It's up to me now, turn on the bright lights

10 points to the first person who identifies that song quote.

Wow, 2 posts in one week ... I know it's a pleasant surprise for everyone!!!

Today I am working in the BSL Public Library, doing all sorts of admin work (I opened my big mouth and offered ... oops). It could be worse: I am in the the AC (it's in the 80's this week, and raining off and on), I am wearing real, clean, non-previously-worn-clothing, I have not pulled a single nail all day, and best of all: NO GNATS!!! Today, I set up databases of a) houses Disaster Coprs has worked on, and b) contact info for all of our volunteers. The rest of my assignments include researching material donors, sending thank-you letters, and emailing all previous volunteers to beg for money. Yes, solicitations here I come!

But, then again, I bashed nothing with a sledge hammer all day long :(

Speaking of sledge hammers:

For the past few days, we've been working on gutting the bottom half of a rather large house in Waveland. The house belongs to a family who owns a newly re-opened barbeque restaurant in town (which meant free BBQ lunch for 3 days -- SWEET). Working on their house put some things into an interesting and important perspective for me, and I thought I'd share.

Seeing the house immediately revealed that this family was in a tax bracket waaayyy above those of most other people for whom we'd worked. It was two stories, and had at least 5 bedrooms. There were 3 bathrooms on the first floor alone. There was a deck in the front yard as well as one in the back. This irked me: if they could afford contractors, and it seemed that they easily could, then why were we spending our time helping them for free?

In several minutes, that question was answered. The home owner came by about 10 minutes after we did, to explain the work he wanted us to do. First, he was suffering from a crippling case of arthritis, to the point where could not walk easily, and had no use of any of his fingers. In conversation, he explained that he, his wife, and his 5 sons (one of whom had taken a leave of absence from college for this) had spent all of their time fixing up the restaurant so that it could re-open. He mentioned the ongoing coversations with his insurance and mortgage providers, as the house had only been purchased 4 years ago and was not paid off. And finally, he said this: "You know, my wife and I have just been so depressed over losing all of this that we could barely bring ourselves to come in here and start cleaning. What got us in here was that y'all were coming to gut it out."

So, in 10 minutes, I realized that the size of the house by no means determines the size of the need. Yes, the work we did in there could have been done by someone else. But it seems like our group and his connection to it (he knew one of our volunteers) may have helped him in a way that a paid contractor could not have.

It also made me think about the real mental effects of the storm. When you're pulling nails out of studs and pulling windows out of frames, it's easy to think of things mechanically: first remove the fixtures, then the trims, then the drywall, insulation, and nails, and then scrape up the floor; sweep and repeat in the next room. But his comment put a different spin on each job. Each house is a story and it is a person. And we can only guess, in most cases, about how that person is doing beyond the state of their walls and ceilings. Now, we aren't trained to take care of those problems. Hopefully, somebody is.

OK, and now a fun story to lighten the mood before I sign off:

In this same Waveland house, we found some interesting items in the drywall. These things were INSIDE the walls, meaning only the people who built the place could have put them there. So, I have to wonder what the builders were doing on their lunch breaks when I tell you that I found the following 2 items:

1. A packet of lubricant
2. $5 cash

... one can only wonder.

Alrighty kids, it's about to rain again and our cook is gone for the weekend, so I need to go rustle up some dry food.

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Cori :)

The work train keeps a-rollin'

Hi Kids!!!

Ah, another day another dollar ... minus the dollar part :). Since my last post, I have had some experience hanging sheetrock and insulation, learning to mud a house (which, as it turns out, I am 100% terrible at mudding), have had a day off, and today, it was back to gutting.

Krista arrived on Sunday (my day off), and I got to have lunch with her, my mom, and Michael. I think she's enjoying her southern experience so far, which has been chock full of accents, mud, bugs (the mosquitos have finally arrived), fire barrels, and of course good food.

And now for my ridiculous, only-in-the-south story for the day:

For the past 4 or 5 days, we've been working on the re-vuild process in a home in Pearlington, MS. The homeowner and her daughter have been there a few of the days, helping out where they could and bringing us King Cake. The homeowner told us this story a few mornings ago. She knew an elderly woman who lived in New Orleans East, in a large 2 story house. She said she wanted only ohing from her home: a jewelry box on the second floor, which she thought would be abouve the flood waters. She sent in someone to look for it 1 week after the storm, only to find her house had been looted and her jewelry box, full of family heirlooms, was gone. So, later, the family goes in to work on the house. They go out to tbe backyard and drain the pool, and found the jewelry box sitting there at the bottom of the pool. And what did they find just next to the box?

