This past week we saw the dedication of two homes and the start of 5 others. The dedications took place on Thursday at the new homes of the Jemison's and Welch's. These were the last two of the four sponsored by Major League Baseball, State Farm Insurance, the Players Trust and Holiday Inn on 7th street at 30th Ave in Alberta City in Tuscaloosa. We had three groups of volunteers working with us here this week and all attended the dedication ceremonies as representatives of the hundreds who had come before them and worked on the construction of these homes. One group called "Sons of the Carpenter" worked with Stephen on Jessie Hill's home at the end of 5th st. This is one of the 5 we started this week, all sponsored by Lowe's. Jessie's new home is on a slab which had been poured last week. This week, the house was totally framed, sheathed with plywood, trusses set and blacked in, windows and doors set. The other four are all on 7th street between 24th and 25th ave. We have completed and moved families in on three other homes already on the same street. I had the pleasure of starting the Colvin home with a group of PDA blueshirts from Pautuxent, Md. We framed the floor system, built the front porch (thanks Paul and Audie) and Jeff and Diane claimed ownership of the storage building and did a great job, too. Nicest looking storage building Ive seen yet. On the other side of us to the east, just after Mr. Jefferson's home, another Maryland group that work with Frederick, Md. Habitat worked on their foundation also. Got the deck framed and plywooded, painted and actually stood up the front wall. Our contruction director, Brandon, although we don't see him on the sight that much, we see evidence of his working (kind of like God). He got the plans ready, got permits, set the batter boards and strings to show where the house would be, and arranged for the concrete foundations and block work to be done on these four new homes. Amazing. No lack of work for a bit now. And he got all of the materials for the rough framing there. Makes our jobs easy. Joey Crimmins, the newest site supervisor, was bouncing between final punchlist at the two homes we just dedicated and starting a new one with the Frederick folks. They are seasoned veterans and Chuck and Jeanne and BJ know how to keep things going on their own with minimal supervision. (As long as other site supervisors aren't snatching their people, ahem).
     We also formed and poured two saferoom floors (4 cubic yards of concrete each . Those are fun when they go right. The first of the two we did this week almost got away from me, the form started to float up- not secured down well enough- and the concrete started to oooze out onto the ground instead of in the form. Live and learn, though, so the second one we did this week went smoothly. No leaks. Only joy.    
     One of the volunteers from the Pautuxent group was a dead ringer of Pastor Charlie from 1st Pres. here. Check out in the pix.
      Lion's den still progressing, slowly but surely. Set the tub and toilet in the bathroom and made the "accent wall" in the living room using the old siding that was previously used on the outside. Gonna work on the cabinet-less kitchen on my day off Tuesday. I got over my aversion to doing plumbing a few years back when I was working for a Home Depot kitchen installer. The first kitchen that I installed with Charlie, I got all the cabinets set and I called the office to ask when the plumber was coming. He told me that I saw the plumber while I was shaving that morning . So, I would have to get over my 30 year "I don't do plumbing" thing. The company also took care of the remove and replace countertop program for HD. Those granite guys are a bunch of prima-donas (who also don't do no stinkin' plumbing, thank you) so we would pick up the disconnect sink and dishwasher and remove the old c-tops before the granite guys show up and then after they set the tops, we would go back and hook up the sinks and dw. Charlie would pay his installers piecework for this work (($100 for both trips). First couple, I just about lost my shirt. Many hours and many trips to Home Depot. I've heard it said that any plumbing project there is a 3 trip minimum to HD. After a while, though, once I got over the fact that I had to learn it and had better be quick about it and I figured out to have everything that I could possibly need in duplicate plus a few more in the van, I got it down to two hours with no drips. It's kind of a zen thing- you have to know when you tighten the compression fitting or any other connections that they are not going to leak. The parts can sense it if youre not confident and they will drip and you will have to come back again!
     Speaking of plumbing too, Mrs. Jemmison calls us on Saturday and her new home's drains are backed up.   I call our plumbing sub, John Jacobs and he dispatches the drain cleaner guy. I met them there on my day off on Saturday and the drain is broken under Markedia's driveway. Dagnabbit, it's always something. Well, something to look forward to on Monday morning. That's all for this week. Luv ya. Peter