Sleepy-eyed after a long day, here are a few shots of the day’s work. The site is a private house/ranch, one of the ones that were ravaged by the storm down to the ground. The owner – present to meet with us – is a man of about seventy-five years old.
The task was to demolish what could be demolished, separate planks of wood from roofing sheets that have been crumbled into a pile, and make the compound at least more navigable until the fire department comes around to burn what could be burnt.
Through the hot morning until the eventually cool evening, we moved sheets, broke wood, threw debris, heaved crowbars at dead joints and leveled the initially formidable pile of debris onto the ground. Two torn shirts, one dead pair of gloves, a dirty pair of pants and ten hurting toes later, here I am. We’ve done what we came here for although there is plenty, plenty more to do elsewhere around the town. The work would not end in one day, or even in a year. But for today, one house is set for re-building, almost.
