Finally!

©2016 Lydia Hinshaw

Matthew debris, awaiting pickup since Oct. 14

Late Monday afternoon, the FEMA truck arrived 

 ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Our street was one of the first to get hurricane debris picked up after Matthew passed by in early October.  In fact, our pickup came so quickly that we, and most of our neighbors, hadn't had time to get our tree limbs and palm fronds out to the street.

 And so we've been waiting about a month for the "second pass," of the huge FEMA trucks with their trailers, a combination that can hold more than 100 cubic yards of junk.

 Monday afternoon, the truck headed down our street, but was filled to capacity while halfway through my next-door neighbor's pile.  The truck roared away, and it was 3:30 p.m.  What were the odds that the crew would make it back before dark?

 Well, they did. At 5:30 they were out front and loading up again.  They got the two piles on either side of the north end of our driveway, and about half of our other big pile, at the south end.  At that point, the crane operator announced that it was too dark for him to continue.  The crew supervisor assured Prince Charming that they would be back first thing Tuesday morning.

 And again they showed up, and finished up the rest of our block.

 This is not a very neat operation, so the Prince and I had to get out and do some post-cleanup cleanup Tuesday.  The regular city crew will be by to pick up yard trash Wednesday, and we have left them a decent-sized offering.

 We now have some large bare spots that once grew ferns and flowers.  But several houses in the neighborhood have blue tarps protecting their roof damage, so we can't complain.