Day Fifteen: January 2008

Day Fifteen: Tuesday, January 22

Today is Katie’s birthday! Well, not really. Katie’s birthday is two days away. But we had such a beautiful summer-like day today that we decided to hold Katie’s birthday party tonight on a beach on the Mississippi River. But, of course, we worked all day first, so we’ll start there. . .

As usual, one person from each group went to Rosie’s house to keep the jobs going over there. Today was a big milestone, as the group at Rosie’s began the painting process in the first house. Things look really different (and really RIGHT) when a fresh coat of paint is applied. There were lots of other jobs to be done as well, including completing baseboards and continuing the sanding job on the porch.

The big group continued working with Parkway Partners, but at a different garden this time. This garden was in the Bywater neighborhood and it happens to be a garden that we restored back in January 2006. Back then, there was a huge tree in the middle of the space, but our group managed to bring it down with very few appropriate tools. Now the stump that we left behind is the home of a lovely thriving fern and the garden has changed dramatically since our last visit.

Now it is a microfarm run by a great guy named John. He wants to provide healthy food right in the Bywater neighborhood, where convenience stores are some of the only sources of groceries. He already had some beets started in one large section of the garden, and we helped him to supplement the soil in the other sections by spreading enormous amounts of used coffee grounds all over the lot. We also moved lots of debris from all around the garden and a few of us weeded the sections that were already planted. All in all it was a pretty easy morning for our hardworking crew, and we finished most of the job before lunchtime.

We decided to eat lunch before moving over to Rosie’s house, so we placed ourselves all over a huge rockpile across the street and somehow got comfortable enough to enjoy our surprisingly great vegetarian sloppy joes (with the necessary addition of our most important pantry staple: Ritz crackers). As we enjoyed our time on the rockpile, we noticed that there was one of those rubber traffic barrels at just the right distance from us to make a great target. We seem to have an obsession with throwing things at targets, so of course we had to make the most of that pile of rocks and the nearby barrel. Almost every one of us took a few turns at trying to hit the target; we found that the thump that accompanied a hit was a triumph in itself. Jed meticulously cleaned up any stray rocks that had landed in the nearby roadway, so we left no trace of our lunchtime game behind.

When we joined the group at Rosie’s house, things just started cranking. Jobs were getting knocked off the list more quickly than ever and even new jobs that emerged proved to be no big challenge. At one point we recalled that the back step of the 4009 side of the duplex had too great a drop from the doorway. (Jack pointed this out before he left; we aren’t skilled enough to notice such a thing.) It looked a little too complicated to solve the problem with the materials that we had, but Chris, Brad, and Obi decided to give it a try. The end result looks great and evened out the distance of all of the steps out of the door. Huge progress was the name of the game today on every job.

As mentioned above, our great productivity was surpassed only by the beauty of the day. It was like a gorgeous summer day rather than a follow-up to the below freezing temps we experienced yesterday. We loved it. When we noticed that the forecast was for rain the next few days, we decided to capitalize on the climate and head out to Macon’s house for an early birthday party.

Our group has spent many wonderful evenings (and workdays!) with Macon, so we knew that we needed to schedule a night at his house. He lives on the river side of the levee, with a long, low beach on which we can build a bonfire and sit right on the banks of the Mississippi. There’s something magical about the place that only gets compounded when you add yummy cheeseburgers, barbecued chicken, and s’mores. As we sat there, a thick fog rolled in and actually dripped on us occasionally, but never to the point where we needed to run for cover. A few of us took spins in the canoe and did a little loop around a nearby pier. Whether or not we were floating on the water, we were all floating on air.

And we celebrated Katie’s birthday! We’ll save part of the celebration for her actual birthday on Thursday, but it was fun to make a special meal together and hang out around a huge bonfire in honor of our favorite unicyclist. Katie is a freshman Nursing major who has shown a lot of guts on this trip. She is happy and full of awe every day, helping to elevate our spirits when the jobs are getting tough. Happy, happy, day, Katie!

Total hours today = 235; Running total = 3878




The Parkway Partners garden that we worked on today


Lindsay and Kate busy at work hauling wet hay to the front of the garden.


Nicole, Lindsay, and Matt place a pathway in order to prevent weeds from growing.


