If you didnt notice, i changed this up a bit. I was looking for something to do and figured id continue this. I got the idea of awesome things when i stumbled across a website that listed 1000 awesome things and thought it was a good idea.
A while back, i was either walking to class, or to meet some friends for lunch, and it was one of the first snows of the season. I was walking beside duckpond, behind triv-nasty watching the snow fall (theres not a whole lot prettier than falling snow) and it hit me that it was completely silent and still. Even though there were a few other people on the sidewalk walking, you couldnt hear a sound, except for the occasional car passing. It was incredible. I dont know what it was about that day, but i was astounded. I dont know what it is about snow, but when its falling, everything is so peaceful, still, and quiet. You can go outside and it seems like the world stops along beside you and enjoys the snow falling. its immaculate.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Week 6.... Camp is Over!
with the end of this week brought then end of camp for the summer. im so happy, but sad too. this has been an amazing summer, but an exhausting one, and im glad for a break, and i cant wait to see everyone again. This was an incredibly had week to get through, for all of our staff. first of all, we were all tired, and we all struggled being motivated. this was our sixth time through the camp schedule, and it can get a little monotonous. Monday morning was probably the hardest (imagine that). Britney was my assistant this week, which was kinda fun. It was especially good to have her there monday and tuesday for moral support for each other, we were both very unmotivated and it was good for both of us to have someone else there to help encourage each other.
i mentioned that this was an especially hard week for the staff to get through. This was especially true for brittney and erica. Saturday night, erica had a really bad athsma attack, completely out of the blue, and couldnt really get it under control and had to go home. she had to get all kinds of drugs and steroids and fun stuff like that, which cant be any fun. next was brittany, shes been dealing with some health issues all summer, and is actually having surgery in a couple of weeks. Tuesday afternoon she was feeling so bad, and couldnt take any of her meds to help her, that she had to quit working and take a nap in the van. she didnt work wedensday either, and then her mom came and picked her up on thursday because she was feeling so bad and needed someone there who was able to take care of her better than we were. It was sad to see both of them go, but they needed to. erica was able to come back for worship on friday and is feeling fine now, but brittany came a couple of days ago and picked up all of her things.
I had a pretty good sized roof this week, but nothing to crazy, it was 20 square. i had a pretty small crew, and most of them were very young, but worked suprisingly well. i also had mostly girls, i only had two guys, other than an adult chaperone. i was very fortunate that basically everyone in my crew was a really hard worker. All summer alot of the kho staff had been talking about how much harder of workers their girls were than their guys. that happened to me this week, i think mainly because i had so few guys, but the girls on my crew were especially hard workers. the weather this week did not cooperate with us at all for the beginning of this week. There was a good chance of rain monday tuesday and wednesday. this chance meant that i couldnt leave much of the roof under tar paper. generally, when the weather is cooperating, ill have my crew tear off an entire side, and then tar paper everything that we tore off, even though theres no chance of shingling it all back that day. because of the chance of rain, we could only tear off what we could shingle back in one day, which is a much slower process, and a more frustrating one. this put us a little behind, and by the end of the week we needed a little help from the shingle fairies again, but that happens. This roof was just a standard roof, no valleys or hips or anything. we did have a chimney to work around, but that wasnt very difficult, and dwight happened to be on my site by the time we worked up to it, so he did the chimney for me, which was definitly awesome. i was ok with dwight having to think and not me! our homeowner was a really nice lady, and her son bought us pizza on friday for lunch which was amazing! she also showed us an article in the newspaper about a tornado they had a few months ago, caused alot of damage and really hurt the area. the article was about angel figurines. it was written by a lady who was visiting a grave site of a family member, and noticed that thoughout the entire cemetery, among all the blown down trees and other damage, not a single angel had been harmed. even though they werent weighted down or sturdy at all, no angels were harmed, or even turned over. it was really interesting to hear about.
since brian left, weve had a different camp pastor for the past two weeks, this week our pastors name was and woods. he worked for KHO up until this past year and is now a youth minister at a church in ky and had brought his youth group up for the week. even though weve missed brian, its been kind of nice to hear some different sermons on jonah, rather than the same 4 each week. this week, andy really challenged the kids to change their lives. he called them out on sins that arent generally brought up, be cause the cut so close to home (and heaven forbid that someones toes get stepped on). his messages really seemed to work on the kids, and i think some major decisions were made this week. i certainly hope they last!
its hard to believe that camp is already over, even though its seemed like it would never end. im ready for a relaxing week back at campbellsville to relax and hang out with the staff for a few days before i head on back to boone, but i am oh so ready to see everyone back at home. and its so soon too!!
i mentioned that this was an especially hard week for the staff to get through. This was especially true for brittney and erica. Saturday night, erica had a really bad athsma attack, completely out of the blue, and couldnt really get it under control and had to go home. she had to get all kinds of drugs and steroids and fun stuff like that, which cant be any fun. next was brittany, shes been dealing with some health issues all summer, and is actually having surgery in a couple of weeks. Tuesday afternoon she was feeling so bad, and couldnt take any of her meds to help her, that she had to quit working and take a nap in the van. she didnt work wedensday either, and then her mom came and picked her up on thursday because she was feeling so bad and needed someone there who was able to take care of her better than we were. It was sad to see both of them go, but they needed to. erica was able to come back for worship on friday and is feeling fine now, but brittany came a couple of days ago and picked up all of her things.
I had a pretty good sized roof this week, but nothing to crazy, it was 20 square. i had a pretty small crew, and most of them were very young, but worked suprisingly well. i also had mostly girls, i only had two guys, other than an adult chaperone. i was very fortunate that basically everyone in my crew was a really hard worker. All summer alot of the kho staff had been talking about how much harder of workers their girls were than their guys. that happened to me this week, i think mainly because i had so few guys, but the girls on my crew were especially hard workers. the weather this week did not cooperate with us at all for the beginning of this week. There was a good chance of rain monday tuesday and wednesday. this chance meant that i couldnt leave much of the roof under tar paper. generally, when the weather is cooperating, ill have my crew tear off an entire side, and then tar paper everything that we tore off, even though theres no chance of shingling it all back that day. because of the chance of rain, we could only tear off what we could shingle back in one day, which is a much slower process, and a more frustrating one. this put us a little behind, and by the end of the week we needed a little help from the shingle fairies again, but that happens. This roof was just a standard roof, no valleys or hips or anything. we did have a chimney to work around, but that wasnt very difficult, and dwight happened to be on my site by the time we worked up to it, so he did the chimney for me, which was definitly awesome. i was ok with dwight having to think and not me! our homeowner was a really nice lady, and her son bought us pizza on friday for lunch which was amazing! she also showed us an article in the newspaper about a tornado they had a few months ago, caused alot of damage and really hurt the area. the article was about angel figurines. it was written by a lady who was visiting a grave site of a family member, and noticed that thoughout the entire cemetery, among all the blown down trees and other damage, not a single angel had been harmed. even though they werent weighted down or sturdy at all, no angels were harmed, or even turned over. it was really interesting to hear about.
since brian left, weve had a different camp pastor for the past two weeks, this week our pastors name was and woods. he worked for KHO up until this past year and is now a youth minister at a church in ky and had brought his youth group up for the week. even though weve missed brian, its been kind of nice to hear some different sermons on jonah, rather than the same 4 each week. this week, andy really challenged the kids to change their lives. he called them out on sins that arent generally brought up, be cause the cut so close to home (and heaven forbid that someones toes get stepped on). his messages really seemed to work on the kids, and i think some major decisions were made this week. i certainly hope they last!
its hard to believe that camp is already over, even though its seemed like it would never end. im ready for a relaxing week back at campbellsville to relax and hang out with the staff for a few days before i head on back to boone, but i am oh so ready to see everyone back at home. and its so soon too!!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
One More In The Kingdom
Week 5 of 6 is over. this was an incredible week. we had a great group of campers, got alot of work done, and had an amazing time this week. i had a surprisingly easy roof this week. the main part of the roof was only 8 square, and another square over a front porch they had. the front porch was very, very rotten (a girl had fallen through the week before while painting) and every rafter had to be re supported. I had a really great crew and we all had alot of fun together. Whitney and i crew chiefed together this week, which we always manage to have a good time together.
