Tuesday, July 31, 2007
A crabby surprise
We had a wonderful treat at camp tonight. Around 8pm (just after camp stopped serving dinner), two local residents came by and set up a crab boil right out in the parking lot!
James and Stone were our hosts for the evening, and invited anyone and everyone from camp to come outside and enjoy their incredible gift of a few hundred crabs, boiled in a wonderful broth of cayenne pepper and Louisiana hot sauce, along with corn, sausage, garlic, potatoes and lemon.
I have to say, these were very possibly the best crabs I've ever eaten! The seasoning was so flavorful, and had a perfect kick to it from the pepper and the hot sauce, without being too overbearing. Yumm. Thanks guys!!
James and Stone were our hosts for the evening, and invited anyone and everyone from camp to come outside and enjoy their incredible gift of a few hundred crabs, boiled in a wonderful broth of cayenne pepper and Louisiana hot sauce, along with corn, sausage, garlic, potatoes and lemon.
I have to say, these were very possibly the best crabs I've ever eaten! The seasoning was so flavorful, and had a perfect kick to it from the pepper and the hot sauce, without being too overbearing. Yumm. Thanks guys!!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Blowing off some steam
On Thursday night the volunteers in St Bernard Parish were invited to a BBQ/party at the home of one of the Parish Judges.
Last year the Judge threw a similar party and had about 30 volunteers attend. We're sure he was not expecting as large a turnout as he had. One Brick alone, accounted for 30 volunteers! In all, there were probably around to 100 people there! We'll see if he does it again next year...
The food was great (and they made, by far, the best bread pupdding you can imagine), and it was a wonderful evening to spend poolside.
Leave it to One Brick to start the chicken fights in the pool....
Last year the Judge threw a similar party and had about 30 volunteers attend. We're sure he was not expecting as large a turnout as he had. One Brick alone, accounted for 30 volunteers! In all, there were probably around to 100 people there! We'll see if he does it again next year...
The food was great (and they made, by far, the best bread pupdding you can imagine), and it was a wonderful evening to spend poolside.
Leave it to One Brick to start the chicken fights in the pool....
Additional Photo Sets
From Kim:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZtmTho0ZN36g
From Jenny:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7296306@N03/sets/72157601103221500
From Mark:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97468887@N00/sets/72157601198013787
From Ashley:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNGjhm2atmLnw
From Laura:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laura6571/
From Faris:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofla-faris/sets/72157601241225765/
From Mitch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtai/
From Byl: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10395&id=669198592
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZtmTho0ZN36g
From Jenny:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7296306@N03/sets/72157601103221500
From Mark:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97468887@N00/sets/72157601198013787
From Ashley:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNGjhm2atmLnw
From Laura:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laura6571/
From Faris:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofla-faris/sets/72157601241225765/
From Mitch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtai/
From Byl: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10395&id=669198592
Merrick Cemetery
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Rocky and Carlo's Restaurant
We went for the BBQ (they didn't have any that day) and ended up having Muffalettas, Macaroni, and Po'Boys. A tasty mistake.
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9596
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9596
Skate or Die
Camp Hope has everything: cozy beds, Zagat-rated food, great showers, wireless internet...and a skateboard ramp. Watch as Elias shows off some of his moves (right after the grasshopper).
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9116
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9116
Moving a Sugarbowl for Coyote
Sugarbowls are massive cast iron dishes once used to refine sugar. Here, along with Tamon, Joe, and 8 others, we attempt to move a sugarbowl back to the Sebastopol Plantation.
Coyote is the guy in the big hat, pink shirt, and SHORT shorts.
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9113
Coyote is the guy in the big hat, pink shirt, and SHORT shorts.
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9113
Random quotes from the week...
This is a random list of funny quotes from the week. Sorry...you had to be there to understand most of them. If anybody has others, please comment and add them to the list!
- I feel like a can of smashed assholes.
- Don’t be alarmed if my leg goes straight.
- I haven’t taken out the trash in a LONG time.
- Look at my chest hair. They look like fire going to my nipples.
- That boy should drink less.
- This place needs a mastubatorium.
- Do you really think he did that many drugs? Woody Allen, I mean.
- Nobody was around…so I took the trash out.
- No, I haven’t had a six pack. Look, I only drank the neck out of that one.
- When I get home, I’m taking four bags of trash out. You guys are talking one bag at a time, I don’t understand.
- We’re all adults here…I can walk around in a towel, right?
- Each and every person here, individually, is more interesting than the entire population of my hometown.
- This must not be an asshole convention because I wasn’t invited
- What’s up bradu?
- I feel like a can of smashed assholes.
- Don’t be alarmed if my leg goes straight.
- I haven’t taken out the trash in a LONG time.
- Look at my chest hair. They look like fire going to my nipples.
- That boy should drink less.
