Hump Day

Today was my last full day of work on the site. Bosses say I gotta... you know... go back to real work.

First thing in the morning, despite objection from my legs, we climbed back up onto the roof and finished the roof. It was a real pleasure to drive that last nail in a roof that will hopefully stand for decades.


Afterwards I grabbed my cameras and walked around the block a few times before lunch
All the houses were making great progress with all the roofs done and siding and drywall going up fast the neighborhood was really starting to look complete. Over on Clay Street is seemed that the Amish had spread themselves out to help their neighbors. And they were even pouring the concrete for the sidewalks and steps as I made my way to the church for lunch.

At lunch I saw that Joe Shyne had come back for another visit and Councilman Monty Walford and Shreveport CAO Tom Dark were with him.

"It's like an army of ants," said Dark. He added that although his kids had done this kind of mission work before, he was amazed to see adults taking the week off to come build a house in Shreveport. As they made their way around the grounds the city contractors continued to bulldoze substandard housing in the neighborhood. I heard that Brian Wooley was coming out later that afternoon as well. Maybe councilmen Michael Long, Ron Webb, Joyce Bowman and Calvin Lester will join us before the week is over.

When I returned to the work site I came to a realization; it seems as though in this world of house-building there are two kinds of people. Painters and non-painters. I thank God for the painters, because I gotta tell ya that I hate it. I can't really place a finger on why, but I do. So after playing around with a roller I left the serious prime/paint work to the pros and started scraping and sweeping floors to get ready for the flooring contractors. Eventually I ran out of time and had to get home to get this blog up, file images to the paper and post a gallery!

Before I left I made one last stop by Rosie's house to see the progress. It seems there was more rot in the front porch roof than anticipated and they had to strip it to the studs.
As I was talking to Tim in the kitchen, which is coming together beautifully, the whole week was wrapped up in a split second when Tim showed Rosie her new kitchen sink. The look on her face when she saw the running water was worth all the sunburn and sore legs the week could possibly dish out.