First of all, my homeowner this week prayed to recieve Christ!! this was definitly the most amazing part of the week. countless prayers had been prayed for this man. he is single and lives by himself, although his family and some friends are almost always there. he lost a leg and is restricted to crutches. it was incredible to see how well he moved around on his crutches and refused to let himself be inhibited by his circumstances. last week two crews were at his house, one painting, the other building a handicapped ramp for him, and ofcourse this week we were putting a new roof on his house, we were also able to do a ton of yardwork around his house. He was increidlby moved by the work that had been done around his house. wednesday morning, marcia, one of the adult chaperones on my crew went inside and talked with him, im not entirely sure of their conversation, but all i know is he prayed to receive Christ. thursday night, we also had another homeowner accept Christ, it was an amazing week! i also recieved a huge compliment from todd, while he was at my house, helping me restructure the rafters, he pulled me aside and pointed out the work God has been doing through me, and talked about how i was definitly suposed to be here this summer. i certainly took it as a complement, wether it was meant as one or not. is certainly is amazing to be where God wants you to be!
Going into this week, i thought we were going to have a bear of a roof, i knew we had a two or three layer tear off, which can make life incredibly difficult, and i also expected to have to resheet the entire roof as well due to rotten boards. As we began tearing off, we were able to get under the ridgecaps easily, and then tear all three layers of shingles off at the same time, making life much easier than expected. generally, we have to replace alot of the sheeting, this week, we had one board on each side of the roof to replace. it was an amazing blessing. we had to replace the bottom board of the sheeting because drip edge had not been installed and the wood was rotting, that was it. it was amzing not having to feel rushed to try and complete the roof, being able to spend extra time on his yard, and being able to relax a little while shingling. the entire back side of the house was also pretty much completely covered in shade which was amazing. in addition to an easy roof, i also had two capers, one an adult and another a camper who i let shingle the entire front side, minus two short valleys. they did a great job and i think the roof looks great. the camper, who i thought was in college and was here as an adult chaperone turned out to be only 16, which was quite a surprise, considering that i felt comfortable leaving him in charge of the roof. i had a very large crew this week, and wasnt able to keep everyone busy on the roof because it was so small, so we were able to do a ton of yardwork in his yard. his yard had not been kept up well, for obvious reasons. Marcia, the adult chaperone who led the homeowner to Christ, i gave free reign over the yard work, they cut crass, weed-eated, trimmed trees, cleaned up trash, cleaned up the road a little bit, and were even able to cut one of the neighbors yards who has cancer. it was amazing seeing the difference from when we got there to when we left, that place looked much, much better. i was also able to earn my 'man badge' this week. during training someone decided that you could earn your man badge by carrying up two loads of shingles (about 160 lbs) up on the roof at a time, and i was able to do that this week. while it may not have been the smartest thing ive ever done, it was pretty cool to say you could carry it up the ladder.
First of all, my homeowner this week prayed to recieve Christ!! this was definitly the most amazing part of the week. countless prayers had been prayed for this man. he is single and lives by himself, although his family and some friends are almost always there. he lost a leg and is restricted to crutches. it was incredible to see how well he moved around on his crutches and refused to let himself be inhibited by his circumstances. last week two crews were at his house, one painting, the other building a handicapped ramp for him, and ofcourse this week we were putting a new roof on his house, we were also able to do a ton of yardwork around his house. He was increidlby moved by the work that had been done around his house. wednesday morning, marcia, one of the adult chaperones on my crew went inside and talked with him, im not entirely sure of their conversation, but all i know is he prayed to receive Christ. thursday night, we also had another homeowner accept Christ, it was an amazing week! i also recieved a huge compliment from todd, while he was at my house, helping me restructure the rafters, he pulled me aside and pointed out the work God has been doing through me, and talked about how i was definitly suposed to be here this summer. i certainly took it as a complement, wether it was meant as one or not. is certainly is amazing to be where God wants you to be!
Going into this week, i thought we were going to have a bear of a roof, i knew we had a two or three layer tear off, which can make life incredibly difficult, and i also expected to have to resheet the entire roof as well due to rotten boards. As we began tearing off, we were able to get under the ridgecaps easily, and then tear all three layers of shingles off at the same time, making life much easier than expected. generally, we have to replace alot of the sheeting, this week, we had one board on each side of the roof to replace. it was an amazing blessing. we had to replace the bottom board of the sheeting because drip edge had not been installed and the wood was rotting, that was it. it was amzing not having to feel rushed to try and complete the roof, being able to spend extra time on his yard, and being able to relax a little while shingling. the entire back side of the house was also pretty much completely covered in shade which was amazing. in addition to an easy roof, i also had two capers, one an adult and another a camper who i let shingle the entire front side, minus two short valleys. they did a great job and i think the roof looks great. the camper, who i thought was in college and was here as an adult chaperone turned out to be only 16, which was quite a surprise, considering that i felt comfortable leaving him in charge of the roof. i had a very large crew this week, and wasnt able to keep everyone busy on the roof because it was so small, so we were able to do a ton of yardwork in his yard. his yard had not been kept up well, for obvious reasons. Marcia, the adult chaperone who led the homeowner to Christ, i gave free reign over the yard work, they cut crass, weed-eated, trimmed trees, cleaned up trash, cleaned up the road a little bit, and were even able to cut one of the neighbors yards who has cancer. it was amazing seeing the difference from when we got there to when we left, that place looked much, much better. i was also able to earn my 'man badge' this week. during training someone decided that you could earn your man badge by carrying up two loads of shingles (about 160 lbs) up on the roof at a time, and i was able to do that this week. while it may not have been the smartest thing ive ever done, it was pretty cool to say you could carry it up the ladder.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
nail guns are fun
Week 4 of the summer, and week 1 of Bowling Green is down, 2 more camp weeks. Going into this week i was nervous. we were expecting about 180 kids, which is alot. roofing sites would have atleast 20 kids, which is a bit ridiculous. with that many kids, its hard to keep an eye on all of them and make sure they dont break anything, much less keep them busy roofing. luckily on my week off, i talked to whitney, and the told me that a youth group canceled, leaving us with about 140 kids. while 140 is still alot, its much, much more manageable than 180.
This weeks roof was the biggest roof ive had all summer, 22 square. While its not a huge roof, its still a good sized roof. I had 15 campers, 5 of them which were not allowed on the roof. This left me with a bit smaller crew than i would have liked to have, but still worked. I had a very hard time finding jobs for my ground crew (the 5 kids that werent allowed on the roof). typically, when there wasnt any work to do, the ground crew would start cleaning up the yard, and doing any work around the house that needed to be done. our homeowner, a korean guy with three kids, living by himself, kept a spotless yard, they definitly had some down time. The roof was a typical project, had many boards that needed to be replaced, but nothing too crazy, Todd did give me a hard time about always having to call him and tell him that i needed more wood. It was a hip roof, which adds a little bit of difficulty to the roof, but not too much. My kids were great, they all pretty much worked really hard, and did a great job. i was very pleased. we did encounter one hiccup this week. wednesday we got rained out. it rained all morning on wednesday, which means we cant do any work on the roof. this was really bad, especially considering three of our roofing sites were behind. one site was having nail trouble, the roofing nails were staying in the boards, while the nails securing the sheeting kept on pulling up, which the exact opposite of whats suposed to happen. another site had some very serious structural issues. the sheeting was incredibly weak & the front porch actually started to fall off the house, the porch had to be resupported which took precious time. the third site was the worst, they had a 7 layer tear off, meaning there were 7 layers of shingles that had to be torn off of the roof, and under that, there were cedar shingles, there was no sheeting under the cedar shingles, so the roof required a complete resheeting. it quickly turned into a two week project. thursday morning the shingle fairies came to my site so we could get ahead and then help another site out. we were finished by lunchtime friday, and then went to Melissa's site to help her finish. her site was the one that had the porch almost collapse. my crew jumped right on it when we got there, and helped to finish their site in a couple of hours. after that i went and picked up a few trailers so they could be dropped off for next weeks assignments. then i went to hatfields roof. hers was the one with nail issues. here, i got use my first nail gun, and man are they fun. it was almost 4 by the time i got to her site (my crew stayed at the church and hung out) todd and i hooked up the airhoses and the guns, and got to shooting. we had three nail guns going (a kho staff running each one), while the kids passed out and lined up shingles. it was so fast! its amazing how much faster shooting a roof is that nailing it. not to mention how much more fun it is to shoot than nail :) friday was definitly a long, busy day, but a fun one none the less.
