Second week at New Iberia, January, 2011

Agnes scraping diningroom wall


Painting bedroom closet doors

SECOND WEEK IN NEW IBERIA

Monday morning we were ready to get to work. We had advised the family of the elderly homeowners that the toilet would be out of commission for at least one night and it would be best if they had another place to stay for a couple of days, until the bathroom was finished. Then, as they spend all of their day watching TV in the living room, they would have no place to sit while we were painting the living room. They were very reluctant to leave their home for even one night, but finally agreed to go to her daughter’s place.

Finishing the bathroom was the first priority of our crew. The ladies painted the bathroom and then the men removed the old flooring, covered it with a sheet of new plywood and installed the new lino. The “stool” as it is called down here [toilet, to us] was put back in place and also the newly-painted bathroom vanity. Carolyn used every cleaner at her disposal, including her “Awesome” to try to make the very stained bathtub match the rest of the newly painted room. The curtain rod was put back up and the shower curtain hung back on. Agnes repainted the bathroom door and John installed a slide-bolt lock on the bathroom door after it was dry.

The walls in the house had not been primed when they were painted years ago and, accordingly, the paint was peeling off badly. In all rooms except the bathroom, we had to scrape it off – in some places the paint came off freely in sheets and in others, it simply could not be scraped off.

John and I stayed late Monday and texture sprayed the spare room. Tuesday, he prime- coated the ceiling and then the ladies helped cut in and paint the walls. I chose the job of painting the shuttered closet doors. Did they ever look fine with a nice new coat of white paint! We also texture-sprayed the living room on Tuesday, but it took “forever” to dry. Wednesday was a SUPER day: Wednesday morning, we primed the walls of the living room, but again, it took longer than the 2 hours it was supposed to take to dry. The men decided to lay the lino in the living room during the drying time. By 2 p.m., John and his ladies had the finish coat on the ceiling and walls completed. By 3:30, all the crown molding at the ceiling was on, all of the quarter round at the baseboards (which had also been purchased and painted this day) was installed, all of the beautiful 8 inch wood baseboard was cleaned up and the floor was cleaned up. The furniture was put back into the room, including the 72 inch flat screen T.V., the beautiful three-section black entertainment unit and couches along the walls, and the curtains put back on the windows, ready for Miss Rosella and Mr. Calvin to come home for the night. John also put the ceiling fan put back up. In addition, all of the paint supplies in the spare bedroom were removed and the floor was cleaned up and vacuumed in preparation for installation of the linoleum. The lino was laid, then the quarter round at the baseboard installed and repainted. What a day!! It was nothing short of a miracle.

Miss Rosella and Mr. Calvin were there on Wednesday morning, delighted to be back in their home, even though we were basically working around them again.

Thursday, we were treated to boudin sausage and cracklings for lunch, brought by a relative. Some of our crew enjoyed the spicy sausage!

The weather all week was on the cool side at night but nice sunshine during the day. Warm but not hot.

On Friday, our day off, we all enjoyed a tour through the Jeanerette Museum which told the story of the sugar cane industry in the area. The sweet little elderly Cajun lady who was the volunteer guide charmed us to pieces with her Cajun accent and knowledge of the area. She had lived here her whole life.

Saturday morning, John and I went out for breakfast. It was 10:35 a.m. and we were disappointed to find no fast food places served breakfast past 10:30. We ended up at Duffy’s Diner, which was a very unique 50’s style diner with beautiful memorabilia displayed. We struck up a conversation with a local retired couple, who advised that they come there often. She said she did her share of cooking when she raised her family and then her grandchildren – now she makes the choice not cook at all. They go to various places during the week and to some on a regular basis. Somehow, I cannot imagine not cooking and eating EVERY meal out.

As we deal with the work days, we are also dealing with worries about how brother Jake is doing up in Brandon. From our daily phone calls, we learn he has been placed in a private palliative care room and has a lot of bad days, but there are good days as well. We are thankful he is still able to spend several hours back at home on alternate days. We do not know if we will able to fulfill our commitment to MDS to stay here for the month of February. Time will tell.