Dramatic Chipmunk

This trip has been a journey that I will always remember. My team and I have accomplished a lot of difficult tasks with roadblocks that have prevented us from accomplishing our goals as fast as we could. The first day we had to gently remove the floor of the hallway and put in new support beams as well as insulation. We also had to build a set of stairs to connect to the porch. Our homeowner often comes outside and talk to us. He is a funny guy and told us stories about his past. This was so much fun and I've met a lot of people that I never would have met without ASP! My team and I were able to overcome these obstacles with a lot of hard work and this is an experience that I will never forget and cherish my heart forever. 

Emma

Emma McJury, Kaitlyn Timari, Billy Gitler, Ryan Flannely, Melisa Belami

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Boom Goes The Dynamite

Lee G, Jill D, Kayla T, Rachel S, Will H, Mike C

This year at "Boom Goes the Dynamite" we had to put up a wall of dry wall in the three bedrooms, put siding under the porch, frame and install a new window and do a new tin roof.  We finished the window and the siding.  The door and window under the porch were framed.  We finished putting up dry wall and started to Spackle and sand.  Slats were installed on the roof to prepare for new tin.  Then we got a surprise visit from the ASP garbage truck and helped them clean out the back yard of scraps as much as we could.  We spent a lot of time with the home owner.  He is an amazing man that loves his music and watching the humming birds.  We were so grateful he was able to join us at the picnic.  He brought his electric guitar and shared some of his music with us.  We were blessed to work with each other to make their home warmer, safer and drier.

To Hot to Fish

Our group has been given the task of replacing a 12' x 24' back porch. On Monday we began removing the existing porch one board at a time. Adam, Christine, and Brandon tackled the tedious job of removing all the nails so that the boards would not be a danger and that they might be able to be used for a different purpose. 

On Tuesday we began to dig the holes. We all pitched in and dug holes all day. Tuesday was tough but once the 4x4's were set we all felt confident that this deck was a project that we could possibly finish by the end of the week. 

Our family has been quite a pleasure to be with. They have a wonderful front porch. That is where we have had the pleasure of eating lunch and taking our snack breaks. The young boy who lives there  is an awesome guitar player and he and Brandon had an opportunity to play today during and after lunch. 

We spent most of the day Wednesday hanging the joist brackets and cutting lumber to fit. Everybody has become quite efficient with all the power tools. 

The house is situated across the street from a large pond which is stocked with enormous-sized catfish. The family has been sharing great stories about the many fish that they have caught and released. 

Our goal was to be able to share lunch with the family on their new back deck tomorrow. It may be a late lunch but we are going to make this happen. 

Oh yeah, our host Mom made us homemade butterscotch. Ah, Kentucky 

John C. Kevin S. CHRISTINE N. BECKY B. BRANDON B. ADAM T. 

Flea Market Montgomery

This week our work crew Paul, John O., Taylor, Blair , Liam, Kurt were assigned to a project called "Flea Market Montgomery" which is characterized by several setbacks and worthwhile successes.  Throughout the week a lot of things didn't go according to plan such as soot falling from the ceiling or trees blocking the way home.  But despite obstacles such as these our group has made a lot of headway nearing the completion of a drainage ditch and a redoing of one of the rooms of the house.

Although we are sad to see the week come to a close we are looking forward to see the completion of our projects.

Kurt Vogel

Her It Doe

Miss Teen South Carolina

by:  Tabi D., Justine F., Emily D., Eric H., Dave D., Laura S.

This week has been very exciting.  We had the privilege to work at a house with a husb and wife and four year old girl, lets call her Elsa.  Elsa is very energetic and has a huge personality which takes up most of our time at the site when we are not entertaining her.

We are fixing up a laundry room and bathroom.  The girls have transformed the laundry room by putting in a new ceiling and painted and primed the walls.  The guys have put in plumbing and worked on the shower because the family has only the use of a porta-potty.

The family owns four dogs, five kittens, chickens and a goat.  This usually keeps Elsa busy.  She also enjoys the movie Frozen, and usually sings the song "Let It Go", but with her speech impediment comes out as "Her It Doe".

The girls on my team got very close with Elsa and the family.  We are going to miss them dearly by the end of the week but we know we greatly impacted their lives.  Yay ASP 2015  :)

I Like Turtles

Our crew is working together with another crew to repair a home for an elderly couple. When we arrived at the site we assessed the situation and realized there were three main jobs that we needed to complete throughout the week. First, we had to dig a drainage ditch. Whenever it rains, their backyard floods and it becomes very muddy. The idea of the ditch was to allow the water to drain into the creek to prevent the backyard from being a muddy disaster. The ditch that we dug was 117 feet long around the house and it was 3 feet deep. Once the ditch was dug, we had to fill it with gravel. By the time we finished that day we used 7 tons (14,000 pounds) of gravel, and are waiting on 3 more tons to finish the job up. Our second job was siding. We are working on putting up siding on 3 sides of the house.As of today we have 1 side done, but by the end of the week the whole house will be sided and look completely different. Finally our last job was to help finish a room inside the house. We spackled, sanded, and painted the room, and we are currently working on putting down a floor. Our crew has been working really well together and by the end of the day we feel accomplished of what we got done. Even with the heat and the rain we still manage to work hard and have fun everyday. After this week, the homeowners will notice the impact we made on the house because we have made huge changes. They will have siding around the whole house, a finished room, and will no longer worry about their flooding issues. All in all, our crew is having a successful week so far and we are having a lot of fun working together.

