Barn find.... today | Page 29 | FerrariChat

Barn find.... today

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by davehelms, May 29, 2012.

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  1. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    Hellion's both, each owning 1/2 a head of my gray hair!

    A parents ultimate goal, 'live long enough to be a pain in the ass to your kids'.... I'm there.
     
  2. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    Word got to us from the quarry owner at the next morning meeting that the powers that be were working on restricted passes for all of the residents in the area, both to go and return but just once a day. Our model had worked well enough that someone figured keeping these folks out of the shelters and in their own homes, had some merit after all. Many hands were raised with questions pertaining to the reentry system being discussed in town but answers were few, questions were many. The same question asked 15 different ways but still no answers. Then came the game changer question, again from some faceless person in the back "Does Keegan have a first name?" A roar of laughter over came the whole crowd, everyone just knew him as "Keegan", he was the go to guy on the ground, the one with some answers but he knew where to direct the people to get them. "Hell, I dont know, he answers to many names, some verbs and a few adjectives but none of them I know to be his first name".

    Numerous trips were made up to Jane's house that day, filling the generator and just spending a minute to chat. A single light and a functioning coffee pot, that was all it took to relax the nerves, Keegan's humor topped it all off nicely. Jane had learned that her husband was just outside the check points with a generator he had found in Denver, one of the few left on the shelves in the entire state. You could tell Jane was normally quite a shy gal, small in size, her hair tucked into a baseball cap and very soft spoken, she now showed an upbeat and giggly personality with the news of her husband being near home. All was well here so Brian and I headed back to our house as it was approaching dinner time and we found the thoughts of resting on the back deck a fairly inviting idea. It had been a week and then some of constant GO, our daily activities keeping our attention focused to our lists and chores had one day melting into the next. This as it turned out was a blessing for myself as it allowed me to focus on a task and not the destruction surrounding us, something I will be forever grateful for.

    With the next mornings meeting came word that the passes rumored to be in process, had indeed become reality. Each car to be used to come and go from the valley had to have a driver standing in line at the local church that had been used as the main evacuation site, with proof you were from the affected areas. A lot of people in those lines, they wrapped back and forth through the parking lot. Folks had learned patience from the last week plus, what normally would be a mob of cranky people standing in the hot sun, was now simply a social event. Time had now slowed down, folks had learned how to enjoy themselves, now taking advantage of a chance to chat with folks who they had not seen in a while. Precious lessons had been learned by all and the mood was wonderfully comfortable. The afternoon meeting amounted to an opportunity to get the word about the passes to those that had not heard about them earlier. A suggestion was made that the first Saturday of September each year should mark the date with a pot luck BBQ, held at the mailboxes where we had all come together a short time ago. This year that BBQ should be held on the Saturday two weeks from today. A show of hands made the suggestion unanimous and the crowd broke into small groups to plan for the event.

    Daily chores now finished, the work turned to accounting for the monies spent and trying to balance what was donated vs what was spent. The first few days when things were terribly chaotic, money collected at the meeting was simply tucked into our pockets and put in a dated envelope once we returned to the house in the evening. Nothing was counted back then, cash and checks were just tucked away with the hopes that things would balance out in the end. Counting out change, bills and checks and creating and inputting them all on a ledger sheet, the envelope from day 4 brought a big surprise, a check for $1000.00 from a neighbor who lived on the far side of the valley, cut off from ours, who was stuck for days staying with friends on our side. The request at the time was to give what you could and keep track of what you owed so things would balance out in the end. Most everyone knew who was taking more than they were giving but nothing was ever spoken or implied. One neighbors solution for this unspoken problem was to quietly donate vastly more than he used, covering those that were not giving for what they took. The end reality was that everyone was giving more than what they owed, each day we went out. The final count without this neighbors generous donation was still more than what was owed on our combined credit card debt, a debt that amounted to near $8000 in total.

    Brian and I made it a point to personally visit that neighbor before the BBQ, to quietly and privately offer to return the check while thanking him for his beyond generous offer. A gentleman to the end, he refused to accept the return, instead telling us to keep it for the help we were able to provide. A meeting was called with John, Gary, Dave, Todd and ourselves, all agreeing we had no want to split it between us, and agreeing that all overages should be donated to the Lyons Flood Relief Fund that Christy and others had started in town. We would simply name the donation a "heart felt gift from the neighbors and friends in the Blue Mountain area", if all the folks attending the BBQ agreed that this was what they wanted done.

