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Jul. 8th, 2003 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
htothehThere's nothing really much going on, so I think I'll ramble about ASP a little.
Week one opened with a slightly irritating car ride. One of the girls I was riding with had never been away from home before. This was made obvious when we got to the mountains and she squealed "trees!" It was only through a strong exercise of will that we avoided strangling her. Monday night's EG included a game very loosely based on the first game for Sega Genesis. I'll wait while you guess.
No, it's not anything Sonic. It was Altered Beast. The game involved shaking someone's hand and introducing oneself, saying "prepare to meet your doom." The other person would then respond with a manical laugh. Then there would be a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and the loser would have to cheer for the winner. I ended up cheering for a guy named Pickle. I think that made my week.
I went on the preliminary worksite visit on Sunday night--my first preliminary worksite visit ever. I met the woman we would be working for, let's call her DJ, and took a look at what we were going to be working on. The floor of the house was rotting, as a result of sitting on the ground, and the sill would need to be replaced. Actually, we learned that later, after Barry sawed off the bottom foot of the siding. But anyways. We worked on siding removal on Monday, leading to putting in fiberglass insulation and OSB board. Fiberglass is icky. If you don't want it to get under your skin and itch, you have to either put on a lot of baby powder or wear long sleeves. Neither is very much fun.
We worked on that and putting in new studs, then started digging holes for some new footings. These are 18"x18"x24" holes. Not fun for the person who has to dig them, who did not happen to be me. Rebar was cut to put in the bottom of the footings, concrete was poured, and handprints were placed in the drying concrete. I don't like 80-lb bags of cement. Not cool.
Then the house had to be jacked up so the new sill could be put in. All this time, I did very little actual work. I helped with the destruction work, and I hammered a few nails into the OSB, but I mostly just took long water breaks and took nails out of old boards. Good for building muscle, not so good for feeling useful. Roger, Patrick and Barry (our Fearless Leaders) didn't really need any help with the sill, but still. We took one long lunch and tossed around a Frisbee. And a football, there was a football too, although I didn't really have much to do with it. DJ's seven-year-old granddaughter, Tia, was there starting on Wednesday. She developed a crush on Daniel, which might have been cute if not for the fact that Tia didn't understand what "no, I can't play right now" meant. Very irritating. Felt better on Thursday, though, when some of Tia's cousins came to visit. They were three four-year-old blonde girls, named Hannah, Jessica, and Joy. All three were absolutely adorable. Jessica, the one in my work group, and I got plenty of pictures with our "twins." There were many piggy back rides, and chasing after hats stolen by giggling children. My hat. That was some of the most fun I had all week. It's almost impossible to tire out four-year-olds, or at least these four-year-olds, so long after I was done and collapsed on the front porch, Joy was asking me when I would stop being tired and give her another piggy ride.
Friday afternoon was a bit tamer, just because DJ served us a Real, Southern Lunch, with pinto beans and cornbread, and potatoes and onions right from her garden. I got my first taste of raw onion. I didn't like it so much; it must be an acquired taste, as Roger ate like three of them. Then there was more hat chasing, and talking with DJ and assorted relatives, and not getting to ride on 4-wheelers. I didn't like saying goodbye. We were told, however, that anytime we would be in the area, we would be welcome to stop by.
Some other highlights from the week that weren't at the worksite:
The biggest one was riding to ice cream every night in Martin's pick-up truck. It's the kind of truck that fits four, but only with little fold-down seats behind the real seats. We fit four in it, three teenage girls and Martin, who I'm not sure ever bothering growing up. One night he put in the Greatest Hits of Aretha Franklin. He knew ever word. So did Jessica. Kara and I muddled through the best we could. All four of us belted, or attempted to belt, "Natural Woman." Good times.
Another fond truck memory was when we thought we hit a skunk. This is fond because Kara thought it smelled like coffee, and in our mind sets, the image of a super-caffeinated skunk with the jitters was natural. Through a rather convoluted path, this led to stotting. Don't ask. It's safer that way.
Bluegrass on Culture Night was terrific. They even played "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow." There was some incredible talent, especially the fiddle player. The only problem I have with bluegrass is that it all starts to sound the same after a while, but we left before it got old.
There was an on-going feud the entire week between Kara and Phoebe, the girl who squealed "trees!" They were on the same worksite. This was probably a mistake. Kara thought Phoebe didn't work enough, or barely at all; Phoebe thought that everyone was being mean to her. It peaked at the picnic, when Phoebe was supposed to be watching the children who came from their worksite, and didn't. Then Phoebe rode home in the van. Or at least, partway in the van. In the bathroom at lunch, I went off at her. Yes, Hannah lost her temper. I think I felt worse about it than she did, though. Someone switched with Phoebe, and peace was restored.
Have you seen my beach ball? It's about this big, and it went that way.
The showers were wonderful. Even though they were outside, they were directly connected to the hot water heater, so there was always hot water. So nice...
I was glad to get home, even though I had a great time. I giggled a lot that week. And jumped up and down. It was a major surprise to see Erica and Chris right when I hit the driveway. Nice, though.
