Welcome C.C.MMX followers!
I know what I'm about to do is breaking the 4th wall, but I want to start this post by thanking you all for keeping tuned in to our adventures. We really appreciate hearing from friends and family re our blog. It also means a significant amount to me, that this is being enjoyed by friends and families from each member of the team. They say feedback is important for all sort of aspects of life and the response I've gotten from our team and from you through our team has been amazing.
Some people have asked how many hits our blog has been getting so I've installed a hit counter on our page to keep track from now on.
okay, now I'm going to crawl back into my little hole and continue to pretend that no one is listening to me talk to myself (about how I feel when I sing in the shower). Also, I decided not to proofread this... you'll see why by the end (hint - I'm way to tired right now!! Wah!)
Work day two...... .
As I have said, we are staying in Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Spokane. We have a boys room for sleeping (really a church classroom), a girls room, Fr. Charlie's room and the couch room, which is a communal room with couches, used at the individual's discretion. I slept in the boys room the first night in a bag on the floor. It is nice to reminisce about the good ol' days of sleeping on the floor as a kid, but sadly the floor doesn't care about your childhood and punishes you all the same.
That being said, I moved to the couch room the second night and somehow found (in the dark)an empty spot. This couch has got to be one of the most comfortable I've experienced in my time, but the dang thing wreaked havoc on my back more than the freaking floor!! I couldn't believe how horrible I felt when I woke up this morning.
Lindie came around giving wake up calls at about 7:00. "..... ." is pretty much how I felt this morning when Lindie woke us up. My brain basically needed time to boot.
The highlight of my morning was the double-chocolate muffin that I ate for breakfast. I had been salivating over it since I saw it a day ago (love at first sight). Only this morning did I sink my teeth into it. Unfortunately I had to stuff the muffin into my mouth under a tissue, because my nose was bleeding profusely. It was likely a strange image for onlookers, but the nosebleed has become a pivotal part of my life and I won't let it keep me from my double-chocolate muffins.
Think of nosebleeds as modern day blood-letting (like the barber shop signs) and they are not so bad really.
(yes I added this random visual, because the first part of this blog looked so boring) (P.S. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole)
*I don't have any pictures from today outside the work site. I'll spend a little time tomorrow snapping a few pics of the other stuff that goes on around Pilgrims. For now though, I'll just jump right into our second day at the building site*
We were blessed once again today with decent weather. There was virtually no rain today and we even saw a good amount of sunlight early in the day. We hopped right back into working and took up separate tasks.
Here we've got Kyle and Brian working with the man, Tom, to finish nailing the plywood onto the roof of the duplex. Tom, who I briefly mentioned before, used to be a Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator, like Bill, who is running the show for the rest of us. Tom's persona is that he is there for the job. He is a roofing specialist and we think the project may be behind schedule, so Tom is lending his expertise for a few days.
It is fun working with Tom, because while he is less happy-go-lucky as the rest of the crew, he offers good pointers and advice in all sorts of tasks and he demands a bit more from us, because he's not afraid to push us. I really like that about him.
Here is our fearless leader, Lindie, up to absolutely no good. What no good, I do not know, but the menacing smile suggests some sort of trap like you might find on the island of the Swiss family Robinson. No, but seriously, she is setting up that table saw because she has been installing flooring for the past two days and the look is probably related to the idiot on the roof yelling "LINDIEEEEE -- Smiuuulllll!"That movie, The Swiss Family Robinson, btw (for internet lingo newbies -- by the way) was one of my favorites as a kid. I strongly recommend picking up that classic.
Next we have Fr. Charlie using the skill saw with yours truly sitting in the board to stability reasons. Cool shot right? Looking back now I'm thinking how potentially dangerous this is.. I think I'm more of a hazard than an asset.. My job in this photo is literally to sit and here I am moving around to grab my camera and subjecting Charlie to a photo shoot while he is trying to focus on the cut. Luckily Charlie reacts well under pressure and he is also very photogenic! Operating the skill saws is really fun and Jenni and I spent half the day measuring and cutting side panels for the house. We're essentially professional now.
Here's Bill and Tynishia unrolling and applying the (iceblock??). This stuff is required by law, because it helps reduce the build up of snow in certain areas of the roof. Have you ever been to a ski resort and the ends of the roofs are covered in snow? Sometimes the even fall down in huge chucks. Anywho, this black material is thick and absorbs more heat, which helps to melt the snow. Remember we are in Spokane, which gets a lot of snow.
