SUNDAY, April 7
I am sitting in my new favorite place - McDonalds - sipping a large $1 drink and enjoying internet time. I rode my bike over here! This will probably be my final entry for this particular post, as we leave on Tuesday for Texas. Tomorrow will be laundry and final preparations for departure - nothing noteworthy enough for a blog entry! Rick and I attended the Presby Church again this morning. They have been so hospitable to us, especially our dear friend Lewis, who volunteers at the Habitat site whenever possible, cane in hand!
SATURDAY, April 6
FINAL
DAY Hobbs Habitat Build
Click HERE to view pictures from the past few days!
Whew! What a whirlwind day at the
work site! Not only did we have three
different homeowners in attendance (with two other family members as well), we
had a work crew from the United Methodist Church, including their youth leader
and 14 junior and senior high youth. In
total, at least 20 plus from UMC! The
site was hopping! (We figured a total of
about 35 workers!)
Mike did
not get back to texture walls until 5:45 this morning. By the time we arrived, he had the huge
heater blazing in the master bedroom to
dry the texturing and all three bedrooms plus the main bathroom ready to
paint. The kitchen had been textured several
days earlier. Still to go: living room,
hallway, master bath, and laundry closet.
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| Aerial view (from ladder) of a crew of youth working on the yard. |
Mike gave
devotions today – mostly a devotion of gratitude for the work of the
Care-a-Vanners over the past three months.
This was the first year that Hobbs Habitat has signed up for the program
– you can be sure they will continue to do so!!! At the time of devotions, UMC had just the
youth leader and three kids.
Pam and I
were sent back to our trench to pull out some garbage. We then continued to clear it out completely,
even under the wood bridge! Had to build
a couple of inuksuks on the driveway from some of the boulders we pulled
out. Today I went ‘into the trench’
while Pam collected in a bucket the garbage so it wouldn’t just blow back
in! By the time we got back to the
front, more kids had arrived and it seemed like UMC volunteers kept appearing
for the next hour or more!
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| Sent back to the trench! |
The front
yard of both our house and the one completed in February were leveled, dirt
moved, and readied for sod. The sod was
supposed to have been delivered earlier this morning, but evidently Home Depot
ran out or didn’t place the order. In
the meantime, Sandy and one of the high school girls finished the gate
construction and the last panel of fencing.
Gradually
more youth moved into the house and were put to work painting. Rick spent the morning in the closets – he painted
all three of them with the first coat! I
painted gray on the exterior of the house, and then moved inside to ‘supervise’
the kitchen crew of youth. At that point
there were no more paintbrushes or rollers available and too many in each room
to add more anyway! Isy and a UMC
volunteer were doing the ceilings – Isy is tall enough he could just reach up
with a regular roller and lay it on the ceiling!!
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| Rick spent the day in the closets! |
For the
most part the UMC youth did a great job.
One crew got a little silly and spent more time painting themselves than
the walls. That particular bedroom was a
bee hive of giggles and laughter, but not much solid painting!
The sod
was delivered (from Lowe’s!) during lunch break and by the time the youth left
around 2pm, the entire yard of the neighbor next door was completed. That yard went from what looked like giant
mole hills in the morning to green grass by afternoon!! She will certainly be surprised when she
comes home today!! In the meantime we
watered the heck out of it.
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| Instant grass! |
After
lunch Mike went to open the mailbox and we discovered it wouldn’t open all the
way. Oh no! Pam and I realized we shouldn’t have made the
support board the full 18”, so I took all the screws out anchoring the mail box
to the board and Rick helped me saw off the board ¾ of an inch. Rescrewed the mailbox down and Presto!! It opens completely!! Lesson learned! (The mailbox did NOT come with instructions!)
By the
end of the day I had painted gray, white ceiling edging, and the cream wall
paint. My arms and hands told the
story!! Clean-up – there were LOTS of
brushes and rollers to clean – and then a group picture in front of the
house. Goodbye hugs with Mike….just in case he doesn’t
come out to Habi-town to deliver the mail!!
(Several are expecting some!)
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| A final group picture: Mike, Carl, Rick, Isy, Barb in back; Ginger, Arletta, Pam, Cathy in front. |
Stop at
Sonic enroute home for an ‘end of the build’ treat, showers, and whew! REST!
