Oh, and it's Official!

The extremely gross crock pot is gone! It's resting comfortably in the Cowlitz County landfill. Uh, Michele, you thought that enamel pot on the back deck was bad - this was ooky. The contents were crawling 5 years ago when Gary first went to toss it. Grandma had a fit and told us she'd take care of it. We drove away knowing she was lying to us. Needless to say it was far more ooky this weekend. Why the Cowlitz County landfill? We only managed three brutal loads on Saturday while the dump in Long Beach was open. But we were far from being done. So we brought a load home. That allowed us to toss two very gross twin bed sets from the loft. And the crock pot. 'bout time!

We Knew You Wouldn't Believe!

Maybe it's time for some before & after shots? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Hmmmm, maybe a thousand pounds of garbage??? We now have power - it was weird last weekend, the lights worked but not much else - the PUD says they have fixed a "cone leak" problem. And we have water! And hot water! Yay!!! The entryway before & after: Yeah, I used half that box of spic n span!! Wish I'd had some PINESOL! The fireplace area: This wall along the fireplace is where all our damage is. The wall is going to need to be replaced. If you look closely, on either side of the fireplace about 6" up from the floor - you can see daylight.....sigh... The loft.... The main area (before photos of the mountain of crap in previous post....). Here' s an after shot from the loft. Ok, yeah, the hanging red lamps must go..... Tomorrow we're headed to Battleground, WA to empty out one of the storage lockers. Wish us luck...

Dear People!

Please don't leave your garbage for your children/grandchildren. Ahem! Yeah, sure, I inherited a beach cabin. I also inherited approx $225. worth of TRASH! Gary and I busted butts to get three trips to the Long Beach dump on Saturday (they're only open from 10 am - 2pm). We were exhausted last night, but the mountain of CRAP is gone! The turn-of-the-century-in-not-a-good-way couch is gone! Three sets of mattresses and box springs are GONE! Over 1000 lbs of trash ARE GONE! Being giddy following numerous trips to the dump sounds weird - but it is such a liberating feeling! Photos and more text later. I'm tired. And Gary keeps calling me a slave-driver....

The Meat Locker....

That's what I dubbed the very gross back pantry - the room with the dead freezer full of very rotten meat. I found an old note in Grandma's things that discusses item disposition in case of her death. I think she wrote this about 1990 or so....she wanted the meat to go to a shelter. I'm thinking even if the freezer had remained on, that would be some pretty awful meat - well aged - ick! And in case you didn't believe Jon's comments about canned goods and the end of civilization as we know it...here is another view of Grandma's canned goods stash in the meat locker.... We're headed down to the beach again this weekend. We have several dump runs to make. The idea of renting a large dumpster was a good one, but quickly squashed when no reasonable priced unit was to be found. Here is the bulk of our sorting efforts last weekend: There is another pile of similar magnitude in front of the fireplace....ugh!

First Pass

While the gals worked inside the house, sorting through Grandma's belongings, Gary and I began our day outside, trying to clear the jungle. There was a really nice redwood deck on the back of the house that looked like this:
So, I got out the pruning shears and a broom, and Gary wielded a weed whacker, and we ended up with it looking like this:
Terry already posted a picture in her first entry showing the "driveway" at the front of the cabin. After Gary worked his whacker magic, the driveway looked more like this:
There was a pantry at the rear of the house, which contained a freezer and a refrigerator. Unfortunately, when the power was turned off, the meat in the freezer rotted, the gases forced the door open, and the rotting juices spilled all over the floor, rendering the area uninhabitable except in full hazmat gear. The pantry also contained massive quantities of canned goods, saved for the total collapse of society.
The freezer and fridge were hauled away by furtive Mafia figures, to an undisclosed location.

Rustic Rescue

The power was off, as was the water. The urge to deep clean was strong! However, we knew we had to sort through everything in the house, saving some, tossing others. We ended up with 4 piles: family stuff to keep, stuff that should stay in beach house, yard sale pile, and finally the largest pile: the garbage! The yard sale pile soon became dwarfed by the garbage pile, the two may have merged. When Gary and I first entered the cabin, we were horrified. It really looked like someone had tossed the place. But upon closer inspection, ahem, it became clear that this is how the place was left, 5 years ago! Yuck!!! The kitchen was just awful, the nasty crockpot was still on the counter, heavy with unmentionable contents right where Gary was forced to leave it 5 years ago. There were plastic bags tucked in many drawers as well as laying about. Numerous zip-lok bag stashes in each room(?). There had been hoarding of many things going on over the years! The living room couch was Grandma's favorite location and it was really bad: The bedroom was equally nasty: My Grandfather's study (which I remembering him being so proud of) was a complete train wreck. It took me over 5 hours to sort through the mess. And it was by far the worst room for mold. You could not hardly go upstairs - ok, you could climb the stairs as they were clear. However, the floor upstairs could not be seen for the enormous pile of CRAP up there. I'm thinking all of that had been there for a LONG time! We found tons of old clothes. Sometimes it was difficult to tell who the original owner was, but sadly most were not worth saving. Michele took the two bags-worth of what was salvageable home. Maybe those can be sold at a vintage clothing shop? We left these stylish pants in the cabin: There was mold everywhere, as well as rat droppings. We had to gear up with the proper PPE so none of us would become ill. Here, Michele is modeling our beachwear. Hmmmm....we did sort of wonder what the neighbors would think!!! Or perhaps they weren't that suprised.

The Saga Begins....

Decided to start a blog for the Beach Cabin. It will be a long story, so figured a blog would do. This photo is of the front of the beach house - you can barely see it, let alone approach the front door! Gary, Jon, Michele and I survived our initial gathering at the Beach Cabin. It wasn't pretty - the rats have been everywhere and the heat has been off (mold!). It was overwhelming from both a visual as well as an olefactory position! Now off to find good online photo storage so I can post photos here. No one will believe the story without the photos....