We're keeping busy

Hey Folks,

The last several weeks have been busy fundraising weeks for me so I've got photos from a few different days to show you.

On the 16th I worked just a half day so I had time to help out my wonderful friend Gretchen get things ready for our successful auction held at her home.

The cabinets are all installed in house 1. With just some finishing work that needs to be done (baseboards, light fixtures and more painting) it'll soon be ready for the family chosen for this home to move into. Possibly in a few months. :)

We had some of the great folks from Subcom Evacuation & Utilities, who dug our foundation, driveways and drainage ditches for our water & sewer, come out and help finish up getting the forms ready for the pour. We set the forms in the correct place and use metal straps to secure so they won't move when all the pressure from the liquefied concrete fills the space in between them. Vent boxes are also placed between the forms at specific places so the concrete will fill around them.

Marshall, a regular like me, and Hal, a Habitat site supervisor, preformed a balancing act to get an end roof truss set into place. With the sheathing on it's not an easy lift. It involves lifting it up and pushing it towards the side of the house (without pushing it over the side of the house) while walking on 2X4 top plates. The United States judge gave them a 10. :) Pretty sure I'm not that far in getting over my fear of heights yet. :-P

The combination bathtub/shower enclosures for the second floor are dropped down into the bathroom before the trusses show up. It looks a bit out of place right now. :)

This photo is me trying to be artsy with the angles and lines of the trusses and interior walls as shot through a window from down below.

The foundation pour for the Women Build/Thrivent homes happened on the 20th, the same day of the Women Build lunch at work, so I have just one picture from that day. I understand Terry, a Habitat site supervisor ended up tossed onto his keister when an air bubble cleared from the concrete pumper truck's hose and water came gushing out at a high volume. Luckily he was ok, though with a bit of a sore back for his trouble.

This last set of photos are from yesterday which was clear but pretty chilly most of the day. We had some hardworking volunteers get all the forms removed and chip off the excess concrete. It may sound weird but I think it's a fine looking foundation. You can see the vents set in place. You can see one on the left of Ri Len who's wearing the orange cap.

The trusses are all up and set into place. I had a chance to help out with some of the roof sheathing so was able to get a photo of part of the neighborhood we're in as well as looking down to the second floor from above. 

As you can see from the last photo, the incredibly trusting man to my right, Abe, one of our Americorp team leaders, showed me how to use a pneumatic nailer and actually stayed on the roof while I was using it. Courageous or insane? You make the call. Though I'm belted in securely and not as tremulous as I was the first time I was on a roof, I did keep repeating to myself, “Don't fall off, don't fall off”. My fear wasn't from actually hitting the ground, as the rope I was attached to would have prevented that, but the humiliation I would have felt just swinging in midair would have been more than I could live with. My slip would've become one of the legendary WWHH stories warning volunteers to use care. I'd rather not if you please. The good news was I didn't shoot Abe with a wayward nail & I didn't end off the roof. It was a good day. :)

Until next time, live your best life, however big or small it my be!

Nanette