Day Four: January 2008

Day Four: Friday, January 11



[Special Note: We are still struggling with our photos. Sorry they are a bit out of place. We're trying hard, but the posting of these things tends to happen at about midnight or so, when we are desperately in need of sleep. We'll keep trying.]

Well, our punctuality plan failed, so tomorrow we have to wake the breakfast crew at 5:45 and the rest at 6:00. Apparently that’s what it takes to make it to work by 7:30. Oh well. No matter what the time, we were thrilled to wake up to clear skies. Even though it was a very cold 45 degrees, the absence of rain automatically made it a great day.

We had GREAT jobs at Habitat today, with lots of sledgehammer-swinging, lots of daring roofwork, beautiful precision siding, and even a few games thrown in on the side. We learned that we are pretty quick learners, even if we are terrible at fractions. (Here’s one team taking measurements: “It’s 4 and a half inches and three lines.” This measurement might also be stated as 4 and 11/16 inches, but what’s the difference if the board comes out the right size?)

We also learned that a lot of the members of our group are entirely fearless. They walked confidently on the edge of the roof installing decking or laying shingles, and some had so much fun up there that they created their own target game on a foundation and floor next door. They placed some targets on the subfloor and gave each other points if they could hit the target with their shingle scraps from the roof. By some miracle, Mark hit the orange that was there three times in a row, making him a legend on that rooftop and throughout our group.

Almost everyone took a turn on one of the rooftops, including Sam, who is at least a little bit intimidated by heights, if not outright scared of them. Emily, Alec, Julie, Mark, and Shane stayed on one roof shingling practically all day long, while Sam, Aaron, Matt W., Bryan, and Amanda diligently laid decking on the roof next door. They claimed that visions of sliding down the slope involuntarily just never entered their heads, but for those who are afraid of heights, that image was all that was on their minds.

One team stayed away from Habitat today and instead went and finished up the last work on the gutting job at Leroy Palmer’s house. Matt P., Nicole, Serg, Scott, and Linzy knocked out that last parts of the bathroom and the linoleum floor, and cleared the final debris from the little house we demolished there yesterday. From there they went to Rosie’s to clean up the house in preparation for the installation of sheetrock. First, they had to unload 100 sheets of 4’x12’ drywall, a job that is especially challenging because the sheets will break if they bend too far.

By the time the rest of the group joined them, it was getting too close to dark to start the sheetrock job, so we decided to make quick work of Rosie’s thoroughly messed-up back yard instead. There were posts and links from a number of different iterations of fencing back there, along with lots of leftover debris from the storms. Rosie told us not worry about the huge pecan tree stump that was there because it would be “impossible” for us to remove it. Of course, hearing that the job is impossible means that we are determined to complete it. We’ll let you know.

We came home to find that Shane had bought us actual fresh broccoli and salad greens. Jed, Kate, Julie, Briana, and Tommy added some rice-a-roni to our fresh foods to make an almost-normal dinner. After dinner we had our group meeting, where we gave out our “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” Awards. Last night’s winners were Matt P. for all of his labor in prepping gear for the trip, Scott for his work in bringing down Leroy’s little backyard house with his bare hands, Briana for taking some bold steps in our group and on the jobsite, and Emily for being a daring beamwalker during insulation installation. Tonight’s awards went to Katie L. for her cheery attitude despite her lack of sleep, Mark for his target prowess from the roof, and Nicole for overcoming some deep fears. Lots more awards could have been doled out, but we need to save a few for the weeks to come.

The night ended with a great treat: individual letters to each of us from the students in the sixth grade class at Happy Hollow Elementary School in West Lafayette, Indiana. Whether they were fully decorated with elaborate drawings or just notes of encouragement, they brought great warmth, joy, and laughter into our lives. We’ll sign off in the same way that one of them did. . .

Until the cows come home,

SMC NOLA 2008


This is our action shot of the day – while an assembly line moves sheet rock into Rosie’s duplex, others take the time to get to know Rosie.


As we wrapped up the last of our projects for the day Lindsay Ryberg kept the girls thoroughly entertained!


Not only do we have each others back but we also have our feet… Matt Wheeler and Aaron Arnold helped each other out after a long day of work.


Brian, Matt Wheeler and Aaron Aarnold kept on working even after dark as they helped clear out debris from the back of Rosie’s duplex.


The Souljas got a special ride home, this is the view from the ferry.


Emily, Mark, Julie spent the day with four others nailing shingles on the roof of a Habitat house.


