Day Five
** Friday Happenings
Thursday's Picnic was quite memorable in many respects... One of them close to me: Car trouble. Returning from the picnic to drop off Thomas at his home, the car engine became quite balky going up the hills - (of which there were many).
So, while we made it up the hills (very slowly) in a herky-jerky manner, it was clear that this was not going to be acceptable for transportation (or a trip home)...
By Friday at 7:30am, I was awaiting the 8am opening of the Edwards Service Center just a couple miles down the road from the school. A diagnostics check revealed a faulty (but critical) crank shaft sensor. Numerous phone calls later, we'd located a part in Lebanon, VA - about a 75 minute drive. So borrowing the Hollamon (thanks, Erin) vehicle, I headed off to Lebanon while the rest of the work crew scrambled into the vehicles with the Garner team at our site. A couple long stretches of following coal trucks up over mountain passes extended the seemingly too long trip.
By 12:30 it was back to the Edwards Service Center, where they spent the better part of an hour getting the part installed. Time will be the best judge of the fix, but so far, so good...
Anyway, several hours of lost time on my part, but the work crew was there on-site and serving Shelby (and Thomas) all while this transpired. I was glad to join them for the last 3 hours of the day!
In His Service,
Erik Andrews
* * * And * * *
House: The Cliffs, Part Deux
Chore: Rt. 649 - The Never Ending Trail
Team Color: Brown
Another year at ASP (for some of us that is)! Our team name this year is The Cliffs: Part II and our chore name is Route 649. We consist of: Cheryl Lindsly (newbie), Rob Thompson (newbie, also), Erickson Andrews (another first-year), Sarah Andrews (2nd year), and the marvelous Erik Andrews (like, millionth year).
We are working on a house that needs a vapor barrier to keep the water from evaporating into the air under the house, and stairs up to her newly built (by the team last week) deck. We happen to be at a site with two work crews – the second one being a group from Garner UMC, North Carolina. They are building a retaining wall to keep the mountain from sliding under our family’s house. Cheryl, Mr. Thompson, and Sarah are working under the house to lay the black plastic on the ground, while Erik and Erickson work on completing the stairs and railing. The next job is to replace the underpinning, which had been falling off the house.
We love our family; an elderly lady who seems to always have someone over, whether it be her daughter, or her grandchildren, a girl (18) and a boy (11) or her great-grandchild (1 year old), or her son-in-law. She’s really friendly and welcoming to all of us, and we’re really grateful to have such gracious hosts.
Today was a beautiful day; it was sunny and about 80 degrees. The staff brought us ice pops at lunch, and Mr. Thompson bought a watermelon that we shared.
Today was especially exciting, because a dog happened to wander on to our site, a husky by the name of Misty. She belonged to a man down the street who came to claim her. She had the most beautiful blue eyes you will ever see. It was a nice change of pace because the dog that our family owns, Frisky, isn’t so friendly. He growls and bares his teeth when you approach him, and he actually bit Sarah’s finger when she attempted to pet him.
The beginnings of this week were wonderful, and we hope that the rest is just as great.
