Day 3

It's amazing what you can do with a two foot crowbar when you are doing demolition work. Yesterday we continued to our demo work inside the house and took down almost all of the drywall and plaster on the walls. As you might imagine the dust in the house was thick. I went through five of the breathing masks that we are required to wear when working in the house (and which you would be crazy not to wear). Some of us pulled the walls down and the others worked on shoveling it into large bins which we then dumped in the huge pile in front of the house.


Around 1:00 p.m. a large debris truck showed up (paid for by the Federal Government) and proceeded to use its large jaws to deposit the pile into one of its trailors. The combined unit, the driver told us, holds 101 cubic yards of debris. The debris we had produced filled in the back trailor which holds 47 cubic yards. The company is out of Austin Texas and has been doing this for the last seven months.

The highlight of the day was having lunch with Fred and Fran. They wanted to buy us lunch and arrived around noon with a lot of Popeye's fried chicken, fries and biscuits. We had a leisurely time enjoying our conversation with them and it appeared that they really enjoyed having the meal with us. It sparked memories of past picnics on their patio pre-Katrina. That is how time is marked here; life before and after the hurricane. That is understandable since for so many people it was and continues to be a life-altering event. The picture of our group with them was posted on Day 2.

The two pictures for today's posting show a veiw of the kitchen that we have almost completely gutted, and a picture of the truck with the jaws that picks up the debris from the piles.

Today we hope to finish gutting the house. We will be taking up hardwood floors and taking down the plaster ceilings and then sweeping and cleaning up for the inspectors to come. If the dwelling passes inspection, then the mold remediation will begin. But we have been told, that frequently the homes don't pass inspection and are completely destroyed. We believe that Fred and Fran's house will pass inspection.

Please keep Fred and Fran in your prayers, and that we will continue to work safely and well together.