Saturday, March 28th

We started on Monday morning gathering equipment and getting the supplies ready. The interior walls had been assembled and were lying on their sides on the concrete pad. We began by getting the exterior walls erected and then moved to the interior walls. By Thursday afternoon we had all the walls erected and almost all of the ceiling trusses on the roof and nailed down. Weather had been wonderful all week, but on Thursday we started getting a light shower. We had to shut down our work early on Thursday when the rains became too uncomfortable. We haven’t been able to get back to work since then.

Each day we had somebody in the community preparing and serving us lunch. Every meal has been fantastic! This looks like it’s going to be a “20-lb. build” - we’ll add 20 lbs. to our weight before it’s over. The people here are the most generous folks I’ve ever experienced. If we needed anything, it was immediately take care of. We’ve met some wonderful local folks and they just can’t do enough for us. My only regret is that we’ll probably leave the house before we’ve finished. The goal is to get the house exterior completed and waterproof, but the interior won’t be done. Habitat will have to get some more folks in to do the finishing on the interior.

Several of our evening meals were prepared and served to us in the Fellowship Hall of the Baptist Church. On Thursday night we were going to be on our own, but Terry Adams, the IGA store owner, invited us to join him for dinner in Shellman, about 25 miles south of here. The Back Porch Restaurant has a Thursday night seafood buffet and that small town was packed with cars that drive for miles for that special Thursday event. On Saturday is a special event called “Holy Smoke”, a church BBQ competition. It’s supposed to start about 1PM with preparing the food for the competition and the actual meal will be around 5:30PM. During the prep time will be gospel music singing and socializing. With the weather we’re experiencing right now, it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to go.

Our weather has been interesting, to say the least. About 9:30 this morning we were under a tornado warning. We could sit in the coach and watch the local Columbus, GA TV station with some excellent weather coverage. We could see the radar images of the severe weather cell pass over Preston and see and feel the winds and rain rock the coach. The tornado warning passed and we didn’t have any adverse weather from it. We’re hoping that the weather will clear up this afternoon and maybe on Monday we’ll be able to hit the house hard and get nearly caught up. Several of us were going to get some work done this morning but the weather aced us out.

Yesterday Dottie and I drove to Albany, about 40 miles south of us, to so some shopping at Sam’s Club and the Super Wal-Mart. While we were gone the rains came and we were told about the heavy downpour by the rest of the folks. The ground can only absorb so much water and there are pools on our parking area. We are still in the best spot on the parking area as we are the highest and close to the paved area if we have to leave. So far, there’s been no reason to worry and we’re sitting in good shape.

I have to admit that it was interesting sitting through the tornado warning. We had our side awnings down but I decided not to attempt to raise the awnings and get soaked with the downpour. We sure hope this will clear up, if only for a few days, so we can get some more work done on the house. We have a great group of folks we’re working with and they make the effort worth it all.

On a side note - Terry Adams has a close friend of the family that is a single girl who owns a Harley. Thursday night at dinner she offered to let me ride her bike and take a Sunday afternoon ride with Terry and his riding buddies. We are all invited to Terry‘s house on Sunday afternoon for a good, old Southern boil. She will be doing much of the cooking for the boil and was so generous to offer her motorcycle for a short ride with Terry. I just couldn’t turn down that offer! Terry emphasized that she was serious with that offer and he’d make it a short ride with “the guys” before supper.

It’s 11AM here and we’re watching the TV and the West Coast channels on the satellite (where it’s 8AM) and seeing the beautiful weather. Hope you all enjoy it - we’re missing the sunshine!!

Wednesday morning, April 1st

Wednesday morning and we’ve been skunked again by the rain! The break is almost welcome, but we aren’t able to get the house completed. We have decided to extend our stay here for another week to get as much done as possible.

On Sunday we went to the Preston Baptist Church for Sunday service. It was an 11:00 service and we came back to the coach for a light lunch. We didn’t want to eat too much as we had been invited to Terry Adams’ house for a low-country boil for supper. We both had the opportunity to get a short nap before we headed out to Terry’s at 4PM. Terry and Polly live about 3.2 miles west of Preston on a rural acreage. Their house is on a slight hill and has a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. He designed and built the house himself. It a big, tri-level home with a two-stall attached garage. Ms. Mona, Polly’s long-time friend, lives with them and does a lot of the cooking. She was in the garage monitoring the low-country boil. Terry also has a barn/garage that’s large enough to house his motor home and nine Harleys. His riding buddies keep their bikes in the garage out of the weather. He has a full tool shop in the garage and room on the end for a garden tractor with all the accessories.

Ms. Mona was in the garage preparing supper and explained the low-country boil to me. She starts with a large pot (much like a turkey deep fryer) and adds the potatoes and spices. Then goes the onions, corn, sausages, carrots, and finally the shrimp. When it gets cooked, the water is drained off and the meal is served right out of the pot. You can’t imagine the fantastic taste of that food! Polly finished the supper with two terrific dessert dishes and coffee. Of course, sweet tea is the drink of choice in the South.