we had atleast 5 professions of faith this week, all 5 of those from one church, so theres no telling how many there were in other churches. its an incredible blessing to see the Lord working in youths lives, i just hope it lasts and its not just a camp thing. it was also a tremendous blessing to see how apprecitative my crew, especially the chaperones, were of what the staff was doing, and especially my homeowner this week. everyday we worked, he either cooked or bought us lunch, it was an increidlbe change from the usual ham and cheese sandwich. in regard to my homeowner this week, the most amazing blessing of all was the fact that hes going to start going to church, possibly join the church we are staying at, i was also able to buy him a bible, which i hope he appreciated. another cool story, wednesday, about half the staff went to steak and shake for lunch, when we got there, there was a man in military uniform, i cant remember which branch, eating by himself. i just felt like i should buy his lunch, i dont have a clue why i felt like that, just felt like itd be good to show some appreciation. it was good to see how a small gesture really meant alot. bottom line ive really gotten my socks blessed off this week in so many ways. its awesome being here and seeing how God is working.
only two more camp weeks, and then one closing week. even though i love everything thats going on here, im ready to see everyone again.
weve already seen the packets for our jobs next week and mines going to be a fun one. its a really small roof (only 8 square) but its a 5 or 6 layer tear off, and then it will most likey have to be completely resheeted, always a fun time.
im really looking forward to next week, but im not too pumped about only getting only a half day off today, also brian, our camp pastor was let go today. definitly bummed out the staff. they didnt really explain why they let him go, just that they needed to. other than that, its been a great birthday, but its really sad to see him go.
This weeks roof was the biggest roof ive had all summer, 22 square. While its not a huge roof, its still a good sized roof. I had 15 campers, 5 of them which were not allowed on the roof. This left me with a bit smaller crew than i would have liked to have, but still worked. I had a very hard time finding jobs for my ground crew (the 5 kids that werent allowed on the roof). typically, when there wasnt any work to do, the ground crew would start cleaning up the yard, and doing any work around the house that needed to be done. our homeowner, a korean guy with three kids, living by himself, kept a spotless yard, they definitly had some down time. The roof was a typical project, had many boards that needed to be replaced, but nothing too crazy, Todd did give me a hard time about always having to call him and tell him that i needed more wood. It was a hip roof, which adds a little bit of difficulty to the roof, but not too much. My kids were great, they all pretty much worked really hard, and did a great job. i was very pleased. we did encounter one hiccup this week. wednesday we got rained out. it rained all morning on wednesday, which means we cant do any work on the roof. this was really bad, especially considering three of our roofing sites were behind. one site was having nail trouble, the roofing nails were staying in the boards, while the nails securing the sheeting kept on pulling up, which the exact opposite of whats suposed to happen. another site had some very serious structural issues. the sheeting was incredibly weak & the front porch actually started to fall off the house, the porch had to be resupported which took precious time. the third site was the worst, they had a 7 layer tear off, meaning there were 7 layers of shingles that had to be torn off of the roof, and under that, there were cedar shingles, there was no sheeting under the cedar shingles, so the roof required a complete resheeting. it quickly turned into a two week project. thursday morning the shingle fairies came to my site so we could get ahead and then help another site out. we were finished by lunchtime friday, and then went to Melissa's site to help her finish. her site was the one that had the porch almost collapse. my crew jumped right on it when we got there, and helped to finish their site in a couple of hours. after that i went and picked up a few trailers so they could be dropped off for next weeks assignments. then i went to hatfields roof. hers was the one with nail issues. here, i got use my first nail gun, and man are they fun. it was almost 4 by the time i got to her site (my crew stayed at the church and hung out) todd and i hooked up the airhoses and the guns, and got to shooting. we had three nail guns going (a kho staff running each one), while the kids passed out and lined up shingles. it was so fast! its amazing how much faster shooting a roof is that nailing it. not to mention how much more fun it is to shoot than nail :) friday was definitly a long, busy day, but a fun one none the less.
we had atleast 5 professions of faith this week, all 5 of those from one church, so theres no telling how many there were in other churches. its an incredible blessing to see the Lord working in youths lives, i just hope it lasts and its not just a camp thing. it was also a tremendous blessing to see how apprecitative my crew, especially the chaperones, were of what the staff was doing, and especially my homeowner this week. everyday we worked, he either cooked or bought us lunch, it was an increidlbe change from the usual ham and cheese sandwich. in regard to my homeowner this week, the most amazing blessing of all was the fact that hes going to start going to church, possibly join the church we are staying at, i was also able to buy him a bible, which i hope he appreciated. another cool story, wednesday, about half the staff went to steak and shake for lunch, when we got there, there was a man in military uniform, i cant remember which branch, eating by himself. i just felt like i should buy his lunch, i dont have a clue why i felt like that, just felt like itd be good to show some appreciation. it was good to see how a small gesture really meant alot. bottom line ive really gotten my socks blessed off this week in so many ways. its awesome being here and seeing how God is working.
only two more camp weeks, and then one closing week. even though i love everything thats going on here, im ready to see everyone again.
weve already seen the packets for our jobs next week and mines going to be a fun one. its a really small roof (only 8 square) but its a 5 or 6 layer tear off, and then it will most likey have to be completely resheeted, always a fun time.
im really looking forward to next week, but im not too pumped about only getting only a half day off today, also brian, our camp pastor was let go today. definitly bummed out the staff. they didnt really explain why they let him go, just that they needed to. other than that, its been a great birthday, but its really sad to see him go.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
It Feels Good Beng Done Early.
With the end of this week brought the end of KHO in Campbellsville. This was a pretty good week. I had a small crew, and a small, simple roof.
Sunday afternoon everyone got their crew packets, which give details about each job. The more i looked through my packet, the more excited about the job i was going to be doing. my previous two roofs were 18 and 20 square, pretty good sized roofs. the thing that made those two difficult were the chimneys and valleys. This roof was beautiful... only 13 square, no valleys, no chimneys, no nothing, only two boots to work around and three vents to replace, neither of which are a big deal, only involve cutting a few shingles. for those of you that dont know, boots are the things that go over a pipe that sticks out of the roof in order to keep water from leaking back into the house, some are rubber, some are metal, it just depends on what the pipe is, their on almost every house, and arent difficult at all to work around. needless to say, i was really excited, i even asked Todd, our supervisor if there were any catches to the roof that would make it more difficult or something, and there wasnt anything that he knew of. i did my best to not get my hopes up on having an easy week because it seems that everytime that happens, especially when your working, you always come across a problem. Sure enough, i spoke way too soon thinking that this roof was going to be a breeze (if it wasnt for my awesome crew, it could have been a long week!)
Now that ive spoken about my crew ill tell you a little bit about them. I only had 9 people this week, which is several people less than the other weeks (12 and 13) but since i had a small roof it was plenty of people. When i first met them, i was a little bit skeptical of a few people, they seemed like the girly girl kind of people, or the kind of guy that isnt on the mission trip to work or serve God, just because going to camp is the right thing to do. Most everyone suprised me as to how well they worked, or suprised me as to how well they didnt work... one in particular her name was shannon, shes a 13 year old girl... a girly girl. i was also skeptical when i found out her age, after the first week, and one of my young female campers falling asleep on the roof, i pretty much swore off young girls on a work. a few of the girl staffers had met some of my girls before hand and expressed some concern, so i was a bit skeptical. Turns out, she was one of my hardest workers. needless to say i was pretty excited about the work ethic of my crew. i really enjoyed not having to work at motivating the majority of my campers.
now back to the roof i was so excited about.
