Day Sixteen: January 2008

Day Sixteen: Wednesday, January 23

Yes! A warm morning with no rain! Things were grey and foggy, but not cold and wet. We’ll take it! We had leftover king cake for breakfast, prepped lunch, then headed out for Habitat. A few of us passed around Leo’s maddening metal dexterity puzzles (those brainteaser things where two curved pieces of metal are interlocked and the challenge is to separate them). These things have made the rounds through the whole group and some other peripheral folks. Even though we are sick of hearing the clinking of the parts, everyone still wants to try again whenever one of the puzzles is near.

Once at Habitat, the morning was full of jobs that were not exactly our dream tasks. One group blocked cabinets and closets in the house, which involves nailing boards between all the studs to serve as cabinet supports and closet structure supports. It’s an awful job that usually involves lots of hammer hits to our own fingers and hands. We persevered.

Another group applied weather stripping to the windows throughout the lot, while others worked on finishing the very highest parts of the siding on some of the houses whose exteriors are nearly finished. This job is particularly difficult, as it involves holding heavy strips of siding parallel off two ladders twenty or so feet in the air while also hammering them in. Matt P., Scott, and Lindsay S. were moving along swimmingly until we suffered our first hospital run of the year: Lindsay got an eye injury that seemed somewhat serious. Happily, it was not. She did not scratch her cornea as we suspected and has already recovered substantially just by using special drops.

While Lindsay headed to the ER, others kept working away at Habitat. Lindsay R. and Julie worked on truly beautiful signs for all of the houses in the Habitat block. And then our group was offered two special jobs: decking the double hip roof whose trusses have driven us crazy for a week and framing out walls on the house on which we built the floor system last week. We couldn’t finish either job, but tomorrow should bring both to an end.

The folks who went to Rosie’s house continued painting and working on those crackled front doors. We resorted to paint stripper and a pressure washer to move the sanding job along, with Brad as the chief paint removal specialist. Shane ordered replacement panes for all of the sections of the front doors. Some others cleared more parts of the area surrounding the house, including exposing a sidewalk that was almost entirely buried in muck and construction debris (not ours). Matt W. and Aaron got very artistic on a salvaged birdbath that we found at yesterday’s garden; once they have finished their artistry, we’ll show you their handiwork.

A side job also occupied a few people this afternoon: several of Rosie’s neighbors asked our crew to help eliminate the search party X’s that have been spray-painted on the fronts of their houses for two and a half years now. That means that some of us are learning to replace sections of vinyl siding without destroying the trim or the surrounding siding. Because we know how important it was for Rosie and our friend Sarah when we removed the markings from their houses, we knew that we wanted to help. It’s not as easy a job as it sounds, but it is worth it to us to figure it out. We worked past sundown, but hustled out quickly because we were hungry.

For dinner, we got to have lots of leftovers from Katie’s birthday bonfire, including chicken and vegetables that didn’t come out of cans! We’ve eaten well the last few days, which will help to keep us going as we make our final pushes at the Habitat site and at Rosie’s. There’s still a lot of work to do, but we are confident that we can make it happen.

Our hours for the day number at 295; our running total now is 4173.



Julie and Lindsay enjoy each others company as they make lovely signs for the Habitat work site.


Scott and Nicole work diligently on removing nails as they look to perfect their project.


The puppies get some much needed play time in the back of Jared’s truck. We can’t wait for their eyes to open!


Bri, Amanda, and Sam work on finishing the siding on the front of the house.


Bryan gets up close and personal with the stripper!


Dr. Aaron helps Lindsay S. before she heads to the emergency room to get debris out of her eye.


Leo and Stephanie take a break from working hard on the siding.


Julie paints beautiful signs to label the Habitat Homes.


In preparation for the wall raising ceremony, Amanda works to build the walls that will be brought up tomorrow.


Katie gracefully and courageously nails in the first piece of decking along the edge of the house.


Matt and Scottie reach great heights as they hammer in the siding of one of the habitat homes.


Mark and Aaron come down from the roof where they spent the day installing drainage.


Lindsay helps paint a sign displaying the address of one of soon to be completed Habitat for Humanity homes.


Elijah and Emily dangle from the trusses of the roof as they nail in the rest of the roof’s framing.


Amanda and Emily take part in the seemingly endless sanding of the large front door of Rosie’s house.


Lindsay R. working on signs for the habitat houses in the West bank village


Tommy Bell on the edge working on side fascia


Bryan working the chop saw at habitat for window rain diverters


Aaron and Mat hash out the plans for Rosie’s birdbath


Kate keeping moist after a day’s worth of painting

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.