March 24, 2013 Thibodaux, La.

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First picture: house to be finished, Second: team at Zams for Swamp tour, Third: Jeff, waiting for boards, Forth:& Fifth Larry, waiting for boards, Larry, foot in water to become a Cajun,   Sixth:  ZZ, young man on Swamp people, Seventh: vegetables, Eighth:   Larry working on windows, Ninth:   Team

We arrived in Thibodaux, Louisiana on Friday afternoon March 8, 2013 to start a 2 week Habitat for Humanity Build.  The team was made up of Larry & Tracy Saulsgiver, Jeff & Judy Rothwell, Roy & Carol Barriere, Larry and me and we picked up another lady , Maria Small.  She had been here back in November and was told there was room for her as our friends the Mathenys had to return to Virginia due to a break in at their home.
Saturday and Sunday was spent getting our bearings  as to which way to the Monday morning meeting place with the construction supervisor and the volunteer coordinator and getting to know the new people and renewing old friendships.
Monday morning we woke up to RAIN.   No that is not a good thing to start a Build on but we did have some inside work to do on a house in the Bayou Blue subdivision that we had worked in last year and also in 2008.  Tuesday we were able to go to the new construction that had been sitting for a while and stated working on putting the sheating on the roof.,  In two weeks time we had it ready for the roofers, who actually came on the last day of our build and started working on that, the house wrapped in tyvek and the windows in.   We also worked on 2 other houses the 2 days that it rained and accomplished a lot there.
The weekend found us busy with a Swamp Tour and actually met a young man who is on the tv program Swamp People.   We saw some alligators and Larry had wanted to become an adopted Cajun so he was told to out his foot in the bayou, which explains the picture above.,  Sunday we attened the St. Pattys Day Parade in Houma, La where they acutally throw vegetables at you.  Thus the picture of all the vegs.   We saved some for ourselves and I cooked 2 cornbeef briskets with potatoes, carrots and cabbage for our group on Tuesday night. We shared the rest of the vegs with other people here in the campground. 
It was a wonderful Build and I know that we surprised our construction supervisor with all that we accomplished for old people.   He told us he had a team that had always been his favorite but we had surpassed them.   We have come up in the world of Habitat.
We were fed so well while being here.  The Bayou Blue Presbyterian Church had us over for the pot luck dinner one night, and the Knights of Columbus fed us one day at lunch and the Affiliate fed us the rest of the time. Our lunches consisted of a lot of rice , beans, gumbo etc, Cajun food and as we measure these builds, I think this one was about a 10 pound one.  I told Larry I needed a new washing machine and dryer as this one was shrinking my pants.   LOL.
Yesterday, Saturday, found us saying so long, not goodbye, as we all hope to meet again on another Build somewhere, to some of our team members.   Some of us decided to stay another day or so to rest up, pack up and then move on.,
We are going to Bainbridge, Ga, my hometown to spend Easter with my cousin and her family and then if the weather holds we are going to Indianapolis to see our grandchildren  and the on to Virginia.   If not we will go to Virginia.

Hope you are enjoying this blog and will do more later.