Aaron, Jed, and Tommy help Macon deliver the coffee grounds to enrich to soil.


Part of the pile we made today, which consisted of hay, branches, and miscellaneous objects.


After a long day of work we were all surprised to find out we would be heading out to a bonfire at a friends house overlooking the Mississippi River.


Shawny and Scott helped lug out extra debris from the garden as others worked on various projects at a Parkway Partners garden on the West Bank.


Thanks to our handy laptops Elijah was able to sit out at the worksite with Lindsey as she landscaped Rosie’s backyard.


Here we see Shawny, Katie, and Matt Wheeler working on a plot at Parkway Partners.


Katie and LinZy helped unload the 1500 pound sack of coffee that would be used as compost for the garden.


Sam weeding the garden full of snow peas.


Obi and Brad work on the stairs in the back of Rosie’s house


As we cleaned up, Jed took charge and got us wrapped up quickly.


Our beautiful artwork made out of Rosie’s old ramp.


Bri sands the front door of Rosie’s house


As we arrive on the work site, Shawny gives out orders to the group to get the day started.


Katie and Jed at the bonfire celebrating Katie’s 19th birthday. Happy Birthday Katie!


Jed asnd Makon use their strength to lift the big pile of wood into the bed of the truck.


While working with Makon and Parkway Partners, we came across this interesting sign posted on the local dumpster.


Bri, Amanda, Brad, Bryan, Erik, and Sergio all sit around the bonfire at Makon’s house waiting for the tasty burgers to come off the grill.

Day Fourteen: January 2008

Day Fourteen: Monday, January 21

It was only 30 degrees when we awoke this morning, so we are counting this as a warming trend. The Souljas made powdered eggs and spam for our guests Dave and Erik and then we all went out to work. One person from each team went to Rosie’s to prep the houses for painting soon. Chris, Justin, Katie, Erik, Serg, Tommy, and Sam worked to complete trimwork and caulk wall edges so that we can start the painting process. We believe that we can start painting on Tuesday in 4009, then on Wednesday in 4011. If things go our way over these next few days, we think we will actually finish this job. We hope, we hope, we hope. . .

As for the rest of the group, we rejoined our old friend Macon Fry the Garden Guy from Parkway Partners, a greenspace agency that supports public parks and monuments and community gardens. Today he asked us to join him at a garden in Gentilly. The farmer at that garden was the only organic farmer in New Orleans for about fifteen years, before others caught on to the lure of organics. Now she runs a space of about an acre in the Gentilly neighborhood and once it gets into full swing, she will be a primary supplier for some well-known chefs in New Orleans.

The job at that garden today was to spread sand over some of the beds. Though this task sounds harmless enough, the amount of sand to be spread made it a much bigger deal that it seems. Huge trucks delivered 40 yards of sand to the garden in one enormous mound. Our job was to use regular old shovels to transfer the sand to wheelbarrows then push the wheelbarrows all over the acre of land to scatter it. We deposited the sand into walking paths or into sections of the garden that grow lettuce and other produce that will thrive in sandy conditions.

Even that description probably sounds pretty low-key, unless you know several things: 1) the mound of sand stood higher than most of our heads when we arrived, 2) according to our research, a cubic yard of sand weighs 2700 pounds, meaning that 40 cubic yards of sand weigh 108,000 pounds, 3) 108,000 pounds equal 54 tons, 4) the crew at the garden was only 24 people strong, and therefore 5) each person moved an average of more than two tons of sand. We are having trouble believing these figures, but they seem to be true. And you, dear reader, should believe two things about us: 1) when we say we did “tons” of work, we did, and 2) when we say we can move mountains, we can.

The garden crew headed over to join the crew at Rosie’s in the afternoon, and helped to plug away at the middles of the jobs that are in progress there. We all decided to knock off at 5:00 today so that we could head back to camp and give everything a good cleaning. We gave the shower trailer a good scrubbing, we emptied and vacuumed the bus, we reorganized both the tent and the warehouse, and we gathered up our laundry (370 pounds of it!) and sent it to be washed.

We met tonight to outline our hopes and dreams for the next seven days of our trip, particularly relating to the jobs we intend to complete. Our list is long and daunting, but we expect to check off every item.

