From Florida to Memphis
For my first Habitat build of the year, I went back to Tuscaloosa. Last year I
spent about 2.5 months there. It was really great to see the home owners, Lee
and Paulette, actually living in the house. Lee was on site almost every
single day, working right along side us. He and I got to be pretty good friends
and he welcomed me back with a giant hug.
I came specifically to work with the college kids for collegiate
challenge. The first week I was with Stephen. He's one of the younger site
supervisor's but very knowledgeable and patient with the kids. His house was
close to completion; we were just waiting on the dry wallers so we could paint
and lay the floor. They were delayed for some reason so we spent the first part
of the week building sheds for his house and the one next to him. The first
group of kids were from Mizzou, or the University of Missouri as they were
better known. They were typical of the great kids I've come to expect doing
collegiate challenge.
The 2nd week I got to work with Joe on a rehab. The house was in dire
straights, as I heard from the first group of Care-A-Vanners that did the
demolition. I was lucky the hard work had already been done. They moved
furniture, ripped out the drywall and floor. The foundation was not level so
the house had to be jacked up and the foundation re-done. The way the house was
situated on the lot, we couldn't get any heavy equipment in there, so it had to
be dug out by hand. Once the tranches were dug, the cement was brought in by
wheel barrel and unloaded by shovel. It was hot dirty work but luckily we had a
2nd group of awesome kids in addition to 4 Mennonite guys. Now those were some
hard working young men. The Mennonites bought a house in Tuscaloosa and,
similar to the Mormons, the young men go on a mission trip. In their case, they
go to disaster areas and help build houses. This particular group of young men
happened to all be farmers. They worked circles around us, all with a smile on
their face. One day Joe was working on a littlebob cat to level out the
property a bit. Somehow the bobcat ended up down a hill in a ditch. Luckily
Joe was unhurt, but they had to call in a huge tow truck to bring it back up.
The ground was very sandy and the tow truck got stuck. I offered to see if my
truck could give it a little extra boost and get him back on the pavement. I
have a Dodge Ram 2500 and its a pretty tough truck. We got out the chains and
hooked them up. While I dd manage to move the truck a little bit, I was no
match for that much weight! But it was fun trying.
In the evening, the Care-A-Vanners met for happy hour and it was really
nice getting to know the teams I didn't get to work with. Pam and Greg came
from a build in Ga and brought greetings from my Habitat friend Doug. They
were headed to Moore, OK, then to the 25th Care-A-Vanner Anniversary rally in
Springfield, MO where I'm also headed next. Ann and Rick and Sandy and Ed were
there also. I also got to overlap with Larry and Janet who I met in Americus
last year. I'm getting to know more and more CAV's and I haven't met a bad one
yet! All are great workers and a lot of fun to be around.
On the way to work one day, I found a stray dog jogging down the highway.
Someone thought he looked like a chihuahua/yorkie mix. He was just a little
bigger than Brutus and very sweet. I was tempted to keep him, but resisted. I
can't have a pet if I want to teach English overseas next year. And Lexi should
have taught me a lesson, I spent a fortune on her vet bills. Lucky for me,
Joe's wife, Cathy was involved in pet rescue and she took him. They put up
fliers and someone recognized him. They said he lived up the road a bit with
several other dogs. All were allowed to roam, despite living next to a 4 lane
highway. We hoped no one claimed him and they didn't. Apparently the owners
didn't want him bad enough to make a phone call. Better for the dog we
figured. I later found out he had
heart worms. They were able to treat him, but the cost was pretty significant.
I'm sure his next home will be better.
After a great two weeks in Tuscaloosa, it was time to move on, next stop
Fort McAllister State Park near Savannah Georgia. This is a first come first
serve park, meaning you don't reserve a specific site, just a general
reservation for the park. I arrived Saturday in the late afternoon and was a
bit worried to see the 'park full' sign. As I drove thru, it was indeed
packed. In the first few rows I saw small RV's and tents in huge sites and was
worried that the only sites open would be too small for me. Eventually toward
the back of the park I found 2 open sites and was relieved to see both were big
enough for me, although with so many trees, it might be tricky. Across from the
one I picked, I noticed a group of ladies watching me. When I got out to survey
the site, a few came over. Seems they all worked together for the Sheriffs
department and it was a girls weekend. They invited me to join them and even
fed me dinner. They were spread out over 4 sites and seemed like a fun
group. While we were enjoying the evening, one of the dogs started barking.