    Skipping forward to the afternoon of the BBQ, I stood on the hood of the Ranch Rat Landcruiser and called for everyones attention once again. Explaining the wonderful problem of them all giving too much and one anonymous neighbor giving vastly more than he used but refusing to accept a return, a roar of applause was given to that kind person that only Kris, Brian and myself would ever know the name of. I then asked for a show of hands of anyone wanting a refund from the over payment we received in those days.... not a single hand went up. At that point I spelled out the suggestion our convoy group had come up with regarding the donation, its name and the fund that would directly help those affected in our local area, one with zero administrate costs what so ever. Every hand in the crowd, not a single one was left down. "Tomorrow I will write a check to the Lyons Flood Relief Fund for $2200.10, from the folks in the Blue Mountain Area.... Thank You All for that!" Once again a cheer and applause, with not a dry eye in the crowd, what a way to start a party... and what a party it was!

    A deep sense of pride showed in the faces of my neighbors there that day, knowing not only did they themselves err on the side of giving too much, but each neighbor standing beside them did as well. Each helped with what ever their specialty was, each gave and shared what ever they had, fences were now just something to cross to check on the folks nearest them. It was the day that a word most often used to describe a location, would now be redefined with a vastly more committed meaning, 'a neighbor' was an obligation, one not to be taken lightly.
     
  3. Julia

    Julia F1 Veteran
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    DAVE! Don't leave us! DAVE!
     
  4. Ak Jim

    Ak Jim F1 Veteran
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    Holy crap Dave, I'd hate to see you leave the Ferrari repair service (who else could I call for help!) but you could seriously be an author, I'd buy everyone of you books!
     
  5. kerrari

    kerrari Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Mountain version of "Lake Woebegone Days" - I love it!
     
  6. rauldejalapeno

    rauldejalapeno Karting
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    Man, was THAT well said!
     
  7. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    I havent been banned yet, just dealing with a set of problems this damn business seems to lay in my lap every now and then. I used to tell Bob that the GTO needed this or that.... and I wouldn't let him out on the track without 'it' being done. "Esoteric, Primadonna, F^*k mechanics..... " he would mutter under his breath as he walked away. I didn't grasp the thought at the time. Hey Bob......Gotcha.... I now know where you were coming from after going through them like changing socks. "Hey doorknob, Pot is legal here...AFTER your off work!" "Next...."

    Kris and I are enjoying the company of 5 young kids and their Mother, staying with us at home while they work through some serious matters... The oldest has a computer that resembles an Atom Smasher, it eating through bandwidth at the speed of heat. I damn sure didn't know that there was a limit to "unlimited", that reached in the first evening with us. I am currently negotiating with said 16 yr old over leaving me a little so I can finish the story and get back to current day events with Joe. Some 45 years working on these Red Sleds, one would think I was equipped to take on and negotiate with a teenager.... Not!

    Garrison was an acquaintance from my days back in the Norwegian Rivera of South Minneapolis, no greater a story teller has there ever been! To this day I still turn the headphones on to PBS to listen to Prairie Home Companion while out on the tractor... it just seems fitting
     
  8. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    I was streaming Napolis and his car on Nurburgring 24, and found the same thing!

    My phone was "unlimited" but when I tied it to ANOTHER phone, as a wifi hot spot, we hit 6 gigs pretty quickly!!

    We had to call to negotiate.
    Everythings negotiable.....
     
  9. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    Try partisipation in a worldwide game of some sort! He looked like the guy in the movie Swordfish, fingers smoldering when he took a break. I didnt impress him with my modified two finger typing stlye!
     
  10. kerrari

    kerrari Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Glad I hit the mark - I was a bit nervous since as an Australian, I wasn't quite sure how current Americans view LWD these days... I was introduced to it by a southern gentleman I worked with many years ago and it reminds me of a kinder, gentler time...


    Looking forward to the next episodes Dave!
     
  11. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    Kris promised she would be shortly behind us in route to the BBQ. It had taken 35 years of marriage but I finally taught her the fine points of how Brownies were meant to be frosted. "You see how the pan of Brownies sinks down in the middle? That is natures way of making sure a few samplings of the pan have the correct amount of frosting applied to them where frosting and brownie are of equal proportion". Years earlier as a kid, having taught Mom the same fine points of baking, she would always hide a few pans of brownies for the Wednesday afternoon Bridge Club. It took some time to find the hiding spot in the basement fruit cellar, but find it I did. Pulling the tin foil off the pan, removing the toothpick that held the foil off the cherished center pieces of Brownies containing the correct levels of frosting.... the only trick was to properly reapply the foil to the pan where it appeared untouched.