We bid farewell today to our three visitors: Shawny’s sister Sherry, Dave Blanchard, and Erik Robert. Thanks to all of you for joining our group!

It’s a little hard to calculate hours for today, especially because the chain gang that moved the sandpile believes it deserves double credit for every hour it worked. Still, the rough total for the day is 244, making our overall running total 3643.


Exhausted from wheelbarrow races, Matt and Elijah take a short breather in the barrows.


Obi and Elijah stand on the top of the sand mountain and throw shovel after shovel full of sand into the wheelbarrow.


Little Aaron wakes up from a lunch time nap as Alec tries to hide from the camera.


As the workbooted members of the team shoveled soil for the Parkway Partners, the team members wearing tennis shoes stayed nice and warm in the greenhouse.


4 tons of sand were delivered in the morning which gave us the daunting task of working together to move mountains.


Meanwhile, as Eric gets to work, the rest of the group goes into a well deserved relaxation mode.


Apparently Eric, our guest, has family in New Orleans and thought that if he went to go see his family he wouldn’t have any work waiting for him when he got back. HAHA, little did he know that we had a little present waiting for him when he got back.


This weekend we had some guests come stay with us. One of our guests, Eric has some visitors of his own at the work camp. It’s his New Orleans native family that he hasn’t seen in years.


People say that pictures speak 1,000 words. Well this picture shows how this extremely large sand pile attempted to break 1,000 backs. Everyone puts in their work and shovels loads of sand.


Today we had to move a sand pile that weighed approx. 106,000 pounds. Knowing us, and with all the competitive people we have here, a competition between two teams was inevitable. Here Elijah (team 1) is running the returning leg of his wheel barrel run.


Matt and Scott head back to the sand pile to get another load.


Everyone “takes five” after finishing the Parkway Partners job.


Shawny and Linzy shovel away at the mountain of sand we moved today.


Look at Lindsay go! We all took turns pushing wheelbarrows of sand to help level the lots.


Today we worked at a Parkway Partners Community Garden. Hopefully the farmers will soon be able to provide organic food to the neighborhood.

Day Thirteen: January 2008

Day Thirteen: Sunday, January 20

What a warm and balmy morning we had this morning! We awoke to find that the temperature was 27 degrees. Ouch. We knew that it would be cold, so we were pretty ready for it. Still, as soon as the air hit our faces, it felt like quite a chilly slap. Our breakfast crew, Chicas and the Men, made pancakes for us and we drank much more hot chocolate than usual. The BLOKEs prepared breakfast as everyone figured out what their warmest work clothes were.

We were all at Rosie’s house again today and because it was clear we could actually make some progress in the yard. We waited to do so, though, as this morning we took a special break: most of us went to mass with Rosie. It was a real treat for us, but an even bigger one for her. Things all just aligned perfectly, as today’s theme was a celebration of service, and today’s hymns seemed like they were speaking right to us. The first hymn was “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You” and it featured lines about opening to the sun and melting the clouds. Another line says, “Teach us how to love each other” and a few of us glanced at each other knowingly. An even more striking hymn was “The Servant’s Song,” which starts with the line “Will you let me be your servant?” and has another verse that says: “We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav’lers on the road, we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.” We not only glanced at each other on that one; we got teary-eyed.

The whole service was a special one as it was a celebration of the deaf and all parts of the service were done in sign language. It was also special because the church (Francis Xavier Seelos – a blessed but not yet sainted New Orleanian) is very beautiful. The church suffered an awful fire in 2003, it parishioners were relocated for about a year, and then Katrina hit in 2005. Happily, the church only sustained damage to its floors, which were quickly restored. The building has wonderful stained glass windows, some of which were dated to the 1860s. We see why Rosie loves her church so much.

The priest called Rosie up to the altar and asked her to introduce her friends. She called us “California Angels” and talked about how much we had done for her houses, but how much more we had done for her life and her spirit. They asked us all to stand and they applauded for quite awhile; we just bowed to them and thanked them.

After church we kicked into high gear and capitalized on the sunshine and clear skies. The air was crisp and very cold, but if we moved around enough we could handle it. Today was Jack’s last day so he cranked the kitchen cabinets into place in 4009 before he headed for the airport around noon. Our student experts jumped all over the trim job in 4011 without any guidance from Jack. Others stayed on the arduous job of sanding the porch; we really look forward to seeing the fruits of those labors.

