happy new year! we’re on our way to the job site- a later start but we want to finish the roof trusses. it’s hard to remember that thiss is a holiday.
i’m being asked if I ever explained on the blog why the steel house is made this way. this is a prototype called a wash and wear house. made of steel frame, magnesium oxide walls, and tile floors. this way if the water rises the whole can be washed out! there won’t be mold growth. there’s a lot of excitement about it. and not just from us!
it’s 11:20 and we’re on our way back to MOB from New Orleans. woo hoo, I don’t think we lost anyone! it’s already 2009 in NY. the horizon is filled with fireworksss displays.
we have loaded up all 7 vehicles and we’re on our way to Mulates at 201 Julia street in new orleans. everyone is coming back to MOB rick says that we’re at -9 feet below sea level! and we’re going down! there’s a spectacular sunset. i’m looking forward to cajun music.
happy new year-almost!
the long awaited missing steel has arrived from alabama. the bathroom now can have an exterior wall! I thiink Deanna will be very pleased! it’s hard to believe that it’s winter. this weather explains why people live here.
there are two plans for tonight’s new years eve celebration. we have a reservation at a restaurant just outside new orleans for the 60 plus of us. then the choice is to return to MOB and have a bonfire or hang out in the french quarter. it will be amazing either way. everyone has grown close and turning the page on this year together will be great.
tomorrow we will have a huge clean-up job. all the vans and trucks are MUDDY!
xxoxo
we’re at the site and the first roof truss is being hoisted up. it’s another beautiful day, blue sky and happy, busy people. I spent the last half hour nailing down the hurricane straps that will hold the house to the foundation. this house is meant to be here for a long time.
well, we’re at Sonic picking up some greasy snacks. Good thing there’s no calories on a mission trip!
Maddy’s wrist has been hurting since yesterday morning, we decided to err on the side of caution and are now at the ER. My son Max loves to tell the story of how I sent him to school for two days with a fractured wrist before I took him to the Dr. Since this is not my kid . . .
The good news is that we got all our walls up at the house except 3, and we expect to have those tomorrow. then we will be putting up the roof trusses. we have a little less than 2 days more to work.
we’re at the site and excited to be organzing our steel wallls to assemble. we’re only missing one wall that we know of! it’s a beautiful day, blue sky and the temperature is rising to the 70’s. spirits are high too!
this evening following dinner Kathleen, who heads one of the agencies that we’re working for-Katrina Relief- talked to us about the work she is doing and took questions from the group. She is an amazing lady; she was living in Thomsonville IL, when Katrina hit the gulf coast and gave up her life there to come here to Hancock County MS, and work with the elderly et al. We asked her if she would prefer the money that we spent coming here – a whopping 26,000 – or the 67 people, she emphatically said that as much as she could use the money, the caring people make the difference. A hired contractor will not bring the type of care to the victims as the volunteers. She said that the suicide rate is 80% higher than pre-Katrina. The people here are realling from the devastation. Our local, state and national government are messing with the allocated monies, making deals that aren’t being kept. All lot of money is being wasted, and a lot of people are not in decent homes. This area is going to take a lot of time to recover.
