Back in the USA

We arrived in Knoxville 23 July and spent the night with our daughter and her husband. We picked up our car and headed south to McComb, MS, where we will live with my parents until our house is ready in Hattiesburg. McComb is about 70 miles from Hattiesburg. Our furniture will be in storage in Houston, TX, until we are ready to move in. The builders we had been in contact with previously were too busy so we feared we would have to buy a house and sell our lot without building on it. But the real estate agent put us in contact with a builder who could take on our project. We signed a contract 16 August and sent our plans to the designer for final polishing and to get construction drawings ready to submit to City Hall for a permit.

Then Katrina came.

Then Rita came.

Then everyone was very busy with repairing and rebuilding. Again, we were concerned with getting our project underway. But "there is a time for every purpose under heaven" and God's timing is best. This will be a progress log for our friends and family to watch with us as our dream becomes reality.


Date: 21 September 2005. The lot has been cleared and we are waiting for final plans, permits, and permissions.


Date: 4 November 2005. After seeing the effects of the storms with so many homes and power lines damaged by falling trees, we take out all the older, larger, heavier trees with plans to plant younger, smaller ones after construction is finished.


Date: 17 November 2005. The forms are being set up for the "footprint" of the house. Within this framework the footers for the walls will be poured.


Date: 21 November 2005. The concrete footers are poured and ready for the foundation. We are building a raised foundation home, one with a crawl space underneath.


Date: 28 November 2005. The foundation is made with concrete blocks. Progress is being made.


Date: 6 December 2005. This is another view of the foundation work. Not a lot of progress, but the holiday season is here and the weather has turned disagreeable.


Date: 16 December 2005. The foundation blocks are complete and the wood for the floor joists and sub-floor has been delivered. We found out from our builder that the framing crew was hired away by FEMA. They were offered a very high wage. This appears to be the way FEMA works in storm damaged areas. So our guys left our project in the lurch. Our tax dollars at work...


Date: 29 December 2005. A shot of the floor joist installation to date. The replacement workers left to go deer hunting New Year's weekend. Evidently in Mississippi, everything else comes in second to deer hunting.