Wow, 10 days since the last update...too long. Though I did post up some vids and pix so...well, a picture...1000 words and all that there bullpucky.
The past week has seen a lot of rain in the evenings. It's wreaked havoc with our work days as it normally starts about 3pm and pisses for a goodly spell bringing all work to a grinding halt. In fact, we had a terrible day on Saturday trying once again to save the septic tank from filling with feces and trash infested water.
Think on that: we worked to keep shit water out of the septic tank.
Ain't life grand?
We won the battle, but it was only because while we were cutting the trenches to get the water to run into the creek below the build site (sigh) we were also sandbagging the septic tank. The worst was that the Public Works Dpt was supposed to have been in there 2 days prior completing their culvert work. But they didn't show so it was either loose all our hard work, and make the tanks already dug unusable (can you imagine standing in a tank that's been flooded with that water in order to finish building the tank for 8 hours?). So we manned the shovels and pick axes and abandoned the relatively dry warehouse for the stench and wet of the canal. Did you know a pick axe, when used in 1-3 inches of water, fires water directly at your legs, body, and, if you get a particularly solid blow, your face? We learned to keep our mouth's shut in short order! Alas the elevation of an intermediate pond was against us and for a while there we were forced to not dig but paddle at the water with shovels in order to move it along.
I just know there's a friggin' outstanding joke in there somewhere...but I can't quite see it. Anyone want to take a stab at it?
I'm about out of my first pound of Peets coffee. One more to go. Also just killed off the first of three jars of Cytomax (gatorade like powder but tastes good even if warm). It's been a tad over a month now and I really don't feel like I've made much of an impact just yet...but I'm on the cusp of implementing some stuff and so I'll soon feel like I'm starting to pull my weight.
We are hard up against our deadline with the Habitat guys: they've not been able to get us more lots to build on and so we've begun the process of turning off the supply lines with local merchants for materials. We've not yet had to lay off any workers, but the work load is getting very thin. Thank goodness we are in a lull for international volunteers at the moment or I wouldn't be able to put them all to work. We MUST get sites issued to us this week or we will be in a world of hurt. The thought of losing the headway we've gained with organization, teamwork, infrastructure, warehousing, housing, etc is mind-numbing.
Tomorrow is supposed to be the day of answers.
