I am so tired. We started on the back yard and cleared the deck and downward path. In a previous intervention, Alice’s son had moved clutter to the outside in order to make more room in the house. He  covered everything with a tarp, but that was five years ago. The vines had grown over everything. The tarps were brittle and broke open when we tried to move them. We had to re-bag everything. Most of the stuff had decayed. It was a mess.

Kathy had a close encounter with a 5-foot snake. It was hard to say who was move scared — Kathy or the snake. We found lots of other nests as we went through the pile of clutter I was sorry to turn so many creatures out from their homes, but it had to be done.

Nothing in the back yard was salvageable. It was a long, hot afternoon with lots of heavy work. Tempers were short, but we accomplished so much. Every day we clear a little more.

Kathy, Rick and the guys also cleared part of the crawl space today and found many rat’s nests. We needed the space cleared so we could repair the cracked crossbeam. We still have more to do in the basement. It is so moldy and dusty that it’s hard to work pulling clutter out for more than two hours at a time.

Brandon Frazier installed the first of the organizing shelves in the basemant and put up  vertical blinds upstairs (we found a new package of blinds under a pile of clutter). We were able to move some valuable items back into the house — stored neatly! Thank you, Brandon, for lending us your carpentry skills.

I met Rick for the first time today, although I have previously heard many good things about him and his wife, Denise, from Kathy. He was wondering why I didn’t mention on yesterday’s blog that he and Kathy loaded 15,000 pounds of trash by themselves. Sorry, Rick. I am mentioning it today. That is a lot of trash to move. We have loaded five dumpsters and five dump trucks, so trash loading seems routine now. It is amazing how quickly you get used to it. Rick and Kathy did set the record for the most trash loaded in one day by two people. Thank you for the help.

Alice went out today to put up some flyers in pottery stores in order to sell the kilns and ceramic molds. She was out most of the day. She was working on sorting the bathroom early this morning.

Tomorrow, we are going to try and clear the rest of the house. There is still a lot of clutter in the three bedrooms. I think the house will breathe a sigh of relief, along with us, when this is finally done.

—Reported and photos by Jackie Wells Smith

Day 10 photos below.

This is the area that goes up to the deck; before clearing. The area to the right is completely grown over with vines.

Alice's son moved stuff to the backyard about five years ago to make more room in the house, but it didn't survive the weather.

The trail of trash was home to rats and snakes until today. Layers of clutter were rotted and decaying.

It's cleared, but we still have to do under the deck.

The trail is clear. We still have a wooden and a metal shed to investigate.

The deck is clear and is in good shape.

Brandon installed some vertical blinds we found under the "stuff."

Brandon has started installing the storage shelves in the basement