We've made tremendous progress so far. The troops - good friends of ours who spent most of the day with us - succeeded in clearing the bulk of the high-value hardwood from the shop up to our place. Other friends camped out with me washing tools and wood. We're washing the wood in dishwashing liquid; pressure-washing lumber can actually drive more dirt deeper into the wood because of wood's porous nature. After washing and rinsing we let the lumber drip dry for a few moments, and then stack it in our Annex. Each stack is loosely packed to allow air to move. We'll set up fans and a dehumidifier.
Our electric company faces tremendous challenges in restoring service to downtown Cedar Rapids and to John's shop's district. His shop building likely will not have power for at least six weeks. Because flood waters and silt breached wiring vaults underneath the downtown area, restoring power in downtown is even more of a challenge. Workers have not yet been able to enter many of the vaults because the vaults are completely packed with silt.
I've attached a video of our progress. We're keeping up our efforts tomorrow.
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