Pam is coming over later to watch the Michigan basketball game. Gradually our town will empty over the next
few days. Sandy is the only one staying
for a couple of weeks as she waits to see if she gets ‘on’ at the Idaho Falls
build. She is going to lay tile in the
house in the meantime!
Mike just
stopped by with the mail. Had to give
another hug – he is somewhat like a big teddy bear to hug!!! He also got a haircut today and didn’t wear
his hat so it was like looking at a stranger half of the day!
Good
night, Hobbs!!
PS. Michigan
won the late game by a squeaker! Pam is
happy!
FRIDAY, April 5
Hobbs
Habitat Build Day 9
Today was a GREAT day sandwiched between a beautiful sunrise and
sunset! In between was Habitat work –
OUTSIDE - and a potluck BBQ at Mike’s.
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| Running the chop saw for fence supports. |
I didn’t
set foot inside the house today except to avoid the wind during lunch! We arrived this morning to find two huge
piles of fresh topsoil (very sandy stuff!) in the front yard – ready to be
smoothed out for yard work tomorrow. Arletta and I worked on the dirt for
awhile, but then it was fence building time.
I helped take all the stakes and support boards down from the
now-set-in-cement posts, and then manned the chop-saw to cut the horizontal
boards to fit into the metal braces. We
were building a ‘good neighbor’ fence, with the upright boards alternating on
each 8’ section. By break we had all but
the last section of boards cut and set in place. Rick and Sandy were already working together
to screw in the uprights on one side, while Isy and Carl handled the next
section on the opposite side.
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| Rick and Sandy were incredible at installing the fence slats. |
Eventually Pam and I teamed up to install uprights as well. We borrowed an old metal wheel I found in the
trash to provide a ‘step stool’ to help us reach the top board. Pam and I are height challenged and it was
difficult for us to get the leverage for the top screws. We improvised just fine.
Rick and
Sandy were a well oiled machine and slapped those boards up so quickly. But all of us were getting hungry by lunch
time, which was to have been provided for us by a local volunteer. Only problem….he must have forgot! Finally at 12:20 Mike left to pick up
pizza. He returned at 12:40 with
Albertsons chicken, tater wedges, and cole slaw – the pizza place was
jammed!
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| Pam and I show off our mail box installation. Too bad we discovered on Saturday it wouldn't open all the way! We fixed it! |
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| Pam down in the trench. |
..because the final job of the day was NOT
fun! Out in the back of the house, a 4’
deep trench for the utilities had been compromised in a number of places. Evidently the utilities won’t come until it
is completely empty and cleared out. Pam
and I lowered ourselves down into the trench and started throwing out shovels
of dirt and rock. It took awhile – the
wind kept blowing the dirt back into our faces and it was hard to throw the
shovel up high enough to keep it from just sliding back in. But….. we got ‘er done! We stopped right at 2:30 declaring it was
quitting time. We thought we were just
going to be stuck in the trench until someone came to get us out, but Pam found
that we could exit via the far end out by the road, crawling on our hands and
knees. We had dirt EVERYWHERE!
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| Mike cooks up the BBQ! |
Rick and
I took three tries to find a place to make copies of the composite scribble I
did to give to everyone. Wal-greens was
broken, Albertsons didn’t have a machine, but Staples got the job done! Then home to shower, finish fixing pink
fluffy stuff, and relax!!!
We took
Pam with us over to Mike and Melanie’s house, near the job site. Mike had hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken
ka-bobs on the grill! A super potluck
dinner: cheesy potatoes, baked beans, pink fluffy, apple crisp, lemon meringue
pie, garlic bread, and a cornbread fritter type dish from Jamaica (Pam!). I ate WAY too much! Rick and I had to take a couple laps around
the field near the high school when we got back.
I stepped
outside briefly at Mike’s to film a beautiful sunset in the west. The evening was 70 degrees and very pleasant
as the wind is starting to die down a little.
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| Sunset from Mike's house |
THURSDAY, April 4
Hobbs
Habitat Build Day 8
Pictures to be added later....quick McDonald's stop!
Well, I
wish I could say I did something new and uniquely different today, but….no. I spent all day inside the house with the mud
tray and blade – cleaning and scraping my ‘too heavy’ corner jobs, and trying
to smooth things out with a third coat.
