[StBernard] Stinky, Smelly Items

[Westley Annis]

Cindy:

 

We first "pressure-washed" them with a machine using plain water - no
chemicals - (lost ours in the garage - had to buy another one at Home Depot
- another expense). But something you will be able to use later on to clean
all other items.

 

We made a "clothes line" out of rope strung from one tree to another; and
hung the clothes to clean and let dry.  You will be surprised how much of
this muck comes out;  some things you will not be able to get out.  Like you
said, we have "humpteen holey rags" to clean up with now.

 

Remember, this will be no quick job! But it is worth a try to save most/some
of your clothes.  After you pressure clean, wash them in Tide (Cold Water
Only - do not use hot water, that only sets in stains)  You can also use
Woolite (original) on lighter color/heirloom materials that Grandma made and
Woolite for darker color clothes.  I washed clothes for 2 weeks solid -
after I waited 5 wks to get a washer & dryer.

 

Another piece of advice - trousers/pants, etc that have zippers, zippers
will be affected.  They will not budge; I used Murrays Bees Wax (Wal-Mart)
Take a toothbrush, apply the bees wax several times till you remove all the
"grey" area on/around/behind the zipper, continue to apply till you can move
the zipper up & down. 

 

By the way, we are doing this at our "new" home (40 years old) in River
Ridge. (not the Mansion area either) We went from a 4,000 sq. ft. house to a
2,000 sq. ft. house that cost 2 times more and had to spend most of our life
savings.  We are both retired and in our 70's.  We have lived a long time in
Chalmette, really miss it, but we will not go back - you are still under Sea
Level no matter how you look at it.  

 

We lived in Buccaneer Villa South on a corner.  I retired 3 years ago and
worked on my garden, front & back and had it looking like a park with all
kind of flowers/ roses/ magnolia trees.  When I completed it, I stood back
and said, "watch the big one come and take it all away".  I don't think we
could go through this again.  But we will continue to trudge on and go back
each week to salvage what we can; one must take this one day at a time, and
we are thankful to God we have our lives & health - so far.

 

Must tell you this story; we had made a 4-shelf piece of furniture 6' long
by 3-1/2' high for our collectibles (clowns & lions, also cleaned with
pressure washer) we sealed with 3 coats of polyurethane.  We pressure-washed
the shelving, let it dry real good in the sun and it came out looking almost
new.  I would like to suggest it might be a good idea to put polyurethane on
ALL furniture.  It WILL preserve.  All our good furniture just fell apart. 

 

Sorry to have written an epistle.  We wish good luck, patience & good health
to you and yours.  God does not give us anything that we cannot handle.
This is a wake-up call for all of us.  

 

Pat