THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25 BLOG
Ellis' Team Part 1
By Tom Belair
Thursday was a serious work day, and we had lots of visitors. The day started out cold--37 degrees--but a bright sun got the temperature got up to 53 degrees.
Pastor Karen and Charlene stopped by to interview Mrs. Larche...and to get us some nails for the nail gun. Kathy Pawley, Melissa "Hanna" Pawley, Jodi, and Jasmine stopped by for a few minutes to admire the work and take pictures of the "Hunkiest" crew.
Work today: Storm Doors, House Painting, Sheet-rocking, Metal Roof.
1. Ellis, Dana and Don finished installing the two new storm doors. They are much nicer than the wooden doors with the ripped screens.
2. Colin and Chris painted the whole front of the house, and scraped the trim on the side and put a new coat of paint. This made a huge difference on the house?it looks much nicer. E.J., Mrs. Larche's grandson, helped paint. I got a photo of E.J. flexing his muscles...plus he grew two feet when he took a photo with Colin and Chris. E.J. also appreciated the new net that Chris bought for his basketball hoop.
3. We got right to work on the roof and made great progress. The sun was very bright as it came off the galvanized roof, so good safety sunglasses were required. Ron and Tom finished about two-thirds of the roof. We will have a busy morning Friday.
4. As you can tell, Ellis did a great job of keeping everyone busy. And in between, he replaced a door knob, worked with Don and Dana to sheet rock the front room, and he partially finished the sheetrock repair in the living room caused by Tom. (Working on the roof, Tom took a wrong step and went through the ceiling. Maybe he thought a skylight would brighten up the Larche's living room.)
5. Mrs. Larche made dinner again...chicken, white rice, butter beans. Delicious. But after being fed for 4 days, we now know why Mr. Larche has 7 stents and 6 heart attacks ;-). Mr. Larche's daughter took him to a doctor's appointment where they ran a scope through his esophagus to see if there were any problems. He has been unable to eat much this past week.
6. Chris said grace at lunch and surprised us all with his very thoughtful prayer.
7. We all went to Bayou Country for dinner.
8. We did not have enough time to write the "rap" song tonight. Pastor Karen, Kelsey Cowen and Martha Dalrymple were very disappointed, but they'll get over it. We had work to do.
Ellis' Team Part 2
By Ron
We made a good bit of progress today. It started off cold - I think it was in the 30s. But the skies cleared and it quickly warmed up to 60 or so.
The metal we're putting up is galvanized. But noon there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the reflection was intense. I kept thinking I needed to get some sunglasses, even though I already had a pair on.
We got one valley done, and got the other one almost all framed. Some of the other guys painted and started installing drywall inside the area we were roofing over.
The roof should be done tomorrow barring some huge crisis. The drywall will likely have one coat of mud on it, but will certainly not be finished. Everything else should be done pretty well and cleaned up.
From what I hear the homeowners at all the work sites are a bit nervous . They're all worried that once this group disappears that no one else will come. Apparently the supply of volunteers is drying up. So things sit for a while before the next group shows up to work.
Today it seemed like everyone was on edge. We're all tired and feeling the stress from the work and the cramped living quarters. But there were no serious problems and no more injuries.
At the moment I'm all showered up and sitting here in my best bib overalls.
Frank's Team
By Peter Henninger Osgood
Thursday, the fourth day, was a gruesome and humbling day. We picked up our work where we left it the night before, and it seemed as if we were getting nowhere with all the sanding and mudding still to do. Since it was so cold and the trailer has no heat, the mud had not dried completely, so we were thrown behind even more. We realized we will not be able to finish what we had challenged ourselves with. But we are flexible, and so we will revise our task: the stairs take priority, and James mother at the house next to the trailer will get insulation under its floor from beneath. It is one of those houses that sit on a pillar of concrete blocks, here about five feet tall. And on the interior we will work afterwards as much as we can, closing with a substantial clean up effort, so that James can at least move in again and continue to live there as he has before.
During an extended lunch break, we took a tour of houses we worked on during prior trips. After picking up Frank Rizzo at George's worksite we made our way to Joyce, a lovely lady the first By You Bound Team had worked on. She welcomed us in to her house with a wonderful crab & corn bisque. Cooked with love and tasting yummy. The house was meticulously clean and the yard without debris, reminding us that not everybody needs to burn their trash in their front yard here. What a difference to the desolate setting of the trailer we are working on.
From there we went over to a house one of our teams had been working on last year. It sat almost completely finished, but deserted, and the news is it will be auctioned of in foreclosure. The owner had moved to to Houston after Katrina when the company she had been working with relocated there - and she had no ability to return. I understand that she had been ripped off by contractors, asking her for an advance to buy materials, and then running off with it.... No wonder she does not make too much of an effort to return, and it appears that she just abandoned the property. Even her neighbor, who helped last year with tiling, had no idea where she was and why she has not returned. A sad end to a sad story.
Shortly after 2 p.m. back at our site, we picked up our trowels and blades, the sanding pads and continued ...
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