I was paying for the sins of my heavy hand over the past two days! Lesson learned!! Barbara and Arletta joined me inside –
Barbara applying mud as well as sanding, and Arletta, who wielded the sanding
rod ALL DAY LONG! Her shoulders are
tired!
However…..outside
the house, the sun was shining, it was a perfect 72 degrees with a light cool
breeze, and things were hopping!! Sandy
worked on trim most of the day, cutting edges for the front and around the
garage door. Carl and Isy, getting
slightly frustrated, were STILL in the garage trying to get the opener to work
correctly. (Success shortly before
lunch!!) And Rick, Kathy, and Pam
aligned all the fence posts into a VERY STRAIGHT line. With help from Isy after lunch, cement was
poured into the holes. Rick reports a
total of 15 posts! (Twelve on the side,
2 in front, and 1 for the mailbox.)
By
afternoon I was starting to ‘lose it’ as Barbara said. I was singing into my mud microphone in the
bathroom shower… anything to stay amused and focused! Mike declared at the end of the day…”We have
to let Ginger outside tomorrow!”
Barbara
came back to ‘Habi-town’ briefly after work before heading out for the evening
and to Lordsburg in the morning. She was
here for 3 ½ days, but what a whirlwind!
We enjoyed a little ‘Happy Hour’ time (without the refreshments) in the
shade of Arletta and Carl’s motorhome for 45 minutes or so.
Pam,
Rick, and I are heading out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner! We have heard back from Katy’s parents in San
Antonio and they have issued an invite to stay with them and park the trailer
in the neighbor’s unused driveway. We
will accept….for a few days anyway! Grocery
run tonight to pick up ingredients for Pink Fluffy Stuff to take to BBQ
tomorrow night at Mike’s. Plus lunch is
being provided tomorrow! Wow! No cooking for abit!
WEDNESDAY, April 3
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| Lewis serves up biscuits and sausage! |
Hobb
Habitat Build Day 7
Click HERE for pictures from the past two days
Brrr! Down in the 30’s last night
and cloudy, but rain never came.
Fortunately the wind seems to have died down a little. We have a treat this morning at the job site:
Lewis is bringing sausage biscuits for breakfast, along with some tater tot
like potatoes. What a sweet guy he
is!!
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| Rick and Arletta work on fence post holes. |
Today I
again spread MUD. All day. By the end of the day, Arletta came inside
and said, “Ginger, have you noticed you are the ONLY one still doing mud?” I told her I was aware of it! More corners, mostly….now working on third
coat. I wasn’t using the corner tool,
but rather the regular flat blade. Mudding
is losing its novelty…..plus I started getting mixed messages about the job I
was doing which didn’t help.
However…..it needs to be finished!
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| Rick helps Pam with corner post. |
It was
somewhat a strange day. Mike was in and
out a lot, picking up the post hole auger, then fence posts, etc. Carl and Isy were all day again in the
garage. Rick ended up sanding walls,
then mudding again before lunch, and more sanding. After lunch he opted to go outside and help
realign the fence post holes and then help Pam with some molding on the porch
support.
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| I added a little Einstein hair to a picture of Carl on the wall. My latent artist emerges! |
Showers,
dinner, and an evening in the library on the internet!
Addendum: Library was a bust. Couldn't get connected to the internet this time around. So back to the trailer, and then Pam came with me to McDonalds for a little internet time. (Unfortunately I just found out she forgot the adapter to connect her notebook to the internet! :( )
TUESDAY, April 2
Hobbs
Habitat Build Day 6
This can
be very brief today: COLD. WIND.
MUD. INSULATION.
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| Corner mudding! |
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| Rick plays in the attic with an insulation hose! |
I spent
the day mudding corners. Everytime I
thought I was done, more appeared, including the entire upper ceiling level of
the vaulted living room! Agh! By 1:30, Rick was even back with a mud tray
in hand! Barbara worked on mud all day,
Sandy a little in the afternoon. Pam and
Arletta sanded. Carl & Isy spent the
day working on the garage door.
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| A portrait of Barbara on my MUD HAWK! |
The
morning project, other than mudding, was the attic insulation blow-in. Rick was manning the nozzle end and shooting
the insulation in, while Kathy helped find holes and maneuvered the hose
through the hole. Sandy fed the machine
in the garage. It was noisy and cold
work for those in the attic!