    Terror struck Mom as she set the once well hidden pans on the card tables and like unveiling a work of art, removed the tin foil. Everyone of the ladies was already well into the second Manhattan, they were all Mothers of my friends, they knew me well... IF there was a pan of Brownies on the counter when I came home from school... there were three more to be found. In time Mom and the Bridge Club came to expect a pan missing the center pieces, with myself teaching the fine art of center cutting to my friends who's mothers had already witnessed the results. In a social setting it was simply a matter of standing off to the side while others had a chance to whiddle away at the surrounding second class goods, then butting in line at the perfect moment to swoop in on the prized pieces. Its an Art Form, one of the few I have mastered in my life. Kris was in the final stages of making sure the frosting was perfectly level across the length of the pan, when Brian and myself left with coolers filling the back of the old topless Landcruiser I ride fence lines and chase loose cattle, with.

    We stopped along the road to pick up folks walking to the mailboxes with coolers in tow. Too many coolers and no room for people, a few coolers were thrown on the twisted up hood, a result of my first barn blowing over on it and the tractor, we found another cooler would fit between the front seats if I swiveled the drivers seat, now mounted on a fishing boat pedestal I had laying around, to point where a door used to be. No need to reach the brake pedal, the Rat Cruiser hadn't any brakes in the last decade or so, 4wd low range and an idle set too low where all that was needed to bring the lump to a semi controlled stop. I thought we were going to be early but after going without for the time many did, today was a celebration that was beyond plentiful! Four folding tables were only enough for the deserts, four more were located and transported for the side dishes and the Pig! Yet another freak of nature identified, how ladies know what to bring to these types of events, where a complete 4 course meal was always assured? Science cant answer how a simple butterfly can make it round trip to Mexico and back, damn sure none of them want to even take a crack at what female instinct consistently assures these results.

    Both sides of the Valley now reunited and all sharing in the festivities, the fact that there was a road in the middle of the serving table lines never was even thought about. The Larimer County Sheriff that happened on the BBQ had hit the jack pot being as he was out of radio range while in the bottom of the valley. With no superior officers or his wife were present, he darted straight for the pan of Brownies before filling his plate with Pork.... this guy was going to have to be watched closely, he is messing with my game plan!

    I didn't even recognize her standing right beside me... WOWZER! Just a few weeks ago that Mousey little gal wearing a soaking wet barn jacket.... Jane sure did clean up nicely! It was only half way through the introduction of her husband that I finally realized who she was. No baseball cap or scruffy barn jacket today, Tom told me that she ran the well dry the day before when their power came back on. "One bath, followed by another, and then another, I didn't get a big enough generator to run the well pump on top of the rest of the house". We laughed for what seemed 10 minutes, Jane was another, albeit herself without livestock, who would do the full makeup and dress for a morning walk down the road, "she must have been terrified to face you in less that full dress mode". "She was delightful Tom, she never stopped smiling the whole time, her only request being a single light and a working coffee pot, a pretty simple request all in all".
     
  12. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
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    Bugtussle
    Garrison ain't got nothin' on you, Dave. Loving the updates...
     
  13. davidgoerndt

    davidgoerndt Formula 3

    Oct 25, 2004
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    Dave, a little off topic, but you said you were from MN. I went to art school with girl named Merry Helm (early 70's) She was from ND. Just wondering if there might be some relationship. She is an accomplished musician and writer.
     
  14. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    Sorry David, I dont remember that name, ours ends with an 's'. Its the right time frame for myself but all of my Fathers side of my family is Neenah, Menesha and Green Bay WI.

    Was that the art school just outside of Down Town, off Hennipen Ave, if I remember correctly? Some big names from the Sports Car world attended that school. Bill Ames and Dewey Brohaugh created the Peyote and the Ambro Sports Racers, both attending that school. Many years back while still in MN I was privilaged to restore the first Ambro (AM of Ames and BRO of Brohaugh) Sports Racer and then pull Dewey out of a nursing home to reunite him with the car. I was lucky to find photo's of Dewey racing the car in the Met Stadium parking lot years earlier, and have those blown up to 6' x 4', and proped up against the car. The nursing home director was the one who transported Dewey to the shop, then taking many photo's of the reunion, Dewey became a real Rock Star at the home from that day forward!
     
