Mike- tasting, er, um, I mean testing the thin setSince Monday the Koelzer team has been at the home of Pinky Powe. Pinky makes her living as a Phlebotomist at a hospital in Mobile Alabama. There are countless family members ...sisters, nieces, nephews who live within a block. Pinky has a 5 bedroom 2 bath house in East Biloxi. The water reached 6 ft and the water damage was extensive. Pinky had just carpeted her house prior to Katrina. All the floors and walls were damaged and have been replaced. All the floors are now ceramic tile and we bring an expert Tile man Mike Koelzer to the job. Mike has very patiently showed New RGPC member and Katrina II veteran Beth Wadsworth the ins and outs of laying tile. Beth has proven to be a quick study and has done great work on the job
Beth- tiling the floor
Mike's Mom Ruth has extensive experience as does Ed Gottron, a colleague of John Cargill at Garden City Hospital. Ed is also very adept at finish carpentry and has cut and installed crown molding throughout the house.
Ed finds thin set to his liking too. Ruth smokin' in the bathroom.
I am the 5th member of the team and have concentrated my efforts on holding the stupid end of the tape measure, nailing molding around the ceiling and mostly entertaining my new little buddy Q a delightful 3 year old who has served as field boss for most of the job. Q was without the proper equipment so the team bought him an apron and Safety glasses. 
Me and 'Q'
To date our group has installed tile in 2 rooms and hallways as well as replacing a number of wall tiles in the bathrooms and moldings in living room and hallway. We had a little extra time today due to a backorder on tiles for the hall...our hope is to get them tomorrow and finish up the job. We used the down time to tour much of East Biloxi. We visited St Michaels Catholic Church which is back up and running having services there 4 days a week. The church is consistently drawing between 200 and 300 to every service. We also visited the Katrina memorial which was created by numerous parties including the Folks from Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
As many of you know this is the third trip for 11 of us ....the second to East Biloxi. Yesterday my group got to see the fruits of our Labor from Katrina I. We visited the soon to be REOCCUPIED home of Reginald and Ella. They have been living in a FEMA trailer since last November and their home was our final project in Nov 05. It was the day that the whole Team Michigan Got to work together. We gutted out that house ...taking it down to wall studs and sub floor. I had long wondered what had become of Reginald and Ella and their home. We pulled up in front of their house and I walked around to the FEMA trailer and knocked on the door. I heard a woman's voice and asked if that was Ella and she said it was. As I started to identify who I was she came to the door and Said YOU CAME BACK. She seemed genuinely happy to see us and insisted on taking us on a tour of her home. Habitat for Humanity has redone the entire interior...adding a second bath and making it a place that Ella can hardly wait to move in to .....with any luck that will happen next week. 
"You came back!"
More to follow