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| Rick did end back up with a mud blade! |
Another
weather front is moving in and today was cold and windy. Mike went and got a heater to put inside,
partly to keep us warm, but also to help the mud dry faster! Forecast was for cool night and possibly
rain.
Soup
sounded good, so I picked up a few cans at Dollar Tree when I went out to the
Weight Watchers Meeting at the Lutheran Church.
I was able to use my At-Work Pass just fine, could compare my purchased
scales with the WW scales. Slowly
getting back down to my goal weight.
Tomato
Soup and popcorn for dinner! Well, Rick
ate crackers, but he didn’t whine too much when I made microwave popcorn! I borrowed Pam’s mini-kite (yes, it had been
successfully rescued!) to make a pattern from it.
MONDAY, April 1
Rest and Relaxation Day!
Click HERE for a few pictures....
Ah....another chance to sleep in!! Glorious! (Which really means I stayed in bed until 6:35 instead of 6:10 or so!) I took the opportunity to steal about a hour of leisure reading BEFORE spending time with God. Hmmmm....did I learn anything from Easter Sunday???
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| Pam launches her Easter Monday kite. |
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| My sandal ties add to the tail. |
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| Caught in the tree. |
Morning spent drawing, relaxing, and while Rick took a bike ride, I periodically stepped outside to help Pam who was flying her little portable kite. Part of the Easter Monday celebration in Jamaica (where Pam served two years with Peace Corp) is kite flying!!! Massive crowds of kite flyers!! So, I took a few pictures of Pam to send to her Jamaican friends and then went back into the trailer to continue drawing. Back out a moment later to offer one of the ties from my Sekko sandals to add to the tail as it needed more weight. That worked perfectly, and now it looked like the kite had a forked tongue! Later, I heard a 'Uh oh!' The string grip of the kite has been blown right out of her hand, wrapped once around the telephone wire, and was now hung up on the electric box at the top of the utility pole. The kite was still dancing in the sky! Eventually it twisted, fell into one of the pecan trees and got stuck. Long story short, when the wind died for a moment, the kite fell to the ground and Pam cut the string. We are still waiting to see if Isy can help get the string holder off the telephone line.
I am now at the library again. Rick is cruising the internet on San Antonio, I am catching up on postings, and then will do the same. A little Albertsons shopping should complete our strenuous day!! Back to work in the morning!
EASTER SUNDAY, March 31
He is Risen!
Click HERE to view pictures
The
Easter bunny came to our trailers here in Habi-town! Rick discovered it on the trailer step when
he went out to exercise this morning. A
little plastic bowl with grass and two eggs, filled with Hugs and Kisses! Also
weighed down with a rock because the
wind was blowing HARD this morning!! The
trailer was rocking! (We suspect Bunny
Pam was responsible!)
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| Our Easter basket from Bunny Pam! |
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| My basket of acorn caps. |
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| Front entrance of church and EGGS! |
We
cleaned up into our best clothes, picked up Barb and Pam, and headed to the
church a little before 9am. The
breakfast was fabulous: breakfast burritos, pancakes, biscuits and gravy,
orange juice and coffee. All that would have made it PERFECT was fruit! Pam and I went downstairs and to the lawn at
the front of the church to watch the kids hunt for the Easter eggs which were
laden all over! We had our own hunt as
well: for the acorn caps that were abundantly spread along the walkway. I filled my coffee cup basket.
I took a few pictures of kids during the breakfast, but wish I had one of two little sisters decked out in frills, including ruffly pantaloons that matched their dresses. Mom had obviously curled the long hair of the older daughter. I thought of the Kelley girls and how beautiful they must look today in church!
A good
service together and then back to Habi-town.
Pam offered to drive to McDonalds, so the three of us gals headed off
for a little internet time while Rick watched one of the March Madness games on
TV. When Pam ran out of power (she
forgot her cord), we headed back – just in time for her to see the end of the
Michigan game on our TV!! Phone calls
with Moms, and then ready to head out to dinner. I knew Barb was low on cash, so Rick and I
offered to buy her a salad bar dinner (what we were getting) if she wanted to
come. She instantly said yes, and then
rummaged around in her suitcase and brought out a pair of beautiful turquoise
blue tie dye socks to barter for her meal!
