Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Well, we have completed work day #3. The first day i was so incredibly sore, and tired, I didn't even know what to do. The second day, I was the same, maaaaybe a little better. Today I am not nearly as tired but still sore. I am feeling a bit sunburnt, with our lovely 20 C weather . Wes is also quite red already. This area does not get a lot of rain, despite the huge rainstorms they had this past week. This past december, was the first time in 1 year that they had rain. And nothing in between. The Witch fires, which were the fires in the area we are working, were caused by arching of hydro wires, (which is when it is really really windy, the wires blow close together and start to spark) and the sparks went down to the ground. The circuit breaker kept on going out, and the power company just kept turning it back on, without ever going out to check the problem. And because of the dry dry weather, the fires began. And spread fast. The Witch creek fire burned 1600 homes. California has a very, very, repeat very hard time getting permits to build houses. In San Diego county in 2008, they issued only 217 permits. It usually takes about 2 years from the beginning of the process until you may get your permit.From the start to finish on a house you need 18 inspections in between. New houses built here are all equipped with sprinkler systems. Today Wes and I were on the same crew. Our crew built all the outside walls of the house today. And sheeted them. We are working right in the mountains at this house. With cactus's, lg orange, small orange, lemon, grapefruit and budda's hand trees around us. It is quite something. Monday and Tuesday I spent painting the hardy board siding on a different house, and siliconing the cracks. Wes built walls at a different house and got the cement pad areas ready to cement. This evening, we had the homeowners come for supper and sharing with the group. It was really neat to hear their story about the fire. They have gone through a lot in getting to this point of building their house. Wes and I are enjoying our time here. And really enjoying the sunshine. Our camper is acting as a good home, despite the 2 minutes or less of hot water we each get for our showers, having to let the hot water warm up in between each of our showers. You literally have to wet yourself down, shut off the water, lather yourself up, turn on water and rinse, and if you are lucky you may have 30 seconds to stand in the hot water at the end. I do miss my long hot showers. But its good. We feel like we are where we are supposed to be. Thanks again for your prayers! They helped the rain hold off today so we could finish the walls, the 2 inspections to go REALLY well(for a change) and everything else to be going well!

2 comments:

  1. Great update!Way to work.Just want you to know Im reading your blog and will keep checking in..praying for you two also.Enjoy the sunshine.We'll be close to you by tuesday!Not working though :)

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  2. The shower sounds like an adventure in itself=) I can' believe it's almost 70F there! Enjoy it! We enjoy reading your updates!

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