Writing « Robin Writes

No, the bookstore didn’t flood – but our house did! That’s why we closed early yesterday and will be opening late today: at noon.

We have a creek in our front yard. We were told that it was a stormwater creek, that MSD had an easement to maintain it. Not that we’ve ever seen them out here, in 2 ½ years. In fact, my neighbors across the street told us that the creek used to flood a lot, before MSD “fixed” it. That tells me that MSD is responsible, yes?

I Tweeted to MSD yesterday. They claimed zero responsibility for a “creek,” but they get points for sending me a DM and inviting me to call. So I did. Still no responsibility. Apparently, it’s on the homeowner to maintain stormwater creeks in St. Louis County – except we pay a fee every month for this; and MSD took over this job back in the 90s. And the guy I talked to, Lance somebody, had no idea where I live.

I pointed out that we DO keep our section of the creek clear of debris and flowing, partly because it’s fun, yes, and because it’s necessary – and because MSD never comes around to do it. Lance says they have no money. I wonder how much their executive director and the other (superfluous?) admins are paid? At any rate, if there’s a backup downstream because a homeowner DIDN’T clear his section, what am I supposed to do? Hike down there and knock on doors? Pretty sure the stuff disappears into a pipe in the ground, anyway, and not entirely certain where it goes.

Oh, I’m not finished looking into all this…

No, before you ask, we don’t have flood insurance – we’re in a “low to moderate risk” area and the creek hasn’t come up this high in ten years. But get this: we’re in a rather low spot, and on the hill behind us is a subdivision. All of their runoff comes down the hill – in the winter, when the trees are bare, you can see pipes sticking out of the hill – and into our yard. That’s where a big part of the flooding occurred.

At the highest part of our backyard, for years, there has been a continuous mud hole; Missouri American Water says it’s not their problem, even though, technically, it’s their property. MSD says the same thing. No one takes responsibility to fix it. Even a small rain turns our side yard into a marsh. Ninety percent of that is due to runoff from that subdivision.

At any rate, I took pics and video of the water yesterday. It went over our bridge, over the road, over the driveway. It was as high as the axles on my truck at one point. It washed away half of the walls around one garden (leaving the plants intact, I might add!). We found most of the pieces of the wall… We have quite a few branches/posts/beams/junk in the yard – and creek.

Three inches of water in the kitchen and bathroom. Saturated carpet in our bedroom and the guest room. About half the carpet in Carson’s room is wet, where it shares a wall with our room, and it came in, maybe half an inch tops, to part of the living room. Nothing in the rest of the living room except a little by the front door, and nothing in the dining room or office. About 2 feet into the garage, but only an inch deep.

Allow me to explain a little more, and picture this: draw a line in your head – that’s the creek. Then 10 feet or so of grass; another 10 feet or so of driveway, and three more feet of grass. Next, the house.

Along the front of the house is our room, Carson’s room, two sections of living room, office, and garage. In the back, guest room, bathroom, kitchen, dining, and another section of living room, and the garage. Got that? Hmmm. Maybe I can draw it…

Now, does it look like more came from the creek? Or from the back of the house? And I mean the part that came INTO the house! By the way, the top of the pic is the original creek, the bottom is the back of the house. And yes, it looks like a kindergartener drew it, thanks.

My point here is that THIS is why the store closed early and is opening late. We’re trying to dry out. And looking at carpet-replacement options. Sigh.

Remember George Carlin’s shtick about stuff? Can you say that last phrase three times fast?

Today’s topic is stuff. What you have; where you keep it; what you need versus what you want. One of my writer friends, Annie Brewer, blogs and writes books about having stuff – and how to live with less. I don’t presume to know as much about this as she does, but in the context of prepping, I’m going to give you a few tips.

Your stuff. You love your stuff, or at least like it. Or you did, when you bought it. Somehow it accumulates and takes over your closet, your garage, your shed, your basement.

What happens to your stuff if SHTF?

