Checking in the Cleanup

 

Storm and Stress: Tulsa's Cleanup Renewal

The cleanup around here is still a long way from being done.

Who needs grass?

The piles of debris still litter the front half of everyone’s yard. I have broken limbs in two spots, it was easier to drag the back half to the street side, and the front half to the avenue side. I’m not trying to make extra work for the guys who are responsible for hauling it all away. But it didn’t seem to make a difference at the time. Literally every house on my block has something from the storm that happened over 3 weeks ago. I expected the cleanup to be slow but I didn’t anticipate it taking this long. That was naïve. Driving around the city should have clued me in on the devastation, and subsequent delay in hauling away the detritus.

I had all the fallen brush piled up in the front the morning after the storm. The last bit was hung up in my neighbor’s tree. Both of our trees lost limbs on the same side after a massive crack in her, much larger tree. My pear, caught much of her (Chestnut I guess?) and held it up like a hammock supporting a family of sumo wrestlers. Pear trees are notoriously weak and mine poor, abused lightweight is starting to groan under the strain.

My neighbor must have paid someone to cut the branches and drop them in the yard. That’s considerable cheaper than having them haul off the limbs and take down the dead trunk occupying the yard. But now we both have a lot more cleanup on our hands. I’ll save mine for Saturday. I just didn’t feel like it tonight. I’m tired.

Who needs cable?

To top it off, I still don’t have cable. I subscribe for the internet. I don’t have a TV package anymore. I learned years ago how wasteful it was for me. Rarely did I sit down and watch a show, or even record one. Those DVRs provided for by the cable company became ruinously expensive. And for what? You can catch most shows, if that’s your thing, on Hulu in the same season. I watched the whole first season of Animal Control (Hulu) this year. Last year I caught the Ryan Reynold’s soccer team show (name escapes me now). Ryan and Rob McElhenney purchased a bottom of the rung soccer team from Wales and loaded it up with talent. It’s a great idea for a business, not to mention a show. But catching prime time television shows while they air… that’s so 90’s.

The cable tech was supposed to be here today. I set it up for 1:00 to 3:00. But knowing that I couldn’t leave work for a full 2 to 3 hours I made a point to tell him to call first. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. You know when you’ll be in the area, say 10 or 20 minutes away, give a courtesy call. It didn’t matter that I put in on the ticket. It didn’t matter that I’m only 15 minutes away and can leave work at get back home quickly. He didn’t call. I called Cox to find out why my carefully laid plans produced fuck all. They were apologetic but told me the tech showed up and called. “Bullshit” I told them (I didn’t say bullshit). He never called me. He might have shown up when I wasn’t here but the time he reported was all wrong. His notes say 2:55. I got back home from work to check at 2:50. So he’s a liar all the way around.

Who needs peace of mind?

I had to settle myself down before calling. I didn’t want to unload on some poor phone jockey, who is just regurgitating information off a screen. It helps that they were nice. I don’t know why it does, but it does. Complete sympathy without pretense or excuse making is such a soothing sound when you’re pissed off. I’ll remember it the next time a customer calls the store in an anxious mood. My attitude from the start of this devastation has been, understanding and patience with the electric company and the cable company and the guys cleaning up. Sometimes is stacks up though and you explode for a minute. The truth is I can live without the internet for a little while. I’m watching network TV on an antenna and it’s not that bad. I miss Netflix of course but I’ve been over at my mom’s a few times to get online and upload an article or two.

I’m lucky to have a place to go. Hopefully in another two weeks the debris crew will have made a pass through my neighborhood. For now, I’ll just learn to be content. The power is on. I have food and drink. My car works perfectly. There was no damage to my home in a storm that ruined so many of them. I’m grateful for it all. I guess I’ll just watch the local news and Rosanne reruns until the internet comes back online. I can handle that.