Still another group kept plugging away at the huge backyard that we have now emptied out. Our friend Jean Fahr from Parkway Partners (the greenspace agency that was our first major work contact when we came here in January 2006) gave us some trees and other plantings to contribute to Rosie’s whole new world. We also got a boost from our dear friends at Happy Hollow Elementary, the sixth grade class taught by Shawny’s sister Sherry. When they heard that we had no budget for Rosie’s yard, they took up a collection to add to our materials. With all of these sources combined, we have now planted six young trees and lots of other plantings in both the front and back yards of Rosie’s houses. We still have tons of work to do there, but this is another place where we look forward to the fruits of our labors (hopefully literally).

Throughout our day we were reminded that today is the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of Rosie’s neighbors, David, played tapes of some of King’s most famous speeches on a public address system for most of the day. David’s house is easy to spot in the neighborhood, as he went around after the storms and collected all of the musical instruments that he found. He placed them all over his house, especially on the roof, and turned his entire property into a tribute to New Orleans and its musical culture. Today, his tribute turned to the life and work of MLK. Though tomorrow is the holiday celebrating King’s life, we got a nice day of reflection about his important ideas in advance. Thanks, David!

As for our labor today, we tallied about 254 hours, bringing our running total to 3399.


Matt and Aaron show off the NOLA ping-ping ball they found while moving dirt outside.


Mark takes the measurements to cut the window trim in the 4009 house.


Bri sweeps the front porch, which was covered in paint chips after we sanded the awning and doorframes.


Emily, Katie, and Bryan worked hard all day shoveling dirt outside of the houses. With the new tree and less dirt, the front of the houses look brand new.


Justin and Aaron lay bricks and cinderblocks outside of 4009 and 4011 to make a planter for a tree.


There were a couple statues outside of Rosie’s church that reminded the group of how important faith is to the people of New Orleans.


Rosie appreciated the members of the group who joined her for Sunday morning mass.


These are the new cabinets that are going in Rosie’s rental house.


David is working at sanding down the walls and prepping them for paint as Justin works on trim.


Aaron and Justin work on leveling out an area in front of Rosie’s rental house for a planter box.

Day Twelve: January 2008

Day Twelve: Saturday, January 19

Special Note: If you didn’t see the “Puppy Love” video below, check it out at the bottom of Day Eleven. (Sorry about the bad sound; we’ll try to fix it. All of you oldtimers will crack up.)

As for today, we started the day with rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. A big storm came through and made our bus shake and rock while lightning flashed and rain poured down. The boys who sleep in the bins got wet, as they leave the bin doors cocked open a bit to help them get fresh air. The rain found its way right into that opening and dripped onto their pillows or their feet, depending on which way they sleep. For those who don’t understand this part, there are six guys who share three under-bus storage bins as their sleeping quarters. Sometimes they have the best beds in the house; sometimes they’re the worst.

Our Habitat gig was canceled because of the rain, so we all piled into Rosie’s house to see what we could do. The first house that we started working on (4009) was the farthest one along. Yesterday we textured it, meaning we (that is, Justin) sprayed bits of drywall joint compound all over it to help cover whatever flaws might have been visible in our taping and mudding of the drywall sheets. From there, others go through with flat “knives” (like wide putty knives) and knock off the bits that stick out so that the texture (supposedly) resembles an orange peel. All the while, Julie and Katie moved from room to room offering to do whatever odd jobs needed to be done.

Because that whole process was complete in 4009, we made the unusual move of installing the trim around the windows and doors and the baseboards. Many of us were involved in this process, measuring, cutting, and installing them with great skill. Lindsay S., Kate, and Brad took the lead on this important set of jobs. Scott and Mark and our visitor Erik Robert installed closets and shelving, while Alec, Chris, Jed, Tommy, and a few others learned the ins and outs of hanging doors (pun intended). The door-hangers struggled mightily, as they learned that the doors that had been purchased did not match the size of the holes that had been left for them. Jack was very impressed over how quickly they learned what needed to be done and adapted the doors and/or spaces to make things work.

