Veterans Green Jobs, Week 2

I’m running low on witty ways to intro these updates, so let’s all pretend I just said something really funny.  Like maybe a knock-knock joke.  Those are funny right?  With the holiday it was a short week, but we did go weatherizing, we saw the Nuggets play, and we had a wonderful thanksgiving in Boulder.

More on thanksgiving in a second, but first: our short week at work.  We put our work-hard pants on, and did more moving, painting and cleaning.  On Tuesday though, I got to go out with one of the weatherizing teams.  As I mentioned, the main thing that Veterans Green Jobs actually does is weatherizing for families near the poverty line.  So Tuesday, I saw what all that actually entailed. 

The first house we went to was mostly finished, but there was a crawlspace that needed insulating.  That meant four hours crawling around in a dirty, creepy, little space under the floor.  The biggest challenge was fighting around all the Christmas decorations the guy had stored down there.  (This Grinch had half of Who-ville's Christmas under his house.)  We stapled giant pads of insulation to the underside of the floor, sealed off a trap-door up to the main house, and insulated all the water pipes (so they won't freeze).

After we finished there, we went to another house where a different team had been working, to help them wrap up.  I got to see how they insulate the walls there.  First, they tape off the whole room with plastic sheeting.  Kindof like a boring, environmentally responsible episode of Dexter:

Then they drill a ton of four-inch holes in the wall: one between every vertical stud, and all at knee height.  The trucks they drive all have generators and these big grinders, which they use to pump the walls full of recycled newspaper (treated so it is fire/ rodent retardant).  After the wall is packed, they seal the holes with wooden plugs and spackle.  Like this:

It was really interesting, seeing all this stuff, and a great break from the warehouse.

Up until Tuesday, we all thought we were going to be eating the nasty cafeteria food for the one holiday that is all about food.  Lucky for us, my old high school buddy Kevin Luby saved the day, and volunteered to host us in Boulder.  Thank goodness for friends. We brought six americorps kids, a bunch of sides, and beer.  Lots of beer.  Kevin and his roommates cooked the turkey (up to 55°F Mom, just like you said.) and the stuffing.  

This was my first thanksgiving ever away from Spokane, and I learned a few things.
1. I can’t make any of our family recipe dishes right.  How was I ever a cook?

2. It got down to twenty below in Spokane, so I think I picked a good year to miss.

3. Turns out you can get drunk on Thanksgiving, even if you’re not at the P.I. in Spokane.  The unmarked caraffs of random liquor Kevin had certainly helped:

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is.

Since the holiday, I’ve been busy digesting.  Oh, and we also went to an NBA game downtown on Friday.  We saw the Nuggets play the Bulls. The Nuggets were trailing by one point in the final seconds and Carmelo hit a circus jumper from just inside the three point line to win the game. It was a crazy finish, and the Pepsi-center erupted. (they should call it the Pepsi/Mentos center! Get it!? ...ugh....I immediately regret that joke)  Anyway, it was lots of fun, and we picked an awesome game to go see.  

I think that's all I've got for this week, but more soon. Safe travels to everyone!