The work stay that wasn't creepy

Proof that trying something more than once can pay off

After our first work stay experience I don't think either one of us were very excited to try again. Mostly I think Scot agreed for me so I really hoped it wasn't as big of a flop. This time we headed to Kenai. The contacted the greenhouse host but this time the host contacted me. It seemed much more chill. The couple was working on building their own home and needed some extra hands. When we were still on the fence they bribed us with a steak and shrimp dinner. Sold. In case you were wondering- it was the biggest shrimp I have ever seen. They were beyond delicious. Initially I was supposed to work weeding the garden while Scot helped install a tongue and groove ceiling. But I was bored. And lonely. And really didn't need to do any more weeding.

So I got promoted to the board cutter. So I feel like I need to tell you. That I was made for this job. The ceiling that was put in was huge. It was the entire inside of this garage/shop... I feel like it was the size of a barn. They would yell out numbers I'd chop those board, to perfection, and hand them on up. We were a well oiled machine. It took us a few solid days to get the whole thing done. We had to rent a lift and maneuver it on boards over a gravel floor. Well, I didn't do those things. But they were done. The experience of building stuff together with our own two hands really felt empowering. It led to tons of conversations about what we might be able to do together in the future. I can't image how much pride a person would have building a house.

The first few boards. We started on the lowest part of the ceiling before we got up on the lift.

Up Scoty boy goes!

The rest of the crew up on the lift while I handed up my expertly cut boards.

My work space. This is where all the magic happened.

Can we talk about my hair here... I had a brazilian blow out a few weeks before and I literally just woke up like this everyday. Those times have now passed...

Getting close to done. There are 2-3 boards per row. I cut every single one of those. Seriously... it's pretty darn perfect...

So our downtime here was also huge improvement. We had nightly barbeques, drinks around the firepit. Did I mention the hot tub. That's right. Not only did we actually get showers here, there was a hot tub. I even got to practice my trailer driving skills. They are pretty darn poor... But I try. We took his raft out to a lake and brought the hound. The goal was to practice on the lake and then head out to the Kenai River. But we were really bad at it. It was nothing like rafts we have been on before and the oars were so super heavy that trying to row both hands in unison was pretty impossible. (Apparently there were weights that were forgot about that make it a lot easier.) So we basically just looked really silly and floated around cracking up at ourselves and let the dog have fun.

Just rowing around in circles...

This handsome fella...

Baloo's first boating experience! He mostly wanted in the water but he humored us for about 15 minutes.

Bonding with new dogs. I'm pretty sure our next dog will be a pup for one of her litters...

This really was a great way for us to break up some of our summer. We got to help the host with a project he's been working on for a long time and we got to learn some pretty cool new skills. I would feel really comfortable and confident doing some of these things on my own in the future too. Which is pretty darn cool.