  15. davidgoerndt

    davidgoerndt Formula 3

    Oct 25, 2004
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    David Goerndt
    Opps, didn't see the "s" on your name. Art school I went to was in Moorhead, other side of the state.
     
  16. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2004
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    There were so many individual stories, seen through so many eyes, each having a lasting effect on the person living the moment. To this day these moments are still affecting folks around us, Barry buying 'the land' of the family living below them that lost everything they owned except for what the walked away with the night it all started. Its hard to envision loosing your "land" but that is exactly what happened. Strip away 15-20 vertical feet of land here in the foothills and what is left is a boulder strewn moonscape that in no way resembles what it once was. I met up with Barry at the hardware store this last weekend, he has been filling in that piece of land with backfill he hauls home every night from job sites he is working on... for two years now. Barry is making a piece of land, based on his minds eye memory of what it used to look like.

    FEMA and there Corp of Engineers made the determination that the new river channel carved in by the flood waters would be where the river will stay from this point forward. For those living in town, under the watchful eyes of the Feds, that is a rule that stood.... kinda. For others... the river was put back where it ran for the last few 10's of thousands of years, one rock at a time. "Barry, where did you come up with that off the wall idea... what is the plan?" "The plan is to replace the land, move the river back, sell our house on high ground and build a house next to the beautiful little stream" I didn't even finish a "WTH?" before he looked down and peered at me over his reading glasses... it was one of those "Do you somehow think this was My idea", looks. "OK Barry, when you get done with your Wife's Honey-Do novel, my wife wants the water line from the cistern to the house replaced and then a plan put in place on how to fix the well, all destroyed by the floods".

    Barry and Merle had waited until they saw a squirrel walk by and pointed it out to the Feds..."Hey, you guys had better get a plan in place to fix the bridge leading into town... we need that done immediately!" Now with the Fed's tasked with herding cats, on a project that would leave them arguing with one another over their new proclamation about leaving the river where it now stood, but replacing a 4 lane bridge, Barry and Merle brought the big equipment down to our Church that sat on the banks of the little stream that a few months back was a 100 yard wide path of destruction. Walkie Talkies were used in place of cell phones that didn't work up here in the hills, with 3 different watch tower sites posted between the church and town, in place to warn the B&M team in the event any Feds came this direction. How the hell anyone thought that they might be able to hide two huge track hoes... this I am not sure of but at least the folks felt they were doing an important task. In the matter of a few short hours the river that was moved from running through the Chapel, to running some 30 yards away from the building.

    Gary had inspected the foundation and was sure he could save the structure... if the river wasn't running under it. No insurance, no bank balance to speak of, and no Federal Assistance for a Church, if it was to ever hold a congregation again it would have to be done while no one was watching, and by a volunteer crew willing to take a risk. The old pool foundation that had saved the structure during the floods, it diverting the majority of the water away from the structure, it was now filled in with boulders the size of cars, and a gently rolling hill placed where one never stood before. Just for aesthetic touch, the B&M team even picked up some trees torn loose by the flood waters, and stuck them on the new hill, pushing them in place by the backhoe arm...."Hey, we need to convince them that this is the way it was for many years... landscaping is a requirement". Massive boulders were placed on the new river bank to complete what was starting to look like a completely natural landscape. Trackhoe bucket loads of water were scooped from the river and dumped on the new river bank to give it a slightly washed away appearance... and used to "soften" the 2 ft deep impressions left by the massive equipment.

    In one day while the Feds were chasing squirrel sightings, B&M replaced missing land, changed the course of the river, built watershed berms that would divert any future floods... and finished a manicured landscape complete with trees and bushes. Now, if only the trees with NO roots would stay standing for the length of time the Feds were in town....
     
  17. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

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    Han Solo
    Thanks for coming back Dave.
    I just stumbled across this thread again by accident. Glad I did.
    I'm still playing catch-up so not many comments except, glad you and family are okay.
    I remember seeing this on the news and thinking this wasn't good.
     
  18. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

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    I just finished catching up on your beautifully written account of the flood and the great community effort that was involved.
    Simply astounding.
    This is one of the most powerful things I've read in years.
    It's so hard to express in words what I feel but I'm sure it's the same as everyone else here.

    Thank you for the reassurance that there are still ordinary people doing extraordinary things for each other in this world.
     
