Here are just a few tidbits of info I’ve picked up as I’ve been around the houses.
- By Day 3 all of the homes had all the stuff cleared out of them, the carpet ripped up and the sheet rock cut out or taken down. An insurance adjuster who had come to one of the homes said he had never seen anything like it. Usually he pulls up and people are sitting in their yard waiting for someone to come and do something about it and get the professionals to come and clean it up. He said, “you are definitely a special breed here.” Bahahaha….he has NO idea! =)
- Another insurance adjuster that I believe looked at Ernie and LeAnn’s home said that if they had have paid professionals to come in and clean up what was done there, it would have cost them $50,000 just for the clean up. So if you don’t think these volunteers have made a difference, you’re wrong! But I think that more than saving money, they have lifted hearts and given hope! That right there is PRICELESS!
- The Bostwick’s house has been officially condemned. These two pictures below are their house. They are directly behind the business complex and took a direct hit from the beginning.
- Tires from the automotive store on the main road were found in Shelby Frei’s field down below the Anderson’s house. It’s also got an extra foot or two of dirt/mud. Kent and Shelby had just planted and put new piping in a few days before. Robbin is planning on taking a metal detector through the field. She figures there’s a bunch of buried treasure in there now. She’s probably right. As I was handing out ice and water to a guy in the Johnson’s yard, he uncovered a PEZ dispenser. And based on all the food I saw in Dunkley’s yard, there’s bound to be a few more good things buried in that field. Someone may just geocache that, huh?
- Many of the homes with basements had them filled to the top of their stairs (basement ceiling). Here’s some pictures of the Westbrook’s basement. She is Ernie and LeAnn’s daughter. Double whammy in this family. (Thanks to Martsi Strong for these pictures.)
- Ernie and LeAnn’s house does not have a basement. The water line on their main level was at 5 feet.
- LeAnn and Ernie also have a daughter who lives on Arrowhead Circle that got hit hard. So sad that they couldn’t even help each other because there were both buried in water and mud. Here’s her daughter’s house. She teaches preschool so a lot of her preschool families have been coming and helping clean and dry off school stuff.
- It’s Swiss Days at the end of this month and all through Santa Clara are cute wooden cows. They are symbolic of all the cattle in Switzerland. Different families and businesses put their cows out for the whole month of September. The streets look so cute with all the cows lining them. This cow stands in the Lang’s yard. Lois made sure I took a picture of it because with all the water and all the damage, this cow did not move. I think it’s rather symbolic of the stubborn Dutchman’s. Sometimes, you just can’t get them to move on an idea– especially if it comes to parting with their money. ;o)
One last tidbit to support the cow theory…..As I drove past LeAnn and Ernie’s on Monday, things were almost all tidied up and here stood this:
Maybe these cows really are representative of our little town. Just a tad of comfort and normalacy among all the tragedy and discouragement. It almost says, “you can knock us down, but you can’t take us out.”
Ironically, my missionary son sent this quote in a letter to my mom this week:
“We cannot expect to learn endurance if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult.” –Robert D. Hales
I think Santa Clara is winning the “endurance” prize. From pioneers to current day, enduring to the end seems to be what they do best.