Another group finished the feathering of the drywall in 4011 then took on the slow (and MESSY!) job of texturing. Lindsay R. was the primary mud mixer (a tough job, as the boxes of powder weigh 48 pounds each). Matt P. was the mud delivery guy and assistant sprayer, and he got covered with almost as much of the joint compound as the walls did. Linzy, Aaron, Erik, Briana, Josh, and Shawny all joined in to knock off the drying texture, so they all had big white chunks all over themselves as well. That work group completed its job right as darkness fell, meaning that on Sunday that unit will be ready for the treatment that 4009 got today.

Another crew, headed up by our visitor Dave Blanchard, meticulously sanded parts of the porch shared by 4009 and 4011. They struggled with sanding blocks, handheld paper, scrapers, and a belt sander to try to make a difference in the crackled paint. (Mark had a strange strategy for contributing to this job, as he held the electric belt sander over his head and scraped away at the chipping paint, even though he had no extension cord and therefore his electric sander was not plugged in.) After a couple of hours of work, they had one stretch of the porch scraped, but there is still a long way to go. Once finished, though, the porch will definitely look fabulous.

The other big crazy job that a few folks undertook was the leveling of the backyard. When we returned after the rains had fallen, we realized that our stump hole was a new low spot in the yard, along with the holes we left when we dug for Rosie’s buried (and still undiscovered) treasure. Our friend Jean Fahr from Parkway Partners came by to give us some ideas about how to deal with Rosie’s yards and even offered to help us acquire some trees and plants. She encouraged the yard team to move dirt from the front yard to the backyard to help even out the space. Because we didn’t have wheelbarrows at first, the team on the yard (Emily, Bryan, Sergio, Sam, Amanda, Matt W., and Elijah) carried the dirt from the front yard to the back in five gallon buckets. Matt and Elijah were the main dirt mules and they were covered from head to toe in muck. If we have a clear day tomorrow, though, we should get pretty far in laying out Rosie’s new lawn and gardens.

It’s been interesting for us to endure the storms this year and the cold that fell over us tonight. We are very focused on providing shelter and the comforts of home. We think about these issues constantly, especially as we live in our relatively primitive conditions in camp. We have begun to notice the obvious things like how wonderful it is to use a flushing toilet or to have running water in your kitchen, but we have also become aware of smaller issues, like how different it is to wash your hands under a warm faucet than in a cold garden hose. We’re learning a lot about what we love, what we want, and what we need. When we head home and pass the enormous homeless encampment mostly made up of people who were evicted from FEMA trailers, all of these issues flood our minds and we wonder what to do. For now, we intend to just keep working. . .

Hours today = 284. Running total = 3145


Dave and Nicole sanding the deck in the freezing cold but still are having a good time.


Julie helping sand the pillars on the porch.


Kate doing a fine job at caulking.


Matt covered in mud from texturing the house.


Bryan, Emily, Serg and Elijah digging the front yard after the down poor of rain.


Emily washes a trowel to prepare for mudding the last of the drywall. We were able to finish texturing the walls in the second part of the house.


Bryan, Erik, and Lindsay put finishing touches on the wall before texturing. All of us had to work in the cramped quarters of Rosie’s due to the rain, so everyone had to get nice and cozy.


“Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.” The dumpster outside of Rosie’s gave an inspirational message while we worked.


A shot of North Claiborne, the street we work on each and every day at Rosie’s.


Mark and Dave sanded off the old paint and wood on the porch that went through the hurricane.


Lindsay, finishing off an amazingly done job of mudding and taping, before we were able to texture.


The “Buddy Pro,” what we use to heat the rooms and dry the sheet rock.


Dave finishing off sanding old paint so we can apply new paint.


A five minute break is hard to come by, but we managed to find some time for ourselves. Everyone took a break for some much needed caffeine, which was provided by Shane Keane.


Alec and Jed work hard on the water heater door. They had to make some masterful cuts in order to customize this and perfectly fit it.


Bryan, Erik, and Lindsay smoothing over the walls with plaster


Dave and Mark sanding on the porch of Rosie’s house


Matt Pelascini texturing the walls


Emily, Bryan, and Serg dig out the mound in front of the duplex and move the dirt to fill in a pond that formed overnight in the backyard.


Serg mudding the ceiling of Rosie’s house