Reflections

You can read the reflections of some of the team members given at the church service June 24th here.

Slide Show

Front to back,left to right: Marty; Meg, Lara, Anne; Lauren, Pat, Randi; Andy,Vicki, Jenell; Dinah, Savannah (missing: Woody, Dave and Jim.)
See a slide show summarizing the week.

What's a "Shotgun" house?

Thought you might like to see the floor plan of the "double shotgun" house we gutted - note the 4 fireplaces. As you can imagine, usable property in New Orleans has always been scarce. To fit the maximum number of homes on limited space, lots were configured to be very narrow - the average being about 35 feet wide - making this long dwelling configuration nearly universal - especially in the more modest neighborhoods. The result is many houses, close together and close to the street.

The origin of the name "shotgun house" supposedly comes from the saying that you could shoot a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly through the house and out the back door without hitting anything. Aside from wondering why anyone would want to DO that, there is some evidence that the expression is a corruption of an African word from the Dahoumey-Fon region - "to-gun" meaning "place of assembly".
- Dinah

End of Week

Well, we "finished"....! Andy and all the "girls" finished the original house. We pulled down all walls and ceilings; took out all the debris from the walls and ceilings; pulled out all lower nails (around 6 ft high); pulled upper nails and ceiling nails in some of the rooms; pulled up linoleum in one dining room and part of one kitchen; pulled out all electrical and plumbing; and sweep as best as we could. The next team should be able to just finish pulling the nails, and finish what little linoleum is left, and then should be able to start the sanitizing (bleaching) process. We did an amazing job -- especially considering it was two houses in one! It's quite amazing to look at the pictures of where we started and where we left off when we were done!

David, Jim & Woody (and Dinah one day) worked on dry-walling another house on Thursday and Friday. It was a big job, with only 3-4 people working on it. They were able to put up two celings and finish the walls of one of those rooms. It was probably a nice contrast to see one house in the beginning stages of fix-up and one house in the later stages of fix-up.

Jim & Dave at Duplessis house, measuring twice before cutting once!

All in all, a very productive week!

At this point we have cleaned up after ourselves at the church; and some of us are going to a Dedication & Blessing of the first house that the UCC has had a hand in completing from start to finish. That seems amazing, however, the UCC teams here have worked on hundreds of houses over the last 20 months. And we need to remember and be aware that this clean-up process will be a MARATHON -- not a sprint!

The Marengo House Crew - the job is done, the door is locked, we've loaded up the equipment and we're ready for the showers...but first a photo opp.

- Lara -

after the fall

This is a view of one of the rooms, after the lath has all been picked up!!!! This is the plaster that remains--which has to be shovelled up, one scoop at a time, three scoops to a five gallon bucket, and then carried out to the curb and dumped. Over and over and over! We resorted to parking a wheelbarrow below one of the windows--which allowed us for a time to dump the bucket loads into it--about three, maybe four buckets, then out to the curb. The pile in front of the house is now so large that we can't add anything more to it until the city comes to pick it up. We were sitting here tonight and trying to estimate how many lath strips we've pulled off the walls and the ceilings--figuring six lath to each foot, four foot sections (plus an infinite number of small pieces), rooms at least fifteen feet square, with twelve foot walls and ceilings over all of it too. It has been a massive job--but we are making headway! A couple of rooms are actually basically done! We're heading into our last day--and hoping to finish at least the gross demolition. We've pulled hundreds of nails (each lath is attached to the wall by a minimum of three nails, mostly more)--but we may not get to pulling out all of the wiring. After all, we have to leave something for the next crew! Jenell

Ten years ago today I was a beautiful, blushing bride.... Look at me now! My poor husband -- if he had only known then that I would be looking like this 10 years later -- from my most beautiful to my most grungy...! Oh well -- it's for a good cause, so I think it's okay.

He ever so thoughtfully tracked me down in New Orleans and sent a "cookie bouquet" to honor the occassion. What a guy! Thanks, sweetheart! Happy Anniversary!! :) xoxo

Thursday - June 14, 2007

Well, yesterday afternoon's tour was not as bad as we anticipated! The lower ninth ward had most all the up-turned cars gone. Many of the houses that were displaced, like having the roof on another house, etc., moved onto them, were all cleared away. There has been a lot of growth of greenery, where houses used to be. There are some FEMA trailers there and we met an older woman who was living in a "handicapped FEMA trailer," she said. It appeared to be a bit larger and had an extended walkway up to the door.

We also got to see the rebuilding of the levee and the temporary levee. We went to Musician's Village in the ninth ward, where there are many Habitat Homes being built. We took lots of pictures of them. They are very colorful. This was an exciting thing to see. There is a lot of "coming back" evident this year. We are happy about that. The hardest thing to deal with for the disaster relief team is the fact that two years after the catastrophe, Aug. 29, I believe, the Corps of Engineers will no longer remove all the rubble. So, Alan Coe, the director of the Disaster Relief Team for the UCC, is working with teams to get as much of the demolition done before that date. We are glad to be part of that effort.

Marty :-)

Wednesday

I think that most of us were glad that today was a planned half work day. The general consensus is that this year is tougher than last year. The house is about 3x as big and there is more demolition involved. This afternoon we are taking a tour of the area and then we going to the French Quarter for shopping and dinner. I, myself (and I suspect others, too), worked harder this morning, knowing that we only had a half-day of work. Pacing ourselves is key though, as one of our team members experienced heat stroke yesterday. (He is feeling better now, thankfully.)

