Barn Building and Swollen Thumbs

I was very impressed by the following email from a man named Mark with a swollen thumb. He worked in an archaeological area that I supervised in Feinan Jordan back in the late 90s, and he wrote and said the following:

I have been reading your blog and then looked at Bart's blog. He says now that he has a electrician, he needs all the other trades people to come by. That got me thinking, if you decide to rebuild your house and wish to do it yourself, I would try to come down and help you rebuild. Classic barn raising is my definition of a community and of friends. Unfortunately, this does not work well when everyone needs a new barn, unless you have a community that lives on the weather free west coast. I have installed a couple of tile counter tops, laid tile floors at a couple of houses (>1500 sq ft of tile), hung sheetrock (not textured but I would be willing to learn on your walls if you wanted), installed insulation, and done some electrical wiring and roofed houses. I don't claim to be an expert in any of the tasks but willing to try to come down and help you out if you need it. I don't know if any of the supplies would be available in NO or the surrounding area as I am sure many will be rebuilding. If you want help let me know your timeframes and I will looking getting time off and getting down there. As payment, I would require to be taught interesting things about the tents in biblical times. I will try not to get a swollen thumb.

Wow! That was one of the nicest offers that I have received in my life, and thanks to Mark with the swollen thumb. However, things are way too up in the air right now. I'm first waiting to find out if they plan on demolishing my house. If they don't then I plan on rebuilding, though it is hard to say if we can stay in New Orleans. We want to, but it is extremely complicated. Actually, if Mark could track down our insurance adjustor and bring him to our house that would be more than great. Classic capturing of the insurance agents and bringing them to the insured's house is also a definition of a community and friends. I promise we won't kill them, we just want them to write down a few things about our house and then move along.