So I've been pretty lazy over the past what, two months? So I figured it was about time i put another post up here. One thing that I find absolutley awesome, is skiing. Every kind of skiing as well, free skiing, powder skiing, tree skiing/back country, mogul runs, groomed runs, a little bit of park skiing ( i just don't have the guts to try anything crazy), and racing. Racing is one of my favorite (obviously). On the ASU ski team, we do two events, Giant Slalom (GS), and Slalom (SL).
Heres a link to one of my GS runs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgGLkW5E5ZU
and heres another link to a SL run:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiT10jPrvzI
These videos will do a much better job explaining the two than i will, but ask questions if you have them.
Slalom is probably my favorite event, but I'm definitly better at GS.
Ok, so after enough rambling, heres why skiing and racing are just plain awesome. Once you get the hang of skiing, it can be an incredibly relaxing activity, but it can also get your heart racing and put you on the edge, preferably the latter. When free skiing on an empty run, just about the only thing you can do is to look around and be blown away by God's creation. It doesnt matter how many times I go up to Sugar, everytime I get to the top of the lift on a clear day, I marvel at the view and how immaculate God's creation and His mountians are. Some of my best God moments have been while skiing and just thinking and talking with God in the midst of His creation.
Racing is somewhat similar to freeskiing, in the fact that one your skiing, and you're surrounded by Gods creation, but when you get down to it, its completely different. As soon as you get up to the start gate, you almost get a nervous feeling, wondering how this next run will turn out, whether you'll wind up killing the course, or if you'll ski like a little girl and get a horrible time, or even exploding and losing skis and such. As soon as you push out of the start gate, the world stops, aside you and the timer. Occasionally you can hear your team on the side cheering you on, but other than that, the only sounds you hear is the crunch of the snow under your carving skis and the thwap of the gates as you hit them. Its an incredible feeling. When I stop and think about it, I can't help but stop and thank God for skiing and racing, and for the fact that He's blessed me with a healthy body that allows me to ski. Overall, skiing can be an incredible act of worship, and a heck of a lot of fun. :)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Intro and the Stillness of the Snow
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.
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.
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.
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