Need Some Mulch?

Alright, enough with the Florida-related postings, I know. But I have one more topic I wanted to write about. One of the things that really surprised me last week was just how much damage Hurricane Katrina did in south Florida, and how much of it still hadn't been cleaned up. The area around where my grandmother lives, already depressed and older looking, was marked by crumbling stone signage and a great many tree stumps. You could now see greater distances from one place to another than you ever could. Worse, I think, were the trees that were ripped from the ground; many of the stumps haven't been righted (which left large holes in the ground) and the spaces had not been cleaned up. Aside from being an eyesore, it was just dangerous. Over by my parents' place, about 20 minutes away, there were large piles of trees and branches, sitting right off the golf course, just waiting to be ground up into mulch. I know that Katrina left a lot of damage in its (her?) wake, but the way the story has been reported, you'd think it was all in New Orleans or the neighboring areas. Sure, life in south Florida wasn't affected nearly as much as it was in other places, largely because the damage in south Florida — while significant — didn't compare to that in New Orleans. But considering Katrina hit four months ago, seeing these things, and seeing them just sit there like an accepted part of life, was like a lingering reminder that there's still a lot of cleanup work to do in more places than most people realize.