And then there were stairs!

Greetings all you contiguous states people! It's now the end of day 3 on the build site, day 4 of the trip. I'll get ya started on today's activities later on but for now, the promised updates from yesterday. After getting back to the job site, John, my leader on the site brought a drill over to me that had a bit stuck in it someone had used it and the bit had gotten twisted. He asked me to help him. We spent the next two hours taking the drill apart, putting it back together, trying to grip the bit with pliers, gripping the bits with wire cutters, pulling, twisting, you name it. That darn bit wouldn't budge. We finally tried using an angle grinder to shave off part of the bit and then pull it. Triumphant!!!!! I really like working with all the Alaskan crew guys here. They are really cool to talk with and they firmly believe that I can do everything the guys do. If I show any hesitation to work a circular saw they simply go over the safety with me and then make me do it. If one of the guys on my team offers to step in, they firmly and protectively say "nope, Sheri's going to do this." I'm really liking that. 

After the workday we went to someone's home for a BBQ. Her name is Shelly and she's a wonderful hostess! Her daughter set up the beanbag toss, we played horseshoes and badminton. About 20 of her friends stopped by and there was lots of mingling to be had by all (prompted only ever so slightly by the Margarita slushee... Holy crap, I think they put the entire bottle of tequila in there. We were told by our team leaders to show gratitude and appreciation for our hosts so I slowly gulped it down). Freshly caught Salmon and hamburgers were in the menu with a strawberry rhubarb dessert chaser. 

When we got back to the church around 9pm a couple people asked me to lead some yoga/stretching. About 15 people came upstairs! We didn't all fit into one room so we opened a door into another room. Some people came up halfway through so they just did hallway yoga. It's a new thing, hallway yoga. ;) 

This morning was another early morning. Up at 6 because we had to break down our mattresses again, pack up all of our stuff and move it out of our rooms so that the church could use the space. It might be ungrateful of me, but part of me feels like "this church is great for lending us their space to sleep in the basement" and the other part of me thinks "and then every Sunday and Wednesday we have to pack up all of our luggage, move the air mattresses, put the tables/chairs back in the room and be out much earlier... Can't you just meet at the Starbucks around the corner for the week?!" Lord please don't strike me down for being annoyed with the church about this. 

Today's work was amazing! I worked with Becky and our new lead Kaleb. He's a sweet teddy bear of a guy. Reminds me of my brother. We got to work on building stairs. We cut the stairs/the risers and later the part the looks like a zig zag that the stairs sit on. Becky and I wanted to get the entire two sets done but only made it up to the first landing. Stair building had to be REALLY precise. I also got REALLY good at using the table saw and the powerful circular saw. Never fear, all body parts are still attached! 

I loved it all!!! Leslie is the host up here and it's been such a blessing to talk with her about Habitat. Today she was trying to convince me to lead a trip up here next summer. Her nickname is the velvet hammer... She's smooth and grooms ya softly and then... WHAM, she gets ya to do whatever she wants :) 

After work we went to the Van Zyle house. They are two artists who live in a eagle creek (just outside of anchorage). They have a bit of land and also have sled dogs. Jon has raced in the Iditirod two times and has quite the experience with the dogs. They still have about 7 dogs but most of them are about 13yrs old and don't sled anymore. We learned all about dog racing, mushing, etc. it was really interesting!! 

They have SO much energy!! His wife Jonna also has many stories about racing dogs. They are both artists... Jon does paintings and Jonna does beadwork and makes jewelry with dried salmon skins. Jon is actually the official artist for the posters for the Iditirod!! 

Here is the upcoming one for the 2015. Cool huh? 

We got back to the church around 11 and had to put our rooms back together. It's late now and I am off to bed. We have a late start (10am)tomorrow since tonight was a late night. Hooray!!! I'll be working at the ReStore tomorrow so I will not be out at the build site. Good night everyone!