Cottage Renovations

[OT from cottage renovations]

it was like Mississippi all over again.  only different. 
hotter and more humid, for one thing. 

once again the Grove's pastor became aware of a service opportunity and mobilised resources from her congregation and the Town to meet the need.  this time around the situation was a lot closer to home.  working with one of her collegues whose ministry is to the Spanish speaking communities, she learned of a wheelchair-bound gentleman whose only ingress and egress to and from his mobile home involves a vertical lift on the order of 4½ ft.  even though he's a wheelchair athlete he cannot do this unassisted. 

the obvious solution would have been to find a more accessible home for him and his family.  but the obvious doesn't always have a way to happen, particularly in our county where the term "affordable housing" is most frequently encountered with other terms such as "unavailable", "scarce" or "crisis". 

unless or until across-the-board solutions to wider problems such as these can be found, those with a smaller scope but which are practical and achievable are the ones that seem worth pursuing. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

the expedition was about rebuilding but during breaks there were opportunities to appreciate the setting. 

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Gautier, MS

at the job site, 25 March

Azalea

26 March:

New Orleans

Jackson Square, 29 March 2008

   

[OT from cottage renovations]
[selected images crossposted to doorwindowwall, itsinthedetails or texture]

learning in conversation that we came from a former camp meeting community, our hosts suggested that we might like to head a few miles up the road to look around the one in their area. 

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New Prospect United Methodist Campground

aerial view

[OT from cottage renovations]

as more cabinets were installed the garage staging area began to open up.  in the late afternoon the coordinator backed up a trailer for us to unload: appliances. 

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Gautier, MS

a replacement water heater is already on site.  until the house electrical and plumbing systems pass inspection it's a bit premature to hook any of them up, but that can be seen to by following crews. 

later on he [the coordinator] told us that depending on who shows up, the place can be completed by, as he put it, "one fast crew or two normal speed ones."  the family has been out of this home for 2½ years now. 

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our last day was another big push.  though we did end up leaving plenty of things for following groups to do, that was within both plan and expectation and we were well pleased with the amount that got done. 

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Vancleave, MS

routine facility cleaning tasks are assigned to each volunteer group and rotated throughout the week.  this morning was our group's turn to look after the hallways (or to take a picture of the activity in lieu of doing anything). 

mopping the hallways: Ruben and Violet

Gautier, MS

the days are not without their moments of humour.  down at the job site this morning started off with a reminder that it's an excellent idea to secure the bucket against torque when mixing grout. 

splat!


pastor Judy grouting


hanging cabinets

no, Ed isn't hitting Ruben on the back of his head with a hammer; it's aimed at a shim. 

image: Judy Smith Young

Ed and another volunteer holding up a hanging cabinet



birthday boy David prepping wallboard for a splice


Ridge, casting a larger than life shadow

we're tired as heck and our working clothes are filthy, but it's a good tired and good dirt.  it was remarked that many of us came "pre injured" but for the most part we were able to work safely, with only one cut needing a bandage, one trip to the local Doc-in-the-box and one person who was invalided out for a half day. 

further artsy images were collected over the course of yesterday; they will follow in a separate post some time tomorrow. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

this is the last day in the field, time to get my aching self into motion and back to the job site.  yesterday was a big push and a lot got done, but several of us are paying for it this morning in a direct physical way. 

by the end of the day we won't have finished our little project, just one home out of the many, but we will have boosted it along and next week others will follow to do more.  incremental progress is the only kind that can be achieved; this morning I'm feeling even more finite than usual.  but it's worthwhile to be doing this, and how anybody could sustain it for the longer stretches that many have is beyond me at this particular moment. 

a quick word (well, two of them) to anybody who might be reading this among those whose contributions made this trip possible: thank you.  we are as much the beneficiaries of your generosity as those to whom our efforts are explicitly directed. 

pictoral coverage resumes this evening. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

most days the images don't get uploaded until the end of the day.  today, however, there was a group group photo opp for everybody who was here this week.  morning is a better time to get pictures before the T shirts get all dirty. 

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Vancleave United Methodist Church

[OT from cottage renovations]

on our second day we went back to the same house where we'd worked the day before.  a planned splitting of the team to cover a second project hasn't worked out yet due to some unresolved coordination issues.  that's OK, there's been no shortage of thing to do. 

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Gautier, MS

surface irregularities in the floor needed to be ground down before the wood flooring and tiles could be applied. 

Mary vacuuming and Ruben grinding


accumulation

the flooring required lots of cutting and fitting. 

Kitty and Hutch ripping a floorboard


Elise and Violet measuring carefully before cutting to length

in the kitchen, the soffit was being set in place. 

Ruben and Ridge

Gulf Coast

the site's proximity to the coast made it vulnerable to the storm and surge, but also made possible a waterside lunch break. 

what's not visible in the background of this image is the row of a dozen or so homes, obliterated down to ground level.  some had been on slabs, some on stilts, but none remained. 

Hutch and Ed


Ridge

a short walk down the road was another former homesite, the only remaining trace of which was this pool.  it is now home to a vigorous herd of feral minnows, and a good thing: there were no mosquito larvae to be seen. 

on the way back we stopped for a quick look at the remains of another structure, its support columns seeming more like outdoor sculpture. 

sculpture garden

back to work

flooring crew: Judy, Elise, Violet, Kitty, Hutch, David


Ruben, finishing up the soffit

[OT from cottage renovations]

this is the group's operating base and home away from home.  there facility is hosting several other volunteer groups from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina; we've heard that later in the week another group is expected from California. 

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Vancleave, MS

the facility is a large butler building on the grounds of the local Methodist church. 

inside there are bunkrooms; the men's one can accommodate 32 volunteers.  accommodations are simple but adequate.  meals are taken in the parish hall. 

bunkroom


washroom


lunch preparation room

---

the other half of the building is the best little warehouse in Vancleave. 

Ridge making some selections

supplies:
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brushes


roofing nails in a plastic bin


rolled insulation


crowbars


... and there's more outside

[OT from cottage renovations]

ending up as the only non-sleeper in a bunkroom with  15  (edit: make that 20 or so) energetically snoring relief volunteers means a couple of things:  one is that acquiring hearing protection before tomorrow night has taken an absolute priority; the other is that it provides adequate incentive to break the lights-out curfew for the purpose of uploading Monday's report and image (this entry comes to you from the men's washroom via the facility's wireless). 

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the Grove

the advance party had left a couple of days before.  here's a view of the rest of us, just before heading for the airport. 

L to R: Kitty, Ruben, David, Violet, Elise, some guy and Rev Judy
omitted: Ed, Hutch, Mary and Ridge

we got here without incident, or mostly so. 

• one of the kids left an iPod on the aircraft during the layover in Memphis, incurring an obligation to track down somebody from the airline in order to complete and submit a loss report. 
• the pastoral van exhibited alarming mechanical symptoms just as it was coming to rest in the airport's long term parking facility, such that there seems to be some question as to whether it is still capable of motion under its own power.  this was duly noted for attention upon return but did not pose any risk of the group's not making the outbound flight (if it has to fail, that's as soft a failure mode as one could wish). 

• plenty of modular housing units visible on the ground in Gulfport, seen out the window while landing.  this was not a surprise as they were visible in the aerial imagery of the region I'd looked at before we set out. 
• the casino industry and all of its ancillary activities appear to have effected a speedy and complete recovery. 
• it was dark when we pulled in but there appears to be an abundance of tools; no doubt there is also much need for them to be used. 
  that we'll learn about tomorrow.