Beginning Week Two

We were able to finish up a couple of last week’s tasks today.  One project was shelves in two closets.

Working on older buildings is always a bit interesting as nothing can be assumed.  This building has a noticeable slant to it as it has settled over the years, so the floors are not level.  So when putting shelves in the closet, the dilemma is: do I match the slant of the floor or make the shelves level and risk a slightly cockeyed look?  We opted for level shelves and it doesn’t show up in the picture, but from certain angles, the difference from one side to the other is visible.  But at least things won’t roll off the shelves.

The other project was the drywall.  After a final sanding, we painted the room and managed to finish the entire room before the end of the day.  Turned out rather well.  One of the standard paint colors here is “Agreeable Gray”, so this room is now quite agreeable.  Next for this one: flooring.

Deb was hoping she didn’t have to paint and her hopes were realized when she and Sharon were called into the office to help out with some mailings.  So they spent part of the morning stuffing envelopes.  They then working on making curtains for the N house, where we had hung some curtain rods.  Deb doesn’t sew so Sharon did the sewing and Deb helped out wherever she could.

After dinner we went out with Steve and Sharon to the Whitehouse in Marsing for ice cream.  A milkshake can be had for three bucks, so we are making this a habit.

On many SOWER projects we don’t really interact with those who live at the project.  The camps we have worked on have been mostly empty and off-season, and at the Boys and Girls Home of North Carolina we seldom saw any of the kids.  Here, however, we worship with them in the church services, eat with them in the dining hall, and see a few of them around campus when we walk around.  So we have had the chance to talk to a few of them.  Like Sarah, who works in the dining hall and serves up the salads. She likes heavy metal music and romance audio books.  She has no use for classic rock, except she likes the BeeGees.

Or Kit Kat, as she is known here.  She came from Russia at age 5 and ended up here after her adoptive parents treated her badly.  She is always outside shooting hoops or on the swing set.  She has technically aged out but is still living here.  She takes care of the 35 feral cats that roam the place, having named every one of them.  Deb was able to take a walk with her and get to know her a little bit.

Several others are loners or will hang out in packs of two or three.  Still others we never see as they take meals in their rooms.  We’re still learning the names, as well as the names of the staff on site here.  We’ll probably just get to know who each one is about the time we leave.