Getting Down to Business

I am volunteering for 3 weeks with an organization called "lowernine.com" which mainly refurbishes existing homes in the Lower 9th ward of New Orleans, but they've also done complete rebuilds which is what our team is working on.  What appealed to me about the organization was that they would teach you different construction tasks. You didn't have to come with a full slate of construction talent, just willing hands. They have housing and food provided along with the cost of supplies and running the house for $165 a week. I also naively thought it would be WARMER down here in January, but this winter has been rough across the board. However it looks like the weather will finally get warmer this weekend.

This first week has been a little slow, somewhat due to the weather. I think I've spent more time in the van and in Home Depot than on the home site! The first day we screwed plywood onto what will be the front porch. And assisted Darren our team leader with cutting out a space for a bathroom window. I've learned how to use a circular saw and a miter saw. I've become the go to girl whenever lengths of wood need to be cut. Wednesday brought an ice storm and temps below freezing so work was called off for Wednesday. Schools were closed, bridges and some interstates were closed and I heard they were still planning to keep schools closed on Thursday even though the high would be 50 degrees. However I was not looking forward to sitting around the house all day Wednesday. My team leader Darren doesn't like to sit around either so he and I worked on an inside project they had going where I spent a good part of the day painting doors, trim and spackling. (AFTER another trip to Home Depot!)

Thursday and Friday we were back at the home site working on wrapping tyvec and doing a bunch of other carpentry tasks. We spent part of Thursday morning however, scraping ice off the floor. I'll post some pictures below so you can see what we've been doing.

This is Darren my team leader

The porch we worked on.it will have cement and tile over the top they tell me.

Yours truly. (We had a little too much down time one afternoon waiting for Darren to come back and tell us what to do next)

That's it for now! In the next installment i'll tell you a little bit about the people who are running the organization and who some of my house mates are. 

And yes, there will probably be more touristy pictures. Unlike ministry, we have actual weekends off. Actually, this is kind of an enjoyable wilderness!