- This place needs a mastubatorium.
- Do you really think he did that many drugs? Woody Allen, I mean.
- Nobody was around…so I took the trash out.
- No, I haven’t had a six pack. Look, I only drank the neck out of that one.
- When I get home, I’m taking four bags of trash out. You guys are talking one bag at a time, I don’t understand.
- We’re all adults here…I can walk around in a towel, right?
- Each and every person here, individually, is more interesting than the entire population of my hometown.
- This must not be an asshole convention because I wasn’t invited
- What’s up bradu?
Charlie's Diner in Violet, LA
Charlie's is a diner nearby Camp Hope.
Re-experience Fri 7/27's brunch via
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9501
Re-experience Fri 7/27's brunch via
http://www.justin.tv/onebrick/9501
Snapshots of 7/23 & 7/24
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Trash collection in St Bernard Parish
It apparently takes a while for them to get around to picking up construction trash, but when they come, they mean business! These trucks worked their way down the street picking up the curbside trash...
The webcam
Some people have asked what our webcam contraption looks like. For the most part, it's just a web cam mounted to a baseball cap, connected to a small laptop pc that's carried around in a backpack.
Because of the heat and the conditions we were working in, we opted to just mount it in a stationary place while we were working. It's too hot to be wearing the heavy baseball cap and carrying around a backpack while working.
Even so, the camera got its fair share of dust...
Because of the heat and the conditions we were working in, we opted to just mount it in a stationary place while we were working. It's too hot to be wearing the heavy baseball cap and carrying around a backpack while working.
Even so, the camera got its fair share of dust...
The work projects
On Monday, the we split up our 28 volunteers into 2 groups. Half went to work with Habitat for Humanity to help build new homes, and half went to St Bernard Project to help rebuild existing homes for homeowners.
The volunteers working with St Bernard Project started the morning off with an incredibly moving orientation given by Zack, the founder of the organization.
Our 14 volunteers who went to work with St Bernard Project were split up and assigned to 3 different houses. The first house was ready for paint; the other two had the drywall completed, and needed mudding and sanding before the walls could be textured and painted.
The painting was easy and went very quickly...
The other two houses were not as easy. Mudding and sanding -- that is, patching the seams between pieces of drywall, filling in the corners, and sanding everything down so it's smooth -- is a very messy and time consuming process.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
By the time the clock inched its way to four in the afternoon, I was beat. It had been a long day of sanding and mudding in the Luisiana heat and, lowly OneBrick peon that I am, I felt I had followed my orders to the best of abilities and breath-takingly limited skill set. Of course, the frivolities of the previous evening (the details of which I will not go into, suffice to say that I am doing my bit to build goodwill with the local population) had not contributed to my general wellbeing.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Ahhhh...the swamp in the summer
On Sunday, Mitch and I (Dave) were discussing that it might be fun to take a swamp tour next weekend. (Swamp tour = they take you out of a swamp boat with a couple bags of marshmallows to go see (feed/taunt) the aligators.)
Steve, one of the locals who spends much of his time here at Camp Hope while waiting for his house to be built, overheard our conversation. "Swamp tour? You don't need to go on no swamp tour. I can show you aligators right in my own backyard just down the block. They LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...on WHITE bread, not wheat. Just make up some sandwiches and we can go over there."
Ok, Steve. So the cynic in me (aka the New Yorker in me) thought he was pulling our leg. I'm thinking the PB&J sandwiches were for him while we sit in his backyard waiting for some aligators. But ok, he seemed serious so we called his bluff...and took 3 carloads of volunteers with us.
Well, Steve wasn't kidding. Not more than 3/4 of a mile from Camp Hope, we pulled over by a levy, got out of our cars and walked towards the water (there's a big iron gate and fencing separating the water's edge from the roadway). Steve started making strange birdlike calls and the aligators came out on queue! We tossed in some PB&J sandwiches, and they swam right up beneath us for their feeding.
Last time we were at Camp Hope, we encountered "Love Bugs" (see the posting and photos below). This time the bugs are quite different. Giant, black grasshoppers! They're all over the place and ugly as hell!
There's also an abundance of frogs. And none of these creatures seem startled by people in the least. You can pretty m ich walk right up to them and they won't budge. In fact, you have to be careful not to step on them, cause they don't bother much to even get out of your way. I guess the heat here slows every living thing down.
Steve, one of the locals who spends much of his time here at Camp Hope while waiting for his house to be built, overheard our conversation. "Swamp tour? You don't need to go on no swamp tour. I can show you aligators right in my own backyard just down the block. They LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...on WHITE bread, not wheat. Just make up some sandwiches and we can go over there."
Ok, Steve. So the cynic in me (aka the New Yorker in me) thought he was pulling our leg. I'm thinking the PB&J sandwiches were for him while we sit in his backyard waiting for some aligators. But ok, he seemed serious so we called his bluff...and took 3 carloads of volunteers with us.