This house was a 2 story house, which i hadnt worked on before, but the hight was no problem, it was just a little harder finding a sturdy place to put the ladder, no big deal though. when i got on the roof, the first thing i noticed was that the entire roof was much, much bouncier than any other roof i had been on, which is never good. i walked around the roof, never fell though, so i went ahead and got the campers up there, and started stripping off the old shingles. the contrators before used plywood as opposed to boards while building the roof, which is fine as long as you use thick enough plywood. As we started stripping the roof, i noticed that the plywood on the roof was very thin, and needed to be replaced in some places. since i had never worked with plywood before, i called Todd to see what he wanted me to do, when he got there, the first words out of his mouth were "oh my gosh, you have got to be kidding me." never a good sign when you have 11 people on the roof. todd explained that the minimum thickness of plywood that you can use on a roof is 1/2 inch, the contractors before decided it would be a good idea to use 1/4 inch plywood, and it had been a very long time since it was laid down, and had become even weaker. Not only did they use thin wood, they built what are called 'fly rafters.' fly rafters are rafters that are not supported by the house, and if you put any weight on them, you go flying. always good news to find out. end of story, we had to resheet the entire house. luckily we didnt have to take up the old plywood, and were able to lay the new plywood down on the preexisting wood, but still an inconvenience none the less. When todd returned, he brought a guy named Dale with him, dale is a pro services employee who helped us out for the day. by the end of the day, we were able to resheet the half of the roof we had torn off, lay tar paper, put new drip edge down and lay all of our chalk lines for our shingles. not a bad days work at all.
tuesday is when my campers really impressed me. we got to the job site about 815, prayed and i explained what wed be doing all day. what we had to do, was to strip the remaining side of the house, resheet and tar paper, we would keep on going from there depending on what kind of time we had left. Everyone had the roof completely stripped by 915ish, and then we had the whole house resheeted by 1115. i was blown away. it had taken us atleast three house the day before to resheet the roof, with dales help, tuesday it only took us three hours to strip, and resheet the house. we were able to tar paper, and even start laying shingles on the back side. wednesday, we finished shingling the back side, we did 1/2 of the roof in less than a half day, like i said, i had a great crew! our chalk lines were messed up about 1/2 way up the roof, and i even trusted them to go by the drip edge (a line on the shingles) rather than laying new chalk lines, which i hadnt done with any other group. Thursday, we laid chalk lines, drip edge, shingled the front 1/2 of the roof, capped off the ridges, and tarred by 1230. we did all the work they had planned for us, plus resheeting an entire day and a half early. it felt so good to finish early and not be rushed on the last day. We finished so early, we were even able to get summer snow on thursday, which is always a treat!
Friday we went and helped Whitney and Erica finish up their deck for about a 1/2 day. Friday was a good reminder of how much more fun roofing is than decking. im not sure what it is, roofing is just so much more fun than decking. i was glad we were able to help another group out though.
the friday night worship service was one of the best so far in the summer. i believe we had atleast 4 salvations that night, along with many other decisions, either being rededications, or descisions to actually do something with their faith and to pursue Christ. it was absolutely amazing looking around at the campers, and seeing the ones who you know are only there because they had to come, or are only there to talk to girls standing there with tears in their eyes simply praising Christ!! it brought an incredible smile to my face. I also realized this week that this summer has helped me to open up in my worship, it seemed like before i was hesitant to raise my hands in worship because i was worried about what the people around me would think. This summer, ive felt alot more comforatable singing louder, raising my hands, and just expressing myself in general while worshiping.
Sunday afternoon everyone got their crew packets, which give details about each job. The more i looked through my packet, the more excited about the job i was going to be doing. my previous two roofs were 18 and 20 square, pretty good sized roofs. the thing that made those two difficult were the chimneys and valleys. This roof was beautiful... only 13 square, no valleys, no chimneys, no nothing, only two boots to work around and three vents to replace, neither of which are a big deal, only involve cutting a few shingles. for those of you that dont know, boots are the things that go over a pipe that sticks out of the roof in order to keep water from leaking back into the house, some are rubber, some are metal, it just depends on what the pipe is, their on almost every house, and arent difficult at all to work around. needless to say, i was really excited, i even asked Todd, our supervisor if there were any catches to the roof that would make it more difficult or something, and there wasnt anything that he knew of. i did my best to not get my hopes up on having an easy week because it seems that everytime that happens, especially when your working, you always come across a problem. Sure enough, i spoke way too soon thinking that this roof was going to be a breeze (if it wasnt for my awesome crew, it could have been a long week!)
Now that ive spoken about my crew ill tell you a little bit about them. I only had 9 people this week, which is several people less than the other weeks (12 and 13) but since i had a small roof it was plenty of people. When i first met them, i was a little bit skeptical of a few people, they seemed like the girly girl kind of people, or the kind of guy that isnt on the mission trip to work or serve God, just because going to camp is the right thing to do. Most everyone suprised me as to how well they worked, or suprised me as to how well they didnt work... one in particular her name was shannon, shes a 13 year old girl... a girly girl. i was also skeptical when i found out her age, after the first week, and one of my young female campers falling asleep on the roof, i pretty much swore off young girls on a work. a few of the girl staffers had met some of my girls before hand and expressed some concern, so i was a bit skeptical. Turns out, she was one of my hardest workers. needless to say i was pretty excited about the work ethic of my crew. i really enjoyed not having to work at motivating the majority of my campers.
now back to the roof i was so excited about.
This house was a 2 story house, which i hadnt worked on before, but the hight was no problem, it was just a little harder finding a sturdy place to put the ladder, no big deal though. when i got on the roof, the first thing i noticed was that the entire roof was much, much bouncier than any other roof i had been on, which is never good. i walked around the roof, never fell though, so i went ahead and got the campers up there, and started stripping off the old shingles. the contrators before used plywood as opposed to boards while building the roof, which is fine as long as you use thick enough plywood. As we started stripping the roof, i noticed that the plywood on the roof was very thin, and needed to be replaced in some places. since i had never worked with plywood before, i called Todd to see what he wanted me to do, when he got there, the first words out of his mouth were "oh my gosh, you have got to be kidding me." never a good sign when you have 11 people on the roof. todd explained that the minimum thickness of plywood that you can use on a roof is 1/2 inch, the contractors before decided it would be a good idea to use 1/4 inch plywood, and it had been a very long time since it was laid down, and had become even weaker. Not only did they use thin wood, they built what are called 'fly rafters.' fly rafters are rafters that are not supported by the house, and if you put any weight on them, you go flying. always good news to find out. end of story, we had to resheet the entire house. luckily we didnt have to take up the old plywood, and were able to lay the new plywood down on the preexisting wood, but still an inconvenience none the less. When todd returned, he brought a guy named Dale with him, dale is a pro services employee who helped us out for the day. by the end of the day, we were able to resheet the half of the roof we had torn off, lay tar paper, put new drip edge down and lay all of our chalk lines for our shingles. not a bad days work at all.
tuesday is when my campers really impressed me. we got to the job site about 815, prayed and i explained what wed be doing all day. what we had to do, was to strip the remaining side of the house, resheet and tar paper, we would keep on going from there depending on what kind of time we had left. Everyone had the roof completely stripped by 915ish, and then we had the whole house resheeted by 1115. i was blown away. it had taken us atleast three house the day before to resheet the roof, with dales help, tuesday it only took us three hours to strip, and resheet the house. we were able to tar paper, and even start laying shingles on the back side. wednesday, we finished shingling the back side, we did 1/2 of the roof in less than a half day, like i said, i had a great crew! our chalk lines were messed up about 1/2 way up the roof, and i even trusted them to go by the drip edge (a line on the shingles) rather than laying new chalk lines, which i hadnt done with any other group. Thursday, we laid chalk lines, drip edge, shingled the front 1/2 of the roof, capped off the ridges, and tarred by 1230. we did all the work they had planned for us, plus resheeting an entire day and a half early. it felt so good to finish early and not be rushed on the last day. We finished so early, we were even able to get summer snow on thursday, which is always a treat!
