DAY 3

I am going to see if I can figure out how to post some pictures tonight.  I knew how to last year but I forgot.

Today I washed dishes - lots and lots of pans and pots and serving utensils.  I worked on that for over 2 hours.  Then we toured the projects that are being worked on.  We got lost in the 9th ward.  There is so much left to do.  I knew there was a great need and have told everyone that but it is worse than I even thought.  So sad.

Anyhow - I don't have much to say tonight so I will try to do the picture posting thing instead.

love and miss you all.

DAY 2

Day 2 in NOLA is done.  It is cold and blustery here.  There is a freeze warning here tonight.  This is devastating for these folks.  They lack heat in their homes.  I worry for them.

We did the usual today.  Tomorrow hopefully I will take the day off of construction and have an adventure.  I will tell you the details tomorrow if it happens as planned.

Today we got to spend a lot of time with our homeowner named Joe.  We are actually working on his daughters house but it sounds like they may move in with her.  Joe's wife has cancer and she was told that she had 3 months to live.  That was 3 1/2  years ago and she is still going strong.  She said that her doctors may have said that but the big man upstairs is in charge and he isn't done with her here yet.  That is faith!

We had a good presentation from a person from "Save our Coast" tonite about the need for the wet lands and the barrier islands.  I am way tired but her presentation was so interesting.  I wish I had it recorded.  It gave us the history on how the land under New Orleans was formed and why it is so important to the rest of the states.

We have a full day of work tomorrow and on Thursday we work a half day and have a neighborhood festival at Trinity Claiborn and then on Friday we have our usual half day and the rest is for sight seeing.  We don't get much of a chance, nor are we really awake enough to do any sight seeing other than that.  Of course the youngsters are always ready to go.  Well, the first night they are but on the second day they are dragging anchor.  After that they are in pretty early.

Well, it's good night for now.  Want to get to bed and read for a bit.

I love you and miss you all.

DAY 1

Today was busy!   Worked hard at a nice house that is about half way to completion.  We are hanging dry wall, mudding and taping.  Lots of work.  We have a big energetic crew.  Willing to learn and willing to do anything.  My leader is my friend Jen.  Love that girl!  We have the best time together and laugh a lot.

The accommodations here are not real nice like before.  And the food stinks!   Thinking of going out to dinner tomorrow night.  There are a lot of people here.  More than just us.  There are people from the New Jersey area, Boston and Albany New York.  They are all college kids.  It is a hoot but there are waaaay too many folks.  It takes forever to get dinner.

In the neighborhood that we are working in there are still homes that have not even been touched yet.  I ventured into the house behind the one we are working on and it is gutted but that is all.  I feel sorry for those people - 5 1/2 years after Katrina.  What a shame.  There is a house across the street from our house and it has also not been touched.  I was crossing the street, hoping to maybe get a picture of the inside when someone waved from the trailer in the front yard.  I retreated across the street real fast.  Hope they didn't think I was trying to rob their place or anything.  It was interesting.

We are seeing a lot of growth around here.  There are new fast food restaurants, an auto zone, and a few strip malls that are filling up.  That is a positive.  For so long it was a waste land but now it is growing.  That is GOOD.  The Lower 9th still has a long way to go.  We were driving around and there are so many houses that have not been touched.   I did finally get to see Fat's Domino's house on this trip. It's tiny.

We took a small side trip - imagine that - and saw the battle ground where the British and the Americans had a huge battle and the general of the British militia was killed.  We won!  That was really cool.  It is tucked away in an industrial area and right next to the Mississippi River.  Who knew??

I  just LOVE my traveling buddies.  They are always up for an adventure and not against taking "detours" when there is something of interest.  We do a lot of U-Turns when we spy something interesting.

Well, tomorrow is another day of taping, mudding and the dreaded sanding so I best get to sleep.  I really am tired.  Most of you know (because I have whined about it so much) that I fell last week and hurt my back.  Just wanted you to know that because of a DEAR friend and some super-duper Ibuprofen 800's from her, I was able to get through the day but right now I'm hurting so nitey-nite

Love you all.  I will keep in touch.

Ginny

WAY DOWN YONDER.....

We are here - we made it.  I am tired of riding.  Sat waaaay too long.

The traveling was great until this morning when we got to Jackson Ms.  It is true what they say about southern drivers - they are NOT used to icy roads.  There were spin outs on some of the bridges.  Once we cleared Jackson the rain stopped but I can tell you, the weather is far from warm.  It is raining here in NOLA and the wind is really going.  It is COLD.

The accommodations leave a lot to be desired.  We are in what has been referred to as carney accommodations.  We have to go across the yard to shower and use the "facilities".  This is going to prove interesting.  The guys are happy - they have the Taj Mahal of a trailer and a big  screen TV in the common room.  Think it is evenly divided between those rooting for the Packers and those who are rooting for the other team.  I don't like football so I don't care.

Dinner is coming soon so I am going to go for now.  Tomorrow is our first day of work so it will be early to bed so it can be early to rise.

Love you all.

Ginny