  19. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

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    #719 davehelms, Jun 19, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2015
    It was a terribly powerful thing, a part of me feels guilty we were actually finding ways to try to keep it light hearted and smiling, that while there was so much devastation and loss of life that surrounded us. The first morning when this was still unraveling Brian and myself stood on the bridge watching lifetimes of belongings come down that raging river. It would come in spurts, a cottage torn to shreds would pass us and then nothing... until the next victim of the river would be ripped away, torn up and float by. Brian and I watched in fascination until the moment it got real for me, when some Child's belongings and toys came by us and then propane tanks torn free of the BBQ and then the 500 gallon ones torn free of homes. Both Brian and myself were near certain the death tolls would be well into double digits from what we were seeing come down that river. Given the reverse 911 calls came at 3 AM, had that been an hour earlier I would never have heard it. My day starts at 3 AM, that is my quiet time to get the computer work or research done, for others with a brain, they are still comfortable in bed at that insane hour.

    We were never near to being in harms way, I built our house on top of a solid granite outcropping that is near 200 yards square, with dry river beds on either side of us, some 25 feet lower in elevation. There just happened to be a sale on 3 ft culverts, that being what we used for bridging the dry gulches on the driveway to the house. Until this event all the building codes were based on 100 year events, not ones measured in thousands of years. Even with the 3 ft culvert completely free of debris, the water level was 2 ft higher than the top of the culvert but the heavy rock Barry used to backfill that driveway when he built it, held it all together. The water in the dry gulch behind the house was some 8-9 feet deep when at its worst, still another 20 ft vertical from reaching the house. I assured Kris we were going to be just fine, "we built this house on a rock that is half a city block big and no one knows how deep it goes, at least 40 feet!"

    Every tile in the house is cracked from the hydraulics of the water in these two dry gulches, the well was lost, the water lines to the house, the garage foundation, most of the driveway..... the list is much longer but none of it is life threatening in any way... and of course none is covered by insurance. Why the hell would we need flood insurance? We are built on a rock, 300 ft vertical from a river and 30 ft vertical from a dry gulch! No one could have ever predicted that a rock this size would twist and turn and now with an event of this nature behind us, flood insurance is completely unaffordable. Our losses are irritations, those that surrounded us, having built down by the scenic little rivers..... their version of this story is tragic, far different than my own where we were simply finding the best ways of coping with what we were handed.

    We were privileged to be put in a spot where we were able to lend a hand to those that found it much more difficult to cope with the events. Brian's humor, I think back and realize how important that was at the moment, taking those near tears and making them smile. I think it was Debbie who punched him in the arm while laughing, "stop it, I am sad!". All of the concerns and fears were laid to rest early on as soon as we made the first trek to town and got Lucy and Bob's meds taken care of. The rest was 'stuff', food we were never really short on because those living a good distance from a grocery store, always have a good stock on hand, it was merely the logistics of sharing with those caught short. Then you have what Richard calls the "Earth Muffins", those that only buy fresh organic food daily and stock nothing in the pantry..... in the foothills of the Rockies, that amounts to Nature trying its best to weed out the stupid that walk amongst us. Be it what it may, those too are neighbors who were taken care of, even if we grumbled about them under our breath.

    Mickey is our Church Pastor, a recovering addict, clean for a number of decades now and a person as far from what you would expect a Pastor to be, grateful for everyday he is on the right side of the dirt after living his early life in a tragic manner. With the Church still standing but with a few walls just left dangling and water some 4 ft deep inside, Mickey asked Peggy and Merle if he could hold Church Services in their north pasture the first Sunday following the floods, before the roads were opened and passes granted. Card table chairs were collected from those that had them, little else was needed. Interrupted dozens of times by Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters flying low overhead, now in an effort to evacuate those in the devastated little town of Pinewood, just above us and up the road that no longer existed, Mickey just smiled and said a silent prayer each time a flight came over us.

    Later interviewed by one of the news stations regarding the path of destruction he had witnessed as a Door Spotter of a recon Blackhawk, that Guard member spoke of seeing Mickey's Sunday Service being held in an open pasture. The sight was inspiring enough that it was radioed back to the following helicopters so they too could fly over, filled with evacuees. It was the little things that made a difference in those days... Humor and simple service in a pasture, Mickey didn't mind the interruptions, he was in no hurry and had no where to go at the moment.......
     
  20. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

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    Wow, just wow......
     