Friday we went and helped Whitney and Erica finish up their deck for about a 1/2 day. Friday was a good reminder of how much more fun roofing is than decking. im not sure what it is, roofing is just so much more fun than decking. i was glad we were able to help another group out though.
the friday night worship service was one of the best so far in the summer. i believe we had atleast 4 salvations that night, along with many other decisions, either being rededications, or descisions to actually do something with their faith and to pursue Christ. it was absolutely amazing looking around at the campers, and seeing the ones who you know are only there because they had to come, or are only there to talk to girls standing there with tears in their eyes simply praising Christ!! it brought an incredible smile to my face. I also realized this week that this summer has helped me to open up in my worship, it seemed like before i was hesitant to raise my hands in worship because i was worried about what the people around me would think. This summer, ive felt alot more comforatable singing louder, raising my hands, and just expressing myself in general while worshiping.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Valley Are The Devils Stomping Grounds
Week two of six is now over. Ive also got one more roof under my belt, this one however, contained those God-forsaken places called valleys. Bottom line, valleys suck, theres no real way around it. They're difficult, and what not.
My crew this week was alot of fun. I had 13 campers, three of them being adult chaperons. most everyone was very well motivated, and worked very hard all week. i had a few people who werent very motivated to work this week, but everything still worked out for the best.
My roof this week was two square bigger than last weeks, which isnt a huge deal. what made the roof more difficult were the two valleys we had to deal with. the two valleys were on both sides of an addition to the back of the house. When a roof has valleys, valley flashing has to be laid down, which isnt two difficult, and you have to tar paper over the valley, along with shingling over the valley, and then chalk lining and cutting shingles along the line. You also have to figure out which side of the roof will shed the most water. None of these by itself are all that difficult, and when you add them all together, and then start shingling away from the valley, it gets very easy to get off on your chalk lines and for the shingles to start slanting down the roof, which never looks good.
Monday we worked on tearing off a little over half of one of the back sides, so the kids could somewhat get a handle on shingling. this went pretty well, i was fairly pleased with the amount of work we got done. tuesday we tore off the rest of the back of the house, and started on one of the two valleys for the week. This went alright as well, i wasnt as pleased with the work we got done, but we did have to replace alot of the roof, which was very time consuming and put at a standstill. Wednesday was our half day, so the only thing we did was work on finishing shingling everything we had tar papered. we got the majority of it done, but werent able to finish because of the half day. Thursday, we had another crew come and help us. hatfield, one of the other crew chiefs, only had a 6 square roof to replace, so as soon as they were done, they came and helped us out. This made finishing the roof much easier. i was able to bounce questions off of hatfield, and we had more kids we were able to put to work on other sides of the roof. Thursday we almost finished three sections of the roof, one of them being a valley, i was very pleased. The only thing that happened on thursday, is as we were finishing up for the day, we noticed that the the shingle lines on either side of the valley werent following the chalk lines we had laid, they were slipping down the side of the house. One side was almost 5 inches, the other almost three. Thursday night i talked to dwight and got some suggestions on how to fix the slant, but when we got htere friday it turned out that out shingles were dipping in the middle rather than slanting, meaning we couldnt re-lay new chalk lines down. Todd came over and got us going in the right direction. While We were working on that, all the kids were working on tearing off the last section of the roof, tar papering it, and then shingling it. We had a little meeting before we got started working, explaining to them that we had alot of work to do and if we didnt want to be working late, we would have to really get after it this morning. FOr some reason the kids really responded to this, we were basically finished with the roof by 1130 that morning. I had figured wed be working till 2 or 3 that day, instead we were able to leave at 12ish, and take the kids to sonic. It was an amazing week working on the roof, and out home owner ms england, was the nicest lady ever, even though it was almost impossible to get her to stop talking so we could get some work done. Saturday, i went to louisville with several of the staffers for the day, which was alot of fun. One girl who was driving, amanda blew a tire while we were there, so i got to change my first tire which was fun. I also found out ill be roofing all summer, im really looking forward to that. Roofing may be alot harder and more time consuming than building a deck, but its definitely alot more fun than decking ever could be. Im looking forward to this next week of campers and seeing what job well be doing. I dont think ill have any valleys this week, which will be nice.
i just realized the title of this wont make much sense to many of yall, so heres the story: wednesday, most of the staff went to a sub shop called little philly for lunch, after we had finished eating, several of us just sat around talking for a while. Hatfield and i were talking about the valleys wed have to be working on, and we came to the conclusion that valleys on roofs are truly a God forsaken place, and therefore are satans stoping grounds. we had a good laugh about that.
My crew this week was alot of fun. I had 13 campers, three of them being adult chaperons. most everyone was very well motivated, and worked very hard all week. i had a few people who werent very motivated to work this week, but everything still worked out for the best.
My roof this week was two square bigger than last weeks, which isnt a huge deal. what made the roof more difficult were the two valleys we had to deal with. the two valleys were on both sides of an addition to the back of the house. When a roof has valleys, valley flashing has to be laid down, which isnt two difficult, and you have to tar paper over the valley, along with shingling over the valley, and then chalk lining and cutting shingles along the line. You also have to figure out which side of the roof will shed the most water. None of these by itself are all that difficult, and when you add them all together, and then start shingling away from the valley, it gets very easy to get off on your chalk lines and for the shingles to start slanting down the roof, which never looks good.
Monday we worked on tearing off a little over half of one of the back sides, so the kids could somewhat get a handle on shingling. this went pretty well, i was fairly pleased with the amount of work we got done. tuesday we tore off the rest of the back of the house, and started on one of the two valleys for the week. This went alright as well, i wasnt as pleased with the work we got done, but we did have to replace alot of the roof, which was very time consuming and put at a standstill. Wednesday was our half day, so the only thing we did was work on finishing shingling everything we had tar papered. we got the majority of it done, but werent able to finish because of the half day. Thursday, we had another crew come and help us. hatfield, one of the other crew chiefs, only had a 6 square roof to replace, so as soon as they were done, they came and helped us out. This made finishing the roof much easier. i was able to bounce questions off of hatfield, and we had more kids we were able to put to work on other sides of the roof. Thursday we almost finished three sections of the roof, one of them being a valley, i was very pleased. The only thing that happened on thursday, is as we were finishing up for the day, we noticed that the the shingle lines on either side of the valley werent following the chalk lines we had laid, they were slipping down the side of the house. One side was almost 5 inches, the other almost three. Thursday night i talked to dwight and got some suggestions on how to fix the slant, but when we got htere friday it turned out that out shingles were dipping in the middle rather than slanting, meaning we couldnt re-lay new chalk lines down. Todd came over and got us going in the right direction. While We were working on that, all the kids were working on tearing off the last section of the roof, tar papering it, and then shingling it. We had a little meeting before we got started working, explaining to them that we had alot of work to do and if we didnt want to be working late, we would have to really get after it this morning. FOr some reason the kids really responded to this, we were basically finished with the roof by 1130 that morning. I had figured wed be working till 2 or 3 that day, instead we were able to leave at 12ish, and take the kids to sonic. It was an amazing week working on the roof, and out home owner ms england, was the nicest lady ever, even though it was almost impossible to get her to stop talking so we could get some work done. Saturday, i went to louisville with several of the staffers for the day, which was alot of fun. One girl who was driving, amanda blew a tire while we were there, so i got to change my first tire which was fun. I also found out ill be roofing all summer, im really looking forward to that. Roofing may be alot harder and more time consuming than building a deck, but its definitely alot more fun than decking ever could be. Im looking forward to this next week of campers and seeing what job well be doing. I dont think ill have any valleys this week, which will be nice.
i just realized the title of this wont make much sense to many of yall, so heres the story: wednesday, most of the staff went to a sub shop called little philly for lunch, after we had finished eating, several of us just sat around talking for a while. Hatfield and i were talking about the valleys wed have to be working on, and we came to the conclusion that valleys on roofs are truly a God forsaken place, and therefore are satans stoping grounds. we had a good laugh about that.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Week 1
Week one of campers has come and gone. As most of you know, i was roofing this week. My crew consisted of 16 campers, three being adult chaperones. most everyone hadnt roofed before. All four of the Mt. Vernon kids i had had roofed before, and one of the other kids' dad was a roofing contractor so he had seen plenty of roofs as well.