Lindsay, Kate, Bree, and Leo learned how to cut and hang siding on the same house while others were roofing.


After our day at Habitat we all went over to Rosie’s to finally meet her. Her close family friend, and ours, Lisa Trigo, was there to welcome us to New Orleans.


We ended the day at Rosie’s cleaning up the backyard. We did not have much time before sunset, but we accomplished a lot before we had to leave.


Matt, Aaron, and Bryan worked hard in the backyard pulling out an old rusted pole.


Jed, the stud that he is, takes a break from nailing down the flooring and builds the stairs for the stoop of the home.


Julie, Emily, Mark, and Shane work in sync on a roof at a house on the West Bank.


Obi works in the warm New Orleans sunshine after days of rain on the work site.


Alec, Julie, Erik, and Mark team up on the roof as Kate and our Habitat friend, Stephanie, install siding on a house.


“Goddess” Shawny puts her muscles to the test as she nails the final shingles into the roof of a Habitat home.


Along with the BLOKEs, Anne stops by to help with her own floor. She’s so enthusiastic and is almost done with her 350 sweat equity hours.


Lindsay shows off the incredible work of the day. We’re almost done with the floors.


These are the essential tools used to do flooring. There is a tool for every job!


In addition to installing the floor, Justin takes the lead in building a staircase which will lead up to Anne’s front door.


A bunch of studs are up there finishing decking and attaching shingles to the roof.

Day Three: January 2008

Day Three: Thursday, January 10



[Special Note: Please go back a couple of days and look at the still photos that we collected over those days but failed to post. We are still getting our technological groove together and we are catching up for three days of accumulated pictures now. . . Please forgive our inability to rotate the pictures that need it; we hope to figure out this technique soon.]


6:00 a.m. That’s when the breakfast and lunch crews agreed to arise so that we could make it to work by 7:30 a.m. The rest got up at 6:15 and agreed to really hustle so that all of the jobs involved in getting out of camp would be done in plenty of time. The plan started perfectly as the first two teams got up at 6. Things got a little shaky, though, when rain started to pour down at 6:02. No one flinched, as we just kept moving no matter how wet the world became. The breakfast crew ditched its plan to make oatmeal and convinced everyone to eat granola instead. We hustled and hurried and moved like little worker ants, but we still didn’t pull out of the gate until 7:20. With the traffic we hit going to work, we arrived only slightly late at 7:40. Just a little tweaking of our plan and we should make it on time tomorrow.

Our first unusual experience of the day was the discovery of two newborn puppies under one of the houses at our site. Linzy and Amanda quickly became their surrogate mothers as they snuggled them close to keep them warm. Some nurses on site said that the puppies needed to get to a shelter if they were going to survive, so the puppy-mamas, a Habitat staffer named Jarred, and Justin went to find a place. Once the shelter turned them down, they decided that Jarred would take the puppies home and try to keep them alive. They stopped by the site first, though, and had Aaron remove the still-attached placenta from each puppy. For anyone who has been reading our blogs in years past, you might recall that we had a very moving situation involving a puppy in January 2006, so for some of us the rescue of two puppies is a very moving bookend experience.

As the puppy drama unfolded, most of the rest of us returned to the same jobs we had yesterday. The floor crew got the unfortunate news that they had to undo most of their work from the day before and stagger the floorboards differently. They were pretty cheery about the whole thing, especially because they really liked the other volunteers that were working with them and their house leader, Zac.

Another group finished installing almost every single window in all four of the houses that are in progress at the site. Alec, Scott, Matt, Mark, and Tommy were the expert crew who could go into business for themselves once we return. A different group helped to install facing and decking on the roof we helped raise yesterday. Don’t get too scared, parents, but we have gotten quite skilled at operating from the tops of 20-foot ladders, even when there are large sheets of plywood involved. Wow.

The last group finished jobs on a different house then added their talents to the raising of another roof. Several of the newcomers helped to bringing the trusses onto the roof, including Scott, Mark, Nicole, Briana, Julie, and Erik.

Throughout all of these jobs, we endured very confusing surprise cloudbursts where rain would suddenly dump from the sky with no warning or buildup, leaving us running for cover but still getting soaked to the bone. We actually enjoyed this happy juxtaposition: just as we were laboring to provide shelter for deserving families, we were reminded again and again of the importance of shelter and protection from the elements.

The cloudbursts got a bit stronger in the afternoon and a Habitat staffer finally told us to call it a day. We, of course, did NOT call it a day even though we left the Habitat site. We divided into two groups: one that began to install the insulation that will rest behind the sheetrock we will hang this weekend at Rosie Boitmann’s house, and one that went to finish the gutting job at Leroy Palmer’s house.

