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Published: February 11th 2007
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Day 5 - Fence Removal and Odd Jobs
I was feeling much, much better this day. The group had finished mucking out the house the day before while I was mending, so we went to another location - Gentilly Presbyterian Church. The group drywalling was still working on the other site.
Apparently, the Gentilly location will be used as a headquarters for the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in New Orleans; the current headquarters is in Baton Rouge. So, basically, we were doing odds and ends to help get one of the building ready to be the headquarters.
One of the main activities was removing fencing in a side yard because it is going to be used as a parking lot. We used wire clippers and wrenches to remove the fence from the fence poles. Then we rolled it up and set it out by the street for trash pickup. The next step was to remove the fence poles.
Removing the fence poles was quite a task. For the larger ones, we had to dig down around the cement anchor, which went down about two feet, to pull it out. We also didn't have the most ideal tools --
Old Dishes
These were in the house. Most went to goodwill and I think some came back with us. mainly flat shovels. A pointed shovel or a pick ax would have been more suited for the task.
Some of the fence poles were smaller and quicker to remove, but after removing about a third of them we reasoned that since it will be a parking lot, whatever they use to prepare it to be paved (like a bulldozer, back-hoe... I don't know exactly) could rip them out in a few minutes. So we planned what to do the next day... which was to clean out the house next door that the church had recently purchased to house long-term volunteers.
This was also a short day since we were planning to go to the French Quarter that evening. So, we headed back to the volunteer village in Luling and got cleaned up.
Around 6:00 PM, we headed back to New Orleans to visit the French Quarter. We were all very hungry, so finding a great place to eat was a priority. We split up and the group I was with went to Ralph and Kacoos. Ralph and Kacoos is a great seafood restaurant and has a lot of Cajun and Southern favorites. I ended up getting the
Seafood Platter -- of course, fried since the South loves to fry just about any type of food (they do have an option to have it broiled, but I wanted it cooked the Southern way). I also ordered a glass of the house merlot and it was very good (most of the times I've ordered a house wine, it isn't that great).
http://www.ralphandkacoos.com/main/
There were about 11 of us around a few tables pulled together. During all of this, of course, we talked and had a great time... got to learn more about each other. Also, our waiter (and everyone there on staff) did a great job except during the end when it seemed like our waiter disappeared for awhile.
After a few hours of great discussion and eating (topped off with a slice of cheesecake) we headed towards Bourbon Street. This evening Bourbon Street it seemed mildly busy. I counted at least three live bands, though, and it still had a lively atmosphere. It had an odd musical/cultural feel to it... walking down the streets I thought how fun it would be to play in one of those bands in that environment... but the moment was
fleeting. 😊 There are serious musicians... career musicians... I don't think I will ever be up for the effort and discipline that that takes. And, I'm not even sure if I did that I could ever be as good as them. But I enjoy listening to them.
We then headed back to the vans, but a lot of people still weren't back, so we waited nearby at Cafe du Monde (http://www.cafedumonde.com/). I bought a few beignets to try them out -- they are fried pieces of dough that are doused in powdered sugar.
Once everyone was back, we headed back to camp to call it a night.
Day 6 - Goodwill, Trash, Finding the Right Charity, and Drywalling
So... this house... it had a bunch of clothes in it that had been donated to the church. Maybe around 40 trash bags full. We loaded them up on a truck and the Rich and I went searching for a charity to donate them to, which sounds easier than it is. A lot of charities are picky or don't take clothing donations. The first one we went to only took some of the bags... I don't think
Grumps
This is Dan. I think he has been involved in disaster relief work for quite awhile. His nickname is "Grumps", and he comes across a little grumpy, but he has a sense of humor and seems like a pretty good guy. they had enough space to take them all. However, they pointed us in the right direction and we went to a Catholic clothing bank. They wanted everything and even started hanging some of it up before we had it all unloaded. And, by the looks of it, there were definitely some good clothes in the bunch.
Rich and I started heading back. Along the way I asked if we could stop by the St. Louis Cemetery Number 1 so I could take a few photos. The cemeteries there are above ground... as I'm sure many reading this have seen in movies that take place in New Orleans. Very interesting to see.
Once we got back to the site, the group had already left to go to the drywalling site. So Rich took me there and I helped out with the drywalling. Most everyone already was busy so I pitched in wherever I could, which was mostly making sure that all of the drywall screws were slightly countersunk into the drywall. I also helped tape a bit.
The lady whose house we were working on prepared us lunch... red beans and rice and some other great dishes. But
Sorting it all Out
Why are dishes interesting? Some of these were gold-plated and possibly antiques. Sort of interesting to me, but much more to the women in the group. I loaded up on the red beans and rice 😊 -- it might have been jambalaya, though, because it had a lot of meat and spices in it, too. She also bought us a few King Cakes.
King Cakes are a tradition in New Orleans around Mardi Gras season. You can read more about them on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Cake. These King Cakes came with little Baby Jesus', which reminded me of the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Later on I took a few photos of Baby Jesus.
Day 7 - The Drive Back
Not too much to note here. The trip down in reverse. It got colder and colder as we made our way north until it was in the teens. We unloaded and headed back to our homes for a good nights rest in our own beds. 😊
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Celeste J.
non-member comment
Very cool!
As usual you have taken some great photos! I am going to live vicariously through you and feel like I helped other people! I exprienced New Orleans with a hurricane... the drink that is. Strangly I don't really remember much about that trip....