Keeping Things in Order when Cancer Strikes

You know that "Honey Do" list that many of us carry around to make sure the house doesn't fall down into ruin? And how some items on that said list seem to take forever to finish? Well, my friend, I hear you! While I've been struggling with cancer, I have had to ask for help from friends, neighbors and family to help keep things in order.

For example, I was resting when I hear a knock on the door and it is someone from the park next to our house to tell us that our back yard is on fire! I take a look and there is a large gathering of little kids and adults alike gawking at this huge pile of brush burning and throwing flames up into the trees 15-20 feet in the air. This pile was a volatile mix of assorted yard waste such as dried pine tree limbs, rose cuttings and grass that I had collected last summer. Unfortunately, my chipper broke and I was sick with cancer and it was neglected. A few men jumped the fence into my yard, grabbed a garden hose and started soaking the wood
fence. Then the fire trucks came in with their sirens blaring. It looked like they called in 3 brigades and all trained a ton of water on this raging inferno. I admit I was stunned. I looked out into the park and noticed a few of my neighbors watching too, I think they were wondering if their house was next. Thanks to the quick actions of a few friendly people who called the fire department, the fire was doused. Now the fire chief gave me the evil eye and asked me all kinds of questions to determine how this happened. Was someone playing with matches? After looking at my compost pile, I remembered that I had asked one of my daughters to dump the ashes from a fire we had in a Volcano collapsible grill. We had cooked some food on it several days ago. The problem was that there was still some hot ash with a few coals that were deposited on the heap and it smoldered for several days on a dry compost heap. There was also a lot of dried pine needles on the ground. Eventually some of it burst into flame and it traveled to the really big pile.


My three daughters got a lecture about fire safety from the fire chief. Luckily, I wasn't fined or cited. It was an accident after all. I realized then that I had a big problem, a huge fire hazard with all of this wood and kindling scattered about that might ignite again when it dried out. It was the following Saturday when neighbors with their kids came out to help clean up this mess and haul away the wood and brush. Some used chain saws to cut up tree limbs and everyone helped fill wheel barrows of wood. In all, we filled up several trailers and pick up trucks to haul away most of the wood. Then the small residual stuff was placed into yard waste containers that several neighbors volunteered. That was a lot of  work to clear it out and it was still a mess.

I am grateful for Norm Simmons. He is a good neighbor to all. He has the tools and the know how to help you out of a fix. Norm has helped many times with fixing broken fences, gates and even taking down a huge tree limb before it fell down and damaged another fence again. His warm smile, kind demeanor and friendly attitude really brightens my day. In fact, Norm recently came over and repaired a fence and spent 9 hours helping me until it was finished so I could secure the yard so the dogs wouldn't stray into the neighborhood. Thanks Norm, you are a great friend.

Day and night the rain pounded down. We noticed the floor in our subbasement was getting wet and that the water was rising on a sliding glass door window. It started to look like an aquarium. We woke up our girls and starting bailing water to keep it from rising. A large portion of our carpets were soaked and it started to smell moldy. I didn't have the strength to pull up the carpets and dry them properly. We weren't the only ones in the neighborhood to be flooded. Many neighbors stepped forward to help out. Kevin Kirkman came to our rescue. He came over, pulled up the carpet, hauled it outside and set up fans to dry the subfloor. After the carpet dried, he came back to return the carpet and pad into place. He replaced some of the carpet tacking and stretched the carpet back into place. Thank you Kevin, your time and effort really saved the day!

I had to stop the flooding but it turns out the sprinkler valve was jammed with dirt so I couldn't turn it off. Richard Russon, came over one day and within a few minutes he dug it all up and was in a hole 3-4 feet in the ground. He cleared the space around the valve and dumped in some sand to gravel around a new tube and then filled in the dirt. We put a cap on it and now it works better than ever. Richard has also helped with many other small projects around house, like filling in holes in the walls and a door, gluing down the kitchen floor. So many little projects that I struggled to get down and he stepped forward to help me fix them. Thanks buddy, you are friend forever.

I also want to thank Steve and Betsy Williams. These good people have helped me in so many ways, giving me a ride when the car broke down, watching the dogs while we were away, and many other acts of kindness. I love you both and will try to always be there should you ever need my help.