Friday

The last day of the week in Vancleave always seems to come fast and go fast. We always talk about safety on Friday, especially if things have gone well. We have been blessed that except for some sore muscles or minor cuts and bruises the week went well and all will go home in one piece.

Our complete team went to The Vermont House site today. Our task was to work with the contractor to complete the decking on top of the foundation. First we had to help nail all of the joist hangers under each of the joists running between the stringers which are supported by the 12 X 12 posts. If you look at the pictures you can see how many joists there are. There is a hanger at each end and each one takes twelve nails.

Once that was done then sheets of tongue and grove decking could be glued and nailed down. These are large sheets of plywood with a tongue on one edge which slips into the grove in the sheet next to it. Each row of sheets is off set by two to four feet. These keep the joints tight.

The contractor used a nail gun to nail the ends down. Then our team would put nails every eight inches or so across each sheet across each joist.

Our team would feed the contractor and his helper the sheets as they needed them and then followed along behind pounding nails.

Deb tried to have everyone hammer in sync, but general chaos ruled.

I spent some time talking with Nichols, the neighbor. He is retired and has three older tractors he is working on. There is some sugar cane growing down the street in what appears to be a communal garden. He took us down and cut a stalk. He showed us how to peal it and then cut it into small pieces to chew on as a snack. It had a very sweet watery taste.

After about five hours we had the joist hangers nailed on and the deck nailed down. In addition we have put together all of the window and door frames (they are held square by extra removable cross braces.). On Monday, the next team will lay down the top plates and the bottom plates, put the precut studs between them, place the window or door frames where they belong and simply nail the plates to the end of the studs and frames.
Each wall will then be ready to raised and nailed in place.

We are very excited because that is as far as we planned to go this week and with the delay earlier in the week we were concerned that we might fall behind. Instead we are where we want to be and even made some progress on the Waxman (tent) house.

One of the things that worked well this week was having the Waxman house as a backup work site. Any time we did not need all hands at the Vermont House we could have them continue working there. We expect to have it available as a work site for the next two weeks. Our connection is tangible and I feel a need to complete it as well.
After we completed work Kim led us in a closing service with communion. We gathered in a circle on the grass across from the work site. The alter was two saw horses with two two foot two by twelves laid across. The work site was behind the alter. The new deck shining bright in the afternoon sun. We invited the contractor and his helpers to join our circle.

After a prayer and scripture reading, we passed the candle that fits in the hurricane lamp that acted as the chalice. As we each held the candle we expressed a hope for the family in their new home, and mentioned something we appreciated that we had seen this week. What struck me most was the hope that the family would achieve some degree of normalcy in their new home. A sense of peace and security.

We then had communion. The bread and the chalice held by Sara and Shelby.

We were joined by Robert, the grandson of Ms. Pittman. He was grinning ear to ear at the progress. He was so appreciative.

Afterward the youth had a chance to visit the beach in Biloxi after a week of very hard work. Charlie and Hilton spent an hour beginning to lay out the house on the deck in anticipation of next week’s work.

Breakfast at 6:30 tomorrow and then the team is off to Vermont via New Orleans. I meet most of the new team at the airport and the cycle begins anew.