I am looking forward to the tour and having a nice dinner tonight; however, I remember how very emotional our tour was last year. Sadly, I suspect that what we find in the 9th Ward today will look very much as it looked a full 52 weeks ago....

- Lara -

Tuesday-end of work day

Savannah (from Florida), Marty, Lara, Vicki, Pat, Jenell, Dinah and Randi.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Worked a good full day today. Stated at about 8:30 and quit about 3:00. A cleanup crew arrived, taking three truck loads of debris. They provided a much need excuse for a break as we sat on the porch and watched.

-Andy-

Marty - Monday, June 11, 2007

Masks and goggles were necessary items for the day. The dust was flying and the grit and grim were heavy! We have two wonderful girls who have joined our team, from Florida. We all worked very hard today. One side of this double shotgun house had been started last week by another group, so we picked up hammers, sledge hammers, and crow bars and went at it! Again, as we saw happen last year, the pile of debris out front of the house grew rapidly. The lath really takes up a lot of room. The plaster and dust is heavy and we end up shoveling it out. Quite a sight, really.

First Work Day

Boy! We were exhausted, sweaty & dirty after our first day of work! We didn't think we'd be tearing down this year, but that's what we're doing again. At the end of the day it looked like a hurricane had come through that house again -- and it wasn't Hurricane Katrina this time! Last year we took out walls -- and we're doing that again this year (but with 12 ft high walls!) and we're even taking down the ceiling. Whew! What a mess we made! The "boys" reminded me of my preschool boys -- hooting and hollering as it all came down. And Andy Phillips gets the award for most dirty -- his face and arms were literally black by the middle of the day.

Now we're back to home base and we've all showered (I even went out and "played" in a little rain that fell!); and the members of Little Farm Church are here making us a dinner that includes chicken, red beans, rice & bread pudding. Oh boy!

-Lara -

Monday Deconstruction

Today we found our first project. A pair of "shotgun" houses, actually one house divided in half the long way.
Each side has five rooms with no hall ways. We spent the day pulling off sheetrock and plaster. We also pulled off the lath and the thousands of nails that hold the lath. We made a lot of progress and had a great time.

It hasn't been very warm, by Bakersfield standards. Just in the low 90's. But with 50-70% humidity it feels more like 120. But the shade is nice and a breeze blows through the house when we were working.

We have a video clip that we will try to post later tonight.

-Andy

Notes from Marty

The plantation we visited today is called the Destrehan Plantation. We were so lucky to get the best guide ever and it was the last tour of the day. She is a licensed tour guide in New Orleans, and had us eating out of the palm of her hand, so to speak. She had many stories and knew a great deal about the history of the plantation and the structure of the house.

{Link to Slide Show of the plantation}

This is indigo, the first product of the plantation. After a few short years, they determined that sugar cane was much more profitable, so the indigo was abandoned. This plant was next to the house.

The afternoon also included some shopping for food for dinner and our breakfasts and lunches. We then had a great spaghetti supper here at the church, prepared by our own hands. We shared stories of the two services and the two excursions of the day. What a great group!

Trip to the Swamp

A few of us took a field trip to the Jean Lafitte Nature Preserve to see the swamp and bayou environment. We saw lots of wildlife, 3 armadillos, a black snake, a woodpecker and 3 alligators of varying sizes. See a slideshow.
- Dinah

This is a three hundred (or so) year old oak tree on the largest and oldest plantation along the Mississippi River. Several of us took advantage of our free Sunday afternoon to go on a tour. It was a gorgeous setting. As the driver of a vehicle that is larger than mine, I was also grateful that there was no parallel parking. Woody wants to be entertained by my mistakes, so he is my navigator. However, I can find a Mc Donalds, Starbucks and a Winn Dixie all on my own. This will be a goooood week. Anne

This morning we got up bright and early (remember, it's a 2 hr time change!) and headed off to church. Half of us stayed at the Little Farm UCC, where we are staying; and half of us went back to Beecher Memorial UCC where those of us who were here last year spent two days working.

This picture shows us at Beecher: Woody, Anne, Lara, Meg & Marty. Dinah was photographing.

Sadly, the church has changed little in the year since we were here. Some drywall has been put up, but that's about it. I'm sure a few more crews came in after us and were also bleaching walls, too, though. Alan Coe, our Diaster Relief coordinator brings in a truck & generator each Sunday (I believe) so that they can have lights and fans running for the services.

However, as the pastor of the church told us -- in full gospel style! -- 'The rain is coming! The dry spell is OVER!' It is indeed hurricane season again, but he was speaking figuratively. Meaning God is raining down his blessings and his mercy on them.

In fact, last Monday the local, state & national media held press conferences there about some wonderful partnerships and programs which will be working with and for the folks at Beecher Memorial. It is very exciting, and it was an exciting service to participate in.

At the end of the service, the members of the church stood in a circle around us, raised their hands to us, and sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." And then, they gave us Prayers Shawls that they had made for us. It was very, very touching, and I know we will each cherish them.

- Lara -

(Oh, and PS -- Marty ended up as the organist during the service! How neat is that?!)

Arrival June 9, 07

We have arrived at Little Farms UCC in New Orleans. Travel has gone flawlessly. No lost bags, or drivers. We rented this pickup and the SUV in the background.
We had just arrived at the church when this picture was taken. After a great tour of the facilities wedrove down to Little Dot's for dinner.
-Andy

Remember us and especially the people we will work with and for in the days ahead. Tomorrow most of us worship at the Beecher Memorial UCC that we worked on last year. Our afternoon is open for sightseeing. -David