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.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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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