Exhaustion

Today we got to it. Our work crew was Rossana, myself, Jose' and Richard. We were part of a larger group tasked with taking down two trees and clearing debris. As we drove around the city only one thing comes to mind. This place looks like a war zone without bullet holes. Near the coat, where we were it was as if the area had been bombed or shoved off their foundations. Yet some houses mysteriously survived unscathed.

We worked hard but there was still some down time while the men folk stood and discussed how best to take down the trees. One large tree rested against another. Getting the first one down was tough, but taking the talled one was made more difficult because it was already leaning. If we cocked up it would destroy two houses. In the end we got both down safely. The other crew were mostly firefighters from Indiana. They weren't leaving until those trees came down. We had lunch back at base (PB&J) and then back out to another sight to clear more debris. There was some miscommunication and the pther part of the team was held up at another site. We met up with them to finish a job and moved on to the last job of the day. Another damn tree wedges against another. This one hung over a neighbors FEMA trailer and if we cocked up if would crush it. Doyle, a good ole boy with a trackton on the firefighter team successfully got the tree out. It was shortly hacked up and out by the curb. There are still piles of debris around the city and this is ten weeks after the event. At first things were so bad you could find streets through the debris.

Not far from the worksite was a wafflehouse we had eaten last year during a convention. It was destroyed. Next to it was a barge the size of a large apartment complex that had been washed ashore. Everywhere you look is devastation in this area. But people are cleaning up. The rebuild is in progress. The first Casino should be open in December. The air force base was damaged but in fact wasn't destroyed.

So tired. I'm getting a shower and a rest before dinner. More later.