Well, we have a good start on clean-up from Sunday’s storm. But it’ll take awhile.

We spent most of yesterday cleaning up the major stuff…downed trees, clearing out George’s soaked room, picking up fence chunks, etc. Today we’ll start coming through the yard, piling up debris, deciding what’s salvageable and what’s beyond repair. Measuring windows, figuring out which doors will need to be replaced, making plans.

It’s actually a great way to take stock of what you need, what you don’t and where you want to go from here. It’s a tough way to do it, but it gets the job done in a hurry, that’s for sure!

Two of my nieces are here to help watch the boys at my Mom and Dad’s while I’m out here getting things settled down. The girls have been such a help! I would rather the boys not see things the way they are, and have things look a little cleaned up by the time they come out here. (Plus, it’s so much easier to do things without the “help” of a 2- and 4-year-old.) I have pictures to show them when they want to see what it looked like, but sometimes this is a little much for me, I can’t imagine involving them right now.

Thank you to everyone who has given us encouraging words, stopped and talked, helped out and pitched in. We live in a wonderful community, and with so many having so much destroyed, it’s just amazing to see it all come together.

Mark hooked up the generator first thing Monday morning.

The Dakota Valley Electric crew was AMAZING and worked hard and fast to restore our power. THANK YOU!!!

My Dad can't use a regular chainsaw, thanks to his pacemaker, but he did what he could with his electric chainsaw. It worked wonders!

The roots on the cottonwood were amazing. Not the easiest job to get out!

This was the pile from day one...let's see what today brings!