It was a busy day – in more ways than one. We arrived at Ferry Place at 8 o’clock – the new starting time. Sorry all you previous groups. Adam, the new site manager from Habitat gave us our orientation run through. The kids were bummed to learn that anyone under 18 can only go six feet up a ladder and can’t touch a power tool. There’s a new sheriff in town.






We split into two groups for the morning. One group was to “crown” the lumber that we will be using to install the flooring systems on the two new houses. They looked along the edge of a piece of framing to see if it is bowed or crooked. The bow is called the crown. The boards are marked with a "V" on each piece showing which edge is the crown. If all of the joists in a floor are installed crown up, the weight of the furniture and people in the room tend to flatten out the joists. If the joists are installed with crowns facing down, it will make the floor sag.





Stacy and Rachel were the champion crowners.



The other group was installing metal sheeting on the foundation piers. Slits had to be cut into each sheet so that the sheet could fit over the hurricane strapping. The metal sheet is very sharp on the edges and prevent termites from reaching the wood. (It was a very educational morning).
In the afternoon, the crowned 6X6s were installed around the perimeter of the house. After squaring the perimeter the hurricane strapping was nailed down.













There was also cement breaking,







looking good,






and a secret sand leveling dance led by David Martinez.




Today’s Team Bloggers are Cody Hart – with moral support from Sam Schembari. . .

Cody Hart – Always making friends. Sometimes.

The plane ride consisted of jokes, uno, trying to get my Zune to work, and the movie game. Will Hart (relation? Possibly.) and I played the movie game on the bus on our way to the terminal and it carried on all the way to the plane. A man in the back row over heard us (we sat in the 3rd to last row) and he wanted in. He knew his stuff. He was naming movies from the 80’s and from that point on it was a battle. I got him with Scattman Cruthers – Shining with Nicholson. Credit that one to Joe Cordaro. He proceeded to tell me he was a director for film. Immediately, I thought, “damn! No head shot!” However, he later confessed that he was a producer. I thought, “Damn! No head shot!” He then confessed that he was a construction worker! How could he do that to me?! Our chance for friendship died there.
We arrived, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then we woke up the next day at 6:30! That is the earliest I’ve ever woken up at a hotel. All was not lost though since I get to really test out MA BOOTS! They lasted through the day; what a day! Work, work, work, and more work was in store for us. Also, Canadians. Man, all I thought about was showing up those Canadians and believe me we did. Ok, this is how it went down… We got there at 8:00 am and started working. We had 19 people, and at 10 o’clock 30-40 Canadians showed up with matching purple t-shirts and smiles on their faces. Basically they pounded one side of a house with their hammers for 6 hours, while we dug, raked, lifted, hauled, moved, dumped, carried, picked up, built, shoveled, hammered, hauled, shaped, placed, bled, cut, snuffed, rubbed, scrubbed, and worked on all kinds of stuff. With a couple of a couple hour breaks.
Love ya mom and Dad

Peace.

PS
First day, I got a horrific sun burn.

- Cody Hart and Sam Schembari

Quitting time was 4 p.m. – much later than previously. That “new sheriff” at work again. So, it was a quick shower and a deep breath before heading off to church for dinner at 6 pm. Once again, we were the fortunate recipients of Jim’s Red Beans and Rice.

Tomorrow morning we will have our tour of the city – another scheduling change – and then head to Ferry Place after lunch.

Until tomorrow night – pray.