Hello Everyone!

It's been an exciting week at the old sand box!

On Monday we hired the backhoe to lift the big trusses onto the columns and that was very exciting for everyone. Now the size of the building was truly visible!

As you might expect there was great enthusiasm to be helpful and very little awareness of the dangers.

In the same way as I've described before, I was giving the hand signals we agreed upon to the operator, but lots of people were jumping in to try to wrestling with the big beams as they are still being moved into place. The beams can get hung up and suddenly move in unexpected directions, making the language issue and the local communication style (everyone talks at the same time) a challenging safety issue. The quick cautionary comment isn't heard and they don't have the experience to anticipate the danger. By the end of the day, the trusses were all safely bolted in place with only 2 close calls....one of which caused Emily to take a quick leap off her ladder!

Actually it took me the whole evening after they were all up to calm down and appreciate what we had just accomplished.

The rest of the week was spent bolting on the purlins, eave channel, flange bracing, x-bracing and girts. We now have a solid group of iron workers here and a great looking frame with tons of seismic reinforcing.

Happily, Carol arrived early Thursday morning and so did the big commercial refer and range which she will use until we install them in the new kitchen of the center. She smiled a lot that day, although she has a nasty cold.

On Friday, we were supposed to receive delivery of 3,750 concrete blocks for building the walls, but the truck's axle broke right after they got it loaded at the factory. So, they had to unload it and now we are supposed to get them on Monday....on 2 trucks!

Raul met his maker on Tuesday. Raul II appeared on Friday. He/she left presents for both Emily and me ;-) Must be the holiday season....sheeeeesh

So, here's to a week of excitement ahead as the first group of Seattle volunteers arrive, along with our 7 friends from Lesotho!

See ya'll soon!
Rome