July 8th, 2010

An amazing end to the work week! We started and finished a work project. It was not painting. We put a windshield to guard a front door from the high winds that often roll through and can easily rip a storm door right off its hinges.

There has not been a single project that went straight forward. The painting project on day 1 ran into mold. The skirting project on day 2 had no electricity on the site. The painting project on day 3 ran into a paint shortage (and some administrative difficulties I’m told). And, the windshield project for day 4 did not have enough posts that were long enough to anchor it to the ground. We started with 3 4”x4”x12’ posts that we cut to 10 feet. Only problem, we needed a 4th and the longest they had was 8 feet. This is what the Re-Member people mean when they say something is Rez-ified. It’s not about planning, it’s about working with what you’ve got, which is never sufficient.

The difference? This time we made it work! We reconfigured the design on the fly to work with a shorter pole we were able to anchor directly to the house. No more giving up and leaving it to be finished by another team. April and Nicole learned to drive screws into the wood as well as use a circular saw. By the time we were done they were making better cuts than me.

Theo got to play with an impact wrench as well. He mastered the lag bolt insertion. It’s always exciting when they argue over who gets to lean the new tool.

Anyhow, the redesign worked, we had time to paint it, and left them with a fully functional windshield.

Clean up upon return. We were charged with gathering the recycling and tying up cardboard which took no time at all. Used the extra time to untangle and rewind an otherwise useless mass of twine.

This is where I’m going to end the journal transcription. There’s not a lot to say about the return trip. Everyone made it back, safe and sound.  A full blown presentation of the trip is in the works and tentatively scheduled for October 3rd, 2010. You can check the church’s calendar at www.uccburlington.org for the time and address of that. Pictures are still being gathered and added, but I plan to send a link to those out once they’re all posted after the presentation. Thanks to those who had read this.