Will Work For Food!

Today was another day of demolition, but we did get to do a little bit of construction work! Whoo hoo!! Surprise surprise, the brick work team is still going strong. They finished up the front side of the house and started on some pillars holding up the porch area. Tomorrow they are supposed to be finished with this job. YEAH!! There are more pictures of this below.

A few guys started framing some windows and replaced rotten studs in a front room. We ripped off the exterior boarding and replaced it with plywood to protect the inside from the elements.

In between all of our hard work, we were treated to a catered southern lunch. And boy was it worth all of the labor! A friend of Pinky and Ken's is a chef and caterer. He brought us creole shrimp over rice, corn on the cob, lima beans with bacon, coleslaw, garlic bread and.....warm banana pudding. YUMMY!!! There are pictures below of our feast! We have been looking forward to this lunch since we heard about it yesterday afternoon :o) (Will work for food!) Let's not forget the sweet tea too! Can't have creole without sweet tea!

A small group headed out after lunch (yes, we waited until after we ate!) to head to Suzie's house to put up drywall. We didnt get to finish so a group is going back tomorrow. Quite the learning experience for a few workers! On another drywall note, John, Curt and Mike went to another site to drywall all day today. Their drywall dedication meant they got doggie bags from lunch!

We hope you enjoy all of our pictures and posts. The week is flying by!

Wonder what is for lunch tomorrow...
UPDATE: The guys did a great job with breakfast the other morning. They cooked us french toast and sausage. Mmm mmm good!
Our group is cooking dinner for 90 tomorrow. Ribs are on the menu, we think. We are still wondering how we are going to pull off cooking ribs for 90 people after we put in a days work. Do we have time for ribs? Hmm...we'll have to let you know how that goes too. Sounds like 90 people will be getting leftover creole shrimp :o)

Happy Birthday to Colleen today, and Happy Birthday to Jackie yesterday!! Our group has been singing to both on their birthdays (led by Bill!) every hour, on the hour. And yes, we really mean, EVERY hour.


Dessert tonight!

Dessert last night!

We gave Ken our 2x4's that were signed by the parishioners of St. Thomas a'Becket. He was very excited to use these boards during his rebuilding.

Here they all are, signed and waiting to be used! Thanks to everyone who donated!!


Dirk and Tom are reframing a window that was taken out yesterday. The first actual construction of the week!!

Colleen pulling out more nails outside the bathroom. Quiz: how can you tell she's outside the bathroom??? (please dont make me tell you the answer...)


Carolyn ripping off the outside framing from the window.


Brian is removing framing from another bathroom window.

Tom and Dirk work on replacing studs which Eric and Mary continue gutting the bathroom.

Carolyn throwing away more material.

The endless pile of bricks. We will be dreaming of bricks forever.




Naomi passed out Mardi Gras beads that survived the hurricane in their house. And no, we didnt have to "do" anything to get these beads!

The brick removers taking a break before lunch.

Brian serving up a plate of creole shrimp. Our awesome cook is on the right side.

YUM!!!

Dessert time!!!





Warm banana pudding....enough said!

Colleen giving the donated quilts to Pinky and Naomi. They LOVED the quilts and couldnt thank us enough for all of our hard work. Thanks to Pam Eileen for your generous donation!

Gary and Brandon back at it again.

These were taken in Long Beach right along the coastline. You can see the Days Inn sign knocked over.

This picture is a good representation of the destruction along the coast. The golden arches were blown out but the sign structure withstood the wind.






This is a view of a city block, about 1/2 mile inland from the coast. All of the houses are gone, only the cement slabs remain with overgrown brush now.

Another view of the destruction.

This is Suzie's house where we started drywalling this afternoon (after lunch!)

Sherry cutting the drywall outside in the heat.

Sherry and Mary pose with their first drywall board put up in the bedroom. How proud!