If you bug in, nothing, probably. If you bug out… well, you can’t take it with you! You have to determine what is useful stuff as opposed to non-useful. That’s probably a good idea any time, but especially if, you know…

So what do you do? First, stop accumulating more stuff! For example, last year for Christmas I got my husband a “volunteer” spot at the Senior PGA Tournament that was here in town. Okay, so he also received, from them, a hat, a shirt, and a jacket. But those things are useful.

For Fathers’ Day, we gave him a ticket to go ghost hunting at The Book House in July. Not only does it benefit The Book House, but again, no stuff! And if he brings home a ghost as a souvenir, he’ll be sleeping with in out in the greenhouse…

(As a side note, for Mothers’ Day I got dirt and garden plants = useful stuff.)

Let’s assume you stop the madness; you stop getting more stuff. What do you do with all the stuff you already bought?

First, you have to decide what’s important – like your great-grandma’s rocking chair or your lawn mower. Or your book collection. Divide all your stuff into four categories: important, useful or potentially useful, necessary, and superfluous.

Only you can decide what’s important to you; useful or potentially useful can include all kinds of things and are what you need when SHTF. Necessary, of course, are things that are needed now, before SHTF. Superfluous, well, again, only you can decide that!

Of course, I don’t mean for you to make giant piles of stuff. Make a list. Or start with one room. Here, I’ll give you an example:

Our guest room.

In this room there is a bed, of course, an antique dresser, an antique dressing table and bench, and a small bookshelf. There are also a few pictures on the wall, some decorative fake ivy, a few knick-knacks, and a closet. The closet holds a hodgepodge of, well, stuff.

Obviously, the bed needs to stay in the guest room or it wouldn’t be a guest room. I’m pretty attached to the dresser, because it was one of my first finds and I got a heck of a deal; plus, it’s over 160 years old. And again, guest room! The pictures, too, are important to me, and some of the knick-knacks, like a couple of tin train cars that were my dad’s. All of these things fall under that “important to me” category, so they’re staying. Oh, and the bed too, because it’s “necessary.” The rest of the knick-knacks would probably go on either a “get rid of it” list or a “eh, whatever happens to it, happens to it.”

The closet, on the other hand is trickier to determine. Most of the hanging clothes are dress clothes which we wear… oh, once in a blue moon. Truthfully, some are decades old and should be given away. I seriously doubt when SHTF we’ll be going out to dinner. Or, well, OUT to dinner, but not out to dinner… oh, never mind, you get it, right?

There are also some miscellaneous stuff the kids have left or lost over the years, and a bunch of wrapping paper, boxes, gift bags, etc. Oh, and my ice skates. Don’t ask. A few clothing items I’m rather attached to – as well as those skates – like my old camp staff jacket and shirt. And my great-grandmother’s confirmation dress, which my daughter and I also wore for our confirmations. So, again, a few things which are “important,” a lot that can be tossed. I also store blankets in the closet – these fall under useful (well, in the winter) and potentially useful. So those definitely stay.

Now, my advice to you, using my guest room as an example, is to pack and store the important things; in my case, that would be the photos, those couple knick-knacks, my staff jacket and shirt, and maybe the ice skates. Hmmm. Maybe.

Anyway, keep these boxes/totes/whatever with your cache of food and supplies; have them clearly marked and, if you have to bug out and you have room for any extras, you can throw them in your vehicle too.

Now, tossing or donating stuff can help free up your time – less moving stuff around, less dusting, etc., – but you don’t want to live in a cell either. There’s no reason you can’t have decorative, um, stuff, lying around, brightening up the place. Just know that simple can be good, too. And, if you aren’t attached to the décor, it won’t be as hard to leave it.

And if what’s important to you is packed and ready to go, it’ll be a lot easier to just GO, without worrying about your stuff or trying to run around and collect it all. In fact, it could be very detrimental to health and well-being when SHTF if you have to waste time trying to find the important “stuff.”