There was a lot of time spend applying these layers and one thing that derived from it all was a battle for a staple gun. You see, on of the tool HfH has is like a standard stapler, but permanently in the open position. Basically as the black stuff is unrolled, you walk behind it and whack the roof. It is a very good feeling and so easy (physically) that it is a blast!
Here's a good view of the roof as it nears its completion stage for the day. The shingles arrived before lunch and we loaded them onto the roof in the next picture.
This machine was pretty cool to watch in action. Charlie had a run in with Bill, who said Charlie ought to let the strong and youthful Emily handle the big shingle loads. Charlie was sad at this and he can be seen spectating on the left. : (
Tomorrow we will likely be spending a lot of time putting those in. After the shingles were stacked in place, we went back to HfH headquarters uptown for lunch. Today they served us Chili and veggie spaghetti. I didn't try the spaghetti, but the chili rocked my world. I also busted out some satsuma oranges and we tossed them around the table attempting to catch them im out mouths. I went 4 for 4 with the people around me, but when I threw across the room to Nikki and Katie, they were both air balls. To be fair, though, my second throw to Katie wasn't too bad, but she didn't move her head at all, as if it was my job to land the orange slice safety inside. It did not happen.
Here is a group picture from the end of the day and a picture of the duplex thus far. We are making some major headway in the two days we've been working and what we've done has been probably the most fun part of house-building... working up high on the roof. It's super exciting!
We packed our stuff up and hid the good stuff from thieves. Jen's car went to Safeway for dinner food procurement and I had the pleasure of riding in one of the broken down vans. Here is a rare glimpse inside ol' blue (like ol' red, ohaha)...
We drove home and before six of us (Eric, Katie, Emily, Brian S, Brian C and I) showered, we decided to play a quick game of soccer in the park across from the church. Katie, Brian S and I got our butts kicked, but we all acknowledged the value in engaging in some cardio activities and not just the pure muscle building reps of hammering nails.
Speaking of soccer... Is anyone else super-excited for the world cup this Summer in South Africa?? I am so excited that I applied for an IBM position there. I didn't get the job, but that would be pretty sweet, right?
Tonight we played Mafia as a group and after 2 games, most of the group has got the game figured out. Maryanne and Emily creamed everyone in the first game. Jenni was the only one on the ball that game and she was taken out instantly in the next. The townspeople, however, despite offing their police chief Katie, won the game and eliminated Mafia members Tynishia and Brian S. I'm sure we'll be playing that game again soon. It is a fun group game.
I'm way past bedtime (11:00 and it is nearly 1:00). I'm gonna go grab a couch and hopefully not wake up stiff in the morning.
Some people have asked how many hits our blog has been getting so I've installed a hit counter on our page to keep track from now on.
okay, now I'm going to crawl back into my little hole and continue to pretend that no one is listening to me talk to myself (about how I feel when I sing in the shower). Also, I decided not to proofread this... you'll see why by the end (hint - I'm way to tired right now!! Wah!)
Work day two...... .
As I have said, we are staying in Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Spokane. We have a boys room for sleeping (really a church classroom), a girls room, Fr. Charlie's room and the couch room, which is a communal room with couches, used at the individual's discretion. I slept in the boys room the first night in a bag on the floor. It is nice to reminisce about the good ol' days of sleeping on the floor as a kid, but sadly the floor doesn't care about your childhood and punishes you all the same.
That being said, I moved to the couch room the second night and somehow found (in the dark)an empty spot. This couch has got to be one of the most comfortable I've experienced in my time, but the dang thing wreaked havoc on my back more than the freaking floor!! I couldn't believe how horrible I felt when I woke up this morning.
Lindie came around giving wake up calls at about 7:00. "..... ." is pretty much how I felt this morning when Lindie woke us up. My brain basically needed time to boot.
The highlight of my morning was the double-chocolate muffin that I ate for breakfast. I had been salivating over it since I saw it a day ago (love at first sight). Only this morning did I sink my teeth into it. Unfortunately I had to stuff the muffin into my mouth under a tissue, because my nose was bleeding profusely. It was likely a strange image for onlookers, but the nosebleed has become a pivotal part of my life and I won't let it keep me from my double-chocolate muffins.Think of nosebleeds as modern day blood-letting (like the barber shop signs) and they are not so bad really.
(yes I added this random visual, because the first part of this blog looked so boring) (P.S. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole)*I don't have any pictures from today outside the work site. I'll spend a little time tomorrow snapping a few pics of the other stuff that goes on around Pilgrims. For now though, I'll just jump right into our second day at the building site*
We were blessed once again today with decent weather. There was virtually no rain today and we even saw a good amount of sunlight early in the day. We hopped right back into working and took up separate tasks.