  21. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

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    I kind of think of Keegan as a kindred spirit.
    I myself born and raised 350 miles north of Fungus Corner, in the "Land of Slugs and Moss". (Still here too)
     
  22. davehelms

    davehelms F1 Rookie

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    #722 davehelms, Jun 26, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Gary's early efforts on the Church proved to be the magic touch needed to save the structure. A 4 ft sheetrock drying fan that Joe gave me, my shop exhaust system fan that was yet to be hung from the ceiling was put to use and a half dozen squirrel cage fans from discarded dryers... Gary placed them all in the crawl space of the Church's foundation. Generators donated by everyone that could spare one and fuel to run them 24/7 was magically delivered and topped off each day by countless people just wanting to lend a hand. Those efforts early on, orchestrated by a man who knew what he was doing when it came to foundation work, Gary is credited with doing all of the right things needed to save the Church.

    The 'River Church' is just 200 yards down stream of the home of the school teacher at the High School who had lost his life when coming back to his house looking for his wife who was missing at the time but had left the house when she still could. That section of the river was incredibly powerful, it having completely removed the road and the land it was on a hundred yards upstream of the Teachers house. One evening when I attended the evening checks of the generators and fan placements with Gary, we met up with Pastor Mickey in the debris strewn parking lot of the Church.

    Mickey and Gary were very close friends, the type you can invite over to dinner and not feel the need to completely clean and sanitize the house prior to their arrival. One such evening long before the floods occurred when we were still somewhat new to the area, Christy and Gary had invited Kris and myself up to share an evening with Mickey and his Wife. It was an incredibly comfortable evening, something I was really not expecting at all as it had been years since I spent a Sunday morning as a member of a Church congregation. That chance meeting and the following relationship proved to be an rewarding one for our Family in the years that followed. Mickey was a "done that, been there, not going back" guy who was always available to anyone in the Community, no matter the time or place and with no judgement what so ever.... his advise had helped us a number of times prior to the event we were now living.

    Standing in the parking lot with Gary and myself, Mickey told us of the early morning hours when he awoke and felt the need to go down to the Church and collect papers and things he felt could not be lost if the flood took the Church. Mickey stood in the cafeteria area where he said it sounded like a train was just outside the door and when the light was turned on he looked out the wall of windows facing upstream and saw the water level was already at mid window high. Mesmerized, he just stood there for a moment and watched as trees brought down by the raging water, bounced off the double pane glass windows that were at the moment, keeping him dry. "Guy's, you know how deep my belief goes .....but .....but..... tree's bouncing off glass windows, my survival instinct told me to get the hell out as quick as my feet could carry me".

    Walking around to the north side of the Church confirmed exactly what Mickey spoke of, a debris line that was 2/3 the way up the north side windows, with tree bark wedged in door jams and around windows. The East side of the Church had the new 'ground level' some 4 plus feet higher that the day prior. Flood driven silt now was just a foot or two below the windows where days before young kids had to jump up as hard as they could to look inside. The West side wall, this the side the river ran on was left dangling, hanging by roof trusses that were never designed to hold a wall up. Everything west of the Church, the kids playground area, as now in a debris field that stretched some 20 miles downstream. "Believe what you may, you know I stand by that position... tree's bouncing off glass, glass that is still intact after the flood waters receded, that is something bigger than we are". Mickey not being one to speak at length away from the pulpit, it would be a few days before he understood Gary and my own feelings and emotions of the moment.

    It was only after Barry and Merle finished the road reconnecting our Valley, that had been separated by the Little Thompson River in the days of the flood, that Mickey would have a glimpse into Gary and my thoughts. On the opposite side of the river bank stood the silo that Gary and Brian had laid bets on when it would fall, impaled by numerous trees but still standing, followed just downstream a dozen yards by the X Bar 7 Ranch homestead that was torn in half by the battering ram trees, those that had bounced off the windows between Mickey and the river. "His work here is not yet finished", were the only words Gary would speak on the subject, words that I had no argument with....
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  23. merstheman

    merstheman F1 Rookie

    Apr 13, 2007
    4,417
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Full Name:
    Mario
    Holy crap, that's some scary stuff
     
  24. JWeiss

    JWeiss F1 Veteran
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Nov 18, 2010
    7,227
    NYC and Long Island, NY
    Full Name:
    JWeiss
    We had an idea about that way back (post #3 in the story). (At least I'll take credit for that innocent comment being anything resembling an "idea".)

    And yet, who could possibly have imagined how this story would unfold?
     

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