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26 September 2008

I’m sitting here trying to psych myself up for a big weekend and a busy week ahead. The whole clan convenes tomorrow morning for a "barn raising" in our backyard. It’s not exactly a "barn" but an 18 X 20 ft. storage shed with a barn roof. Jim and I along with two beautiful daughters, two strapping sons-in-law and five maniac grandsons will keep this little house bursting at the seams all weekend while we build. I’ll be wielding a hammer when I’m not wrangling boys or cooking for the crew. Every male member of the family is excited about the project so we figured we’ll let the little boys help for awhile until it becomes necessary to hustle them off for a field trip. They can get pretty helpful at times and it will be my responsibility to determine that tipping point between Help and Hindrance.

The plan is to get the building standing and roofed and hopefully painted before Jim and I leave for a Habitat Build with the RV Care-a-Vanners a week from Saturday. So sometime during this week I’ll be cleaning, shopping and packing the 5^th wheel for the two week build in a small town in another state. I won’t divulge our destination here but I’ll tell you all about it when we get settled.

So, I’m taking just a few minutes here at the very beginning of this new day to relax before all heck breaks loose around here. The music in my ears is everything from the Allman Brothers “Melissa” to some real oldies like “Ohio” from Neil Young’s Greatest Hits album. The tragedy of Kent State was translated so well in this song and the opening licks are instantly recognizable by anyone who was alive during the fateful events of May 4, 1970. The song itself is one of my many, many favorites and I still get chills when I hear the amazing guitars and mournful voices. It was a dark day in our country’s history but like all controversial topics you won’t read about my feelings here other than to tell you that I love the song.

I’d better get up from the computer and get started but I’ll leave you with a few words about another favorite song. This was written for my family website in the spring of 2007 while we were building a Habitat house in Jackson, Wyoming. You sit back and enjoy it while I go find my gloves and hammer.

May 2007 ~ Jackson, Wyoming

"C’mon people now, smile on your brother. Everybody get together; try to love one another right now." Dino Valenti

You guys remember this song, don’t you? I think the Youngbloods recorded it in 1967 but it never really caught on until the United Federation of Christians and Jews used it in their TV commercials in 1969. Within weeks it went to #5 on the charts. I LOVE this song!! I LOVE the music, I LOVE the vocals and I LOVE the lyrics. I keep saying I’d like to use the opening notes for the ringtone on my cell phone but then I’d tell people to call me more often and it would lose some of the magic to hear it through the tinny, little speaker. So, my ringtone is another favorite, the old Kansas recording of "Dust in the Wind". Anyway....

We were listening to "Get Together" on our way into Jackson this morning. It is such a pretty morning and the magical music and the mystical scenery have set the tone for another wonderful day in this beautiful place. We finished our first week of this Habitat build and are enjoying a day off. We’ll be back at work tomorrow morning.

It has been a delight to re connect with our Habitat buddies and spend these days with them. We are working on a beautiful little home in a subdivision on the southern edge of Jackson and like a fine tooled machine we have fallen back into the rhythm of working together with these amazing people. The walls were up when we got here and Jim and Ed have spent most of their week nailing up trusses and all the parts and pieces that make up the roof. They got some of the decking down so they’ll be focused on the rest of the roof this week and we’ll see if we can get it shingled before we leave. Charlie has been cutting blocking and plywood decking and sending tools and wood up to the roofers. And I have cut blocking, cut Styrofoam, cut mesh, cut shingles and nailed and nailed and nailed!

Trace is our Construction Manager and is a delightful young guy with a gift for getting the best work out of the volunteers. His construction experience coupled with his people skills make him a perfect fit for this job and we are all happy to work with him again. He’s a big flirt and a wonderful storyteller so our days are full of laughter. He arranged a chance for us to visit the house that we worked on last fall and we spent a great evening with the homeowner celebrating her beautiful new home. It is an awesome thing to see the finished product and to feel the joy that fills every corner of that lovely little home.

The house we are working on now will become home to another young family. Currently, Noah, Michelle and their two young daughters are living in a one bedroom basement apartment. The bedroom is used for a working space where Noah can spread out the audio equipment he uses to make his living. The family used to keep mattresses on the floor until they got damp and moldy. Now they sleep right on the floor. Needless to say they are so excited about the progress on their new home. Trace hopes to have them in by July.

Trace let us leave our “mark” on this house like he did last fall so I found a perfect hiding place for my words where they’ll be covered under drywall in a closet. Trace still talks about the words I left in the other house so he asked where I had hidden the new inscription then said, “No, wait, don’t tell me…I’ll wait until some rainy morning when nobody wants to come out and play. Then I’ll find it and remember you.”

My inscription was simple, “There are so many things in this world that we have felt powerless to change. But when your children move out of that basement and into this beautiful home full of sunlight and air we know we won’t feel powerless anymore.”

So, that’s the latest from Jackson. We are sharing so much laughter, so much hard work and loving every minute of this time together. Makes me think of a song, "....Everybody get together, try to love one another right now."