Day Five

Well, we put in another long day at Ms. Carol’s. We continued painting, finish carpentry trim, drywall and shower sheets on the bathroom wall around the tub. John Troyer mowed her yard and spent a good bit of time talking with Carol. Yesterday he also dug out some huge bushes behind the house for her. John is our social/public relations officer. He could talk to a tree and have a great conversation. John is great at listening to the peoples stories. He also did a lot of painting today. Terry & Terri are our paint warriors, they are amazing. Chelsea and Cathy also did a fabulous job painting, all day long. Roger and Randy did the finish carpentry work and a little painting and Todd did the drywall in the bathroom and a whole lot more. Nick did a little bit of everything, he is a great kid. I spent a good part of the day painting & putting tile on the bathroom floor. Todd measured and I cut the pieces. Later Nick and I did the grout. It had been over 18 years since I did tile work. It took me a while to figure out the tile saw. I only broke about four or five pieces out of 35. We still have some work to do in the bathroom and we need to finish painting the porch floor.
It is supposed to rain on Saturday, so we are unsure how much we can do outside. My feet are really sore, because I do not have good supports in my work boots. My sprained ankle from two and half weeks ago is still bothering me as well. It stinks to get older. Terri Hupp has been icing her shoulder as well. We are tired and sore but we are so blessed. It is such a great feeling to know we are making a difference in someones life. Carol has been so grateful and the entire neighborhood has noticed. Many people are calling Carol or stopping in to ask how she got all these people to come out and work on her house. I think it gives them hope and encouragement to see some progress. This little town of Ocean Springs has changed since the hurricane. It has become a little more commercialized with many new restaurants and small shops. It reminds me a little bit of Berlin. Few people living on the main drag. Of course many more people live in this town.
We walked about 2 miles down to the beach tonight. It is beautiful. We could see across the bay to Biloxi and could see the bridge they are working on to connect these two towns. So far this has been a wonderful trip and I want to encourage others to consider going on a work trip this year. If anyone is interested please call me or comment.