“Photo: Annette Bader nails a piece of rigid insulation to the ceiling in Linda and Paul Bulle home, while Julie Hurlocker gets out of the way.So many people had hammers in their hands Saturday and Sunday that they had to be measured as a percentage of the South Whidbey population.More than 400 people, or approximately three percent of the Southend population, hammered, sawed, hauled, and dumped for the seventh annual Hearts & Hammers work days last weekend.In the process, they improved a habitat that is largely ignored by most people — the human one. Volunteers descended on 32 homes to rebuild roofs, fix plumbing, install new electric wiring, plant gardens, and generally clean up trash. For the volunteers, the work was simply an extension of the ethic of neighbors helping neighbors. For homeowners who received the help, the work was often life changing.Paul Bulle said he was amazed by the amount of work the Hearts & Hammers volunteers put out Saturday at his family’s Goss Lake home. The building and cleanup projects they undertook might have taken Bulle and his wife, Linda, a decade to finish.Oh yeah, it’s great, Bulle said.The volunteers started by pulling a car tire bulkhead out of the water, a bulkhead recently declared illegal by Island County. More than 60 tires went into a dump truck loaned to the effort by Island Asphalt, then were taken to Les Schwab tires for recycling. Inside the Bulle house, a construction crew led by house captain Ralph Nakamura rewired the electricity, then installed a ceiling. For 40 years, fiberglass insulation has hung uncovered from the ceiling of the Buel home. The volunteers covered it with rigid insulation, then installed new, white ceiling tiles in every room.Annette Bader and Julie Hurlocker drew ceiling duty Saturday. The work was old hat for Bader, who has just finished building her own house. Atop a ladder with a framing hammer in hand and a well-worn, rawhide toolbelt around her waist, Bader looked the part of a builder. Hurlocker, on the other hand, was learning on the job. She said she was amazed by how much the dozen-plus people working in the house could do in the span of a single Saturday.A little while ago, I would have thought it would take more, she said.The crew even pulled old furniture out of the Bulles’ basement and trash out of the yard, leaving behind only grass and a couple of small lake boats. Paul Bulle said he liked the looks of the place after the cleanup.All that’s left are working boats, he said.Lynn Willeford, Hearts & Hammers creator, said this year’s volunteer corps took work efficiency to new heights. Whenever a crew finished a job early, they moved on to help at other houses instead of declaring their work done. That moved all the work along and almost every job was done by the end of Saturday. Willeford herself finished earlier than usual and took an uncharacteristic half-Sunday off during the busiest weekend of her year.The Hearts & Hammers program spent thousands of dollars in donated funds on work day materials, dollars donated by local individuals and businesses. It also received a considerable amount of materials and trucking help from local lumber yards. Island County did its part by providing free waste disposal at its Coupeville transfer station, while local physicians chipped in by providing their time free of charge for any medical emergencies. However, Willeford said, not a single volunteer suffered an injury requiring medical care. Willeford also gave credit to the Island County Waste Warriors, who helped recycle waste materials during the weekend, and to the kitchen volunteers, who prepared a celebration meal for volunteers Saturday night at South Whidbey High School.To find out about, volunteer for, or donate to next year’s Hearts & Hammers work day, call Willeford at 730-7915.”