Here we've got Kyle and Brian working with the man, Tom, to finish nailing the plywood onto the roof of the duplex. Tom, who I briefly mentioned before, used to be a Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator, like Bill, who is running the show for the rest of us. Tom's persona is that he is there for the job. He is a roofing specialist and we think the project may be behind schedule, so Tom is lending his expertise for a few days.It is fun working with Tom, because while he is less happy-go-lucky as the rest of the crew, he offers good pointers and advice in all sorts of tasks and he demands a bit more from us, because he's not afraid to push us. I really like that about him.
Here is our fearless leader, Lindie, up to absolutely no good. What no good, I do not know, but the menacing smile suggests some sort of trap like you might find on the island of the Swiss family Robinson. No, but seriously, she is setting up that table saw because she has been installing flooring for the past two days and the look is probably related to the idiot on the roof yelling "LINDIEEEEE -- Smiuuulllll!"That movie, The Swiss Family Robinson, btw (for internet lingo newbies -- by the way) was one of my favorites as a kid. I strongly recommend picking up that classic.
Next we have Fr. Charlie using the skill saw with yours truly sitting in the board to stability reasons. Cool shot right? Looking back now I'm thinking how potentially dangerous this is.. I think I'm more of a hazard than an asset.. My job in this photo is literally to sit and here I am moving around to grab my camera and subjecting Charlie to a photo shoot while he is trying to focus on the cut. Luckily Charlie reacts well under pressure and he is also very photogenic! Operating the skill saws is really fun and Jenni and I spent half the day measuring and cutting side panels for the house. We're essentially professional now.
Here's Bill and Tynishia unrolling and applying the (iceblock??). This stuff is required by law, because it helps reduce the build up of snow in certain areas of the roof. Have you ever been to a ski resort and the ends of the roofs are covered in snow? Sometimes the even fall down in huge chucks. Anywho, this black material is thick and absorbs more heat, which helps to melt the snow. Remember we are in Spokane, which gets a lot of snow.
There was a lot of time spend applying these layers and one thing that derived from it all was a battle for a staple gun. You see, on of the tool HfH has is like a standard stapler, but permanently in the open position. Basically as the black stuff is unrolled, you walk behind it and whack the roof. It is a very good feeling and so easy (physically) that it is a blast!
Here's a good view of the roof as it nears its completion stage for the day. The shingles arrived before lunch and we loaded them onto the roof in the next picture.
This machine was pretty cool to watch in action. Charlie had a run in with Bill, who said Charlie ought to let the strong and youthful Emily handle the big shingle loads. Charlie was sad at this and he can be seen spectating on the left. : (
Tomorrow we will likely be spending a lot of time putting those in. After the shingles were stacked in place, we went back to HfH headquarters uptown for lunch. Today they served us Chili and veggie spaghetti. I didn't try the spaghetti, but the chili rocked my world. I also busted out some satsuma oranges and we tossed them around the table attempting to catch them im out mouths. I went 4 for 4 with the people around me, but when I threw across the room to Nikki and Katie, they were both air balls. To be fair, though, my second throw to Katie wasn't too bad, but she didn't move her head at all, as if it was my job to land the orange slice safety inside. It did not happen.
Here is a group picture from the end of the day and a picture of the duplex thus far. We are making some major headway in the two days we've been working and what we've done has been probably the most fun part of house-building... working up high on the roof. It's super exciting!We packed our stuff up and hid the good stuff from thieves. Jen's car went to Safeway for dinner food procurement and I had the pleasure of riding in one of the broken down vans. Here is a rare glimpse inside ol' blue (like ol' red, ohaha)...
We drove home and before six of us (Eric, Katie, Emily, Brian S, Brian C and I) showered, we decided to play a quick game of soccer in the park across from the church. Katie, Brian S and I got our butts kicked, but we all acknowledged the value in engaging in some cardio activities and not just the pure muscle building reps of hammering nails.
Speaking of soccer... Is anyone else super-excited for the world cup this Summer in South Africa?? I am so excited that I applied for an IBM position there. I didn't get the job, but that would be pretty sweet, right?
Tonight we played Mafia as a group and after 2 games, most of the group has got the game figured out. Maryanne and Emily creamed everyone in the first game. Jenni was the only one on the ball that game and she was taken out instantly in the next. The townspeople, however, despite offing their police chief Katie, won the game and eliminated Mafia members Tynishia and Brian S. I'm sure we'll be playing that game again soon. It is a fun group game.
I'm way past bedtime (11:00 and it is nearly 1:00). I'm gonna go grab a couch and hopefully not wake up stiff in the morning.
Take it easy listeners!
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
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