31st

those things over there are kumquats and they are also sweet ones..sampled both of them...did a14 mile bike ride over to a state park where they were holding a rendezvous from the time period around the early eighteen hundreds..intersting but mostly vendors...back to camp left our bikes then wallked to town for the festival w;hich was again mostly vendors..had a lat e lunch and a piece of kumquat pie...was good...a besy day

HERE R THE CLIPS

The base plate is screwed to the footer, the footer is screwed to the top plate, the baseplate and top plate are nailed to the rafters and the trusses so in effect the roof is secured to the footer by metal plates, nails,and screw rods all the way around the perimiter. Florida code requires either the nailed hurricane plates "or" the rods from footer to top plate....H4H uses "BOTH"!!!Cool uh?

CLIPS

here are some of the things that we've been doing on the houses..because they have the threat of HURRICANES it is code to put on hurricane clips on all studs and in various other places...of course the building codes are much different down here than up north...today we went off the the building where HABITAT is putting together a dorm room where groups can stay when they come here to help out...several of us put up partitions to help give them some privacy..this weekend there is a big KUMQUAT FESTIVAL in town that we plan on checking out...enjoy your weekend

SKIES OPENED UP

today is thursday and the weather forecast has been for rain this afternoon...well all morning it kept getting darker and darker.. a few sprinkles then it time for lunch...we asked should we take care of the tools??? the answer was NO just cover them up with plastic which we did...went off the lunch...then it started to sprinkle a wee bit..so it was decided to really take care of the tools under cover but by the time we did all that the skies really opened up and gave us all a FREE shower..thanks you mother nature.....so worked ended abut an hr early today.....and i even have a load of wet clothes in the washer...tracy

SNUCK OUT

chris and sam were leaving today and lar and i decided why not sneak out and take the day off and go with them to do some sightseeing to places we have wanted to go and it was on the way to where they were going...went to lakeland the city with all the swans..then on to plant city the city that is famous for strawberries and then to a fruit market that is the world's faamous strawberry shoirtcake...you have to wait a wee bit in loine but it goes fast...then buy some fruit and veggies very good prices...but there is also a long story on what happend along the way to are places onf interest...but i won't go into them cause the stkory is way to long hahahahah...tracy

1/26/09

finally the florida weather has arrived...it was HOT today and we even broke out in a sweat can you just believe that....another house has had the rafters put in place and the second can house has recieved it's prime coat of paint..chris and sam have been put to work right along with the rest of us....T

20 MILER

yesterday was a perfect day for a bike ride..not to hot and not to cold so a bunch of us did a 20 miler....what great trails there are down here flat and paved...today subday we are going to go to church with a black lady so it ought to be an experience i told her we would sit in the back and if it was toooooo long we woulod get up and leave...she told me that the moinister likes to eat so it won't be long we will see....looking forward to it...

AMEN

amen that it is friday and we only worked a 4 day week but it feels like it has been a very long week...maybe cause th sun comes out in the afternoon and warms up a wee bit..christine H. has been sick and went off the the dr's this morning so now she is on antibotics..she just needs to recover..chris and sam are expected to arrive on sunday for a fe w days of building before going on the fr. myers for more fun in the sun...it hass been a good 2 weeks and we have met some good caravanners..and believe it or not we all got along and there were NO fights hahaahhaha....we plan on going to church with irma on sunday and not sure how long we are going to be there....i just told her we would sit in the back and get up and leave it the minister was toooooo long winded ahha...enjoy you weekend...we will T

THURSDAY

this morning we got up to 23 degree temps..wwe didn't have any problem with our pipes freezing but some in the group did but by 9am the sun was up and it was more comfortable....the news was all a buzz with the farmers sprinkling thier fruits and veggies...today was another busy day i worked on the second can house and lar did some more ripping and tearing then lunch then after he helped sheat the second house...T

DEMOLITION DAY

today was a rip and tear day/.... the plywood that was put on the second house was defective so the comapny is replacing it so of course what had been put on had to ben ripped off so that was todays job for me..lar and tom went to a restaurant that was donated to habitat for whatever they could get out in 24 hrs as it was going to be torn down and the space is needed for their new parking lot..the new one is already now they need the parking lot..lar said some of the stuff was bought as soon as it was unloaded from the truck...we finished taking off the sheathing from house number 2 before lunch so it was time for the second women's build of a can house...sure was cold this am.. and we were all cold so we started a camp fire near the house..just like being in a picket line..ahhaha...all in all it was a good day and we all are EXHAUSTED

