The Years Have Been Short but the Days were Long

Pictured above: Me rocking the top pony/mullet look made famous by men such as David Beckham, Qui Gon Jin, Obi Wan Kenobi, and the Last Samurai. The flowers are Lady Slippers. Lastly, we have the Natural Bridge.


For all of those of you out there wondering why there have been no blog posts, its mainly because things have gone on like clockwork with no hilarious happenings or major accidents. Right now, Ben, our new crew leader, Monica and I are poised to finish our last workfest job. It seems like an age since March when all the young college babies descended upon us and left 6 unfinished jobs in their wake, but almost 2 months have passed. We have been outright dominating and are close to completing all of the jobs.

This past weekend, I went camping with a group of former volunteers at the Natural Bridge and Red River Gorge National Parks. The Natural Bridge is a massive sandstone arch on top of a mountain in Powell County, Kentucky. The NB national park was one of Kentucky's 4 original national parks, established in 1925. We climbed the side of the arch in a tiny crevice to the top of the giant sandstone structure. The crevice was called, I kid you not, "Fat man's squeeze." ...I'm not sure why... We sat atop the ancient structure in the early morning breeze. This season in Kentucky is marked by cool nights between 40 and 50 and warm days between 60 and 80. The trees are now fully bloomed and greened and wildflowers dot the country side. The rivers are full and the grass lush. The other night, it was quite warm, maybe 75, and a light mist was falling. I took off my shoes and walked through the fields in the valley beneath our house and decided that summer was fast approaching.

In other news....

David Frank has returned. Just when our hour of need was greatest, our brother has returned to us. It seems like all people do is leave lately; Ross, Jennie from our house, Joe, and this weekend Jennie Biser, our dear friend from the east side. But, Frank has returned to stink this place up with the stench of victory (and prunes). As a 'welcome back' for Frank, I left a bag of prunes in his room, anticipating he would work with Laura the following day. Much to my ... surprise, he worked with me. I can assure you, dear friends, the truck has never smelled worse.
Last Thursday, Frank and I took the kayaks out on the lake to celebrate my birthday. There has been a renegade beaver on the lake this winter, so we thought we would assess the situation. I went a bit ahead of Frank, paddling gently through the shallows when all the sudden, like a rapter in Jurassic Park, a 4 foot beaver came charging out of the brush and dove into the water. Frank sped (slowly) to my rescue. He went to the beaver's hut and started hitting it with his paddle to draw him out. Then we saw 4 shadows circling us underneath the water. I could almost hear the Jaws music playing in my head. Rather than suffer the humiliation of defeat at the hand of a beaver family we decided it would be wise to strategically retreat. Beavers have very large teeth you know. They've won this round.

Cheers.