Afternoon all. I just got home about an hour ago from another volunteer stint with Habitat. We continue to work in the mobile home park and this week most of the group was from a church in Petoskey which is about an hour drive from here. It has been interesting meeting people from around different places in Northern Michigan has come to assist for a day or so. The transformation in the mobile home park over the past three months since the tornado hit has been amazing. All of the debris, damaged and destroyed mobiles have been removed. I estimate probably 20 to 25 homes left out of the original 74 and a couple of them look like they may have to be taken out. The one that I have been helping out previously, is at a point now where we cannot do anything because Habitat has to utilize their licensed and certified people who do plumbing, HVAC and building construction type stuff. The volunteers like myself are the boots on the ground people, who go in and do the preliminary work ahead of them or whatever else needs to be done that we can do. Today our job was to clean up and restore the park playground for the children. It was overgrown with weeds and grass since the tornado hit along with woody debris laying around. The basketball court was actually buried under a pile of woody debris. So we went in there and picked up and hauled out all that woody debris. One man was it in a bobcat skid steer equipped with some big teeth for picking up those larger logs and then later changed over to a bucket so that they could scoop up the debris that we were raking up. We raked, we pulled weeds, chopped out roots etc. , Another guy also had a brush hog and he went through there and mowed everything down. Then some of us got paint brushes and we completely repainted the playground equipment. So by the time we were done it was all cleaned up and once the paint dries the children will be able to return to the playground. That’s a good feeling because those kids have been through so much.
in this picture we had just started. In the back back left part you can see where they are working to clear off the basketball court. . The lady in the yellow shirt that is standing there, is in charge of the work groups for Habitat
At the time I took this picture we were pretty well finished. Most of the playground equipment had been painted and they had to finish the upper part of the swingset.
This picture was taken in the back corner near the playground and it shows the huge trees that the tornado took out. They are being piled there for now until something is done with them. I believe that’s the mobile home parks responsibility. Some of them probably could be milled for lumber.
There will be no more work done in this park until the 17th of September. We have a holiday weekend next week and the following Saturday, Habitat, along with the mobile home park community is going to host a block party to thank all of the volunteers who have come out there to help. On September 9, the at Otsego county United Way is going to be hosting a day of caring and which a lot of the community businesses, organizations and individuals come together to do things for our community. It can be washing windows at the library inside and out, stuffing school backpacks for the kids, working out in the Pigeon River discovery Center doing a few things, and whatever else is going to happen. I have signed up to volunteer for tornado related projects. That will not be at the mobile home park, I don’t know if this point exactly what it’s going to involve. But on this particular day, which has been going on for a number of years, there will be some banks and other places that will close for that day so that they can help the community. It is a wonderful thing.
I also was interviewed today by the crew from habitat who was going around taking pictures. It was like being on TV. Those pictures that the cake will be used on Facebook and also for publicity for Habitat among other things. I was honored that they asked me for an interview.
Velda, , I agree with you about long-term symptoms with Covid, vaccines and all that stuff. I know a lot of people who have been complaining about being tired all the time. I don’t have as much energy as I usually do either and I sometimes think that it’s vaccine related. Like your doctor said we don’t know what’s in that stuff. I saw the other day that Pfizer Moderna is seeking permission from the FDA for the release of a new vaccine I don’t know if I want to get it or not. Covid unfortunately, is probably going to be with us for the rest of our lives, just like the flu. We are just going to have to learn to deal with it and it’s side effects I guess. We can’t hide in the closet unless you wanna spend the rest of our lives and there. We’re just gonna have to get out and enjoy life. Karen, it might that work for everybody but I have found that when I feel nauseous sometimes a chocolate milkshake or dish of chelate ice cream, will settle my tummy down. Chocolate is known for some healing properties.
Well, , now that I’ve had some time to rest I guess I had better take the fur kids for a walk because I know they had been waiting for me to come home to do it. They do need their time outdoors to explore too.
Have a nice day everyone.