Tornado Entry: 14

I have a new daily routine now. Up at my usual time of 4:00 a.m. make coffee, feed Daggy and Stump, check my g.mail and glance quickly over my news sites and blogs. The new part is that now I do my journal entries before cooking up my breakfast. I’m too tired to do much more than to just fix up some supper and then drop into bed. Thursday I was so glad to see Clay and Jimmy on hand. We three had all worked together previously as a team. We picked up some good workers and headed right out. I’m learning the lay-out of Tuscaloosa. The GPS I purchased last year has paid for itself over and over these past two weeks.

Our first job was to pretty much cover an entire roof. Clay has worked with David one of the Samaritan's Purse instructors. How I wanted to team out with his crew to learn the techniques. I never had that opportunity.

Now I have an idea how an teacher feels when they see a student blossom. Clay took over instructing the crew on the proper way to do the tarping. I was so proud of him. Everyone was working on my crew today. I felt left out! This gave me a chance to converse with the homeowner when he showed up. He and his wife had lived here in this house for 40 years. He is not sure if he will stay or not. Alberta City has been in a downward slide. This disaster might be the nail in the coffin that pushes the last of the old timers out.

My crew at work:

Finished:

The main railroad line is in plain view here. It is unreal how from certain vantage points the trains are totally visible. There is a fairly sharp curve here that reminds me of my old model train set watching the cars go round the bend. OMG!! I just remembered a children’s book that I loved as a child about a modern Diesel engine who “knew everything”. (Remember I’m talking 1950’s here.) This engine would not listen to the sage advice of the wise old steam engine. This diesel engine got his train going around the mountain in a circle, with the caboose just ahead. This infuriated him and he tried to catch up to the caboose without success. He felt like a fool when he realized what had happened and all the other train engines were laughing at him.

My team got the first job out right around lunch time. Most were only working half a day. We all went to the Moose Hall for grub. I was able to chat with Matt and Sue who are quite active in the Moose Club. They are from my hometown Lockport and we worked together years ago at the plant here. Sue “donated” a lot of her unwanted yarn to my “Granny Square” I’m still adding to!

What the Moose Lodge has done is an example how the community has come together in this crisis. The day after the tornado hit, some $300.00 worth of hamburgers and fixings were set up in the parking lot. Word spread and food was donated. Matt has estimated they have served about 10,000 meals so far.

We returned to the church and got some fresh bodies. I checked out a ladder to supplement mine and three hammers. One of the hammers was the one of mine that turned up missing from the first day traping roofs! I’m glad to know it has a good home. I have not used it much in recent years. The people who originally were only working ½ a day signed on for more! We got right back out …..These kids just love riding in the back of pick up trucks!

There is a rush to get as much tarping done as possible as the weather is supposed to turn nasty. Our first call was to fix up a trap already up. The new shingling job is in progress so we did very little.

From here we went to an elderly handicapped lady who had some nasty leaks. Her house had some tree limbs and a huge antenna on the roof. The house was built on the side of a hill with a huge drop off the back. We were very careful. The insurance company had already marked out the damaged areas. We patched up and covered as best we could. It was a good roofing job. The lady told me a church group had put it on some five years ago. I’ve been on lots of roof now and can tell the wavy shingle edges from the straight ones in a second.

Our next call was supposed to be a quick tarping. I could not contact the home owner. The replacement roof had already been started. An elderly man was at the house. He was not in a condition to realize why were even there. I left him with a note to give to his son. There is no way we can work over new shingles and tarpaper…

The last job in the book was off Crescent Ridge Road, one of the hardest hit areas. En route we witnessed a van getting “T-Boned”. The way people drive here. We pulled over. I quickly gave the innocent driver my name and number in case they needed a witness. Pastor Jim from Samaritan’s Purse was right there: it was the third time that day we had met in the field!

Clay took care of assessing the job and what needed to be done. This poor house is a mess. There could only be a few people on the roof at a time it was pretty shaky.

This is representative of how the homes were in this part of town. Not anything fancy, but comfortable. The view from the kitchen sink must have been beautiful. The cabinet work is of the 1950-1960’s vintage showing a lot of skill in the cut out work.

Back view of the house:

Remains of the kitchen; what a view through the window to wash dishes to: My new hammer is on the counter... it rings when it hits the nails just right!!!

I got to talk with the owner. This was his family’s home where he grew up. Siblings and other family are all scattered along this road. I learned how one family member lost his wife the week before the tornado. Then he lost his home. Hearing these stories makes me realize how my problems don’t amount to a “hill of beans”.

We got the roof half covered and had to quit. We returned back to the church about 5:30. By the time I checked in the tools and my paperwork it was 6:00 when I dragged in my door. Oh… that hot shower felt good. I was invited to join the SP coordinators for supper at the church at 6:30. I’m hoping they will not think I blew them off. I was in bed at 8:15.

Waiting for my pictures to download to my Photobucket account, I cooked and ate breakfast. The small folding table that was my Aunt Fran's held my food plate on the front porch. The cool breeze and birdsong made a tranquil backdrop compared to the devastation I'll soon be in. Small things like this make me count my blessings.....