Before we ate, Terry said “Mr. Lew, let’s go for a ride!” I have difficulty getting used to being referred to as Mr. Lew, but that’s the way Southerners refer to somebody older than themselves. We walked down to the garage/barn and he opened the door. Inside was the Harleys, all parked in a row. Terry owns three Harleys and one Yamaha. The remainder of the bikes belong to his riding friends. He pointed out Ms. Mona’s bike and then offered one of his for the ride. Terry has a 2009 HD Ultra Classic full dress motorcycle, blue, with all the chrome and accessories. He offered to let me ride his new bike and he’d take one of the others. I took him up on his offer and we headed out. It’s been 7 years since I was on a motorcycle and it took a couple of miles for me to get the feel of it again. His bike is so smooth and comfortable and I was nervous about riding such a great bike. We drove back to the coaches so I could get my camera, and he offered a longer way back to his house. I led the way to the coaches, but he took the lead on the return trip. It was fantastic!! He told me he and Polly would come by later in the week and steal me away from the build for short evening ride. Wow!!!!

When we got back to his house, we ate the supper that Ms. Mona had prepared. By 7PM we all left and went back to the coaches. We knew we had a good work day in store for Monday and Dottie and I wanted to see some of the Sunday night TV shows.

Monday morning was beautiful and we got a lot done on the house. We managed to get most of the roof trusses up and nailed down. Monday night supper was at Mom’s and was a cube steak dinner. As always, the food was home-cooked good and plentiful.

Tuesday we awoke to sun and got started on the remainder of the roof trusses. Once we got all of them in place, we made sure the house was squared and started on the OSB roofing boards. We almost got one side completed and had to break for lunch. Our noon meals are prepared everyday by somebody in the community, so we can’t pass up the meal. We should have skipped lunch because the rain started about 1:30 and started to pour. We had to get everybody off the roof because the boards get slippery when they get wet. We secured everything and returned to our coaches. The rest of the day was lost to wet weather. We had a hamburger and hot dog supper at the Baptist church.
Wednesday morning we couldn’t start work because of standing water and wet wood. We’ll try after lunch to see if we can’t get the remainder of the roof covered and possibly roofing paper on the boards. This week doesn’t look great for the rainy weather, so we’ll need the extra time next week to finish our work.

Many of us are able to stay next week to get the exterior completed. Some of the folks have prior commitments and can’t stay, but it looks like we’ll have some of the folks from the other build team from Americus joining us for the next week. They completed their build and have offered to join us to complete our house. The town has already told us they will take care of us as long as we stay. Our parking is costing us nothing and they are providing a once-a-week dump service for our holding tanks. Things just can’t get much better with the graciousness and hospitality that has been shown to us. It will be a pleasure to stay and get this project completed!

Friday, April 3rd

Wednesday morning was miserable weather with the rain and wind. But by noon the skies had started to clear and we decided to give it a try. We went to the job site right after lunch and were able to finish nailing down the remaining OSB boards and got most of the roofing paper nailed down. By 4:30 we had it all completed with the exception of a small hole that we used to climb off the roof. And the skies started to open up again!

It rained all night and all day on Thursday. We couldn’t leave the motor home with out getting wet. Our parking area was beginning to look like a little lake with all the standing water. We managed to get up to the Baptist Church for lunch and again for dinner that was provided by Fred O’Donnell, our Team Leader. He had purchased some steaks and had marinated them with Jack Daniels (no alcohol) marinade that was outstanding! It’s a Wal-Mart item and makes meat marinating so simple and tasty. Several of us took our BBQ grills up to the church to cook the meat and we had guests from the Americus Build Team. The meals of steaks, baked potatoes, Texas toast, sweet corn, and drinks were a special meal. Once again sweet tea was served and a hit. We all went to bed on Thursday night with full stomachs.

Friday morning was a beautiful, sunny morning that meant a full day of work. We have started nailing the hardy board siding and the shingles on the roof. I was working on the shingle detail - now I know why you never see any old guys doing the shingling! It’s always the young guys that can bend over and nail as they apply the rows of shingles. Of course, they also use nail guns! We were nailing the individual shingles with galvanized roofing nails. I think I have found some new muscles that I haven’t used for years. My body aches and the muscles are screaming at me! I sure wish we had a hot tub available on nights like this!

For lunch we drove over to Plains to the Mom’s Kitchen there. The New Horizons HfH affiliate supplied lunch for us and it was absolutely delicious. Mom’s had a cafeteria line, so we could choose between chicken, ribs, catfish, vegetables, and dessert - with sweet tea. I had the baked chicken, a scrumptious sweet potato dish, bean’s’rice, and a piece of sweet potato pie for dessert. It was a fantastic meal and none of us wanted to go back to work after that feed. We returned anyway and pushed ourselves to do as much as possible while the weather cooperated.

We plan to work on Saturday since the weather forecast calls for a dry night tonight. But Saturday night the rains are coming again and lasting through Sunday and Monday. We may have good weather again on Tuesday, so we’re hoping to get a lot accomplished tomorrow.