Re-building Flood Damaged Homes in W VA

I promised to tell you a little about our home re-build in West Virginia. You probably know that several towns in W VA suffered terrible floods last spring. A couple weeks ago, some members of the Miami Valley (Ohio)  Disaster Recovery Team went over to lend a hand. Our team is made up of members from a number of area churches and works through UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

If you've never experienced a serious flood, the critical time for saving a home is the first days after the water recedes. Everything that was under water that can't be dried and sanitized has to be thrown away. This includes upholstered furniture, mattresses, rugs, etc. Anything electric, including appliances, are usually ruined. Carpet and a most of types of flooring have to be taken up and discarded, and drywall/sheet rock has to be cut out to above the waterline, otherwise black mold will set in and the house will become uninhabitable.  Sadly, the first step of the recovery appears to destroy more than the flood waters did.

When the rebuild team arrives, we usually find the home looking like this.

Actually, we had just finished laying that plywood sub-floor before I took that picture. 

That nail gun had quite a kick to it. 

After we get the floors in, it's time for the walls.

We got them installed and mudded (seams covered and walls ready for painting).

We did meet some interesting residents but we left each other alone.

Yes, those are little bats. 

Here are the bigger bats.

 

 This is part of the crew that worked that week.

Most of us are retired seniors who aren't ready for the old rocking chair quite yet.

(Before you ask, no I didn't cut off my fingers and stuff them in my pocket.)

I'd like to show you the finished home but I rarely get to see one. We work by the tag team method. A team goes to a house, gets as much work done as they can then goes home, and another team arrives and picks it up from there. Our week was mostly sub-floors and walls. Sometimes the home owner will take it from there if they have the resources to finish it off. One way or the other, our goal is to get people back into their homes. It's a pretty good way to spend a week.

Well dang it, I've done it again. I let the "personal sharing" part of this post get too long so I have to cut the funnies to a minimum.  How about a good joke? 

A painter by the name of Murphy, while not a brilliant scholar, was a gifted portrait artist. Over a short number of years, his fame grew and soon people from all over Ireland were coming to the town of Doolin in County Clare, to get him to paint their likenesses.
 
One day, a beautiful young English woman arrived at his house in a stretch limo and asked if he would paint her in the nude. This being the first time anyone had made such a request he was a bit perturbed, particularly when the woman told him that money was no object; in fact, she was willing to pay up to £10,000.

Not wanting to get into any marital strife, he asked her to wait while he went into the house to confer with Mary, his wife. In a few minutes he returned. "T' would be me pleasure to paint yer portrait, missus," he said. "The wife says it's okay. I'll paint you in the nude all right; but I have to at least leave me socks on, so I have a place to wipe me brushes."

Sounds fair to me.

This picture has nothing to do with this post whatsoever

 but I came across it recently and it cracked me up.

Hey, we've all been there, right?

Oh. 

Sorry.

Maybe I'd better go straight to your "aw".

You know, it's easy to get an "aw" with a little sad face.

Add a tear and it's a sure thing.

But what about this adorable smile?

Come on, you know you said it.

I hope some of you stop by this weekend because this post is getting bumped on Monday. I've got something special coming on that day so please come back.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Puzzler for Today:  

I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it.