Monday was so slow. We hardly got anything done, i was so frustrated with how i was motivating the kids and getting things done. Granted, this was the second time i had ever been on a roof, I was by myself, and had several 12 year old girls who were hard to motivate and keep working, and had to be constantly monitored to make sure nothing was messed up. We barely managed to start laying shingles on one side of the roof, we break the roof into sections, and finish that part before moving on to the next generally, we didnt even finish tar papering that side, but that was due to having to wait on a board in order to patch a hole that in the roof. Tuesday went better, we finished tar papering, tore off one short side of the roof, and then started shingling that side. Still not the most work accomplished, but definitely an improvement none the less. Wednesday we had a half day, and had to be back by 12. Our goal was to finish shingling both the sides before we got back to campus, we did manage to do this, but it did mean that I and three of the MTV kids had to stay behind for about 20 or 30 minutes in order to finish shingling. Thursday we finished tearing off the roof, and tar papered the whole roof, and chalk lined one long side of the roof, only to find out that we did them wrong. this was a good amount of work to be accomplished, especially considering we had to replace almost half of one side of wood in order to keep the roof stable. It was almost funny, looking for weak boards. It seemed like every time i hit a board, the roofing shovel i was using went straight through the roof. Friday morning, we were visited by the shingle faries who helped us lay a few shingles before we got there, while its frustrating that i needed the faries, it certainly helped and was a blessing.
Aside from the frustrations of the slow roof, this week was amazing and i know God touched many lives this week. Friday afternoon before dinner i was talking with one kid who was there, he was a pretty quiet kid, but just by talking to him i could tell he had an amazing time, he even got tears in his eyes talking about how much he had enjoyed this week. It was amazing to see his reaction to the week. MTV even had three people get saved!!! The worship was amazing, and i am loving being here.
i found out that ill be roofing again next week. this roof is a bit bigger than the one i did this week, but ive got a little more experience, and a returning staffer to help me. i dont think shes done many roofs before either, but it still be a big help. Even though im exhausted, im really looking forward to having kids come again and working some more.
Monday was so slow. We hardly got anything done, i was so frustrated with how i was motivating the kids and getting things done. Granted, this was the second time i had ever been on a roof, I was by myself, and had several 12 year old girls who were hard to motivate and keep working, and had to be constantly monitored to make sure nothing was messed up. We barely managed to start laying shingles on one side of the roof, we break the roof into sections, and finish that part before moving on to the next generally, we didnt even finish tar papering that side, but that was due to having to wait on a board in order to patch a hole that in the roof. Tuesday went better, we finished tar papering, tore off one short side of the roof, and then started shingling that side. Still not the most work accomplished, but definitely an improvement none the less. Wednesday we had a half day, and had to be back by 12. Our goal was to finish shingling both the sides before we got back to campus, we did manage to do this, but it did mean that I and three of the MTV kids had to stay behind for about 20 or 30 minutes in order to finish shingling. Thursday we finished tearing off the roof, and tar papered the whole roof, and chalk lined one long side of the roof, only to find out that we did them wrong. this was a good amount of work to be accomplished, especially considering we had to replace almost half of one side of wood in order to keep the roof stable. It was almost funny, looking for weak boards. It seemed like every time i hit a board, the roofing shovel i was using went straight through the roof. Friday morning, we were visited by the shingle faries who helped us lay a few shingles before we got there, while its frustrating that i needed the faries, it certainly helped and was a blessing.
Aside from the frustrations of the slow roof, this week was amazing and i know God touched many lives this week. Friday afternoon before dinner i was talking with one kid who was there, he was a pretty quiet kid, but just by talking to him i could tell he had an amazing time, he even got tears in his eyes talking about how much he had enjoyed this week. It was amazing to see his reaction to the week. MTV even had three people get saved!!! The worship was amazing, and i am loving being here.
i found out that ill be roofing again next week. this roof is a bit bigger than the one i did this week, but ive got a little more experience, and a returning staffer to help me. i dont think shes done many roofs before either, but it still be a big help. Even though im exhausted, im really looking forward to having kids come again and working some more.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
And Thats a Wrap
Well training is officially over. Three weeks of late nights, early mornings, and a lot of hard work in between. These three weeks have been a lot of fun, and Ive gotten to know a lot of awesome people. Wednesday we split up into crews again, this time the crew i was on had 5 people, and we built another 12 by 10 deck, but this time we built the whole thing in one day. we got started working about 630 or 7, and were finished by 530 or 6. we got off to a bit of a slow start, but picked up the pace and were finished first. I thought we worked well together again. Im really glad that everyone can work well with everyone else, hopefully that means we will have minimal drama and problems between staffers working during the camp weeks. Thursday we went through all of the worship services. it was a long day, doing 4 full worship services in one day, but it was really good and im looking forward to all of the services, even though theyll probably get old after hearing the same thing 6 times in a row. Friday we reorganized the trailers and made sure for one last time that we had all of the tools we needed for the camp weeks. We were also assigned trailers for the summer, or at least the week. This week, ill be putting a new roof on a house. i went with one of our supervisors to take the trailer to the job site, and was able to look at the roof ill be putting on. it doesnt look like it will be too big of a roof, but it will be a full week. this house definitely needs a new roof. i only got a good look at two sides of the house, one has a big dip in the roof, which im hoping isnt a hole, and the other side already has a hole thats been patched with plastic or something. i just hope the roof is stable enough for all the kids to be up there at the same time. After lunch, we went and purchased all the food well be needing for the week at walmart. its amazing the number of chips, sandwich meats, bread, drinks, ect that it takes to feed 140 people. we pretty much cleaned out walmarts food section.
our first crew of staffers come tomorrow around 4. Im really looking forward to them getting here. I believe weve got about 140 campers, including chaperones. the week should be interesting. ill be incredibly busy, but i cant wait for everything to really get started.
our first crew of staffers come tomorrow around 4. Im really looking forward to them getting here. I believe weve got about 140 campers, including chaperones. the week should be interesting. ill be incredibly busy, but i cant wait for everything to really get started.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Decking and Summer Snow
This week is decking. We have five decks that we have scheduled for this week. In addition to all of the decks weve got for this week, we also have alot of work that needs to be completed in order for everything to be ready for campers. This includes everything from making videos, to organizing more trailers, to all kinds of other stuff. its been a pretty busy week. weve got some pretty funny videos planned for this summer. if ryan is reading this, unless you want to ruin the surprise of the videos scroll down a bit. if not you can still read, just dont tell anyone about it. two of the videos are spoofs from old saturday night live skits. the first is called land whale. the old snl skit is actually called land shark. Its about a shark that lives on land and goes door to door, getting people to answer the door, and then eating them. its a pretty funny sketch, especially when you can hear the 'land shark' talking and luring people to the door. the second one is called mr jonah. the original sketch is about a play dough man named mr bill and he is destroyed every video by his arch nemesis sluggo. the only difference in our skit is we changed the name to mr jonah in order keep with the theme of the summer. another video is a countdown where all of the guys sing bohemian raphsody together in a car. im really looking forward to seeing these videos edited. they should be funny
back to the decks... weve had 5 decks to do this week. sunday night we were split up into three different crews, we each had a deck to do. we were given monday and tuesday to finish them, which isnt too much to expect. i had a really good crew. warren, the worship leader was our crew leader, and erica. everyone had a 12x10 foot deck to do. the deck crew i was on had a few extra requirments to meet because of who was funding the project. we had to meed KHC code in addition to state code, while everyone else only had to meet state codes. We had several extra steps we had to do, including two posts, lag bolting the deck to the house, putting extra supports under the deck, as well as digging out a hole for cement to be poured to secure the steps. some of these make a little sense, but others, like the cement, are just pointless. oh well, thats just how it works i guess. our grouped worked really well together, and we kept up the pace with everyone even with the extra stuff to do.. we still have two decks to do tomorrow, which well split into crews to finish as well.
thursday were going to run through all of our services to make sure everything meshes well together. ive got a feeling this is going to be a long day, but atleast it wont be too strenuous.
i have discovered two things thus far that are in kentucky. the first, being ski. ski is a sprite like soft drink with alot more flavor. its quite delicious, now it is in no way, shape or form im comparison with the divine-like sundrop, but it rather tasty. the second thing i have discovered, i love oh so much. two words: Summer Snow. oh if only words could describe summer snow. its kinda like a snow cone, but oh so much better. it will literally blow your mind. they have 60 flavors, some including : rug rats, frog in a blender, ken and barbie, the incredible hulk, spider man, rock and roll, and oh so many others. if any of you are ever in campbellsville, you MUST stop by summer snow, your life will be changed forever.
one more thing, the new mountain dew soft drinks arent all youd expect. looking at the packages, youd think theyd be the most delicious drink youd ever had, but its not the case. their not bad, but they arent that good either. just thought id throw that little bit of info yalls way.
im really looking forward to campers coming on sunday. its gonna get hecktic and im hardly going to have time to breathe, but it should be alot of fun.