The group at Rosie’s house climbed into the attic and stapled insulation throughout and also covered about half of the interior walls. The group at Leroy’s house took out two layers of linoleum tile flooring, finished debris removal in a garage and another outbuilding in the backyard, and then followed Don’s request that we remove that outbuilding altogether. In California, that small building might be called a “mother-in-law” unit, as it was a small room with a tiny porch that might have been a guesthouse at one time. At this time, the room was clearly used for storage. It was a cute little building with a lot of character, but its instability meant that the safest move was for us to bring it down.

After clearing the space very carefully by using the bucket brigade method, Chris, Matt, and Scott realized that a few well-chosen cuts with the sawzall would make it possible to push the building over by hand. It wasn’t exactly a breeze for them, but it turned out that a lot of rocking and then a few big pushes brought the building to the ground. Everything unfolded very safely and according to the plan. The cutest part of the whole operation happened right at the end of it all. As the very last move, Matt and Scott turned their backs to the building to push off of a shed in the neighbor’s backyard. Once our building began to give, their backs were literally against the wall, so they just rode the house onto its side with their feet in the air.

Our ten-hour workday finally ended just before 6 p.m. We headed home and melted some Velveeta, added jalapenos, and ate it with our main pantry staple: Ritz crackers. The Elevaters whipped up some curry and rice for dinner as a favor to Team Team, who was assigned to cook tonight. We held our group meeting early (around 8:00) and agreed that it would be good to go to bed early and perhaps get eight full hours of sleep. At 10:30, we all realized that we had lost track of time in our enthusiasm to plan projects, flip through pictures, and just plain talk. Shawny keeps telling us she just can’t believe how outstanding our group is so early in the trip. As usual, we’re just happy to be here. Thanks for your support!



Two puppies found under Habitat for Humanity home. Aaron came to the rescue and cut the umbilical cord of one puppy and Amanda cared for the other.



Erik and Kate diligently prep for the installation of a window. After much hard work, very window was installed in all four Habitat for Humanity homes.



As the New Orleans storm poured down, Bryan, Katie, Aaron, and Shane ducked for cover under one of the Habitat houses. We endured three thunderstorms throughout the day.



Linzy and Lindsay help each other cut the panels for the side of a soon to be completed house.



Bri and Julie persevere through hours of pulling up linoleum flooring in Leeroy’s home in the lower ninth ward.



Yesterday’s hard work didn’t quite pay off like we thought. Upon arriving at the Habitat site, the BLOKEs found that the floor was done incorrectly and had to be removed and re-done.



The group crowds around the truck for a great lunch of lentils, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans.



Emily and Shane couldn’t wait to get off the ground again; they’re always eager to climb into the rafters. Here they are installing all the roof insulation at Rosie’s place.



The rain was pouring on and off all day at the Habitat site. Elijah ducks for cover during one of the many downpours.



The BLOKEs and Elevaters happily install insulation in Rosie’s duplex.



Relentless.



After the first of four down pours that lasted about five minutes made about two inches of water across the floor of one of the habitat houses.



Some Jan Term classes use notebooks to write, this is ours.



Potential from the ground up; foundation is key to a stable and great home.



Everyone sitting on the floor of the bus since we were all soaking wet.



With Chris, Matt, and Scott pushing from the back of the house down it went



Bryan cutting pieces for the sub-fasciae



During the break due to bad weather Aaron whittles away the pencil and the time.



“Measure twice, cut once” as the saying goes. Linzy and Aarom double check their numbers before cutting a piece of siding.

Day Two: January 2008

Day Two: Wednesday, January 9



Wow. What a group! What a day! We had a rough night of sleep last night, as a huge thunderstorm rocked our bus and flooded our camp (but not our tent, because we have GUTTERS!). It was fascinating to watch the water pour down from the sky and also rise up from the ground because we are – we think – below sea level here. A few people were so zonked out from our redeye flight that they missed the whole thing.

Once the storm was over, we started the day EARLY, as the breakfast group volunteered to wake up at 6:15 to be sure that things would move fast enough to get us to work by 7:45. Everyone else got up at 6:45 and agreed to hurry and scramble to make the day happen fast. As usual, though, we couldn’t move quite as quickly as we imagined, and we didn’t get to work until 8:15. Oops. Our breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and powdered eggs (both New Orleans delicacies as far as we are concerned) was worth spending some time in camp this morning, but we all see our work as our top priority so we will have to figure out a way to move more efficiently in the morning. (NOLA vets out there: does this sound familiar?)

