Seen and heard at the build site

On Wednesday, the clouds parted and the sun baked the shoe-sucking mud into a crusty, moderately walkable surface for 500 volunteers working on 20 homes at the 2009 Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps Build-a-Thon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Huge, round bales of cornstalks were brought into both build sites and spread around to cover the most treacherous patches of mud. Occasional ears of corn peeked through, reminding everyone they were in Iowa.

Mari Culver, first lady of Iowa, showed up at one of the sites early Wednesday, picking up a hammer and pitching in.

On Friday, her husband, Governor Chet Culver, is scheduled to stop by and offer words of support for the volunteers from all over the country who have spent the week helping rebuild this hardest-hit area in the state.

Throughout the week, Habitat partner homeowners have been racking up sweat-equity hours. Stephen and Tricia Fuller spent the week working on their new home, which they will share with their 18-month-old daughter. They have already completed more than 200 hours of sweat equity, and Stephen had taken a week of vacation from his job at Pearson Educational Testing to chalk up more.

His wife said she has been surprised by his newfound confidence at building.

“Our anniversary was in June,” she said. “And all he wanted was a framing hammer. I didn’t even know what that was, but I got him one.”

Homeowner Ashley Heinrich, who has a 5-year-old daughter, Gabby, and one on the way, will move into a house worked on by NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. Proclaiming both the Warners “so nice,” Heinrich sheepishly admitted that she wasn’t really a football fan.

“I knew he was the main guy, the one who throws the football,” she said. “But I didn’t really know who he was before this. But I sure know now!”