Putting up drywall

Bill, John, & Gary putting up drywall on the ceiling of
a house that was built in 1907 and was flooded in 2011
up to a foot below the ceililng

Me securing ceiling drywall - that ceiling didn't look
so high before I climbed that ladder!

Steve's house - built in1907

Today we worked on a house in the historic area of Minot.  House was built in 1907 and has been in the owner's family since it was built.  Water flooded almost to the ceiling of the first floor.  We just about have all the drywall in place and roofers came today and were putting on a whole new roof.  They had all the OSB boards on the roof by the time we left at 4:00.

It's a really neat house.  Has a full basement, ground floor is about 800 - 1000 sq. ft. and the small second floor would make a great sewing room.  But if I lived here, I'd be worried every time it rained - for fear of being flooded again.

We did learn today from some people we chatted with at the Bark Park (Lexi and Belle had fun playing with other big doggies) that there were two floods that hit weeks apart in 2011.  The first one consisted of heavy rain and the start of snow melt followed by more rain that sat over the area combined with the release of water from a dam in Canada.  That second episode is what caused all the really heavy damage.  The water sat over this area for quite a while.  A good number of the houses here have been repaired but there is still a significant number of homes either boarded up or in some stage of repair.  Regardless, we are happy to be here lending whatever help we can give.

Tomorrow is our last work day.  It's a good thing - both Bill and I are tired!  Drywall work in tiring to us old (?) people who aren't used to doing that kind of work.  Personally, I need time to recover from working with Bill.  He slammed my hand into the wall yesterday while I was "helping" him with a large sheet of drywall.  He didn't know my hand was holding the side of the drywall when he shoved it hard to get it into place next to another wall.  Unfortunately, my hand provided all kinds of cushioning!  I was proud of myself, though - I didn't say one bad word except for "Bill!"  The knuckle of my left hand swelled up double it's normal size and now it has flattened out and is a pretty shade of dark pink.  Now I know what Mohammed Ali felt like after a fight.

More later . . .