5 days till campers come
back to the decks... weve had 5 decks to do this week. sunday night we were split up into three different crews, we each had a deck to do. we were given monday and tuesday to finish them, which isnt too much to expect. i had a really good crew. warren, the worship leader was our crew leader, and erica. everyone had a 12x10 foot deck to do. the deck crew i was on had a few extra requirments to meet because of who was funding the project. we had to meed KHC code in addition to state code, while everyone else only had to meet state codes. We had several extra steps we had to do, including two posts, lag bolting the deck to the house, putting extra supports under the deck, as well as digging out a hole for cement to be poured to secure the steps. some of these make a little sense, but others, like the cement, are just pointless. oh well, thats just how it works i guess. our grouped worked really well together, and we kept up the pace with everyone even with the extra stuff to do.. we still have two decks to do tomorrow, which well split into crews to finish as well.
thursday were going to run through all of our services to make sure everything meshes well together. ive got a feeling this is going to be a long day, but atleast it wont be too strenuous.
i have discovered two things thus far that are in kentucky. the first, being ski. ski is a sprite like soft drink with alot more flavor. its quite delicious, now it is in no way, shape or form im comparison with the divine-like sundrop, but it rather tasty. the second thing i have discovered, i love oh so much. two words: Summer Snow. oh if only words could describe summer snow. its kinda like a snow cone, but oh so much better. it will literally blow your mind. they have 60 flavors, some including : rug rats, frog in a blender, ken and barbie, the incredible hulk, spider man, rock and roll, and oh so many others. if any of you are ever in campbellsville, you MUST stop by summer snow, your life will be changed forever.
one more thing, the new mountain dew soft drinks arent all youd expect. looking at the packages, youd think theyd be the most delicious drink youd ever had, but its not the case. their not bad, but they arent that good either. just thought id throw that little bit of info yalls way.
im really looking forward to campers coming on sunday. its gonna get hecktic and im hardly going to have time to breathe, but it should be alot of fun.
5 days till campers come
Friday, May 30, 2008
Roofing is Hard
Roofing is hard. Its fun though. This week weve been roofing. We roofed the president of KHO's house, Todd. Convenient huh? He had a pretty big roof, it was a tough job to do in 3 days. we split the roof up into three sections, the back we did the first two days, one half each day, and then the front all in one day. The front didnt have any valleys or anything too difficult, and the front had two sections coming out from it, leaving us with four valleys and two extra ridges.
The first thing we had to do once we got up on the roof was take the old shingles and tar paper off. we tood roofing shovels and scraped all the shingles, tar paper, and old nails out of the roof. Once everything is off the roof, we laid tar paper down over the sections where we had pulled shingles from, laid chalk lines to serve as a guide when we laid shingles. the next step is laying shingles, we put a starter strip down first, and then laid 3D or architectural shingles. The valleys require a little attention, but nothing too bad when you have someone showing you what to do. Roofs dont seem too terribly complicated when youre working with someone who knows what their doing, when its just me, well see how that goes. the only bad thing about roofing is the temperature. its freaking hot! when the sun comes out and theres black tar paper and black shingles on the roof, the temperature rises very quickly. in the afternoon, you can barely sit on the roof while working. i was working with whitney yesterday putting ridge caps on (the pieces that cover the peaks of the roof) and we couldnt sit down for more than a few minutes without having to get up. shingles are also very heavy, and well generally have to take them up the ladders to the roofs manually which gets old with an 80 lb bag of shingles.
This week has been pretty hectic with these roofs. weve still been getting up at 515ish, and getting to the site and starting to work at 6, and most days we work until atleast 6. 12 hr work days in the hot sun are long and hard, but im loving every minute of it. i feel fairly confident i can teach a group of campers how to put a roof on and it look halfway decent. im a little shaky on the ramps, but im guessing i wont be doing too many ramps this summer, and even if i am weve got 5 decks next week and thats the exact same minus adding an angle for the slant. Im guessing im going to be doing roofs for most of the summer since ive done KHO before and and have done construction projects before, and have more construction experience than most of the new people. im really looking forward to it.
only 9 more days till campers come
The first thing we had to do once we got up on the roof was take the old shingles and tar paper off. we tood roofing shovels and scraped all the shingles, tar paper, and old nails out of the roof. Once everything is off the roof, we laid tar paper down over the sections where we had pulled shingles from, laid chalk lines to serve as a guide when we laid shingles. the next step is laying shingles, we put a starter strip down first, and then laid 3D or architectural shingles. The valleys require a little attention, but nothing too bad when you have someone showing you what to do. Roofs dont seem too terribly complicated when youre working with someone who knows what their doing, when its just me, well see how that goes. the only bad thing about roofing is the temperature. its freaking hot! when the sun comes out and theres black tar paper and black shingles on the roof, the temperature rises very quickly. in the afternoon, you can barely sit on the roof while working. i was working with whitney yesterday putting ridge caps on (the pieces that cover the peaks of the roof) and we couldnt sit down for more than a few minutes without having to get up. shingles are also very heavy, and well generally have to take them up the ladders to the roofs manually which gets old with an 80 lb bag of shingles.
This week has been pretty hectic with these roofs. weve still been getting up at 515ish, and getting to the site and starting to work at 6, and most days we work until atleast 6. 12 hr work days in the hot sun are long and hard, but im loving every minute of it. i feel fairly confident i can teach a group of campers how to put a roof on and it look halfway decent. im a little shaky on the ramps, but im guessing i wont be doing too many ramps this summer, and even if i am weve got 5 decks next week and thats the exact same minus adding an angle for the slant. Im guessing im going to be doing roofs for most of the summer since ive done KHO before and and have done construction projects before, and have more construction experience than most of the new people. im really looking forward to it.
only 9 more days till campers come
Saturday, May 24, 2008
End of Week 1
Well we have successfully gotten through week one of training, out of three. the only real thing we did this week put up a handicapped ramp on tuesday and then finished up a few last things on wednesday morning. all of our other time was spent working on tool trailers, making sure all trailers were stocked and that everyone knew how to operate all the tools and what not. another focus of this week was bonding and getting to know everyone on the staff.
Total, there are twelve staffers for this year, six guys and six girls. The guys are : me, Drew (one of the two supervisors), Warren (the worship leader), Brian (the camp pastor), Jason, Zach. The girls are: Hatfield (the female supervisor), America (really Erica, but when says I'm Erica like America), Lisa, Whitney, Amanda, Brittney. Drew, Hatfield, Whitney and Amanda have all been interns before, and other than myself, those are the only people who have ever really done anything with KHO before. Like i said, weve been spending alot of time bonding this week. For instance, Drew bought the entire Indiana Jones Collection and we spent Tues, Wed, and Thurs night watching one movie each, then friday afternoon, the entire staff went to watch the new Jones movie, which is an utter disappointment, dont go see it, its about aliens... weird.
