Monday, December 19, 2005

We finished off Friday evening by doing a bit more sightseeing and I finally got to see the trailers with the Rolls Royce parked in front of them that I had been hearing about. Katrina was no respecter of persons.


After dinner we drove up to Kiln to visit with Pete and Fay Jones who were busy helping prepare for 'Christmas in the Kiln' on Saturday. It will have lots of games, activities and of course toys and Santa plus an area the kids can get presents for their parents, which you can see in the picture. I wish we could stay around to help but we need to get home to our boys.


The Jones' will be running Camp Coastal Outpost for volunteer groups coming down. That will be important as time goes on and churches seek to regain control over their facilities. I'm sure some will continue to house work teams for quite a while, but it puts a great strain on those churches. Facilities like the Outpost will be needed to ease the burden and continue to encourage teams to come down by giving them a decent place to stay and be fed. The first month or two will be spent making some of the modular accomodations later groups will stay in. It sounds like it will be a pretty nice setup when it's fully implemented. This may be where I come for my January trip.

We drove back Saturday and took a detour through New Orleans to see what it was like. You really couldn't see anything from I-10 and the bypass on the north side of the city except waterlines and a little gutting debris though it was clear some business areas were not open still like a mall and a Walmart. As expected there wasn't anything like the physical devastation you see in MS. Maybe it's worse by the Superdome or wherever St. Bernard's parish is, which is where the Rainbow people were asked to set up their cafe when they had to leave Waveland. We also decided to stop at Lambert's in Sikeston, MO, to have an early dinner. We listened to Ted Dekker's 'Red' on the way home - book 2 of an excellent trilogy so far. I'm going to get 'White' from the library and actually read it. Gasp!

I'm home for about a month now. My next trip will be the 3rd or 4th week of January. I wish everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that you remember the birth of Jesus Christ at this time (though his real birthday was a couple months ago) rather than all the crap capitalism has thrown into it.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Boy, I hope I never gut another prefab home in my life. Their efficient construction techniques make it very challenging to do repair (or in this case demolition) work. Once I got out to the house Merrie and the Kansas team were gutting, I'm glad it was mostly done because it would have been very tedious work. Unfortunately, there are some things you just can't do without ripping out the studs as well so it won't be truly "clean" when we're done. Regardless, the 2 grand-daughters had a blast tearing apart the house so it was good therapy for them.

We drove through Lakeshore and Waveland on the way home since the Kansas team had not seen the real devastation yet. It is still hard for me to fathom after all this time and much has not changed at all in some areas. However, we did experience an incredible moonrise this evening; I hope I can get some nicer pics tomorrow.

There was a town meeting at church tonight where reps from many of the government agencies at all levels were present for a brief status report and then a Q&A session. There were a few things that stuck out to me:
- there are several proposals in legislation that would greatly help the Gulf Coast if passed
- BSL still has about 300 of 450 donated gas water heaters available for those in need of one
- there is some type of IRS program that may allow some to receive refunds of taxes from previous years to aid in relief
- all the seafood here is edible though the oyster reefs were essentially wiped out by the storm so it will take 2-3 years before a crop can be expected
- the US 90 bridge will start contruction about Jan 18 and 2 lanes will be open in May 2007
- some people cannot start the rebuilding process because they cannot get permits for various stupid red tape reasons
- slabs are not eligible for cleanup by FEMA or the Corps of Engineers
I found the last comment the most interesting though. A woman wanted to know when President Bush was going to send the military down here to help rebuild the Gulf Coast in the United States rather than various places in Iraq. Needless to say, nobody couldh give her an answer to that pointed question.

I finally got to see a picture of the storm surge and I'm rather speechless. It was taken in Pearlington as it came in from the bayous and Pearl River. I'm not sure where the person was when it was taken since it was clearly fairly high up (maybe 20-25 feet judging from the power line) or how they managed to survive, but it showed the area already looked flooded and about a 12-15' wall of water was a 200 yards out and you could some larger swells a couple hundred yards beyond that.

This morning we finished up Mrs. Peters double-wide. Merrie and I had lunch with her and then sprayed it down. Then we did a little sight seeing and will run up to see Pete and Fay Jones before we leave in the morning.

We're talking with Mrs. Hair now and see was saying she's still not considered in the flood zone by the new maps though it's possible a few streets down from her they will need to raise their houses. However, if they do need to do that, it's only 2-4 feet, which would not have helped them at all. Our government dollars at work doing intelligent things again. Not!

