Week Two, Day Three

Tuesday ...
I thought I'd take a moment and give a snapshot of the homes we're concentrating on this week.

268 Nixon Street is the first house in our row of three -- and it's the home of Leonard and Jeannette Davis.
270 Nixon Street is the home of Phyllis Bullock.
276 Nixon is the home of Silvia Pearson.

The exteriors are very similar, modest, one-level structures but each have really nice details inside and I think the owners will be happy with the care their homes have received. These neighboring homes are pretty specifically personalized-- different room layout, different interior colors, different lighting fixtures or ceiling fans, etc.-- and, while the electrical and outdoor plumbing hookups were done by professionals, all the rest of the work is done with volunteers. Doors and windows installed, tile laid, appliances and cabinents installed , trim sanded and hand-painted... all by volunteers. We aren't pros at this but hey-- we're willing to learn and we're doing our best, which is all that's asked of us.

Our team has lunch together and since we've spent the past two days on the same jobs, we don't really talk about what we've been doing. I wait until lunch is about halfway over before I tell them what else these homes have in common ... they were all 8 1/2 feet under water after Katrina moved on.

Eight and a half feet.

Look up from where you're sitting right now - how tall is that ceiling above you? Yeah, I thought so.

So while the team may be feeling like patching, sanding, and taping off trim for a day and a half isn't a whole lot of progress, I'll be willing to bet that the Davis, Bullock, and Pearson families would say otherwise.

The rest of our Tuesday flies by as we're painting

or caulking

or sanding

or taping .

Thus far, we're only doing interior jobs because it's been pouring down rain each evening-- complete with some REALLY amazing thunder so loud that it drowns out the trains rolling by every 2 hours.

Ryan L. (who is our "go-to" since Jim P. is stranded at the airport in Houston) and his wife, Kelly, have been keeping things moving along each day-- dealing with all the questions, requests, and issues like seasoned professionals. When Jim manages to get out of Houston and back to Biloxi (later today, with any luck), I'm sure he won't be at all surprised that things are on track. He knows we won't let him... or the families in "our" homes... down.

We treat ourselves to a good dinner at Mary Mahoney's -- a restaurant that has a LONG history in Biloxi. This building rode out Hurricane Camille in 1969 and we notice that the staff have signs with both high water marks in the hallway of the restaurant ... no contest-- Katrina (that's her water line above the photo) kicked Camille's butt (the lower water line at the very bottom) by more than 4 feet easily. If that weren't enough of an indicator, I look up as we leave the restaurant and notice a separate high water mark for Katrina that's at the base of the second floor balcony -- it's impressive and downright scary.