TUESDAY

ok you were correct it was a store bought carton but it was emoty..we refilled it with our fresh squeezed oj...it was delicious this amorning at breakfast...ftoday the can house was finished and how needs a coat of paint..spent some time watching the days events....a busy day and very windy--rained during this night but today was just windy and cooooool...tracy

MARTIN'S BIRTHDAY

today we helped celebgrate martin's birthday with a day off..and here's how we did it slept in this am...then about 11 went to the largest flea market..(didn't find any fleas thou)..but we did but soe few things..i bought a tomato knife-veggies-and lar bought afew odds and ends...way to big to see what everyone was trying to sell-ate lunch then back to the habitat site...where some of us squeezed the oranges we picked th other day into orange juice lar figures we did about 5 gallons so we all will have some fresh juice to drink and it is soooo good...tracy

todays pictures

SUNDAY

ok here's what we did today on another day off...wwent on another bike ride and did another 12 miles...then we did some shopping at sam's-abc liquor store (you know that they don't carry 5 lt boxes only 3)-then wal-mart and th final stop was gas..back to the rig for the eagles/cardnials game....later we will be watching the other game with toim and christine...saw lots of sandhill cranes-and a armadillo..so it was a exciting day...we also have tomorrow off and the plan is to go to a HUGE flea market not to far from here...if you ever come to florida one of the things you've got to do is go to a flea market...they are all over the place and on every corner....

FINALLY A DAY OFF

can you believe we slept in till about 7 or so..anyway that is the time we got up for the day..lar was up at 4:30 and put the laundry in..then back to bed he came...a lazy morning vacuuming and doing some banking..then was time to go for a bike ride and we only did 18 today..back to the rig where tom and christine went off to have dinner with their daughter and familhy who live in tampa..we crashed...a good day..32 temps this morning and about 60 now...good to have a day of relaxing....

FRIDAY

end of week one!!!!!!! and a busy one it was...today the women got our can house shingled and th door made so we have made some progress on it...it is almost done but then we need to make another one...lar spent his day helping doing trusses...so we both had abusy day and areexhausted..so we can sleep in tomorrow..tonight the group is going out to dinner at a place that is we wear our name tags we get a 10% discount..so we will wear them...oit has been a good week but we will be glad to sleep in tomorrow or just take our time with breakfast and maybe have a second cup of coffee ...not sure what we will do this weekend..probally bike for one thing..and watch some football..enjoy yours

ORANGES

ok here's a run down of what we did yesteday..the women still worked on the can house.. the framing is done and today we hope to finish it as they also want us to build 2 of them so we will see...lar and tom went off to rip and tear a house down and bring back more stuff for the store....then i and other went off to visit a orange grove..the owner volunteers for H4H and invited us to come and pick and visit..a very lovely place and we picked grapefruit-oranges-lemons-limes..brought back several boxes and bags th share with the group...the days are cold and we need to wear jackets...it was the last day for the college students and a great group they were...tracy

womens build

this is what i was involved in today, a womens's build...we were assigned to build an outside sink base... and lar and tom did some cleaning up of the site and made a run to the resale store and came back with a load of stuff...NO, not for us to take home!!!!!

wed

good morning to all who check this!!!!! not sure what might be in store for us to do this morning but we will be prepared for all....lasty night a dish to pass dinner..also suppose to get cold tonight..more later

evening 1/13/09

just got back from a dish to pass dinner.... college kids were also invited..we quit early today due to rain ...the nlar and i along with christine when shopping--we needed wine hahahaha and chris needed some salad-spag-etc cause tomorrow she is making spag and meatballs for the "kids"...gokt alot of the house done today..tomorrow we will work on the hurricane clips...just remember this is new to us this blog thing..so bare/bear with us...

Pics

Here are our friends, Tom and Christine as we get ready to start our next Habitat adventure.

our brand new blog

we have done something for all of you to check in to see what we are doing on our adventures--all of you have to do is go to the web and type www.ourducktails.blogspot.com