Day Three
Hump Day:
A-h-h-h. Sunny. 80. Negligible humidity. Great day to work! Great day to build relationships. There are so many folks, so little time! Tomorrow (Thursday) is the picnic with the families. Another great day is in the works!
From the work crews:
Chore: Edward's Story
House: Birthday Buddy
Team Color: Orange
Hot sweat dripping down your face, working all the time, getting dirty, no time for rest… IS NOT WHAT WE ARE DOING. ACTUALLY Shane is overworking himself dehydrating himself the first day and then taking an extended break for the next two days playing with five year old Eli and four year old Dalton. Andy is mingling around doing work and other (mostly) talking with Emory (grand and great-grand father) and Janis (grand and great-grandmother). They also have a 15 year old grandson named Thomas.
They have six children, 19 grandchildren, and 19 great grandchildren. There is still five generations alive! Kate and Lindsey are working hard or hardly working (I can’t remember which). Mr. Vales is almost doing that four letter word again (work) and Mrs. Neider is keeping everyone in line and taking command. The group leaders of birthday buddy are doing their best to keep us straight. We are putting in a new foundation and floor, but at the same time creating a great relationship with our new friends. Orange team over and out.
* * * 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.
