The Log of the Guinston Gutters
Third Mission to the Sioux Nation, Fort Thompson, SD
30 April – 8 May, 2016
On April 30 the road crew of 4 left home about 5:30 AM in rain and fog with two pickups and a
U-haul trailer filled with donated school books and supplies. All went well until early
afternoon, when the windshield wiper on John's truck flew off and forced a short stop for
repairs. We were graciously lodged overnight at the Eastview Christian Church in Normal,
Illinois. We felt somewhat dwarfed by the massive operation with about 7,000 members and a
sanctuary seating 5,000 on a campus of 50 acres.
Sunday, May 1 – About 6:00 AM We hit the road for another day of fog, rain and road
construction, arriving at the Dacotah Tipis (Habitat for Humanity) volunteer center in Fort
Thompson, SD about 7:20 PM. Jennette, Nadine and Tony had arrived earlier by air and had
already prepared supper. We unloaded the bags of donated clothes for the Senior Center thrift
shop, ate, and collapsed in our bunks.
Monday, May 2 – After a great breakfast prepared by Jennette and Nadine we emerged into
sunshine and drove to the Crow Creek Tribal School. The school staff were very pleased as we
delivered 3,600 pounds of donated projectors, books and other school supplies; we were
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invited to attend the school “pow-wow” dance and dinner on Friday. We spent the rest of the
morning checking out repair work requested for local residents, Christ Episcopal Church, and
the senior center; we planned a work schedule and bill of materials, then broke for lunch.
After lunch Walter and Ken drove to Chamberlain to return the U-Haul trailer and purchase
materials needed for the jobs we planned. Meanwhile Tony, John and Judy worked at Christ
Church to install their new front door closure. Tony weatherproofed an unused leaking chimney
with a cap improvised from an old metal strainer coated with flashing cement; it looked like a
big chocolate-iced cupcake on the roof.
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Tuesday, May 3 – It was a beautiful sunny day. Breakfast was steel-cut oatmeal and ham and
egg croissants. We went back to the church to clean out the gutters and downspouts, and to
add flex hose to the down spouts directing rainwater away from the foundation. We attached a
cover to the door closure. The air conditioner outdoor heat exchanger had been installed on an
inadequate base and was sagging away from the building; we jacked it level and secured it with
a more stable supporting framework.
After lunch we drove out on the prairie to Hazel Olsen’s little house. Her front door opened on
to a deck and handicap ramp exposed to sun, wind, rain and snow; we were asked to build a 12by-12-foot roof over the deck.
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Hazel's family members keep close watch on her; when we unloaded the roofing materials one
brother arrived to visit, and while we were working later in the afternoon a sister and another
brother arrived for a visit. Judy chatted with her sister outside and she said Mrs. Olsen would
be 93 on May 28. We worked until 6:30 PM to complete the roofing job, and we were
pleasantly surprised to get it all done in one afternoon. After a supper of spaghetti and
meatballs with garlic bread we sat outside for a while until dark at about 9:00 PM.
Wednesday, May 4 – Breakfast was chip beef gravy and potato cakes. Some volunteers believe
we had leftover “steel-cut oats” in multiple meals as Nadine and Jennette said they were not
wasting anything! While shopping for supplies in Chamberlain some of our crew visited the
Quilt Shop, a unique little hole-in-the-wall run by a lady who sells fabric and yarn to local
quilters, and also sells local-made quilts, dream catchers, jewelery, crafts and cards to tourists.
Tax preparation and financial planning services are also available from her shop, which is easily
recognized by the painted horse and dinosaurs out front.
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Back at the Habitat building, we prepared for a 2-day exercise in electrical and plumbing
renovations. In addition to providing Habitat volunteer quarters and the thrift store run by
Dorothy Farmer downstairs, this building is used to serve meals to seniors from the kitchen
upstairs in the morning, and for community meeting and Bingo game space in the evenings.
Due to failure of the original sewage and drain plumbing, the single commode upstairs in the
senior citizens area had been inoperable for a long time. We were tasked with replacement of
the clogged original 50-foot cast iron and steel interior drain lines, and addition of upstairs
plumbing for a custodial utility sink, a new commode and vanity sink, downstairs washing
machine plumbing, and flow-testing the old exterior sewer connection. We were also asked to
repair electrical lines in the downstairs thrift store and add light fixtures to the area designated
for the new washing machine. Jim Huntley, who manages the Dacotah Tipis building, felt that
this work would be better assigned to us than to the typical, less experienced Habitat youth
groups.
