Wednesday night. The sump pump has failed, toilets aren’t flushing properly. Carl has bought another one, but before it can be installed, the sump has to be mucked out, lest whatever killed that last one also clog up this one. Barry, one of the long-term volunteers, and Lloyd, one of our fine elders, made up a bucket brigade of nastiness. It was an arduous couple of hours for them, but the new sump seemed to be working. That was fortunate, since tremendous storms came through in the night. Even over the roar of the fans, I could hear heavy rainfall several times in the night. Thursday morning, I woke to a wet floor surrounding my air mattress. My shoe strings got wet, but fortunately, nothing else did. Everything off the floor! We mopped and mopped, but water continues to seep slowly in. The rain had stopped by the time we got going, and the sun came out about 10am; turned into a lovely day; sunny and not too hot with a sweet breeze. When we got back home, there was more water seeping in. ugh! Today we worked at the home of Joann. Our task was to scrape and paint the trim at her house. Most of the house was brick, so there was not much area to scrape and paint. Joann worked with us all day, delighted to tell us her story. Joann cared for her mother for many years as she was dying of renal failure. She married her high school sweetheart; when he was 30, he developed ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. He lived rather long for that disease, she cared for him in this home for 8 years until his death. She also told us about her children with great pride. Two of her children have college degrees and are happily working; one in New York, another in a Detroit suburb. Her third, a daughter, graduated from high school this year, and has been accepted to Michigan State. Joann proudly told us about how her high school daughter had saved her money from working in a restaurant to pay for a trip to Japan. Joann’s fourth child is 14, and has Down’s syndrome. We were impressed over and over by her gratitude and hospitality. She insisted on giving us bottles of ice-cold water, and shared in every moment of the day’s work. Two of our crew split off to finish a painting job they started yesterday. After we were all through, we went to pick them up, to find out that they were being delayed. Their homeowner had insisted on cooking fried chicken for them. How can you say ‘no’ to such a generous offer?
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:49:49 +0000