard all day. The sawhorses made it but many other things didn't.





Here's MM pointing out some things that made it. The bikes all received a good washing with WD-40 and they still work. It truly is shameful that we weren't able to put up more of these things.

See what I mean:

This is a view from our back porch. Most everything you see here is now at the dump. Some things were salvagable, but mostly, it was all just wasted.









The two big speakers near the tree on the left were pillaged by L for the magnets. We need to do something with them but for now, we have them and the speakers are gone... Why didn't we just get rid of them before now? Do you hear the regret?


This shows how much lumber we had stored for various reasons. Some was salvaged but some of it was gorgeous oak veneer ply wood that would have made a great TV stand. Some of this wood made up some really old saw horses that were held together by particle board. We had upteen heavy objects stored on them. When the sawhorses collapsed, all of the stuff went under.
Just when we thought we'd never see the light of day shining on our "basement" we managed to remove much of the silt that coated the floor and walls. Many things have been thrown out of the basement by now, but how will we get it to the dump? (ENTER Mr. N.G. himself:)






Through his help and encouragement, we discarded three truck loads of crapola. It's a good thing his wife is so easy going... Before the day was over power was out again :( a line dangled in the wind and shorted the power lines rendering us "powerless". I packed up the HB patties I had just bought, wrangled up some buns and was on my way to their house for the evening. I can't begin to express how much that meant to us. For just a few hours we were able to relax and not worry about anything - except the ebb and flow of the river across our driveway - when will it end?

A few days later another df (didn't get a picture!) arrived to give just a couple hours of her time to listen to me lament our state of affairs - and clean some mini storage drawers. Her presence and the words of encouragement received from friends and family made it possible to look up once again. Father God is so good at meeting me right where I am.

I have one more set of pictures to share about the damage a flood can render on a place, but it'll have to be for another day.