Thursday, December 15, 2005

I'm done with my work on the Hair's house. The Virginia folk left for lunch since someone got a cut so I did the ceiling repair by myself. It looks very nice if I do say so myself. :) I think they have a couple small pieces to finish after lunch, but I'm headed off to join the team Merrie is helping. They are gutting a double-wide trailer. Apparently the 2 grand-daughters have been very bitter about the storm and lack of help they perceive has been done. The grandmother kept them home from school today so they could be there while the house was cleaned out (and maybe even help). I won't be as quick on the updates anymore since I'll have to use the library's internet. Peace.
While I was in the car yesterday, I heard on the radio 'Cajun Night Before Christmas.' It was a real hoot. Here it is:
Cajun Night Before Christmas
by "Trosclair"
Published by Pelican Publishing Co. 1988

'Twas the night before Christmas
An' all t'ru de house
Dey don't a t'ing pass
Not even a mouse
De chirren been nezzle
Good snug on de flo'
An' Mamm pass de pepper
T'ru de crack on de do'.

Den Mama in de fireplace
Done roas' up de ham
Stir up de gumbo
An' make bake de yam.
Den out on de by-you
Dey got such a clatter
Make soun' link old Boudreau
Done fall off his ladder.

I run like a rabbit
To got to de do'
Trip over the dorg
An' fall on de flo'.
As I look out de do'
In de light o' de moon
I t'ink "Manh, you crazy
Or got ol' too soon."

Cuz dere on de by-you
W'en I stretch ma' neck stiff
Dere's eight alligator
A pullin' de skiff.
An' a little fat drover
Wit' a long pole-ing stick
I know r'at away
Got to be ole St. Nick.

Mo' fas'er and fas'er
De 'gator dey came
He whistle an' holler
An' call dem by name:
"Ha Gaston!
Ha, Tiboy!
Ha, Pierre an' Alcee'
Gee, Ninette!
Gee Suzette!
Celeste and Renee!"

"To de top o' de porch
To de top o' de wall
Make crawl, alligator
An' be sho' you don' fall."

Like Tante Flo's cat
T'ru de treetop he fly
W'en de big ol' houn' dorg
Come a run hisse'f by
Like dat up de porch
Dem ole 'gator clim!
Wit' de skiff full o' toy
An' St. Nicklus behin'.
Den on top de porch roof
It soun' like de hail
W'en all dem big 'gator
Done sot down dey tail.

Den down de chimney
I yell with a bam
An' St. Nicklus fall
An' sit on de yam.
"Sacre!" he axclaim
"Ma pant got a hole
I done sot ma'se'f
On dem red hot coal."

He got on his foots
An' jump like a card
Out to de flo'
Where he lan' wit' a SPLAT!

He was dress in musk-rat
From his head to his foot
An' his clothes is all dirty
Wit' ashes an' soot.
A sack full o' playt'ing
He t'row on his back
He look like a burglar
An' dass fo' a fack.

His eyes how dey shine
His dimple how merry!
Maybe he been drink
De wine from blackberry.
His cheek was like a rose
His nose like a cherry
On secon' t'ought maybe
He lap up de sherry.

Wit' snow-white chin whisker
An' quiverin' belly
He shook w'en he laugh
Like de stomberry jelly!
But a wink in his eye
An' a shook o' his head
Make my confi-dence dat
I don' got to be scared.

He don' do no talkin'
Gone straight to his work
Put playt'ing in sock
An' den turn wit' a jerk.

He put bot' his han'
Dere on top o' his head
Cas' an eye on de chimney
An' den he done said:
"Wit' all o' dat fire
An' dem burnin' hot flame
Me I ain' goin' back
By de way dat I came."

So he run out de do'
An' he clim' to de roof
He ain' no fool, him
For to make one more goof.
He jump in his skiff
An' crack his big whip.
De 'gator move down
An' don' make one slip.

An' I hear him shout loud
As a splashin' he go
"Merry Christmas to all
'Til I saw you some mo'!"


I learned today that they didn't have enough ridership to keep the bus routes open in Hancock County, despite our best efforts to help (taking a ride around the lot) at the New Waveland Cafe a few weeks ago. However, citizens can call 24 hours in advance to schedule a pickup for appointments, groceries, etc. I also learned the Salvation Army stopped serving any meals here today.

I also talked with Fay Jones. The arrangements with the Morrell iCare village fell through so they are now coordinating a new volunteer housing site in north Hancock County off Route 603 called the Camp Coastal Outpost since the land was donated by Coastal Hardware. So far I think they just have a house they are repairing and a couple large tents, but they expect to make it into a decent facility to use for the next 18 months at least. I expect to get up there before we go home and check it out.

