Cleaning House

As part of the "Dryades Gut" team, we were at first assigned "AM KP" duty, cleaning up the Hands On bunkhouse before heading out on our hurricane clean-up work. KP consists of scrubbing toilets, mopping floors & generally getting the place in shape for the start of a new day. This chore is not nearly as glamorous as gutting houses or de-molding, but needs to be done daily, especially with the bunkhouse filled to capacity as it is now.
At the last minute, 7 of us got pulled off the Dryades gut and sent to the Slidell animal shelter to clean cages, walk the puppies & play with kitties. As much as we love the hard labor of gutting, we all LOVE the critters. After doing this numerous times, we're an incredibly efficient team of pooper scoopers and cage-cleaners. The happy news is, this is a no-kill shelter. The sad news is, due to lack of funds/help, the rescue dogs probably only get walked once or twice a week. We dedicated ourselves to giving them as much fun and love as possible in our brief visit, and came away wanting to take all of them home with us.
The shelter job didn't take as long as expected, so we were first back to the showers, then made a quick visit to Cafe du Monde for beignets & cafe au lait. We had a spectacular dinner -- sort of a last hurrah from Hands On chef/kitchen manager Melody who'll be leaving HONO this week -- boiled crabs! 6 of us volunteered for "Dinner KP". One of the best moments was a visit from Mr. Mason, a New Orleans native who's home is currently being worked by Hands On. His eloquent speech thanking the volunteers moved us all and confirmed why we're here.
Now, we're off to work again!