Winter in Appalachia = Ice, Snow, and Mud

First a recap of the weekend:

On Friday I went into the office at one o'clock because it had snowed the night before and the roads weren't clear in the morning. Shanna had already planned to come up and work with me, so she came in a little later. After work we went to Berea and Richmond to have dinner and kill some time before meeting up with Jen and Amy (two former volunteers, now CAP employees) at the movies. We saw The King's Speech which was very good. Then on Saturday the Rockcastle House celebrated Stacey's bday in Richmond, and I got to know the newest McCreary housemate, Megan (Yes, there are two Megan's on the west side now. Very confusing). Sunday I went hiking at the Pinnacles outside Berea with Carl and Sarah.

Lately work has been pretty slow, but luckily the Jackson crew came by this afternoon to look at a possible work site in Rockcastle County. I love it when any of the Housing crews come to visit as it breaks up the monotony of the day and they're always good for a laugh. I love all the Housing volunteers and crew leaders. And today Rachel (a recent volunteer) was traveling with them, which made the visit extra special and fun. The participant is living in his mother's home with his 2 year old daughter while he works on building a small home further back on the property. We had to go over and look at the house which meant walking several yards through nothing but mud. Unfortunately, when this day started I had no idea I'd be traipsing through mud and I didn't wear my boots. It was a legitimate sea of mud. Needless to say, we all had very muddy feet and pant legs by the time we got to the house. While walking back, Rachel said how funny it would be if I just faceplanted in the mud. I almost wished I (or someone else) had, just so there Rachel would have a hilarious last CAP story before starting her new job post-CAP.

The Jackson crew goes by the moniker "The Easy Crew" complete with coordinating nicknames: Big Easy, Easy Money, and Easy Button. For months now I've been begging Ross for my own Easy Crew nickname. Today I got it, but it wasn't one I was expecting. I am now known within the Easy Crew as Muddy Buddy.

Well, we're expecting 3-5 inches of wet snow tonight, so I'm planning on being grounded at least tomorrow morning and probably all day. Hopefully it will all clear up by Friday though because I have big plans this weekend - traveling to South Bend, IN with a bunch of CAP friends to see the Avett Brothers in concert.

And I'll end with this: Monica is a CAP volunteer at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Jackson County. This was her Facebook status tonight - "There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good."