As I looked around the dinner table tonight, I saw a lot of tired faces. It was a long first day at work. But we were blessed with beautiful weather with the temperature hovering close to 70.

We launched three different projects at the Smiley house today. One project involves the building and installation of skirting to cover the three foot crawl space under the house. So there has been a lot of cutting, measuring, sawing and painting going on.

Laura working under the house preparing for the skirt

The 2nd project at the Smiley's involves enclosing the large front porch and facing the 6 x 6 upright support posts. We had to remove and replace the existing railings with spindles to prepare it for screening. We made good progress today on that project, including the coordination of carpentry and painting.

A third project involved installing an attic access stairway. This project got off to a slow start when the stair unit arrived with missing hardware and instructions. We finally got what we needed but the day was almost done. We should still be able to complete the installation in our allotted time. We were a little concerned as to whether or not we could keep everyone busy, but once the projects got going, everyone was busy doing something.

An additional project was started at the Duffy home. This project involves re-building or modifying the existing front entrance and adding a handicap accessible ramp. The team at the Duffy's made good progress by building up the existing porch to the same level as the main floor, then removing the existing steps and moving them to another area of the porch to make room for the ramp portion.

Working on the ramp

Many of us have had good interactions with the Smiley's and Duffy's who are very excited and pleased that we are here to help them. At the Smiley's today, both Harry and Shirley Smiley pitched in and worked along side us all day, and when their grandkids got home from school, they too were seen doing some painting.

Well, tomorrow's another busy day, so I'll sign off for now. More later.

Dave Beers