So, this is turning out to be almost diary-like. I hope it’s still interesting.
Day 2 – Saturday
First day of real work. Hop in the vans and off to the work sites. We lucked out today with a non-typical low humidity day. It was still pretty hot, but not having humidity was a tremendous help.
The home we were working on was a single family home. Driving up the block, there were still a number of FEMA trailers in yards, a few homes that were obviously already cleaned up and others that obviously hadn’t been touched. You could see the water line on the outside of the houses. The line most obvious was where, we were told, the water stayed for a number of weeks – a level a few feet below where it had peaked at the worst of it. The line was usually around 5 ft off the ground. As we were ‘briefed’ by our co-workers, the other thing I quickly noticed was the search party markings made right after the storm on every house. (there are pictures of these in the links below) The first thing I always looked at, out of morbid curiosity and fascination, was the bottom section, which told how many dead were found in the home. The vast majority of the homes we drove by had a “0”, but ours said “Dog”.
The family’s dead dog was still in the house, wrapped up in a blanket on the bed in one of the bedrooms. Early in the process of getting everything out of the house, a few people worked together to carry the blanket and dog out of the house. We would later bury him (?) out in the back yard under a tree – with someone fashioning a nice little site and even finishing it off with a “Good Dog” on a paver stone marking the site.
Before we could bury him, we had to clear a space in the back yard – which was a landscaper’s nightmare. Another thing you typically notice driving down these streets was that people’s yards had been left untouched since the storm as well – something like 18 months. We needed to tackle at least a part of that in the back before we would be able to bury him. Dan became the “weed wacker man”. 🙂 He went to town clearing the back yard with a weed wacker for whatever it could handle and then hand tools for whatever the trimmer couldn’t handle. As the day went on, others joined us in the back yard. Slow, but effective.
Before he started on the landscaping, Dan started working on a shed in the back yard. As he started on the yard, I took over on the shed and ended up spending most of the rest of the day back there. We needed to strip out the shed just like we were doing the house, down to the studs. The owner of the home must have had either a hobby or business working on small engines. There were 5 lawnmowers and a ton of small engine parts in and around the shed, in addition to all the pieces and parts in the shed. I expected to find critters here and there, and we came across mostly geckos and cockroaches. The mother lode was in the cabinet that we dragged out of the shed. There must have been a nest or something because I left a trail of cockroaches as I dragged the cabinet from the backyard to the front. Eventually, we were able to finish the shed – after cleaning out the contents and tearing out all of the ad-hoc shelving and cabinetry.
I need to mention again the great job the Pohlad folks did with organization. They dropped us off and left us with all the supplies we needed, including snacks, water, etc. They also returned for lunch with Subway and more snacks. Something I hadn’t thought about too much was the bathroom situation. Obviously there were no functioning facilities on-site, so we needed to make a few runs throughout the day. While that might have been no big deal here at home, in New Orleans this is complicated by the fact that many of the local businesses have yet to re-open. So, we had to find a business that would accommodate us. Luckily, there were a few around. On the trip I went along on, we stopped at an area mini grocery store. While we were waiting our turns we were able to chat with a few of the locals doing their shopping. The one gentleman I spoke with was a pastor in the area – who chatted with us for a little bit and let us know how grateful they were that we were down there helping. Hearing is story and offers of help for us was very humbling and gratifying.
I can’t remember if there were two or three generations in the home, but there was at least one younger boy living in the home. Some of the things that really resonated with me personally were: All the toys left in the house. I have two boys. Knowing how they would feel having to leave all of their toys would just be terrible for them. One the wall of the kitchen, there was a sign taped to the wall for “Spelling words”. I don’t know why this was something that stood out – it just seemed like a reminder of those everyday things that were disrupted. And the fist tanks. Someone in the house had a few fish tanks set up – which is also something I have a passion for. Seeing all the parts strewn about and broken made the effort more personal for me – silly, I’m sure…
One great thing about the day was that we were able to finish the house. We cleaned out the entire house and the shed and got the yard back to a manageable level. A job well done.
After getting back and cleaning up, our organizers had evening events planned for us. I signed up for the jazz club. Little did we know that it also involved a walking tour that would be taken on the way to the jazz club. Ouch. Between the heat and being beat from the day’s work, I could have done without a walking tour, but the jazz and the food were fantastic. A few of us were also able to stop by Café du Monde on the way back for some really good beignets. Thankfully, they’re open 24 hrs.
Intro
Day 3
Day 4