When we looked at the next site, we saw a huge raccoon inside the cooler. As we
ran over, the critter ambled off, in no big hurry. He had opened the cooler,
climbed inside and ate most of the food before the dog noticed him. There were
signs all over the park warning against feeding the wildlife, but this fella
decided to feed himself. Later in the week, found out just how aggressive
these furry monsters were. I had put a trash bag in the back of my truck,
intending to take it to the dumpster in the morning. When I let Brutus out one
last time before bed, I heard a commotion by my truck. Seems like a pack of the
not so cute creatures had climbed in the truck, which is 5 feet off the ground
mind you. They had garbage spread all over the place and when they spotted me,
not all of them took off running. One sauntered over in my direction, as if he
was expecting me to hand him dessert. I scooped up my tiny dog and bolted the
door shut behind me. Other than the aggressive little scavengers, it was a
beautiful park, nestled among giant
live oaks and large salt marshes. I took the kayak out for a paddle on
a beautiful sunny day and generally just enjoyed a week of doing not a whole
lot.
My next stop was a quick trip to Orlando to teach an OSHA class to a group
of Habitat Affiliates. Habitat for Humanity launched a new safety initiative,
aimed at making the volunteer work site safer. 30 of us were brought to
Americus GA to learn to be Competent Person Safety Trainers, CPST. We basically
teach the affiliates what the OSHA rules are. In the 2 day class, we cover fall
protection, electric safety, scaffolding and stairs and ladders. I was supposed
to teach the same class to a group in NC when Brutus dislocated his shoulder
last month. The class went much better than I expected, at least from my
perspective. There were several affiliated represented, including Dade City
where I worked last year. The group was very kind to me and seemed interested
in what we were saying. Don, the sole paid safety person for Habitat, was there
to make sure I was qualified to teach further classes. He passed me and now I
have the go ahead to teach on my own. It was nice being home again, even if it
was for just 3 days. Mom and I made sure to go to our favorite Thai
restaurant. I really have her hooked on Pad Thai!
I was headed to Springfield MO for the Care-A-Vanner's 25th anniversary
rally and build, but I had a week before it started, so Mom and I went to
Montgomery Alabama to see my sister in law Rose who was at Maxwell AFB for a
school. We only had 2 days there, but I really enjoyed seeing Rose again and
getting to know her a little better. Her and my brother live in Utah and I
really haven't had much contact with them over the years, other than following
them on Facebook and reports from Mom. My brother and I do text a lot. He's
hoping to move to FL in the next few years.
I spent the last weekend in Memphis TN at the Graceland RV park. I admit
was was never a huge Elvis fan, but what the heck, it was on the way. When I
worked in the Court system in Oregon, my office mate Janet actually worked for
Elvis before he became a super star. She always talked about how polite he was,
a far cry from the rock stars of today. I spent an entire day in the park and
was not too surprised to see how commercial it was. The park consists of
several different exhibits on one side of the highway and on the other sits the
mansion. Each exhibit has a gift shop attached and there were others on the
property as well. I went to the automobile museum and saw an assortment of his
cars, including a purple Cadillac. They had his 2 jets on display, one called
the Lisa Marie and a smaller one for his manager and staff to fly in. Next came
an exhibit of his Vegas years, including the fabulous costumes. The last museum
was for his movie career. The mansion was very interesting, it was a perfect
picture of the 70's, frozen in time. A bit gaudy for my taste, but some rooms
were surprisingly elegant. There were many outbuilding including his office and
a very nice little sanctuary/meditation garden. There s a small memorial garden
with his grave, those of his parents, grandmother and infant brother.
One thing I learned that surprised me was how generous he was. Not only to
those who worked for him, his family and friends, but often to strangers and
regular gifts to charities, both national and local. Christmas time every year
Elvis would donate around $100,000 to organized charities. Some of
his gifts would become public knowledge , but the rest were only known to a hand
full of people, who were directly involved in his lfe. These amounts would
reach $2 million dollars annually during the period of Elvis's life when he was
able to distribute that amount of money. There were also some small gifts, one
of which went to a crippled lady. Elvis personally delivered a brand new wheelchair. Large and small amounts were given to
relatives, friends and those who worked for him including motorcycles,
Cadillac's, horses, trucks and cash gifts, TCB (Taking Care of Business) and TLC
(Tender Loving Care) necklaces were a
symbolized gift given to the guys who worked for him and their wives,
identification bracelets and Christmas gifts. His personal
gifts to those he loved, was his way of sincere thanks to those who loved
him.
Finally it was time to head to the CAV
rally.
Link to pictures - https://plus.google.com/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/6007886842929953985?authkey=CPKBwIbC_NNa
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