Monday January 7, 2008

Today we went back to the Habitat house in Diamondhead. We worked with some folks from upstate New York, a youth group from Nebraska, and a group from Adelphi University on Long Island. The kids painted again - some of the boards had not had two coats and some worked on the trim. Others built another retaining wall for the driveway. Dave and I worked on the railing for the porch, but were not able to put it together as they didn't have the correct type of screws on site. We then measured and cut triangles to fit into the ends of the soffits around the house. We came back and showered and are waiting for dinner. The folks from Wisconsin have arranged with the town historian to give a lecture tonight on Bay St. Louis - before and after Katrina. They have invited us to join them so we will go out with them this evening.

Sunday January 6, 2008

We hooked up with the Boston College crew who are here working with W2W. We went to a neighborhood nearby where they have built eight new houses. We worked on landscaping all day - raking loam, planting bushes and trees, mulching, etc. It was fun to work with the kids - lots of energy. They are here for a week and will be returning to classes next Monday. We had a cookout for dinner tonight - burgers and coleslaw. Got to talk to all of our kids tonight - everyone is doing fine. Nick has heart surgery (another ablation) on Tuesday so will talk with Laura Tuesday night to see how he is doing. We will be thinking of them and sending positive thoughts their way. We have been chatting with some of the guys from BC - they are an interesting group - all different majors and from all parts of the country. We will work for Habitat again tomorrow and find out who we will be working with. I am going to attempt to put a photo on the blog tonight - will have to see if this works!

Saturday January 5, 2008

Our fraternity friends left this morning and as Habitat does not work on Saturday, we joined with the group from Whitewater, WI. We went out to a home that was badly damaged by the storm and basically has been gutted and is being rebuilt. Dave and I built a new platform for the air conditioner (which will have to be replaced as it was also damaged in the storm. The old platform was built of pressure treated wood about 10 years ago, but was totally rotten in places - I don't know what was holding it up. We chatted with the owner of the house who is living in a FEMA trailer on the property. He and his daughter (about 8 years old) are so grateful that volunteers are helping him rebuild. It was a nasty job though as there was standing sewer water on the side of the house we were working on - we had to put down old planks to stand on to avoid sinking in. He said he has been waiting for quite some time for someone to fix the sewer line. The house is coming along nicely though on the inside - all new walls and another volunteer was putting down laminate flooring in a bedroom. This house has a good sized living room, eat-in kitchen, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. We came back to have lunch and found that this group only works a half day on Saturday so we went to the laundromat and now have a fresh stack of work clothes for the coming week. When the laundry was done, we took a walk on Main Street in Bay St. Louis. There are still many houses and stores with extensive damage. We saw the steeple of the Methodist church sitting on the ground about a block from the church. We will have to come back to take photos. We chatted with one of the shopkeepers who is rebuilding on the beach front. Her house was completely destroyed in the storm - it had stood on 15 foot tall pillars, but the new code says she now has to be on 24 foot pillars! She says this is the last time they will rebuild - if something should happen again, they are out of the area. It is almost dinner time so will quit here shortly. We don't know what we will do tomorrow. Most everyone takes Sunday off, but we heard that the W to W group is working tomorrow so we may see if they want our help. Another new group came in this afternoon - they are a church group from Maryland who have been coming down since just after the hurricane.

Friday January 4, 2008

Thankfully it was a bit warmer this morning - 41 and warmed up to about 55 this afternoon. We worked with the frat boys again today. The rest of the house got sided and painted and Dave and I almost finished the front porch - just have a bit of trim and decorative work to finish up. The frat boys are leaving tomorrow morning - it was fun to work with them, but I did feel a bit old being called ma'am all the time (those southern manners are strong at Mississippi State). We also found out that Habitat doesn't work on Saturday so we will hook up with the church group tomorrow and work on some other job. Sunday is a day off for everyone so we will probably drive around and take pictures of the area. Dinner was quite southern tonight: baked catfish, greens, and grits. A big group (about 25 or so) of mostly girls from Boston College came in this evening - they will be working for the next week here. They are hooked up with something called W to W: Wayland, MA to Waveland, MS. They send down people almost every week to work on the houses in the area. We had a lovely evening chatting with some of the new folks that came in today - lots of interesting people.

Thursday 1-3-08

Last night we met some folks from Wisconsin who invited us to eat with them. We were a group of eleven and we went to the buffet at the local casino as it was half price for seniors. The food was good although we had to walk through a smoky casino to get the the dining area. When we got back to the community room, there was an orientation going on for the horde of frat boys who came in yesterday. We saw our friends from Williamsport, PA off as they headed back home in a 4 car caravan. We then went out to the job site this morning and found that we would be working with the 48 boys from Phi Delta Theta fraternity of Mississippi State. It was cold, but we warmed up as we worked (24 this AM and got up to about 42). You can really get a lot done with that many hands! Almost the entire house was sided (just the peaks left for tomorrow) and then painted one coat. Dave and I and a few of the boys built columns on the front porch and dressed them with cedar planking - then we built decorative collars for the top and bottom of the pillars. This house is farther away (closer to Gulfport) - in a neighborhood of more expensive houses - although this particular street has very small houses on it. I looked inside and notice that this house is much smaller than the one we worked on earlier - just 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, a living room and a kitchen/dining area. We got back, showered and just finished dinner which was excellent - chicken and rice dish, peas and carrots, roll and peach cobbler for dessert. I hope that working in the cold will offset some of the caloric intake!

Wednesday January 2, 2008

We went back to our house after breakfast this morning to finish up the sheetrock. It was quite cold and windy today - twenties when we got up and mid forties this afternoon. We finished everything we could do - had to leave a few sheets off because the plumber hadn't finished the bathrooms yet, but it really did look good after we had cleaned up. We came back for lunch and the church group we had been working with decided to go into New Orleans for the afternoon. Dave and I found the local laundromat and did a huge batch of laundry. We came back and showered and are now just relaxing before dinner. Today is the cook's night off so we are on our own. We will look around and find someplace to eat that is not too spicy (the cook here has a bit of a heavy hand with the hot spices). One of the construction bosses told us that a small shed with bunks was empty so Dave and I moved into it this afternoon. We felt this was wise as they are expecting 40-50 Boston frat boys to arrive this evening and it is likely to be quite noisy tonight. The bunk houses are quite large - each building holds 22 bunks (44 beds) and there are 7 bunk houses. We have been with such a small group so far, it will be interesting to see the dynamics of a large group. While we were doing laundry, we walked next door to the Habitat office and found that we have an assignment for the morning - we will be working in a neighborhood closer to Gulfport. We will let you know what we will be working on tomorrow. Our church group will be leaving in the morning so we will see them off.

New Year's Day 2008

Wow - that seemed funny to type 2008! We went back to the house we had worked on yesterday and finished most of the sheet rock. We have 2 walls in the living room, a bathroom, and two closets left - we should be done by noon tomorrow. The weather turned a bit cooler today. The high was in the mid fifties, but the morning was chilly. It is supposed to be quite cold for here tomorrow so we may put our long undies on beneath our work clothes. The owner of the house stopped by again today and we had him put a few screws in the wall. He can't do too much himself as he is a liver transplant recipient and has to take it easy. Dave and I opted to shower before dinner as we were covered in sheet rock dust - the rest of the crew is in the shower now. Dave is working on carving a whale for the wall of the church community room. It is a tradition that each group who comes to work here makes a sign for the wall. Many are in the shape of the state the workers come from, others are more elaborate, but ours will be the only whale so far.