Week Three, Day Four

Wednesday ...
Hmmm ... maybe it *always* rains on the ides of each month in Biloxi. I recall during the second volunteer week it rained with thunder and lightning, too. Last night it rained hard and the water hitting our camp roof sounded a lot like we were inside a plane waiting for takeoff.

There's almost no wind and it's warmer out, even at 6:45am as we slowly drive to breakfast. Highway 90 is flooded in both directions. I wrote to Jim last night to let him know we'd see him after breakfast and I'm not surprised when he writes me back to tell me he'll be holding his team indoors for the morning. I call him at breakfast and tell him we're coming over anyway. There will be work for us to do at the Village and if we wind up waiting for the storm to pass, it'll probably be a little nicer in the Village than at the camp, IF we can get in the parking lot.


After pushing water ... LOTS of water ... out from the back doors of the Village, I can tell my 5 co-volunteers are getting antsy - but with multiple storm warnings, working today is seeming less likely. At 9:30am, I drive the team back to camp to see if anyone there is up for a visit to a nearby Barnes & Noble. Mike takes us up on the offer and while we’re there, Karen and I find a bunch of jigsaw puzzles. I pick up 6 of the hardest ones we can find and plan on delivering them to the Village with a note to enjoy them on the next rained-out day.



It's rough on all of the crews here to "hurry up and wait" like this but rain happens at any construction site. There are days you can work and days you just can't so it's up to you to find something productive to do.



Part of our team heads over to the SPCA for dog walking duty (which we can do in-between the morning and afternoon rains) and a different part of the team drives to their work site after lunch to do some staining work. Another portion will try to find some framing to do.

Our team drives Danny to the Gulfport airport and we say our goodbyes and head back to camp. Silke is there and her team is out on a job, so I turn around and Karen and I drive her to the same airport. As the three of us are en route, Silke gets a call that her flight has been canceled. We continue on our way anyway and she decides to see what other options there are. More goodbyes ensue, and Karen and I head to the Village for our puzzle delivery.

We're literally driving by camp on the way to the Village when my cell rings. It's Silke saying that she's on an 11 o'clock flight - tomorrow morning. She kindly agrees to take a cab back to camp, saving me a third trip to the airport in less than 90 minutes, which I greatly appreciate.

So - basically, today was a rough day for everyone. The weather report says another storm will blow through tonight but tomorrow is clear so hopefully we'll all get a chance to accomplish a whole lot more.