Week Two

This is the group that worked here this past week. Most of them came from Pennsylvania, but we had a couple from Ontario as well and then the long term group. It was cool and wet and in between rain showers when we went out to take the picture.

We had pizza for lunch again on Friday, and this time Kerry brought in 3 pizzas to feed 28 people. Didn't sound like quite enough till we saw the size of the pizzas. Two of them were at least 30 inches across, and the third was a regular large. I wonder if these were considered 2XL ? We had pizza left over for the weekend. Anyway, it was a wet week but still we got work done in between the rains. We are hoping for drier weather next week though.

Project Update--"K" house

This house is almost done from the outside and as you can see, the painting is going well.

On the rainy days last week, we got to insulating inside the house.

Also got the dry wall up, inspected and taped and first round of mud on before the week was over.

Project Update--"A" house

The various stages of house building--putting on the sheeting

wrapping it in two layers of tyvek

and of course, lunch time for the workers.

Picture Update--"J" house

Got the floor joists on last week before the project was shut down due to rain, plus we had to wait for the plumber and inspector before moving on.

A River Runs Through It!

Rain, and more rain, and still more rain. That has been the story this week so far. Monday the rain held off untill mid-afternoon and so we still got in a good days work. Tuesday it held off untill lunch time and so we still got some trusses delivered to one site and the drywall delivered and carried into the house at another site. Yesterday it started to rain mid afternoon again and it really hasn't stopped since then except for short periods. Things are WET!!! I wish I had a rain gauge to measure the rain amounts. This view is looking out the door of our RV towards the back of the lot. Lots of puddles and little rivers!

In front of the office door I have to jump a river to get in. Lots of the bark we had spread on the yard has moved to new locations.

The lane back of the lot has a river running along it now, and lots of it is coming from us.

The stream running along the deck . Luckily we have some inside work that we can do this morning. A crew went out early to finish hanging drywall in one house so that when the inspector arrived it would be all done and he would sign off and so we can maybe get to taping and mudding this afternoon. At another site, we hope to pass inspection and then start to insulate this afternoon. At the newest site, we just have to wait. There is nothing we can do there in these rainy conditions. For one thing , the road onto the yard is steep enough that it is dangerous. If you can get down onto the yard, you just may not get back out. So we wait. Some of the ladies went into town to do some shopping this morning, but even that is not without anxiety. The underpasses and low roads get covered in water and they have to detour traffic, and there is the danger of mud and rock slides as well. We have seen the plow trucks standing ready to remove mud and rocks from the roads, not snow, like we are used to. The forecast is for the rain to continue into tomorrow. We are keeping dry at camp, the RV's have no leaks, or at least not serious ones. The dining trailer has some, but we just keep mopping, and the floor is a mess but it would be much worse if we didn't have the deck. But still, spirits are high, and work is getting done, and it can't rain forever----or can it?!!

Friday

Friday morning is picture time. This is the group that worked this week, plus the long term crew.

Quit work at noon and ended the week with a pizza lunch on the deck, before the group went off to San Diego for some sightseeing and then catching an early flight home on Saturday morning. I think they went home tired but happy. It was a good week, lots got done, there was lots of laughter, and good friendships made. Now on to week 2.

More---

This house was just in the beginning planning stages when we left last
February. Now it is almost finished, just some small jobs to finish up before we can call for final inspection and then hopefully the family can move in. The lady of the house has already been busy doing landscaping and planting and it looks a lot different than last winter.

Another one of our jobs is still in the framing stage. Most of this week was spent nailing earthquake straps, and

finishing up eaves etc. By the end of the week, it had windows and doors as well.

This board is the first thing that everyone looks at in the morning. It has the jobs listed, and who will be going to what job, the vehicle that they will be taking and who the crew leader is. After they make their lunch, they go out and put them into a corresponding cooler which goes out to the jobsite with them. Kerry updates this board every morning starting sometime after 5 AM.

Progress!

We just finished our first week of work with short term volunteers. It was a busy week, the weather was good, too hot for some, and the days were full. Our group from Morden and three ladies from Oregon were kept quite busy and worked pretty hard and good work was done. Our newest build actually has had two weeks of work on it already.

The beginning.....Myron and Vernon starting the ground work for the footer and later the stem wall

This week, after the appropriate inspections were passed, we got to pour the stem wall.

Time to remove the forms and soon the floor package can go on and then it will really start to take shape. The couple living here are very excited to have this new home underway, and anticipating moving out of the RV that has been home for the last 2 1/2 years.