Last night Connie Hair and her husband, Jeff, came to the church so he could meet the people who worked on their house since he's been working everyday, and they were quite emotional about it. That made the day for all of us. It was a cool ending to the devotional time where we were comparing how God became flesh, appropriate during the Christmas season, and we are God's "flesh" for the people here. It's one thing to donate money or supplies, but it means so much more to the people to give your time to be here and share in their lives.

Time to get to work now!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I zipped over to Pearlington to see Merrie and the crew she was with gutting a house there. It was not in very good shape because it had floated up off the blocks a couple times according to the neighbor.


Merrie and several others were having a great time trying to get linoleum off the floor when I arrived.


I took a few pics and then ran an errand in Slidell. It was very spooky driving across 90 at that point where it's all marshy bayous and you feel so vulnerable knowing what it must have been like. Upon returning I ate lunch with her and the team at one of 2 remaining relief centers in the county before coming back to do more drywall. We did not get quite done but it's pretty close. Now I'm off to eat with Merrie and her team at the Mexican place.
Before I left last night, I finally got a chance to talk at length with the owner. She and her neighbor were talking about how it was like right after the storm. They said it was beautiful at night because you could see so many stars and meteors since it was pitch black except when the helicopters would come over and check on their tent with spotlights. They and their 2 neighbors were the only ones who were there south of the tracks at that point as far as they knew. The area smelled of death and they knew there had to be bodies in nearby houses. 5 people perished of the 20 who had stayed on their street. One was a man who had to be left behind on one boat trip because there wasn't any space left. Another weird thing to both ladies was they found themselves excited at the sight of the first bug after 2 days; it was the first living creature they had seen.

More stores are beginning to open along US 90. A Waffle House that was under construction before the storm is now open, a Mexican restaurant is open, as well as a couple more auto parts stores. Yet the great majority of businesses remain closed. It is still a good sign and very much needed for the residents so they don't have to drive all the way to Slidell or Gulfport for some things.

Merrie is off with her crew from Kansas to finish gutting the house in Pearlington and I'm back at the Hair's to hopefully get close to done today. I'm hoping to find Merrie's team in a while so I can get some pictures of them working.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I don't really have any time to write as I'm using the DSL at the Hair's house where we've been working the past 2 days. We simply have been hanging more drywall and will be here at least 1 more day. I'm getting pretty good at this. I think Merrie went with a team to Pearlington to gut a house so I hope it wasn't too bad. I'd like to write something deep and profound but I'm drawing a blank at present so this is it for today. Peace.

Monday, December 12, 2005

It's been a bit over 2 weeks since my last update, and Merrie and I are back in BSL. We dropped our boys off at her parents in Franklin Friday night and drove down here Saturday morning. It took somewhere around 12.5 hours with 2 pit stops and a contruction delay near Nashville. It was dark, of course, as we drove into the area, but it was strange to see Fred's parking lot mostly empty where the New Waveland Cafe and Market had stood for 3 months. The shower stalls still remained but the furnace and water tank were gone. As we drove down Main St. into BSL, it was wonderful to see a couple elaborate Christmas lighting displays.

As fortune has it there is a team from Virginia that also got here Sat so I bet we hook up with them. :) Sunday morning was too cloudy to see the sunrise, but Merrie and I did take a walk around after showers and breakfast. They've cleaned up a fair amount of the roadside debris since I was last here. I also enjoyed seeing 3 cardinals flitting about. The church mouse is still here, too or perhaps it's one of its relatives. The "humane" traps don't seem to be doing the trick.

We were able to contact both Christmas families so we delivered presents Sunday afternoon to the Bushes and Weavers. We brought down many gifts so I'm sure it will make the season easier for them to handle though they may have trouble finding space in their trailers for them. While we were out, we visited one of the homes I worked on during the last trip to make sure he had gotten his trailer. As it turned out, Willie was making a landing and steps to his his trailer when we arrived and was doing quite well though his wife was not back yet.

We got back from our errands about 3:30 and the Virginia team was done with their work, which was applying another coat of joint compound in the church daycare area. We took off the rest of the afternoon and had dinner and devotions.

Monday we got our first major job, hanging sheetrock. This homeowner's house had flooded with about 7 feet of water in the house. They had remained and ended up having to swim 150 yards to the railroad tracks. They are having to repair their home from their savings though the husband's company has donated lots of material. We happen to be some of the labor. This job may take us all week since we aren't a big team and I'm the only drywall "expert" of sorts. I wish I could write more but the library is about to close and I need to check email real quick.