Houma week 1

This Habitat build is very different from last week.  First of all, the construction supervisor Tony is not quit as organized as Mark, from Texas.  But than who is?  Not entirely his fault, he has a lot on his plate.   This is a pretty  busy affiliate, I think he said they have done as many as 12 builds a year.  Bon Jovi donated a huge amount of money, and they built an entire neighborhood.  The street is called Bon Jovi and he came to a dedication ceremony and handed out some keys.  Most of the houses are finished, but a few still need some work.  I was hoping we would be there, but instead we're working on the Habitat office, which has been completely gutted.  I spent the past week sanding windows and painting.  I’m hoping I can do something more substantial next week, as are the rest of the crew. There are only 6 of us on the job site, 3 men and 3 women.  There is another single girl, Barb,  who I worked with all week.  She has been RVing for several years and we’ve  hit it off.  She’s been with Habitat for several years and I’m sure we’ll meet up on another build or in a campground.  She also wants to volunteer at a state or national park.  The other women, Wendy, is inexperienced but she’s hanging in there.  The guys all have building experience, but only one with Habitat. This group has a few full timers, not to mention 2 other single people, so I have more in common than the last group.  But to be honest, I liked building with the last group more, there was much more camaraderie. 

Barb and I went on a bayou cruise on Friday and saw several alligators.  The boat captain had a bunch of young ones trained – he tossed a few marshmallows in the water and they all came running!  We didn’t see much wildlife, but it was Good Friday and there were many boats on the water.  I was hoping for more of a swamp feel, with a smaller body of water.  This was pretty much a boat ride along a really wide river. But we only paid $15 and it was a beautiful day.  There were some Germans on the boat and I talked to them a bit.  In my head, my German was pretty good.  At least they understood me and answered appropriately, but I wonder if they were just being nice by not totally laughing at me!  

On Saturday we went into New Orleans and rode bikes along the levee.  I decided to take Brutus along.  When I take him hiking he rides in his pouch with no problem.  It’s like the baby carriers you see with the baby being carried on your chest.  On the bike it didn’t work as well.  Because I was bent over, my knees kept banging into him.  Of course he didn’t care, he loves to go places and is happy no matter what.   Also, he was in the way and I couldn’t see my pedals.  One side has clips and the other side is a regular pedal.  I need to see my feet to be able to flip the pedal to the correct side.  After the bike ride we went to the French Quarter for lunch and some shopping at the market.  As we were walking around, Barb got us some beignet’s.  These are best described as hot square donuts covered in powdered sugar.  I didn’t really want one - until I took a bite of hers.  Man was it good!  So remember Brutus is riding along in his pouch and I’m eating powdered sugar over his head?  As you can imagine, we got some laughs because he was covered in the stuff!  We took a walk down Bourbon street and took in the sights.  It was much busier and rowdier then when I was there just 3 weeks ago. 

Today we decided to take a drive south and see what we could see.  Nothing, that’s what’s there.  The road literally ended with no notice.  We saw some very interesting sites, like trailers and 5^th wheels up on stilts.  We also came upon a pontoon bridge.  Through a system of cables, the bridge disconnects from the road, turns 90 degrees and is pulled to the side of the river so boats can pass.  Pretty interesting. 

Last week I took Brutus to PetSmart to be groomed.  They were OK with him being 16 years old, but turned him away because his rabies vaccine is out of date.  So I made an appt with a vet, who of course won’t just give him the shot without an exam.  I called PetSmart back to make another appointment and now they won’t take him because of his age.  They were suddenly afraid that he may get too stressed at his age and they don’t have a vet on site.  There is a Petco right next door, they don’t care that he’s old.  As if that won’t be expensive enough, my truck is making a hissing noise, that I can clearly hear out of the AC vent right in front of me.  Its intermittent and doesn’t change if the AC is on or not.  I noticed that it does stop when I hit the brakes though.  Wonder what this will cost?  I may have to get a job if this keeps up!

Here are pictures of Brutus in his pouch and the trailers on stilts, along with others from the boat ride and New Orleans.   The guy in the skimpy outfit made Barb tuck a dollar bill in his bra.  I thought it was well worth it, times are tough and at least he wasn't sitting on the road side begging.

https://picasaweb.google.com/118205599704530902363/NewOrleans2?authkey=Gv1sRgCPjb06mDke3mcQ#