Day 1 Doesn't this look like fun?

Does this look like a busy MDS project? It looks pretty relaxing to me. This is the scene last night as the volunteers relaxed and waited for the supper call. It was a slow day in some ways. It was Monday and the first Monday on the job after a long break and so we were all just getting used to everything and each other, and still we got good work done. Some worked at setting up forms for our next concrete pour, some worked on soffit and eaves, others did caulking, and still others worked at small jobs that needed doing at various sites. Some electrical, some repairs, some painting touch-ups etc, and everyone came back tired.

Lunches made, it was time to do some paperwork before breakfast.

Already it was bright and sunny as the crews loaded up and got ready to head out to the job sites. We had a gorgeous warm sunny day, and there were some red faces and necks and arms when the day was done.

The Work begins---ready or not!

It has been a busy week here, but the weather has been great! Sunny blue skies and warm temperatures meant lunch out on the deck every day. We spent most of the week getting re-aquainted with the work here, in the office and on the job sites. Our long term team arrived throughout the week and we made a bunch of trips to the airport. We have been getting to know them and are already forming friendships. The foundation for our newest permit is underway and we passed the first inspection there and got some concrete poured.

This morning, after church, we came back to camp and had a meeting out on the deck. Tomorrow the work begins, ready or not, and so we thought there were things that we needed to talk about and ourselves somewhat organized. There are some challenges ahead of us, and some folks waiting to get into their homes, but we need to pass final inspection first and therein lie the challenges.

Besides the newest home that we got going this week, we have two others in progress. This is one of them, a three bedroom home overlooking some beautiful mountain scenery. The other home is not quite as far along, but I think it is also a three bedroom. Tomorrow the alarm will ring at 5 AM and things will be full steam ahead, I will try to keep you posted! Please keep us in your prayers!

We're back!

We left Palm Springs mid morning on the 1st and arrived here after lunch. It did feel good to be coming in to familiar surroundings and seeing the place again. We got right to work watering the plants we had put in last year. Most of them look pretty good, and the palm trees have grown somewhat taller. The bougainvilleas were blooming a bit as well. Once we got the keys we got settled in and started checking things out.

Kerry found some little projects that needed doing, and so we got right to work.
It has been a busy couple of days for us getting back into gear, and figuring out what has been done, and what needs doing. We were here last year but how much will we remember, but we are slowly working at things and figuring it out again. Sunday we met with the owners of our next build, and got the process started with them. Today the digging began and so we are officially underway with another house . Kerry and I also checked out some of the other properties to see at what stage they were at and get a feel for what needs doing yet. Investigation will continue tomorrow. We have Myron and Vernon here to get the foundation going, and this afternoon our long term couple from Alberta arrived. Tomorrow our construction foreman flies in and so slowly the camp is filling up. Now it is almost bedtime and so we will see what we get done tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be pretty nice again, and Kerry was just commenting that he was already getting tanned!

Off to California

Christmas was over, decorations were taken down, gatherings done, year end business taken care of , goodbyes said to kids and grandkids, car packed and early on the 29th we pointed the car south, bound for California and our time of service in Dulzura with MDS. The first day was good driving and we covered LOTS of miles, 1225 to be exact, and we were pretty tired by the time we checked into a hotel in Idaho Falls. I did some snoozing early on in the day, and but mostly stayed awake to keep Kerry awake, and to enjoy the scenery. Travelling that many miles there is a variety of scenery , from flat prairies, to rolling hills, small mountains and interesting land formations. We also saw quite a lot of wildlife. There were pheasants, Canada geese aplenty, wild turkies, a huge eagle sitting in a field, and a couple more in the sky, lots of deer, some bison, and 3 bull elks. We thought that was pretty neat. By the time we stopped for night it had started snowing and continued on all night and into the next day. We got on the road around 7 AM and for the next 7 hours or so we had miserable driving conditions. Wet snow coming down, icy, snowy, sloppy roads and tense driving. We saw one bad accident and later we heard there were fatalities. I think the scenery was nice but with the snowy conditions we didn't see much of it. By the time we got to
Vegas the temperature was nice and warm and the roads were dry and we could enjoy a bit more. Traffic was ugly though from there to LA., and that took some patience. We hit Palm Springs about 9 PM and found a hotel and settled in for the next 2 nights. The temperatures were pleasant and we relaxed.

We got to check out the outside of the condo we've rented for March and it should suit us nicely I think.

spent time enjoying the sunshine poolside at the hotel,

and took long walks and enjoyed the flowers and gorgeous temperatures.