All of the other staff bonding time has been random things like croquet, frisbee, apples to apples and other random things. i really like everyone on the staff and am looking forward to working with them all summer. it should be alot of fun. Within the first 30 minutes i had walked in the door, on the way to goodwill in search of a shirt for "wheres Jason?", a skit were doing similar to wheres waldo, Brian and I were immersed into theological discussions ranging on all topics, including everything from speaking tounges and healing to drinking alcohol and cussing. thats not to mention all the other political discussions. its been alot of fun and i look forward to see what God has in store for all of us.
Thursday was mainly spent working on tool trailers and what not, Friday we woke up a little later than normal (6 am), cooked breakfast, went shopping, and helped to break down the sound system so we could move it. Most everyone left after the movie on friday, leaving only four guys and one girl in Campbellsville. today, we filmed a few short videos for the campers to watch during the services. This was a good idea vs bad idea video. for example, one of the good ideas was putting sunscreen on, the bad idea was putting Krafts Tangy Tomato Bacon dressing on you. So i was given the pleasure of rubbing sunscreen on my arms, followed by salad dressing, also another was a good idea of hitting nails into wood, bad idea was hammering a soda can, which i shook up a can of dr pepper, and then smashed it as hard as i could with a hammer, sending Dr Pepper everywhere, it was pretty nasty. we had all kinds of all other videos and what not, it was alot of fun, even though i got really gross. After the filming we ate lunch and hung around the duplex. after that we went to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. this was a great movie, especially compared to Indiana Jones. I highly recommend it. we then went to Zach's house for dinner, his parents let us eat some burgers at their house, followed by four square. To top everything off, we went to a place called Summer Snow, which is an awesome snow cone place in Campbellsville, i think its going to have to become a weekly adventure for me... i mean the have 60 flavors... whats not to love!!
In addition to all of this stuff, most nights, before bed, im outside talking with the one and only Emily Burger, which is always a treat! :-* im kinda fond of her
Even though this pretty slack week has been fun and has given me a chance to get to know everyone ill be working with fairly well, im really looking forward to getting some hardcore work done and learning how to put roofs on houses and build decks. next week will be really busy as well be putting a roof on the president of KHO's house (pretty convenient huh?) the next week will be even busier as well have to build 5 decks in 5 days, in addition to all of the set up well have to be doing in order to get ready for campers to arrive that sunday. im getting really excited about everything starting to get going at a quick pace.
Total, there are twelve staffers for this year, six guys and six girls. The guys are : me, Drew (one of the two supervisors), Warren (the worship leader), Brian (the camp pastor), Jason, Zach. The girls are: Hatfield (the female supervisor), America (really Erica, but when says I'm Erica like America), Lisa, Whitney, Amanda, Brittney. Drew, Hatfield, Whitney and Amanda have all been interns before, and other than myself, those are the only people who have ever really done anything with KHO before. Like i said, weve been spending alot of time bonding this week. For instance, Drew bought the entire Indiana Jones Collection and we spent Tues, Wed, and Thurs night watching one movie each, then friday afternoon, the entire staff went to watch the new Jones movie, which is an utter disappointment, dont go see it, its about aliens... weird.
All of the other staff bonding time has been random things like croquet, frisbee, apples to apples and other random things. i really like everyone on the staff and am looking forward to working with them all summer. it should be alot of fun. Within the first 30 minutes i had walked in the door, on the way to goodwill in search of a shirt for "wheres Jason?", a skit were doing similar to wheres waldo, Brian and I were immersed into theological discussions ranging on all topics, including everything from speaking tounges and healing to drinking alcohol and cussing. thats not to mention all the other political discussions. its been alot of fun and i look forward to see what God has in store for all of us.
Thursday was mainly spent working on tool trailers and what not, Friday we woke up a little later than normal (6 am), cooked breakfast, went shopping, and helped to break down the sound system so we could move it. Most everyone left after the movie on friday, leaving only four guys and one girl in Campbellsville. today, we filmed a few short videos for the campers to watch during the services. This was a good idea vs bad idea video. for example, one of the good ideas was putting sunscreen on, the bad idea was putting Krafts Tangy Tomato Bacon dressing on you. So i was given the pleasure of rubbing sunscreen on my arms, followed by salad dressing, also another was a good idea of hitting nails into wood, bad idea was hammering a soda can, which i shook up a can of dr pepper, and then smashed it as hard as i could with a hammer, sending Dr Pepper everywhere, it was pretty nasty. we had all kinds of all other videos and what not, it was alot of fun, even though i got really gross. After the filming we ate lunch and hung around the duplex. after that we went to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. this was a great movie, especially compared to Indiana Jones. I highly recommend it. we then went to Zach's house for dinner, his parents let us eat some burgers at their house, followed by four square. To top everything off, we went to a place called Summer Snow, which is an awesome snow cone place in Campbellsville, i think its going to have to become a weekly adventure for me... i mean the have 60 flavors... whats not to love!!
In addition to all of this stuff, most nights, before bed, im outside talking with the one and only Emily Burger, which is always a treat! :-* im kinda fond of her
Even though this pretty slack week has been fun and has given me a chance to get to know everyone ill be working with fairly well, im really looking forward to getting some hardcore work done and learning how to put roofs on houses and build decks. next week will be really busy as well be putting a roof on the president of KHO's house (pretty convenient huh?) the next week will be even busier as well have to build 5 decks in 5 days, in addition to all of the set up well have to be doing in order to get ready for campers to arrive that sunday. im getting really excited about everything starting to get going at a quick pace.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Well Here Goes
Well, this is my first blog, never actually thought id be doing this, but here i am, thanks to Grandie & Teresa.
So far KHO has been great. It was a long drive from Boone, but it was a good, fun one. Minus the fact that mapquest lied to me and i didnt know how to get to the duplex im living in, but oh well, it happens. i got here sunday afternoon, moved all my stuff inside, met the rest of the staff and ate dinner with them.
Monday to today, weve been training. Learning about rules & regulations, expectations, what can get us terminated (which hopefully will not be happening :)), and what not. Tuesday we toured the KHO facilities, learned how to set stuff up and what not. today, we did our first construction, a handicapped ramp. This was all kinds of fun. It looks quite well and should work very nicely for the lady who will be using it.
Tommorrow well finish the ramp, work around the shop and just do little random things.
well, thats what ive been doing.
one thing that isnt quite great about this summer is the time we get to wake up. monday and tuesday we were up by 7ish in order to be working at 8, but today, i got the pleasure of waking up at 515 this morning in order to be at work at 6. i find this a bit ridiculous, considering that God isnt even up this early, but thats just how it is, and it will get us prepared for summer camps where were waking campers up at 6.
the staff im working with is alot of fun, were all very different, but we get along great, some people knew each other before, some very well, but i think were all getting to know everyone very well and bonding well. im looking forward to the summer with everyone.
thus far, everything has been great here in ky, and im looking forward to what the summer holds for me.
So far KHO has been great. It was a long drive from Boone, but it was a good, fun one. Minus the fact that mapquest lied to me and i didnt know how to get to the duplex im living in, but oh well, it happens. i got here sunday afternoon, moved all my stuff inside, met the rest of the staff and ate dinner with them.
Monday to today, weve been training. Learning about rules & regulations, expectations, what can get us terminated (which hopefully will not be happening :)), and what not. Tuesday we toured the KHO facilities, learned how to set stuff up and what not. today, we did our first construction, a handicapped ramp. This was all kinds of fun. It looks quite well and should work very nicely for the lady who will be using it.
Tommorrow well finish the ramp, work around the shop and just do little random things.
well, thats what ive been doing.
one thing that isnt quite great about this summer is the time we get to wake up. monday and tuesday we were up by 7ish in order to be working at 8, but today, i got the pleasure of waking up at 515 this morning in order to be at work at 6. i find this a bit ridiculous, considering that God isnt even up this early, but thats just how it is, and it will get us prepared for summer camps where were waking campers up at 6.
the staff im working with is alot of fun, were all very different, but we get along great, some people knew each other before, some very well, but i think were all getting to know everyone very well and bonding well. im looking forward to the summer with everyone.
thus far, everything has been great here in ky, and im looking forward to what the summer holds for me.
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