Day 3

Ok, catching up now.

Job site 1: Yep, still not done... back again to muck out the holes for the posts. A bunch of the girls started there early, but got fed up after trying to clear 3 holes without some of the necessary gear being used at Site 2 that morning. Some of the holes are so big you could almost part a truck in them. This site was initially done so poorly that we've really had to sweat it out to get it prepped for concrete. After pumping out even more water and digging out lots more mud, the posts are cleared, at the right depth, and ready to be set in concrete. Still hot over there - no shade. Argh - but it's finally done. We actually were there again (doing this) in the afternoon, after we had finished with Site 2 for the day and eaten some lunch that the girls (Carol and Michelle) brought over for us.

Job Site 2: Howie, Brad, and Kevin got over to this site around 6AM and started cranking out the rest of the posts. We had to drain out a few of the holes and level out some of the bottoms before setting them. Got the skid loader running again - the batter kept dying and we had to improvise some jumper cables out of some 10-3 wire in the "Mean Green Machine" as we call it. It's a really "well-driven" work van with lots of "extras" like doors that need to be bungied closed.

By noon we had all the posts in the ground and looking good, plumbed up and ready for concrete and to start the deck framing. All of the houses we are building are all stilted to 8 feet above the ground, so we have to build a deck to place all of the framing. Once we were finished there, we headed over to Site 1 to do what I mentioned above.

Job Site 3: These guys keep rocking through this site since they've had all the supplies they've needed right there. By the end of the day, Jack's house had sheeting and tar-paper on the roof and was ready for shingles. Nearly all of the siding was up and the interior is pretty much ready for plumbing and electrical rough-ins, as well as setting the windows and doors. Now what the place really needs is a staircase rather than the ladders we've been using all week.

Local stuff: We all finished up rather early. Our site 2 teams got back so early that we had time to make some improvements around the center where we are staying. Howie and Kevin installed an in-wall HVAC system in the kitchen to help cool it down, while Tom will be finishing the electrical for it tomorrow.

After that was done by maybe 5PM some of us decided to roll over to New Orleans. We plan on going over again on Friday, but since Tom and Michelle's son Andy is leaving Friday morning we figured we'd get a visit in for him. I'm putting the rest of this into a separate post because it will be a big one.