Arkansas couple helps clear storm debris in Cedar Park

CEDAR PARK, Texas - A large black and red modified dump truck is one of several trucks rolling through Cedar Park hauling off tree limbs.

The truck's hood ornament, a shiny chrome pig, certainly makes it unique.

"It was on the truck when I started driving it. What did it look like originally? It had wings on it, but they broke off, said Kary Middleton.

Middleton and his wife Debbie are what’s unique about this debris collection crew. They're from Arkansas and work for a cousin's Missouri-based company that was brought in by Cedar Park. You could say sawdust is part of their DNA.

"We've been loggers all of our lives. We worked in timber," said Debbie Middleton.

Kary, despite being almost 70 years old, has no trouble operating a metal claw to pick up piles of broken tree limbs, and even small logs. He was asked if he should be in a rocking chair.

"Should be fishing some place," said Kary Middleton with a laugh.

Debbie, meanwhile, maneuvers around the truck sweeping and stacking.

"Oh, we do it for the money," said Debbie with a giggle.

The couple has traveled the country, working one disaster to another for more than a decade.

"We've been to Florida, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana," said Debbie.

The Middeltons typically are welcomed to neighborhoods with handshakes and bottled waters.

"I just like meeting all these new people and help them out," said Kary.

Marty Smith, who was on a walk with her dog, Daisy, was also a little surprised to see who was coming to the rescue.

"And it inspires me too. It makes me want to get out and walk more, see. And they're clearing the sidewalks so we can do that. It's a good thing," said Smith.

In Cedar Park, after the winter storm in early February, its estimated the debris collected, so far, can fill more than 50 football stadiums and stand 100 feet high. The Middletons were asked how this job compares to all the other disasters they've worked.

"Oh, this is easy compared to the hurricanes," said Kary.

Those big storms also leave behind big heartache.

"Probably the cleanup of the house is, you know, whenever the storm comes. They just put all their stuff out on the side of the road. You know, they lose everything on the hurricane," said Debbie.

Retirement, for the Middletons, is not in the plan just yet.

"I wouldn't last for longer, if I'd done than that. I'd have to be going fishing, I'd have to be doing something. I can't sit around," said Kary.

So the focus for now is the next load and the next storm.