We went to a Habitat for Humanity build in the West Bank, the area of New Orleans where we live. The West Bank is, strangely, east of almost everywhere else we go in the city, but we won’t try to convince the region to change its usages. Even though we were late, our great new supervisor, Megan, welcomed us and put us on some excellent jobs. Within minutes, some of us were learning the new floor system that Habitat is using, some of us were installing windows, others were building a “truss walk” (a temporary wall that will support us when we raise the roof), and others were actually raising a roof on a different house. It feels like we have already almost done it all, even though it was our very first day of work.

The Habitat crew knocks off work at 2:30 p.m., cleans up and leaves by 3:00. We followed their schedule with them, but when they all went home or wherever, we went to our next job: gutting a house in the Holy Cross area of the Lower Ninth Ward. Many of you might have heard of this neighborhood because it is one of the places where Brad Pitt has focused his energies and lots of media attention. We didn’t see Brad or his project there (yet), but we got plenty of satisfaction out of going into a house that had been partially gutted long ago, but never completed. Complete gutting is necessary to get a house decontaminated and ready for reconstruction. Someone had helped our friend Leroy Palmer get part of the way to that “zero mark” where rebuilding can begin, but we hope to get him all the way there by tomorrow afternoon.

Leroy is the father of Don Palmer, one of the neighbors in the Upper Ninth Ward neighborhood where we have spent the most time over the last three years. Don lives next to our dear friend Rosie and we helped him clear his house in January 2006. Leroy has experienced quite a bit of loss over the last few years: his home was nearly ruined in the storms of 2005, another house he owned was also destroyed, and within a year of the storms, his dear wife Odessa passed away.

We entered his home in Holy Cross at 4:00 or so this afternoon, and in about two hours time got very close to cleaning out his home once and for all after almost two and a half years of waiting. Though most of our crew had never done this kind of work before, they all caught on quickly and developed a great system for pulling down drywall and clearing the space. Everyone was swinging sledgehammers and flat bars like old pros. A couple of outbuildings there seemed to remain untouched since the storm, leaving our group gasping again about the force of the water and the damage it did. We tossed out piles of belongings but also salvaged a few, including a very warped but still recognizable photo album of young Palmer kids (maybe Don and others?) frolicking on fire engines and in parks.

We finally knocked off when darkness overtook us. Of course, that section of the neighborhood had no source of power for us to light our workplace, so daylight was all that we could use. We had completed nine and a half hours of labor when all was said and done. We hope all of our days can be so varied, so satisfying, and so harmonious. We’re glad we’re here. . .




Leo, Emily, and Briana unroll tape while working on the windows. Today we installed and framed windows with Habitat for Humanity on the West Bank.



Tommy and Mark install a window that will soon bring New Orleans sunshine into a home.



Sam and Julie are entranced with their first look at the Lower Ninth.



Erik and Scott give each other a high five as they put on their boots and hard hats to gut a house in the Lower Ninth.



Leo starts the bus to return to camp after dusk. We accomplished our first day of work!


Bienvenidos a Algiers!




In this picture you can see the spray paint from when the house was searched on September 8, 2005 and a sign welcoming neighbors back, a sign of hope.


What we found in Don’s father’s garage which had been untouched since the storm.




It’s all hands on deck, everyone helps getting the Habitat homes weathered.



Many of the students spent the day working to put up windows and trim.



This is just the end of our work site at habitat and everyone is having a great time and enjoying the great weather.



This picture shows us working with Habitat for Humanity. In the location where we are working they have ten different houses under construction, and this is what it typically looks like when you look out while you are working.



This was a burnt car filled to the brim with garbage by our second build of the day in the Lower Ninth Ward. It reminded me of the immense clash problems that New Orleans still faces.



Looking in at Emily and Julie painting siding for a house under a raised house built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers.



Brad and Obi began the day working on the floor joists at one of the Habitat homes - one of the many critical steps to building these homes.



Chris, Mark, and Alec decorating our new home and installing our gutter!



Tying his shoe, with a determined look on his face, Alec is ready to face any thing Habitat for Humanity can throw at him.



Workers from Ohio’s Kent State working to put trusts up on the newly built homes.



Matt Wheeler rises to the occasion and drives nails from the truss into the framing of the house.



Emily Robbins and Bryan Navarro in the process of gutting a house in the lower ninth ward.