Monday, March 4 -San Antonio & the Alamo

This morning it was not much warmer and the wind-chill was 13. I guess it had been 80 yesterday so everyone, including us, were freezing. It was so cold that when we got downtown we saw a sign that said the boat tours for the Riverwalk would not be running due to inclement weather. We walked to the Alamo and toured the mission and courtyard and visited the gift shop. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the Alamo so you will only see pictures from outside and a few from the courtyard. Afterwards we headed towards the River Walk. On the way we saw an interesting building with animal heads mounted to the outside. A large sign proclaimed it to be the Buckhorn Saloon. We walked in and after perusing the gift shop decided to stay for lunch and a sasparilla. We did spend some time walking along the river but it was pretty cold so we decided to change our course of action and try to find some of the other missions. We drove to the San Jose Mission and Mission Concepcion. I very much enjoyed the short video about the 5 missions of San Antonio. Walking through them was like walking back in time. Tomorrow we will be heading west to Big Bend. We may be off the grid so check back each day to see if we make it out.

 

 A monument to those who perished at the Alamo including my childhood hero, Davey Crockett.

 

                                                       Lunch at the Buckhorn Saloon

                                              A replica of a long extinct Irish elk

Sunday, March 2-Drving to San Antonio

After a rather late night at the Mardi Gras parades in the French Quarter, yes, it was nearly 11 before we turned the lights out, we headed west on Rt. 10 in the direction of San Antonio this morning. What was supposed to be an 8 1/2 hour drive somehow became 11 before we found our Best Western. Our best stop was the welcome center as we entered the state of Texas. A pleasant surprise was the boardwalk behind the visitor's center complete with alligators, turtles, snakes and a revitalized cypress wetland area. Also after entering Texas, we drove into a cold front and watched the temperatures move from 74 to 32 degrees as we neared San Antonio. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Alamo and enjoy the River Walk. Hopefully it will be warmer in the morning.

Saturday, March 1 -Last day on site- New Orleans

Yesterday we worked at the building site for half a day. I was a little disappointed that we never did get to meet with the home owners but we had a great time. I learned a lot about building houses in hurricane country. Around 10:30 our group packed up and we headed our different ways, our friends to the snowy north and Sharon and I to New Orleans.

iThe pics of New Orleans posted backwards but we are headed to San Antonio 8hours away. Stay safe in the snow and ice!

Friday, February 28 - Day 5 - The Trusses

Today was our last full day working on the house. It was also one of the most physically demanding. We were setting trusses, 23 of them to be exact. I'm not sure how heavy most of them were but the last one we handed up, the heaviest of the 23, was 300 pounds. At first it was just Sharon, Becky, me and Jim but thankfully after about three trusses in, some others came over from another build site to help out. The floor was too high in the center which made it more difficult to get level and tomorrow we will spend some time getting those issues corrected. As for today we put in a good day's work and look forward to meeting the home owners tomorrow. Sharon and I hope to get away a little early so we can get to New Orleans in time to sightsee before it gets dark.

we passed the University of South Alabama every day on our way to the work site

Buckeye Builders
Jim, Grant, MaryAnn, Bob, Becky, Josh, Tall Dave, Me, Sharon and Beth

Thursday, February 27*Day 3 and 4*

First of all, Happy Birthday to my mom on her 90th birthday.
Day 3
Yesterday it rained all day here in Mobile so we were unable to work on the house. Instead we volunteered at the Re-Store and built several shelving units to store their lumber products. Proceeds from this store goes towards funding Habitat homes. We were treated to a fabulous catered lunch and met with staff and volunteers from the Mobile Habitat organization.
Day 4
This morning it was 22 degrees here in Mobile but at least it wasn't raining. We were able to finish all of the walls, get the OSB sheeting on the outside, cut out all of the doors and windows and put the top plate on the top of all of the walls. Our goal tomorrow is to get the trusses up tomorrow. We had hoped to be doing that today but the rain put us behind schedule.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant on the bay called Ed's Seafood Shed. I wish it had been warmer, but the view and the food was spectacular. I had mahi mahi, fried okra, rice and a hot fudge brownie. Yum!!

 

 

we built a 16ft and a 12ft shelving unit. This is the larger unit.