Well, Steve wasn't kidding. Not more than 3/4 of a mile from Camp Hope, we pulled over by a levy, got out of our cars and walked towards the water (there's a big iron gate and fencing separating the water's edge from the roadway). Steve started making strange birdlike calls and the aligators came out on queue! We tossed in some PB&J sandwiches, and they swam right up beneath us for their feeding.
Last time we were at Camp Hope, we encountered "Love Bugs" (see the posting and photos below). This time the bugs are quite different. Giant, black grasshoppers! They're all over the place and ugly as hell!
There's also an abundance of frogs. And none of these creatures seem startled by people in the least. You can pretty m ich walk right up to them and they won't budge. In fact, you have to be careful not to step on them, cause they don't bother much to even get out of your way. I guess the heat here slows every living thing down.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
First Day at Camp Hope
Arrived this morning at 9am CST and meet other New York City volunteers at the airport. We had all exchanged numbers prior which came in handy when it came time to split a cab to get to the camp site. On the way here we drove by the 9th ward, which I found out today is a apart of New Orleans parish, which is synonomous
Gulfport, MS
Mitch and I drove to Gulfport and Biloxi yesterday. Right along the Gulf Coast, they had much different damage from the storm.
Rather than flooding with 10+ feet of water sitting around for a few weeks, here they were hit with a huge tidal surge. But at least it receded relatively quickly.
Rather than damaging buildings by soaking them in water, it seems the tidal surge just completely washed them away. Or came damn close...
Sad to say, but that seems to have made the rebuilding efforts easier. Brand new hotels and casinos have sprouted up, and many more are under construction and seemingly near completion.
Mitch and I were actually on a quest to find a great BBQ restaurant that I had been to pre-Katrina. It was called Millers Ribs, and boasted the "Best Ribs on the Coast". They weren't kidding. It was a small shack of a restuarant, that sat literally right in front of an Outback Steakhouse. And they definitely held their own against the chain restaurant.
Sadly, this is all that was left...
The only evidence of the existance of the Outback Steakhouse, or any of the rest of the stores in that strip mall along the coast, was the marquis sign...still standing to mark what once was.
This is the land the strip mall sat on. Not a trace.
We were told by some folks in the Waffle House that they thought Dave Miller had recently reopened a BBQ restaurant along the coast in Biloxi. But ater driving up and down the coast for about 2 hours, asking locals and searching for the new spot, we were unable to find it.
Rather than flooding with 10+ feet of water sitting around for a few weeks, here they were hit with a huge tidal surge. But at least it receded relatively quickly.
Rather than damaging buildings by soaking them in water, it seems the tidal surge just completely washed them away. Or came damn close...
Sad to say, but that seems to have made the rebuilding efforts easier. Brand new hotels and casinos have sprouted up, and many more are under construction and seemingly near completion.
Mitch and I were actually on a quest to find a great BBQ restaurant that I had been to pre-Katrina. It was called Millers Ribs, and boasted the "Best Ribs on the Coast". They weren't kidding. It was a small shack of a restuarant, that sat literally right in front of an Outback Steakhouse. And they definitely held their own against the chain restaurant.
Sadly, this is all that was left...
The only evidence of the existance of the Outback Steakhouse, or any of the rest of the stores in that strip mall along the coast, was the marquis sign...still standing to mark what once was.
This is the land the strip mall sat on. Not a trace.
We were told by some folks in the Waffle House that they thought Dave Miller had recently reopened a BBQ restaurant along the coast in Biloxi. But ater driving up and down the coast for about 2 hours, asking locals and searching for the new spot, we were unable to find it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The return to Camp Hope
I arrived back in Louisiana LATE on Thursday night. Driving around St Bernard on Fri morning, it was amazing to see the progress in the 10 weeks since we were here last. Some more commercial businesses have re-opened..as well as a few more restaurants. Whew...we're going to need that. There's only so much PB&J from Camp that I can stand to eat for lunch every day.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
St Bernard Project on Anderson Cooper
I got an email from Liz at the St Bernard project about this segment on Anderson Cooper 360.
So i clicked on the link and surprise! there's MY house!!! well, it's really not MY house, it belongs to Les Sharfenstein, but all the drywall sanding and plastering and texturing entail me to say it's mine, mine and Bill's and Mikal's and... ok fine, it's Les' house.
I'm so glad to find out it's finished and that they'll be moving back soon.
So i clicked on the link and surprise! there's MY house!!! well, it's really not MY house, it belongs to Les Sharfenstein, but all the drywall sanding and plastering and texturing entail me to say it's mine, mine and Bill's and Mikal's and... ok fine, it's Les' house.
I'm so glad to find out it's finished and that they'll be moving back soon.
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