Seth Whitehouse
Today we started one of our two septic tank pits. I worked on the pits, and was nothing but rocks. Lunch was really good; a guy from the church brought good ice cream and really good blackberry and peach pie. It also rained a lot, but only for a short period. We had to go into the vans because we saw lightning. Other than that it was a good day; dinner was good.
David Lang
Today we made some progress on the addition, we put part of the roof up, and we moved a drain pipe. A member from a previous job site brought us some delicious peach and blackberry cobbler and ice cream. I thought this was a very nice gesture. Anyhow all is going well so far. Talk to y’all later.
Jimmy Pacey
Playing word games and riddles while we worked helped pass the time. The day seemed to go by very quickly. I do enjoy a good riddle, both telling and answering. But looking at what was accomplished was amazing. The third trench was completed and the septic tank was placed.
Jake Nichols
Ok, I finally figured out the “green glass door” and the “I’m going to a picnic.” If u don’t know, well… don’t even attempt to understand. Today I witnessed the extraction of a deer tick off of Red, one of the many dogs that wanders around the site. I was fortunate enough to go and see the reservoir where Arthur received his water, straight from the mountain. I am going to drink from it tomorrow.
James Spangler
Today was rather slow, in the morning we were ready to fill in the last trench but had to wait for inspection. In the meantime I was tasked with clearing a path through a patch of blackberry bushes so we could run the water line through there. I also got to chop up a huge log. We received our septic tank today and when we put it in there was still a little bit of dirt preventing it from going down all the way so we had to take it out, dig some more, then put it back in. It looked like it was in the pit wrong again but when we put the leveler on the tank it was perfect. The other thing we did while we were waiting is toss a rock with shovels which was quite entertaining.
Rachel
Today, we got three days prayers worth of rain. I was helping with the downhill trench when we started getting yelled at to start re-covering the three trenches. It started to downpour, and then we heard thunder and saw lightening. So, we dropped all our tools and “ran” for the cars. My group had a 30 minute delay, and I can personally say that no one enjoyed it, because we wanted to go shower. I am getting a work out over here; I am falling into the range of pain killer every day. I hope tomorrow goes better.
Nikki
Today was a very different, but good, day at the work site. The contractor who works with us, and whose license all of our septic permits are under, has fallen victim to state cutbacks with respect to non-profit projects. ASE is addicting (in a good way) and he has sought other funding. There is a new Housing Coalition that is helping to fill the gaps left by the state cutbacks. A group from there spent most of the morning on our work site to be able to get information for presenting to the coalition (as I understand all of this). They visited with the adults, asking a lot of questions about the projects we do, and the group. There was a photographer. It was just an unusual work day in that respect.
At lunch time Damien, a congregation member and someone who we did a site for a couple of years ago, brought out still hot homemade blackberry cobbler & peach cobbler as well as ice cream and a cooler full of bottled water. He is the one that was a Katrina victim and had relocated to NC who had a Habitat for Humanity house. I was not on that site, but visited with him some knowing that Sarah Foradori would want to know how they were doing. Ruby is going into Kindergarten!
After lunch we had the inspector show up and we were able to put the 10” pipes in our septic field trenches. We were working on covering them up when we heard a rumble of thunder in the distance, then a light ran started to fall. It is very important that the trench not get rained in with exposed piping. We hollered to the folks working on the trench down the mountain to come give us a hand and were able to get them at least covered before the full force of the rain hit, followed by lightening, which put us all in the vans for about half an hour. Then we got out and worked for about another hour. The trenches still need some finish work and there is plenty of other work to get done yet. We are really at our halfway point with only four work days left.
They have already started talking about going home next Wed morning in community life. It is always sad when they start talking about that. I know that it is appropriate preparation, but it is such a downer.
Look for more pictures tomorrow. I think I can get wireless at the laundromat so will have ample time to work on that. Sorry about the lack of site two pictures. We don't have anyone in our group with a camera there. I'll see if I can get some from somebody soon.