The person who stole it.

It seems that, in wading through the flood waters, he didn't notice the pool, slipped in, and didn't make it back up.

So there it is, my ridiculous story for today.

OK, off to dinner ... tonight it's fried catfish. yum!!!

Cori :)

Gnats: The Newest Craze!

Or, I should say, the newest thing to DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! Yes, gnats do bite, and they swarm, and they make big, red itchy welts that are only dried by by ammonia, and the only thing that even begins to ward them off is not deet, is not bug spray or Skin So Soft ... it's vanilla scented body spray. The pharmacist this morning confirmed this, which had been previously a rumor. Now we all smell like warm vanilla fantasy. Well, I suppose it could be worse. For the women.

I smell like Nicole Witkov!! :)

Anyway, the jobs continue to be both challenging and rewarding. Today, we hung sheetrock and insulation in a house that Disaster Corps had previously gutted, cleaned, and re-wired for electricity. All agreed on how niced it was to be there fopr a house that turned the corner from mucky to something that is approaching a live-able status.

We have been doing lots of jobs recently in the nearby town of Pearlington, MS (for those who know the area, it's just over the Pearl River from Slidell, LA). It's a very small town of only about 700 people, and there is both a need and lack of help there.

Both there and in BSL and neighboring Waveland, MS, we've been transitioning out of the gutting business and in to two other areas: salvaging wood and supplies for Disaster Corps: acquiring sheetrock and insulation. So, another longer-term volunteer and I have been asked to spend a few days a week soliciting material donations from both larger corporations and smaller, somewhat local businesses (not too local, obviously, but in unaffected-yet-close places like Baton Rouge and Mobile). So!! If any of you know any business willingot donate this, or know anyone who woulod be willignto buy some of this for the organization ... CALL ME!! Or email me, or contact ANYONE listed on the DC website (listed in the right-hand column of this blog) and we'll chatr details. Remember, Disaster Corps is a 501 (c) (3) organization and your donation is tax-deductible :).

Here is what we need:

Sheetrock (Any kind will do)
Insulation (Again, any kind and any color is A-OK)
Respiraitor masks (both for insulation and for mold)
Any kind of food - we are expanding apparently. We do have a fridge, so any kind of bulk-type food is perfect.
Lots of freaking Warm Vanilla Fantasy Spray

So, that's the work for now. It's in transition in the moment - both nerve racking and quite exciting.

OK, a quick word about the make-up of camp before my dinner gets cold:

Right now there are 11 volunteers.

4 are here for a week from South Jersey nand actually know what they're doing.
2 are here for 2 (maybe 3, if we're lucky) weeks, and are a retired couple from SF. He's a liscensed electrician.
1 is here long-term, and is retired from Oregon
Another is here long-term, is a trained chef, and that's all the info I'm at liberty to disclose
1 is here for at least 3 months, is from Kentucky, and lives about 20 minutes from the Viacord lab
There's the Disaster Corps coordinator on the groud, who's here for the long haul
And then there's me: a chesty southern Jew from Boston who is finding usage of sledge hammers more and more appealing.

2 just left thiws week:
A kid from Oregon who ahd been here for months after biking from Washington State to Guatemela after quitting his job of being IT at a law firm
And Dan the Man, aka Gobo, aka Pants, aka Class Act ... who became known around here only as "Slim."

We all live on cots in tents, which is comfortable enough considering it keeps the bugs out. We have working toiltes, sinks and showers (Emily: things have WAY improved since the days of Kibbutz!!!! There are actual shower heads!). We have a wokring kitchen, including a shared fridge and a newly acquired (read: donated) oven and range. We have wireless internet (for a 10 foot radius), And we have at least obe outlet in eazch tent. We have a burn barrell that we all sit around at night. We have a bar up the road that hass catfish poboys, Abita Amber, darts and pool. All in all, we have all the makikngs of a wonderful (temporary) home.

Well, we have everything save a friggin' bug spray that works.

OK kids, I think my dinner is officially cold, so I am going to wrap this thing up. Give me a call sometime! I have lots of cell phone minutes to spare this month :)

Goodnight!


Cori :)