They are ‘bamboo’ socks and VERY soft but strong feeling.
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| Easter Dinner at the Cattle Baron: Ginger, Barbara, Izy, Kathy, and Pam. Thanks Rick for taking the picture! |
We ALL
ordered salad bar menus and had a wonderful time and conversation at the Cattle
Baron. We picked a perfect time to go at
4:15 – the buffet brunch crowd gone and the dinner crowd not yet arrived. After dinner we drove on out the road to
Wal-Mart since we were close anyway.
Picked up our salad stuff for the week and a few other groceries.
More
conversation, reading, and relaxing to round out a blessed Easter day! Best of all….the wind died down in the
afternoon and it was warm, sunny, and gorgeous!!
SATURDAY, March 30
Hobbs Build Day 5
Click HERE to view pictures from all week
Dew damp wet again
this morning! But the high today is
suppose to be in the 80’s, so things are going to warm up! And probably get muggy! .....
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| Rick vows this might be the LAST picture I take of him mudding! |
Rick and
I again spent the ENTIRE day applying mud to the sheetrock. Rick was not a very happy camper and when he
got done with the second bedroom at closing time, said that was it! He will dig post holes on Tuesday if he has
to, but NO MORE MUD! (I don’t think he
enjoys it very much!)
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| Corner work on the second coat of mud! |
I
gradually moved up today from the windows, to fixing the flats of the open
doorways, to second coat nail holes, to any flat seams that needed a second
coat, to eventually learning how to use the corner tool and putting the second
coat into the corner joints. That is not
a very fun job, and unfortunately my corners remaining to be done were all the
top ceiling to wall corners – overhead stuff holding a heavy load of mud! My left arm is definitely going to feel it
tomorrow!
Rest of
crew worked to finish the trim paint, dissemble the scaffolding, apply trim to
the porch area and support pole.
Eventually Mike picked up the rest of the outside doors and Kathy and
Sandy went to work installing those.
Everyone seemed to have a job to do.
Lewis joined us again today, as well as Debbie, the homeowner. She worked out in the sun leveling some of
the front yard.
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| Mike's middle child 'helps' sweep up a bedroom. |
We were
also joined during the morning by 3 of Mike’s 5 kids! Two girls and a little guy running around in
rubber boots! One daughter had
mismatched tennis shoes without laces, and the littlest son, who was there for
awhile with Mom and baby sister, was clumping around in cowboy boots, on the
wrong foot! Pretty cute!
Right
around noon a jeep style car pulling a storage trailer arrived. It was Barbara, our last Care-a-Vanner
volunteer! What a rig she travels
in! No plumbing, mostly a bed and a
dog! She is probably in her 50’s, has
been full-timing for 11 years, living a gypsy lifestyle – volunteering here and
there, odd jobs here and there. Quite
the eccentric character! She worked in
Cruces for awhile (we also found out that Sandy was there right after the build
Rick and I were on).
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| Last week the wind toppled one of the outhouses. Mike's daughter put it upright again today!!! |
After
quitting time, Rick and I highballed it back to the trailer, changed from our
work clothes and loaded up all the laundry to find the Wishy Washy Laundromat
over by the K-Mart store. Pam soon
joined us! It was busy, but we were able
to snag a couple of machines and had all the laundry done within a little over
an hour! A stop at Subway enroute home
for dinner sandwiches, and back to the trailer to relax and for Rick to watch
basketball games!
So ends
our first week at Habitat Hobbs!!! We
are taking Pam with us in the morning to attend the Easter breakfast and
services at the Presby church.
Addendum
– I went over to Pam’s trailer to see about a possible game and we ended up
going down to visit Barbara and check out her ‘trailer’. Oh my!
It is a 12’ cargo trailer with a side door. She has the walls covered with fur blankets
and gaily colored scarves. Carpeting on the floor, a bunk bed with her boxes of
clothing on the top bunk. A rail across
the back for hanging clothes, a trunk up front with a few cooking items on
top. It truly looks like a gypsy
wagon!! Since she is on the end, she set
up her ‘bathroom’ out back with a blue tarp – a little porta potty and a solar
shower hanging from the tree. She is a
most interesting individual to chat with….she does most of the talking, but
overall it was a good conversation. She
indicated an interest in attending church with us in the morning. During a tour of our trailers, Pam ended up
staying in with Rick and watching the basketball game while Barb and I talked
outside her place.
