JoyUnspeakable

Last night we not only had another homemade meal from Karin’s kitchen, but also had mounds of leftovers from the week. So, we had a big potluck. We are all very thankful for Karin’s cooking and meal preparation for the week. Everything has been delicious!
Last night, it was very comfortable outside, so a bunch of us pulled some
chairs outside and just hung out and relaxed. Joel had MLB Live on his iPad, Karin made popcorn for us all, Buck was catching up on work emails, and we all exchanged our favorite smartphone apps.
Today is Thursday, which means I have to sleep in this awful bed one more time. I’m apparently the worst snorer in the group; they let me know it the first few mornings. Everybody else wears earplugs. I don’t wear earplugs, and there is at least one or two other snorers in the room. But whatever. I guess I better start getting some weight off to help with that – but not tonight. Tonight we go out to celebrate our trip with a nice BBQ dinner. I’m looking forward to that!

We went to Shake’s for ice cream. It was very tasty. Across from Shake’s was a store with the back wall pried open. A lot has been rebuilt, but there is still plenty around to remind you of what happened about a year ago.

Buck and Larry finished one of the gables. Giff and Joel painted two rooms. It’s looking good!

I thought I was exhausted at lunch time. I am beyond exhausted now. After lunch, we cut out a ton of weeds, used the weed whacker on almost everything else, pulled out the old dog fence, prepared for the new dog fence, and threw away a ton more stuff. Just as we were leaving, Curt talked to the guy on the riding mover across the street. He said he would be able to help maintain the lawn if we can finish weed whacking it and taking it all up. I guess we will work on that tomorrow. Right now, we are going to pack up, get the other crew, and go out for ice cream. It’s been a long, hard, very hit day.

It’s only lunch time, but I’m exhausted. I spent a long time weed whacking the two-foot tall grass. We also worked on digging a trench around the garage. Vi has been working with Patrice in the garage, trying to find things to throw away. Unfortunately, she has a story for every item, so progress is slow.
With any luck, we will be able to start putting in a fence for her five or six dogs. She didn’t have enough fence posts, but she miraculously found a $20 bill and five quarters in one of the boxes in the garage, and she was very excited that now she can afford to buy some more fence posts. She said she doesn’t even have money left to be able to buy food for the cats until her husband brings home his pay check tomorrow.

Today we are splitting up again between the two places that we were at yesterday. The areas that I sprayed yesterday are ready for paint, so that’s going up today. Buck is going to continue working on the siding, and we picked up another worker, Larry. He worked with Giff and Karin when they were here last November. I’m swapping places with Joel, and am going to work at Patrice’s house so Joel will help paint. From what I hear, there is no wind over there, so while at the house it’s blowing 15-25mph keeping things cool in this 87 degree weather, it’s gonna be hot at the other place.

Right down the street from the house I have been working at is a beautiful new park. A portion of the park is dedicated to the volunteers. It’s really nice. I walked down there last night, and there was a girl there reading the plaque. Across from the park is the hospital, which is all damaged. I was told the tornado moved the hospital six inches off the foundation. The girl told me her mother was born in that hospital. I asked if she was from around, and she lives 30 minutes away. I told her I was from PA and was working on the house up the road, and she was so thankful that I came out to help. Everybody here has been very appreciative of the volunteers.

This evening, after a cookout of burgers and dogs grilled by Joel, we were witnesses to the baptism of Giff and Karin. Pastor Joel did the baptism right here at the church, where there is a big baptism pool right on the stage in the sanctuary. Those in attendance included the nine from our team, plus Don, Larry, and Pastor Pete. Karin and Giff each shared why they wanted to be baptized, and then they each entered the pool and were baptized. Afterwards, we celebrated with cake. Outside, we could see Venus northeast of the moon.

Finally, the guy showed up with some more j-channel for the siding, and the sprayer for the walls. I spent the afternoon working with Giff, spraying joint compound on all of the walls an ceilings. It was our way of adding texture to the walls do we didn’t need to waste any more time fixing all of the drywall. We didn’t quite finish spraying, but the rooms that did get done should be ready to paint tomorrow.
Buck spent all day outside working on siding again. He’s making good progress. I was able to help out a little, and even cut one piece to fit around a window.
The rest of the team went to work at another house today. I believe the other house had some minor damage from the wind, but more seriously damaged from the rain. Also, the lady is a hoarder, and all of her stuff was water damaged, but she still doesn’t want to get rid of her stuff. Also, she has five dogs, five cats, a horse, and a ton of mice. I was told there were so many flies that you needed to push them away with your hands. The team spent the afternoon digging a trench around the outside to assist with the drainage, weed whacking the grass, which was about four feet tall, and attempting to throw away boxes of stuff from the garage, which went to the ceiling. What a job!

After a nice hot breakfast, we headed back to the same house we worked on yesterday. Buck and Brody are working on the siding, and the rest of us sanded a bunch of the mud that was done yesterday. Joel, Karin, Curt, Vi, and Sara went to the dump to drop off another load at the dump. We put in some insulation around the windows, and now we are going to sit down and enjoy some fresh baked donuts from Dude’s Daylight Donuts.