Willright write (yes, Hannah is tired) about Week 2 later. Now I'm going to bed.
Week one opened with a slightly irritating car ride. One of the girls I was riding with had never been away from home before. This was made obvious when we got to the mountains and she squealed "trees!" It was only through a strong exercise of will that we avoided strangling her. Monday night's EG included a game very loosely based on the first game for Sega Genesis. I'll wait while you guess.
No, it's not anything Sonic. It was Altered Beast. The game involved shaking someone's hand and introducing oneself, saying "prepare to meet your doom." The other person would then respond with a manical laugh. Then there would be a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and the loser would have to cheer for the winner. I ended up cheering for a guy named Pickle. I think that made my week.
I went on the preliminary worksite visit on Sunday night--my first preliminary worksite visit ever. I met the woman we would be working for, let's call her DJ, and took a look at what we were going to be working on. The floor of the house was rotting, as a result of sitting on the ground, and the sill would need to be replaced. Actually, we learned that later, after Barry sawed off the bottom foot of the siding. But anyways. We worked on siding removal on Monday, leading to putting in fiberglass insulation and OSB board. Fiberglass is icky. If you don't want it to get under your skin and itch, you have to either put on a lot of baby powder or wear long sleeves. Neither is very much fun.
We worked on that and putting in new studs, then started digging holes for some new footings. These are 18"x18"x24" holes. Not fun for the person who has to dig them, who did not happen to be me. Rebar was cut to put in the bottom of the footings, concrete was poured, and handprints were placed in the drying concrete. I don't like 80-lb bags of cement. Not cool.
Then the house had to be jacked up so the new sill could be put in. All this time, I did very little actual work. I helped with the destruction work, and I hammered a few nails into the OSB, but I mostly just took long water breaks and took nails out of old boards. Good for building muscle, not so good for feeling useful. Roger, Patrick and Barry (our Fearless Leaders) didn't really need any help with the sill, but still. We took one long lunch and tossed around a Frisbee. And a football, there was a football too, although I didn't really have much to do with it. DJ's seven-year-old granddaughter, Tia, was there starting on Wednesday. She developed a crush on Daniel, which might have been cute if not for the fact that Tia didn't understand what "no, I can't play right now" meant. Very irritating. Felt better on Thursday, though, when some of Tia's cousins came to visit. They were three four-year-old blonde girls, named Hannah, Jessica, and Joy. All three were absolutely adorable. Jessica, the one in my work group, and I got plenty of pictures with our "twins." There were many piggy back rides, and chasing after hats stolen by giggling children. My hat. That was some of the most fun I had all week. It's almost impossible to tire out four-year-olds, or at least these four-year-olds, so long after I was done and collapsed on the front porch, Joy was asking me when I would stop being tired and give her another piggy ride.
Friday afternoon was a bit tamer, just because DJ served us a Real, Southern Lunch, with pinto beans and cornbread, and potatoes and onions right from her garden. I got my first taste of raw onion. I didn't like it so much; it must be an acquired taste, as Roger ate like three of them. Then there was more hat chasing, and talking with DJ and assorted relatives, and not getting to ride on 4-wheelers. I didn't like saying goodbye. We were told, however, that anytime we would be in the area, we would be welcome to stop by.
Some other highlights from the week that weren't at the worksite:
The biggest one was riding to ice cream every night in Martin's pick-up truck. It's the kind of truck that fits four, but only with little fold-down seats behind the real seats. We fit four in it, three teenage girls and Martin, who I'm not sure ever bothering growing up. One night he put in the Greatest Hits of Aretha Franklin. He knew ever word. So did Jessica. Kara and I muddled through the best we could. All four of us belted, or attempted to belt, "Natural Woman." Good times.
Another fond truck memory was when we thought we hit a skunk. This is fond because Kara thought it smelled like coffee, and in our mind sets, the image of a super-caffeinated skunk with the jitters was natural. Through a rather convoluted path, this led to stotting. Don't ask. It's safer that way.
Bluegrass on Culture Night was terrific. They even played "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow." There was some incredible talent, especially the fiddle player. The only problem I have with bluegrass is that it all starts to sound the same after a while, but we left before it got old.
There was an on-going feud the entire week between Kara and Phoebe, the girl who squealed "trees!" They were on the same worksite. This was probably a mistake. Kara thought Phoebe didn't work enough, or barely at all; Phoebe thought that everyone was being mean to her. It peaked at the picnic, when Phoebe was supposed to be watching the children who came from their worksite, and didn't. Then Phoebe rode home in the van. Or at least, partway in the van. In the bathroom at lunch, I went off at her. Yes, Hannah lost her temper. I think I felt worse about it than she did, though. Someone switched with Phoebe, and peace was restored.
Have you seen my beach ball? It's about this big, and it went that way.
The showers were wonderful. Even though they were outside, they were directly connected to the hot water heater, so there was always hot water. So nice...
I was glad to get home, even though I had a great time. I giggled a lot that week. And jumped up and down. It was a major surprise to see Erica and Chris right when I hit the driveway. Nice, though.
Will