FRIDAY, March 29
Hobbs Build Day 4
Today was
amazingly DAMP! There was dew on the
truck, and the windows were ‘fogged’ up this morning. What is going on? This is the dry southwest! A slight chance of rain is forecast for this
afternoon and evening.
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| Rick really has been working... can't you tell? |
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| Mudding down the metal trim edges. |
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| Mike relaxes after a little sanding action! |
We were
joined this morning by a long-time local volunteer, Lewis, from the Presby
Church. Pam and I sat with Lewis last
night at the Maundy Thursday service. He
has limited mobility, but is the dearest man!!
He wants to bring us all breakfast next week. Mike said he used to volunteer all the time,
and thinks he is back because of the Care-a-Vanners.
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| Jared brought us lunch so we set up a table in the living room. |
Back to
the trailer and Rick took a walk while I biked down to the library with hopes
to grab a little internet time. It was a
good ride into a west wind – all for naught.
The library closed at noon for Good Friday. (Students also had the day off today from
school!) At least the ride back was
swifter with the wind at my back!
Evening
watching the Oregon Ducks get killed in March Madness Basketball. Sad face. :(
THURSDAY, March 28
Hobbs Build Day 3
Warmer
today. Much warmer! I shed my long cotton shirt right after
devotions I think. I used my Habitat
Hands Up scribble for this morning’s message.
Rick
finished sheetrocking in the garage this morning. Messy work on the slant of the wall. Not easy, especially since it was a
transition from ½” sheetrock to 5/8” as well.
I guess the heavier is necessary for a fire barrier. He then worked on cleaning up the pile of
sheetrock and other scraps until lunch.
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| Doesn't the water heater frame look lovely?? |
I put the
metal corner trim around the hot water framing as soon as Rick had it screwed
in, and then went in to the master bathroom to help the gals in there. I couldn’t finish my window until they
finished the wall! By lunch time, the
bathroom was completely done! Whew!
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| Pam screws in part of the bathroom wall. |
Pam and I
are going to the Maundy Thursday soup supper and service tonight at the
Presbyterian Church. It will be nice to
go with someone! She is an amazing
gal….travels alone, living in her WolfPup trailer or with one of her two kids,
either in Texas or Pennsylvania. Has
taught in Guam, Peace Corps in Jamaica, host volunteers at National Parks, and
has worked on many Habitat blitz builds.
Hobbs is her first Care-a-Vanner experience. I couldn't think who she reminds me of, but Rick nailed it....Jan Bonn! And that is an ultimate compliment to BOTH OF YOU!!
I have been collecting my treasures again
beginning with CHRPA. Not sure what kind
of sculpture will be built, but….. I have toilet parts, electronic wires,
screws, sheetrock, roofing mesh (complete with a little tar!), metal corners,
etc. in my bag of goodies! Today I added
some drywall tape. All of it is
materials that would have been bound for the dumpster!
WEDNESDAY, March 27
Hobbs Build Day 2
Click HERE to view pictures
Above
freezing last night equals a beautiful morning!
I will have to remember to take a peek at the full moon this evening. It is beautiful in the clear skies.
Pam gave
the devotion this morning – a passage from 1 Cor. which was very appropriate –
we are co-workers with God as Habitat volunteers. I am on for tomorrow – need to check my
booklet for which one I want to use.
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| Rick and Carl lift a 'puzzle piece' into place while Izy waits to put in the screws. |
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| Hammer and nail technique on the corner molding pieces! |
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| The 'bathroom' crew: Arletta, Pam, Kathy |
Stopped
at the Stripe again for a drink enroute home.
Got home to find a Class C RV
just pulling in from Washington state.
Sandy has arrived! Sandy is a
single woman who was here for the first three Hobbs builds, went down to Mason
TX for a couple, and since they were ahead of schedule and we were short
workers, returned to Hobbs. Kathy and
Izy worked with her early on and we happy to see her! So….we are now 5 RVs at the Habi-town park
with one more expected on Friday I think.
