From Soddin' To Sidin'

With John anticipating that we would take two days to sod, he was planning to have us do some siding on a different house, beginning on Wednesday.  Well, we bumped that up a day and started working on Joe and Barb's house.  There was siding and soffiting that needed to be done.  With no need to wait for a sod delivery, the day began an hour earlier, arriving to the site at 7:45.

It's about time that I introduce you to the H4H regulars, that don't work for the affiliate, but are all retired men who volunteer on the construction crew to stay out of their wives' way.  There's Dominick who is an 80-year-old Italian man that doesn't often let you get in the way of his plans; Paul who seems to be on the back end of "middle-aged," is incredibly helpful, always smiling, and has a strange quantity of short shorts; George who likes to think he is John's (the site manager) right-hand man - he's pretty knowledgeable, but is missing a few screws from his short-term memory hardware; Al who wears a sheriff's badge around the site, but overshadows his old-man sarcasm with a smile and extensive construction knowledge; and finally Jim who is a middle-aged guy, former professor of architecture, pretty quiet, but very good at teaching people how to do things and supporting them...duh, he used to teach.

So this was an interesting day because I got to work with Dom for most of it.  Now I'm no expert on installing siding, but there were a few opportunities for Dom and I to disagree.  I tried to give him my logic, but his old Italian stubbornness out-dueled by young Italian rebellion.  It made me really appreciate the day though.  Learning that Dom was 80 years old, made me wish I could be siding alongside my 93-year-old grandfather, and arguing with him about how to do things.  Needless to say, Dom and I are pals...and even though I know I was right, I bit my tongue =P.

As for the homeowners, Barb was out there hammering away.  It was obvious that she really appreciated our help, but wanted to have as much effort of her own put into her home as we did...not to mention, she is pregnant.  It really is inspiring not only to see the dedication and commitment from the students and other volunteers, but to see how important the process is to the homeowners is a humbling experience that makes you realize how much your help really means to them.

After hitting the showers at the RB club, we left straight for Daytona Beach; we again had to kill some time with the church being used until 8:30...I know, not a bad place to kill time.  There were a ton of other tourists there, comprised of bike week fanatics and people on vacation.  We ate at "Sicily Pizza" where the owner, Robert, gave us a great deal on his New York-style pizza.  I figured the New York and Sicilian combination was a match made in heaven for our group to eat there - he agreed.  The group crushed 6 pizzas and still stopped for some ColdStone ice cream (they worked up some serious appetites during the day) on the way back to the vans.  We finished up by killing the last 20 minutes of our time out by swinging by SuperTarget on the way home.  We got back and did a reflection activity where everyone talked about an obstacle and a positive from the day's experience.  Then we did some prep for day 3 and hit the hay.

The week is almost at halftime...crazy.

Tuesday morning sunrise

Beginning of the day

Paul in the back (short shorts). Al in the front. Jen watching and learning.

CNU leaving its mark

Daytona Beach

DB Boardwalk at night

DB Boardwalk plaza