By mid-Saturday morning, it was already 75 degrees, with the sun relentlessly poised high above Bob Thorberg's dilapidated house.

But workers still gathered, from 2-year-old helpers to retired veterans, to start the project of fixing Bob's house.

An old, unstable fence was pulled and pushed apart. A dog run around the side of the house was cleaned through by noon, even as the heat and light breeze wafted a subtle stench of dog mess through the yard. A tree with low-hanging limbs was trimmed as Thorberg stood back and took in the newer landscape to his backyard.

At least a dozen volunteers descended on Thorberg's house Saturday, in phase one of what could be a 500-man-hour remodel project.

Thorberg's house, at 405 Sixth St. N.W., had fallen into such disrepair that the city commission, after fielding several complaints from neighbors, took action and awarded a contract for the demolition of the house.

After that, however, community members, veterans, neighbors and the Patriot Guard expressed concern for his future and made strides on Saturday to begin the cleanup and renovation process.

Rick Colling with the Patriot Guard is the "project lead"on the house, and is in the process of securing permits to make necessary structural adjustments. As of Friday afternoon, the Mandan city assessor's department said no permits had been issued.

On Saturday, the Patriot Guard, neighbors and other volunteers began the project by smoothing out the landscaping and doing cursory work on the outside of the house. They had filled a large construction dumpster full to the brim.

"There's no way possible we could fix it all today," Colling said. But they're ready to commit as much as necessary to get all of the projects completed eventually, with no doubt that it can be done.

"People flip houses like this all the time," Colling said.

Colling told the story of Thorberg as a man in need and why the Patriot Guard decided to step in and help.

Thorberg is a veteran, and is pretty handy, his neighbors said, but lacks the physical capacity to do some of the necessary projects. The front porch, a series of retaining walls and brickwork Thorberg did himself, is in major disrepair. Although the roof of the house is new, what looks like a decade's worth of old shingles hang rotting over the front porch.

A rusted-through gutter and downspout dangle precariously off one side of the porch, while weeds and old chicken wire seem to be holding up the overhang of the other side of the porch.

Thorberg grew up in this house, which was originally purchased by his parents. He spent 12 years in the military, retiring in 1974. With the exception of a period from 1967 to 1974, the house has been Thorberg's residence.

His dogs, two large Rottweilers and a mixed-breed pup, took shelter on the south side of the house, but Colling said they plan to build a kennel area in the far back southeast corner of the lot.

Colling said the Patriot Guard toured Thorberg's house last week, wanting to hear the man's story and making sure his home wasn't in its current condition through laziness and bad decisions. After speaking with Thorberg, they determined that he was truly in need of help. They contacted the National Patriot Guard, which agreed to give an undisclosed amount of money to the project.

"When we're done, we'll be doing a flag raising,"Colling said, squinting his eyes against the sun and scanning their handiwork.

In the front of the house, Lisa Sanchez knelt on the walkway and started scrubbing, her two children close behind her and raring to help.

Sanchez is a vet, too. She was in the 82nd Airborne, which returned from Iraq in October 2003.

"Ibelieve we should be taking care of our veterans,"Sanchez said. "Our veterans take care of us."

Thorberg said he wasn't surprised by the amount of support he's receiving, but he's glad for it. Without the Patriot Guard, he said, he would have had a problem securing permits.

Go to www.dakotavideo.net to see video of work on Bob Thorberg's house.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)