A Well Oiled Machine

     Anyone who lives around these parts knows that we were recently hit with a big storm.  With the ground already being saturated with rain, lots of big trees were uprooted by the wind along with countless broken tree limbs.

     The clean up process has been slow simply because it has been hard to find a spot to put countless limbs and other tree parts.  The streets have been lined with piles of tree debris for a couple of weeks and although it is understandable, it has been kind of depressing.  It's hard to make one's yard look nice when there is a huge fence of tangled wood lining the front of the property.

     Suddenly, there was light at the end of the tunnel.  I could hear the reverse warning beepers going off and it seemed to be coming from all directions.  Then came the loud whoosh of air brakes releasing and Runtly decided he had about all the excitement he could stand.  Within minutes, he was safe and sound, back in his blanket covered kennel.

     I went to the front porch as to inquire about all the noise and realized a well oiled machine had been put into motion.  As far as I could see, at every intersection up the street, sat either a large flat bed truck or a dump truck.  Between the trucks was a large yellow machine with a set of giant jaws on the front along with a smaller "bobcat" machine with its own set of grabbing jaws.  It was the most well orchestrated attack I had ever seen.  These machines grabbed, plucked and gobbled up huge piles of branches and would then deliver them to the trucks. When the trucks were full, they would leave and the ballet of branches would move up to the next waiting truck. I thought having one of these jaw grabbing monsters might come in handy if ever I needed to re-arrange a few large rocks, but I was sure my husband would not join in my enthusiasm.  

     I watched this until they were no longer in sight.  With a good portion of the debris gone, I was so inspired I decided it was time to pull some weeds out of the driveway.  Since the noise level had dropped considerably, I retrieved Runtly.  Runtly likes to help do whatever anyone happens to be doing at the time, and pulling weeds was no exception.  I was trying to be sure to shake as much gravel out of the roots as possible before tossing crab and water grass clumps into a pile.  Runtly had a much better idea and proceeded to attack the clumps, shake them with a vengeance and send rocks and dirt flying in all directions.  It wasn't long before my shoes were filled with grit.

     It ended up we spent most of the day weeding, mowing and trimming.  When it was all said and done, things sure looked nice.  Seeing so much of the mess gone felt like a breath of fresh air and a knowing that soon, things would be back to normal.

     I later learned that the trucks had come from surrounding communities to help with the clean up.  It is good to know that in times of trouble, if we would just ask, there are people and places that are more than willing to help.  That, in itself, is a well oiled machine.