Jennette and Nadine moved the clothes off the shelves in the basement Thrift Store for Dorothy
and pulled the shelves away from the walls so the old sewer pipes could be removed. Dorothy
said her father was a minister at Fort Thompson; his last assignment before retiring. He stayed
at Fort Thompson and Dorothy said she too stayed and raised her family there.
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At 7PM we knocked off work for supper: chicken barbecued on the grill outside, with glazed
carrots and baked beans. Tony and Jim thought the baked beans were so delicious they took
spoons and cleaned out the pan! After supper we drove out to the Iron Nation Church where
we put the ramp and deck on last year. On our drive out we saw turkey, deer, and antelope.
Thursday, May 5 – After breakfast we got right to work at the Habitat. Electrical work was
completed for washer / dryer hook ups, lights and receptacles.
We finished installation of the new sewer, bathroom, and utility room drain lines with new
plastic pipe and fittings. Before pronouncing the plumbing done, we flushed the newly rebuilt
lines and verified that they provided a free and unobstructed flow of sewage. We did this at a
sewer manhole located outside the Habitat where the liquid sewage flow may be observed at
the connection to the municipal sewer. Wads of toilet paper were flushed down multiple
drains and were then seen in the manhole by Walter and Ken as they guarded the hole to
prevent accidents. After supper we took an evening ride and saw many beef cattle farms, a
turkey, the dam and a lot of pelicans.
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We met Mr. Van B. St. John (“Elk Eagle” in Lakota), a painter working at the Senior Center. He
is currently the Artist-in-Residence and teaches at the St. Joseph Indian School in Chamberlain;
he did the wall paintings in the Habitat, the symbolic painting in St. Joseph’s Church, and the
horse statue at the Quilt Shop.
Friday, May 6 – Walter, Ken, John and Judy went to Dorothy Farmer’s house in the Tribal
Housing East development to repair her ornamental bridge that had been damaged in last
year’s big wind storm. She was pleased to have the bridge fixed. It fits nicely with her yard artscape, and the local kids will probably use it for a bike jumping ramp.
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Meanwhile, Tony repaired defective floor tiles in the Habitat volunteer bathrooms until we
returned at noon. We were treated to a free lunch at the St. Joseph Church; Sister Charles gave
us a tour and showed us their fundraiser “donation tree” on the wall; the donor's names were
engraved on the leaves.
On our drive to the Crow Creek Tribal School Pow-Wow we passed the wreckage of a mobile
home, one of many which were destroyed in the big storm of summer 2015.
The pow-wow is a sort of combination community survival celebration, block party, multiplefamily reunion, drum team performance, dance competition, fashion and talent show, picnic
and social mixer. The action began in the school gym with an invocation ceremony by the tribal
elders and pipe bearer, followed by crowning the Crow Creek Princess chosen from several area
schools.
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The dancing was directed by the Master of Ceremonies; for each song he selected a drum team
and called for dancers by age and sex . The dancers were called as 1-5 years old, 7-12 years old,
13-19 years old, men, women, and then “inter-tribal” (open to all).
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After the pow-wow supper was served in the cafeteria. It was buffalo stew, Indian bread and
sweet berry spread. We returned to the Habitat and sat outside for a while since the weather
was so nice. Then we ate ice cream and brownies and packed our gear to return home.
Saturday, May 7 – Jennette and Nadine prepared our last meal at the Habitat. The meals they
cooked all week were great---and they sure made steel-cut oats go a long way! We left about
6:30 AM for home. Although rain was predicted to move in, we drove ahead of it and made
excellent time. We rolled past our planned rest stop for the night in Normal, Illinois at 4:30 in
the afternoon and decided to continue on to Indianapolis, Indiana. We pulled in to a Holiday
Inn there and were told they were full; just as we were about to head out the door they got a
phone cancellation for two rooms and we slept there for the night.
Sunday, May 8 – When we walked out of the hotel there were four geese sitting like buzzards
on the peaked roof of the Motel 6 next door apparently discussing the odd-looking crew in the
parking lot. We started out about 7:00 AM and drove all day, stopping only for lunch and fuel.
The remaining drive was uneventful and we arrived home about 6:00 PM. We thanked Our Lord
for our safe journey and for the opportunity to work in His service.
Our mission team for this trip included: Walter Blumenfeld, Tony Deller, Jennette Dunlap, John
and Judy Flaharty, Nadine Ruth and Ken Tome.
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