Thursday's Highlights and Laughter

Hi folks!

On the drive to the build site this morning we had to make an emergency stop at McDonald's for coffee with mayonnaise.

The staff at McDonald's looked quizzically at the big white van full of nine Yankees. The young gal at the window collecting money said, "May I ask, what do y'all want the mayonnaise for? Do y'all put it in you coffee?" Eric replied with a straight face, "What? Y'all don't put mayonnaise in your coffee?"

We explained that we needed the mayo for sandwiches at lunch, since some of us cannot stand the Miracle Whip that Camp Victor provides. (The food at Camp Victor is delicious and plentiful, some people are just snobs.)

At the window where you pick up your order, the moment was priceless as we pulled up and watched the next young gal's face reading the screen above her to fill the order. She had a look of sheer confusion and disbelief as she read the mayonnaise with the coffee order (it was 7am). Our van burst into laughter as we saw her priceless facial expression. We explained again what the mayo was for. As we were all laughing hard at her shock, she calmly explained she would have to charge us for the mayo then, because we didn't order any sandwiches. We were shocked. Aha - the joke was on us, she was kidding!

We had another day today of painting, putting up porch steps, adding venting to the underside of the houses, and doing several other jobs on the final inspection "punch list" for the three houses.

Painting - there is a great deal of wooden white trim on all three homes that we've been painting, and we are almost finished with the second coat. Gena, Lonnie, Bonnie, Chris, Maureen, and Katherine have been painting. This is Maureen typing and I can say it's been fun. At times we were signing Christmas carols when we were painting today. It was chilly, 50 and cloudy, and we were so happy to be together and working.

Odd jobs - Gretchen has been working with Jeremiah and the other guys on finishing up several small jobs that require technical expertise. Gretchen is good with tools and knows what she is doing on a construction site!

Punch List Items - Dan and Eric have been working on a punch list and tackling several odd jobs on all three homes. They keep getting stuff done and going back to Mark (the house construction manager) to ask for more work. Sometimes they ask him for tool, like a RotoZip, and Mark will say, "Do I look like I have a RotoZip? Y'all, if I had a RotoZip, why it'd be right hay' 'ere, dontcha think so?!" He says really funny things all the time. And he lays on his southern accent extra thick for us sometimes. Whenever we ask Mark questions about the day ahead, the build tasks, what tomorrow might bring, etc. (we northerners ask lots of questions) he just looks at us and says, "Uh oh, I knew this one was gonna be trouble." Or something funny. We just laugh a lot while we are working. eating, showering, getting ready for bed, etc.

Tonight we ate at The Shed in Ocean Springs. The food was fantastic - BBQ pork, chicken, ribs, brisket, etc. And homemade beans, coleslaw, and the "best potato salad we ever ate." Everyone got home with full bellies. We also had sore bellies from laughing so much. The place is made of junk found while dumpster diving, and it's decor is interesting and unique. It has been on national TV shows and featured in a national BBQ magazine. The BBQ sauce and all the food is delicious.

On the way home tonight, we got stuck at the last intersection for 10 minutes because we couldn't get a green arrow. Honestly, most of us didn't notice at first because we were talking and laughing about SNL quotes and skits. Gretchen, our fearless driver tonight, finally figured out a way to get into the other lane so we could actually move on from the intersection. Way to go Gretchen!

One of the highlights of our day today was visiting Thrivent Lane on the way home to see the 25 homes and cool playground that were recently completed. The homes are on stilts because of the flooding potential. Some of them look really homey, and you can feel the warmth of a neighborhood beginning to take shape. It made us all smile to see it. And then we took a team picture in front of the sign for Thrivent Lane. Eric was a whiz with the camera. He was almost whizzed by a car driving by, but that's another story.

That's all for now. We are thankful to be working hard, getting sore muscles, going to bed exhausted, waking up hungry and eager to get to work. Sadly tomorrow is our last day. How can that be? We are on a roll. But you know, the work goes on. Will you come down here and help out soon? They need you, too. There is still a lot of rebuilding and the Habitat for Humanity Gulf Coast Affiliate is building houses on vacant lots and looking for volunteers. The people of the Gulf Coast are reclaiming what Katrina took away, and are very thankful for all the help we give. They are a genuinely kind bunch of folks around here.

Goodnight from Gretchen and Maureen. (We like to share our meals at restaurants!)