Samantha Wilson

Crews: I Like Turtles (Dan, Keith, Nick, Sam, Mary, Chelsea, Matt)Working with: I Like Turtles Part 2 (Chris, Kira, Mike, Ryan, Doug, Jaimie)

Have You Ever Had a Dream Like This, Part 1 and Part 2

Despite two rain delays, our double work crew accomplished a lot today at our site "Have you ever had a dream like this, Part 1 and Part 2.  We completed laying down a rolled shingle roof, completed putting on exterior batting and began putting siding around the entire site.  Tomorrow we hope to finish this job, including framing out all the windows and doors and putting finishing touches to the roof; before moving indoors for installing insulation and hanging drywall in the new addition.  Hopefully all of this will be interrupted by some guitar picking with our host father Sam and our own Rob Cook and John Almendinger

Rob M.

Rob McMichael, John Almendinger, Laura Heath, Heather Attanasio, Noah Mendel, Mickey Hauer, Rich Eustice, Rob Cook, Brian Dempsey, Michelle Heath, Kailey Blakely.

Evollution of Dance

We've been working on the home of a very nice lady.  She lives alone with her three dogs (that are very cute and friendly.)  So far we've finished her back porch by adding stairs and installed some flashing to prevent leakage into her home by her windows and doors.  We are in the middle of taking apart her kitchen floor that's been ruined by water damage.  Thankfully her 3 layers of flooring prevented to much structure damage however, discovering the extra few layers was not fun.

Our crew is having a blast together especially when it comes to admiring (and playing with) the many butterflies in her yard.  We look forward to a great week with a great homeowner.

Julia.

Bill D., Matt C., Tim G., Julia F., Michelle C.

Mosey Monday, July 6th

How does that song go?  Lazy days and Mondays always get me down...  Not on ASP.  We woke to an overcast day around 7:15 and met for devotions at 7:30.  After a hearty breakfast we broke out and got ready to go to "visit our families."  It turned out to be a great "sunshiney day."  It was a great day of visiting with our families after having had our construction group leader and a youth member visit the family on Sunday night to say hi.  The day turned out to be nice and sunny and we all had a good experience.  Dinner was chicken pot pie and then chores.  After that we had our evening gathering and then a couple of our leaders treated our entire entourage to Faygo Floats (yes Andy we are in the middle of Faygo heaven.  -- see our FAYGO blog July 10, 2013)  

Quiet time at 10:30 and lights out at 11:00 (for those who can last that long) and then we start it all over again.  

Starting on Tuesday we will hear from specific groups.

Paul

a Haiku:  

Ditches are deeper

Spackle crackled one last time

Hornets flew to Dan

Fairmont, WV

We have safely come to Fairmont, WV.  Prayers for the 1st Presbyterian Church here.  We have eaten out dinner and are now watching the fireworks from Veterans Square.  Thank you all for your blessings.  More on Monday.

Monday, Work Day 1, February 16, 2015

We woke up bright & early for breakfast to a falling snow. Predictions were for 8-15" & not to stop all day. We had a SNOW DAY! With no chance to get to either work site, we went to The Barn (where all the work material & tools are stored) & accomplished a few things. We had to cut stair stringers for the Seaview site. I worked with John Casale, Tim Buckley & John O'Melia on this using a circular saw & a jigsaw. John Almindinger, Sue Anderson, Betsy Kamienowski, George Hellermann, & Mickey Hauer worked organizing plumbing & electrical parts, along with assorted hardware. Not the most stimulating work, but Hoxie, the Center Director, really appreciated it. All that & we were done by 11:30am.

After lunch, we all tried some different things to make the time pass. With all due respect to David Letterman:

From the home office in Guyan Valley, WV, the "Top Ten Activities When You Get An ASP Snow Day"

10. Check Facebook

9. Take a nap

8. Work on a 500 piece puzzle where 375 pieces look the same

7. Take pictures of the snow falling

6. Play Christmas carols on your trumpet

5. Sing Happy Birthday to a staff member

4. Lament that you missed the SNL 40th special on Sunday & then find out the rebroadcast is on Friday (when we still won't have TV access)

3. Take an even better nap

2. Count the number of times George says "Nuts, nuttier, nuttiest"

1. Play a marathon tournament of Cornhole

Stay safe & warm in NJ!

Melissa.