It's our third work day today. I didn't get around to write my blog yesterday. The dining hall we used is rented out to AA on Tuesday evenings. So we had to have our dinner a little earlier and then we all moved to the lounge. Since I usually use the lounge to set up my laptop, I didn't feel like getting set up. Anyway, we all had some great and busy days. So far, nobody has been injured on the job and we are thankful to God for that. The camaraderie and fellowship is just great, we all get along. It is interesting to see the church at work in this way. I can't think but that if we could work together with this unity of Spirit in our home churches how powerful the church would be. It is really interesting too to hear the life stories of our fellow Christians here.
Yesterday and today, my team mates and I were putting new rafters in the house we working on. This was quite a job since the old rafters were sagging badly. This is because of the age of the house and also because the heating unit is located in the attic and rests on top of the rafters. We had to use a hydraulic jack to lift each old rafter until it was straight and the nailed a new 2X8 to the old one. We also had to remove a lot of crossbraces before we could get the new rafters in.
An interesting historical note here. This house and many similar houses here in Louisiana are called "shotgun" houses. They are quite narrow and long About 16ft wide and 50ft long almost like a trailer home. The original layout was a long hallway along the long side of the house and then the various rooms ran off the hallway. You could see the back of the house from the front entrance and fire a shotgun without hitting anything. I believe the reason for this style of house dates back to the time that Louisiana was still a French territory. The property taxes were directly proportional to the frontage of the lot. Thus the lots were laid out as narrow deep lots to make them affordable. This also was the case in Holland in the middle ages. Therefore when you are in Amsterdam for instance in the old section, you notice that the houses are also very narrow and long.
Annie was again put to work "mudding" drywall in her house. She's getting quite an expert doing this. Today she did corners which are a step up in difficulty. I don't think we have worked this hard for a good long time and are a little tired today. However, it is very satisfying to see the work progress.
Well...that's about it for today. I'm going to relax and then hit the bed at around 9:30.
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