first resident

I think we've almost got this one right. The owner of Lot 59 (a.k.a. the Sue Gunter House, the one on the right) moved her belongings into the house on Friday, June 29. That's only 26 days after the blitz ended. Her electricity and HVAC unit were installed on Friday, and I believe she spent her first night in the house on Saturday. This is such an accomplishment for us, and by comparison to the Thanksgiving 2005 blitz, we are much improved.

Of course, we had several things in our favor this time compared to last: the number of volunteers, the amount of preparation, it probably doesn't hurt that I know more about what I'm doing now, the number of NCCC teams that helped us, and even that we have Christiaan working with us now is a great benefit compared to last time. Note that in the photo, Christiaan is installing two of the two-hundred or so shelves that needed to be installed. I believe he installed a total of six shelves. To be fair (and I don't really want to be), Christiaan is much more valuable doing other things than installing shelving - that's where I fit in, and why I make the big bucks.

Other good news from Hidden Cove is that I installed the last wire shelf on Saturday! The flooring has been installed in a number of houses, so I think we just need to put shoe mould down in those houses and they'll be complete. Hopefully, the remainder of the floors will be installed in the next few days, and then we'll follow behind them installing the moulding. This can still be completed in a week or so, and maybe then we'll get some more homeowners to move in.

There will still be a bit of exterior work to complete. Many of the houses have problems with the siding that needs to be corrected, but we can work on that once we've completed all of the interior items and not prevent people from moving in.

Today I went to lunch with all of the ladies in the office. I stopped by the office as they were leaving for their new monthly event, and they invited me to join them. I think they could tell that I was lone..., err, bored (why else would I go to work on my day off) and offered me a distraction.

Anyway, Happy Independence Day.