After
dinner we hope to seek out the McDonalds or library for a little internet
time! As folks can obviously see, my posting will be sporadic for the next few weeks....we have to go find the wifi service to use. :(
I think I am going to be sore tomorrow. I pounded ALOT of nails today. Granted they weren't the huge 16 penney ones for framing, but every six inches on a number of strips adds up!
TUESDAY, March 26
Hobbs Build Day 1
Another cold
night, but we managed to keep the water unfrozen this time around! Hopefully this was the last of the
subfreezing night temperatures! It was a
brisk 48 degrees in the trailer when I got up at 6. Apparently opening up the front end dropped
our temps that much. (Overnight low was
again around 24 degrees.)
Ready to
go and head out to the job sight at 7:45.
Mike, both our construction supervisor and the Habitat affiliate director, led us in devotions for the day.
Then the traditional Hands Up! And we get to work!
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| Pam cuts some sheetrock. Don't be fooled by the sunshine. It was COLD! |
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| Kathy & Izy at break time. |
We did
have to tackle something new for me just before stopping for the day: cutting the cement board (rockboard?) that
backs the shower enclosure. A sheet of
it is only 3’x5’ and HEAVY!! It took all
four of us to put a panel into place and get it screwed in. The cement board screws are MUCH harder to
drive into the wall! I accidentally used
a drywall screw once, had to back it out, and then found the rock screw much
easier to install. I used that technique
for the rest of them!
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| Rick does a little figuring in the garage. |
We
cleaned up for the day and were ready to leave the site by 3pm. Rick and I stopped for a cold drink enroute
home and spent the next couple of hours showering and reading! Perhaps tomorrow I will take the opportunity
to head into town and go on-line and post everything!
I confess
I spent the rest of the evening also finishing the book I started reading from
Cruces. I realized I wasn’t going to get
anything else finished until the book was done!
MONDAY, March 25
Habitat Build Meeting
Agh! I didn't take ANY pictures today!
Brrr! Again!
I checked the temp when we got up this morning and it was 25 degrees
outside, but 54 inside the trailer! Our
little heater cracked it out all night long.
I think it really helped leaving the front folded up. However, even though I got up at 5am to
deliberately flush the toilet again and run hot water in both taps, I didn’t
run enough when I got up at 6:45. When
Rick got up at 8, the pipe had frozen!
Fortunately, by 9 or so, the sun was on the water pipe and things had
melted. Could be the same again on
Tuesday morning.
As I
write tonight until the beauty of a crystal clear sky and an almost full moon,
I say thanks for a day of complete relaxation!
We were lazy this morning…readying, drawing, etc. Showered and rode our bikes the mile and a
half down to the Presbyterian Church where the Habitat office is located. Box lunches had been provided for us, and in
general the group just got to know our supervisor, Mike Henderson, and Pastor
Howard of the church. We also met Retha,
who is the administrative assistant part-time, but she had to leave. At this point we are a crew of 7, with two
more singles to join us later in the week.
We will learn more in the morning, but anticipate sheet-rocking
first!
The
predicted winds today didn’t materialize, which was nice because the air was
cool even though the sun was shining!
After Rick and I got back to the trailer, I sat out in the sun for over
an hour reading my book. Rick was
instead reading….and napping!
Kitchen
work included making the week’s salad, cooking up some eggs for fast tortillas
in the mornings, cutting up a mango and a cantaloupe. And then….making dinner! This evening we took a walk out around the
huge practice field for football and soccer.
The stadium is top-rate; the town definitely has oil money!
In fact,
we learned at the Habitat meeting why the need for housing in Hobbs is
critical. The town has grown nearly 19%
in the past 10 years due to a surge in oil and gas, potash, and a uranium
refinery just south. The oil companies
are buying up cheap housing and hotel rooms (going rate is $209 per
night!) The rent on a minimum quality
home is about $1000 up to $2000 a month.
Ridiculous! Quality workers who
can pass a drug test are out in the oil fields, so service workers who actually
realize what SERVICE means are few. The
local Wal-mart has the reputation of being the most ‘inhospitable’ Wal-mart in
the country! But overall…it is easy to
navigate, not as hot as we anticipated…yet, and the people are friendly.
Time to
bundle up and be ready to return to the construction field in the morning!
