clean up

We started to clean out the houses yesterday. We started with the refrigerators. Seven days of no electricity does not breed a good environment. My father and me had to take breaks between each refrigerator. (From now on, I will try my best to keep the refrigerator cleaned out weekly.) We succeeded in cleaning out nearly the entire chateau. It was a mess. The tables were falling apart, and the phone books and packs of paper were expanding. Black mud covered everything, and the stench was almost unbearable. After getting most of the items out of the house, dad washed the inside out with the water hose. It was nice to see the floor again, and the smell of swamp dissipated.
After we got the dry items out which were in danger of being destroyed by falling furniture. As we finished getting all the dry items out and cleaning out the chateau, rain started falling on the salvaged items. I turned to dad and asked him when we would be waking up from this nightmare.
I started to remove the cds from my home. It will be a daunting task because I will need to remove them all from the cases, throw the cases out, and clean each in both water and alcohol. I owned a little over 1000 cds. Most of my vhs tapes should be ok, but the vcr is gone.
As hard as yesterday was cleaning out my parents home and throwing away items we just moved into the house (along with tables I remember eating at when I was a kid), throwing away my own possessions and furniture will be heartrending. All of my computers have started corroding. My ps2, playstation, gamecube, n64, dreamcast, nintendo, super nintendo, edgar’s stereo system, television, cameras, and video recorder will all need to be thrown away. Edgar, amanda’s father, wants to try to clean them, but the rust and corrosion have already started. Some of devices still have water sitting in them, which drains as I move them.
I convinced Amanda to not keep her clothes that were left in the house. They stink of swamps and mildew. I can only guess as to what was in the water that they sat in for days. It is funny the things that are high and dry are the items that could most easily be lost. Items I hardly remember. Items I put up on the high shelves because I could not bring myself to throw away at the time, but have not needed for years. These are the items that we would leave in the attic or storage until the next move then put them back up in the attic or storage until the next move. The boxes kept increasing until they would not fit on the top shelves, so some of them have “disappeared”. It is for the best. When we move the next time, it will be easier to pack.