This has been a week of surprises. But after 5 weeks here we should not have been surprised when things were not easy. Right? The biggest surprise was at the house Rich was working at and the one we talked about last week. We had been dry walling there at our pace and then this week Rich had an experienced worker with him. ( I went back to the other house.) They had just measured and tried to fit up a piece and saw that it needed trimming. When they had it down it started to rain and the rain came through the roof. So after much discussion the group moved to the roof for repair. The heat was too much for some but on Friday five persons left at 5:45 am to work until 2 pm.
My surprise was less dramatic and was not really a shock at all. Our goal for the house on
Eagle St. was to paint and get the floors covered. Painting went superbly well and we "excitedly" opened a box of laminate flooring. We soon learned it does not go down as easily as an infomercial would have you believe and not on a floor that resembles an ocean wave. After a day of trial and error, other volunteers, who had just finished their floor came and showed us how to get it in. By Friday quitting time we had it nearly finished and it looks ok. Our bathroom and kitchen floors were also tiled this week by two of the short termers.
The short term group that was here this week was a Brethren In Christ church near Lancaster,PA. Rich's group was knowledgeable about the the various construction tasks that were tackled.
One of the highlights this week was our Wednesday evening meeting, where Mrs. Bradley (the home that Rich is working on, shared her story of how her family was impacted by Katrina and its aftermath. For many homeowners, the tragedy was that the flood waters stayed in their houses for six weeks. This was the case with the Bradley home, and then the city would not let her demolish the home because it was an "historical" one. Her personal family story is that her husband found out, shortly after Katrina, that he had cancer and then passed away several years ago. Her hope is that the home will be finished by Christmas, which looks like a good possibility, even though there are few volunteers scheduled through July.
We are excited about Sydney, Lynette, and Reuben coming to New Orleans this weekend (they arrived safely) and are anticipating both work and some fun time with them this coming week.
The pictures are of Mrs. Bradley, Rich eating "soul food" and Lois' group putting down floor.