An Eventful Day

Today was an eventful day -- first of all Elmer signed off on House #2, so now it is OFFICIALLY finished! He also approved the rough in inspection at House #4, though we still need to get that pesky green card filled out. That means the new crew will be able to start doing insulation, sheetrock and siding next week.

We didn't get a fire inspection at House #3 until tomorrow which means that Elmer won't be able to sign it off until next week... ;-(

I got the Auntie Violet's cherrywood walls and cupboards in the bedroom and bathroom cleaned and waxed this morning.

We picked up the white Chevy which was in at the shop in Jamul getting its 60,000 mile checkup.

We had a short visit from Steve (homeowner of House #1) who stopped by on his way home from a day of golf.

The new director and his wife arrived this afternoon! Franzie seems like a real nice fellow. I'll take him around tomorrow to see the houses and meet most of the people. We've got lunch scheduled with Robin (the Regional Recovery Coordinator) and with Mel (our California MDS contact).

We came home to find a lovely card stuck on Auntie Violet's door saying "good-bye" from Noelle of the Salvation Army.

We were invited out to dinner with the homeowners of House #5, who gave us a lovely set of coasters/picture frames with pictures of birds she had taken at her house. (I think our mutual love of birds made for a friendship the first time we met!) We had a wonderful Mexican dinner at the Tijuana Cafe -- Hector's favorite restaurant.

We're beginning to realize how many friends we've made since we've been here and how hard it is going to be to leave -- even though Auntie Violet thinks it's about time!

What is it about Mondays?

I don't know what it is about Mondays, but they sure seem to come with a whammy! And this one was no different.

I made a quick trip into Jamul this morning to pick up and deliver three flats of ice plants. We had gone over to take the new propane generator over to House #2 yesterday afternoon and realized that the folks who had put in the septic tank and drain field last week had really disturbed the earth near the house. We had a big crew from Ontario, Canada who made quick work of smoothing out the ground, planting the ground cover and strawing it over.

Then I had an early lunch meeting in Rio San Diego with Robin, the Coordinator for the Community Recovery Team. We had a lot to go over with both last minute details for Houses 2 & 3, and for the new build of House 5. Robin is a delight, I really enjoy being with her -- I think we both think alike!

I had just gotten back to camp, planning to work on the program for the two upcoming House Dedications when Forry and Ken convinced me I needed to go back to town with Forry to return some back porch lights and talk with the Home Depot people about some of the invoices we had that had included sales tax (materials for the fire rebuilds are tax-exempt). And we wanted to make copies of the blue prints that Robin had given me over lunch.

It was after dinner that I finally got to work on the programs. Ken took a neat picture last week of the family who will be moving into House #2:

The man on the left is visiting his brother and his mother who will be living in the new house. (They are currently living in a small very old trailer on the hill above the house. The house dedication will be this Saturday at 2 PM.