By her 25th trip to Joe Albi Stadium, Lou Carver was sick and tired of this disastrous ice storm.
The Spokane woman lost her van, part of her garage and a window in her home when a 100-foot blue spruce split into pieces in her yard.
"We're trying to deal with the worst of it right now," she said as she grabbed the last armful of branches from the back of a friend's pickup truck. "And we've been working really hard."
So were thousands of others in the Inland Northwest who lugged debris to collection sites and landfills on Saturday. For many who worked all week, it was the first day to assess damage and clean up littered yards.
It smelled like Christmas as pickups, horse trailers, pop-up campers and even a sports car unloaded tons of sappy pine swags, berry-speckled branches and ice-crusted maple boughs into huge mounds in Albi's parking lot.
Dump trucks from Rob's Demolition spent the day hauling debris from the stadium to the North Side landfill, where it will be buried. Some debris will be composted, but most will be burned at Spokane's incinerator, said Solid Waste Director Dennis Hein.
At the Kootenai County Transfer Station, cars dodged tree branches in the lanes of Ramsey Road leading to the site.
Pickup after pickup trundled to the transfer station Saturday where two attendants helped unload the ice storm's casualties.
"This is our first. We probably have three or four more," said Richard Dunn, after adding a load of limbs to the mountain of wood debris.
"This pile has tripled since Wednesday," said Doug Goodwin, assistant manager of the transfer station. On Thursday alone, the station took 250 tons of debris.
"Usually this time of year we don't have anything, until after Christmas when the Christmas trees come in," Goodwin said.
The traffic was steady, giving attendants Donny Webb and Troy Barkl little time to rest.
"It's nuts," Webb said, after helping Mike Aguda unload ice-covered branches from his pickup. "It's been nonstop."
But his work was appreciated. Aguda thanked him with a friendly slap on the arm. Another man gave him a Big Gulp.
A pause in the stream of traffic prompted Barkl to fling himself into a snowbank for a breather.
"My arms feel like rubber," he said. "I've seen some people five times today."
Back at Albi stadium, Leif Hart emptied his trailer and filled his pockets at the same time. Hart owns a tree removal service.
"I hate to admit it but business has been good," he said with an ear-to-ear grin.
Hart said, as far as tree damage goes, the North Side was hardest hit. "The ponderosa pines are snapping like uncooked spaghetti," he said.
Joe Cox and his friends were helping members of their church, Zion Christian Center, clean up after the storm.
"We're doing this for our friends and they're without power," said Cox, 21. "That's what makes it worse. I mean, how much should I charge?"
Lou Carver had an answer.
"Nothing," she said. Countless men have approached her with offers to haul away her blue spruce - for a price.
"These young inexperienced boys are coming up to my house asking for $25 a hour," she said. "That's more than I make and I don't like it."
A city code enforcement officer at Albi tried to put the day into perspective for the weary-eyed who trekked to the site.
"I'm glad to see people cleaning up because it makes less work for later," said Scott Emmerson.
"If they don't clean up their yards now, I'll have to go to them in two weeks and serve them notices for yard waste violations."
