Nov 30th - Cleaning Day

Today we spent the day cleaning, getting ready for the groups coming in for the weekend. Mark and I mopped the dining hall and I mopped the Fallow meeting area. We also "spruced up" the outside areas. I burned up two tank fulls of gas in the leaf blower, just getting leaves of porches/decks and away from the immediate area of the buildings.

Tonight I made a batch of my grandmothers potato soup. I'm still missing something. It just isn't quite as good as when she made it, or my Mom, or Kathy. I think maybe I'm not frying the bacon long enough. Kathy emphasized that you have to get it right on the edge of being burned. I think I am being to cautious about burning it and am not getting it cooked as much as I should.

I talked to the RV repair guys about the awning again, now that I have the motor home back at the camp. They will call me Monday to set up a time they can come out and look at it.

I've told John that I was pulling out a week from Monday, Dec 10th. I may be here a few days longer than that, depending on how the awning repairs progress.

It is tough being old <grin>, I am usually tired by the end of the day (nobodies fault but my own, my ego won't let me take a day off, other than on the weekend), also it is getting lonely being here by myself every night. It is a half hour drive to either Bryan or Hearne, so driving into town isn't high on my list of things to do. By the time I take a shower, fix something to eat, and eat it; I sure don't feel like driving into town.

I may move about 160 miles east of here, to the Triple Creek Music Park, near Woodville, TX. It is a typical RV park, but one that focuses on bluegrass/country/gospel music. They have a show three of the Saturday's in every months. On the Saturday's with no show they have potluck dinners. They also have "jam sessions" on Thursday and Saturday afternoon. I don't sing or play an instrument, but I bet I would enjoy listening to others.

Originally I had intended on heading west from here, eventually ending up in Tucson or Phoenix before heading north to see Utah's canyon country. I've pretty much given up on that because Utah's canyon country isn't warm enough for RV'ing until May, at least not warm enough for this wimpy RV'er. (On May 1st the average low at Bryce Canyon National Park is 33 degrees.) I think I want to return to Missouri before mid to late May.

I have had a good time working the the guys here at Messiah's Ranch, but maybe I need some R&R at a place with other folks.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 29th - MOTOR HOME BACK AT CAMP!!!

Bryan Freightliner FINALLY finished working on the motor home. I brought it back to the camp this afternoon. Praise The Lord!!! I think they gouged me to the maximum extent possible, but that is another story.

Mark and I finished the "floor" in the cabinets today. We also did some trim work on the cabinet. It kept us busy the entire day. We still have some clean-up to do before the groups come in tomorrow.

It got down into the high 30's again last night but warmed into the low 70's during the day. It is supposed to hit 80 again one day next week.

Well, time to get my mountain of dishes done before Person of Interest. I also need to go over to the camp washer and remove one load of clothes from the dryer; and transfer those in the washer to the dryer.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 28th - Cabinet Floor

Last night it was pretty cool in the Freightliner parking lot. It got down into the high 30's.

I got to the camp around 9 this morning. John asked me to put a bottom/floor under some counter/cabinets. The bottom framework was open and and somewhat a catch-all, see the 2x4's on the left of the photo below. We went to the "barn" and found some old barn siding from a 100 year old barn John had torn down some years ago. We brought it back to the camp. I ran the boards through a planer to smooth the roughest areas and started cutting them to fit.

 This is the counter/cabinet area where I am working. The counter extends about 4' beyond the wash tub.

 Below are two photos of the "carpenter's workshop". In the one below the sliding chop saw in on the first table and in  the background there is a table saw. The steps on the left lead up to the back deck on the dining hall. The other set go to the upstairs of the new building.

Below is the portable planer I was using. The boards I'm planing are stacked against the screen room

 Tonights supper. It is their Tex-Mex plate. Under all the cheese are a couple of enchiladas. On the left of the plate is pork in some type of sauce. It was GOOD, and a great deal $6.95.

 This morning I gave up on the first RV repair guy I had called about the awning. I talked to Fred, the other volunteer who is now in Arizona, and he gave me the name of another RV repair place. I called them and the guy I talked to at least sounded interested. Once I get the motor home back to the camp I will call them so that they can come out and look at the awning that needs repair.

About 3 I called to make sure the motor home was finally done. I was told it was ready to be picked up. I arrived at the Freightliner place around 4 and got the invoice from the service department. I noticed that they had not replaced the air brake desiccant filter(?), as I had discussed with the service guy on Saturday when I made the appointment. They said that if I was willing to wait for an hour they would do it while i waited. I said to do it. On Saturday the service guy has said it really was something that should be done.

While I was waiting around I looked at he invoice again and noted the part number for the fuel filter. On Saturday, and again on Monday when I dropped it off, I made a point of telling them that the CAT 3186E had only one fuel filter and that it was a very small micron size filter. I went back over to the service counter and questioned them about the part number. They went to the parts people and the parts people told them that it was a better grade filter than what was required. Tonight I called Freightliner in South Carolina and talked to their support people. They could not find specifications for the filter that was installed but they think it is the wrong filter.

Back to the air brake desiccant kit. They service people said they didn't have the kit in stock so I'm stuck in the Freightliner parking lot again tonight. A kit is supposed to be delivered in the morning.

In the morning I will fight the fuel filter battle with the parts department.

Twice service people have overfilled the crankcase with oil. This particular engine holds only 22 quarts. Both on Saturday, and again, Monday morning, I specifically told them to make sure the crankcase was not overfilled. I checked the oil level Tuesday morning and it was OK. Today I noted that I was charged for 7 gallons of oil, 28 quarts. In addition to discussing this with the service department I plan on having a talk with the manager of the place in the morning. I am also going to write an email to the Lonestar Truck Group, who own the place, and another to Freightliner letting them know about the terrible service I have received.

It will be good to get back to the camp tomorrow and go to work on my cabinet flooring. Dealing with American business, and their incompetence, is tiring. Is it any wonder why our nation is going to hell in a handbasket.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 27th - Cleaning

Overnight at the Freightliner dealer was okay. I stopped at Denny's for breakfast on my way to the camp.

I had checked with the Freightliner service department before I left. They said they would clean up the grease/oil on the carpet and that the tailpipe should be installed by lunch. I went to pick it up around 3 and they had not started on the tailpipe. They did do a decent job of cleaning the carpet. After getting the old tailpipe off they realized that the one they had ordered was the wrong size (ID versus OD). I will be staying at the dealers again tonight. Hopefully they will get things straightened out tomorrow. This is not a big deal. I filled the water tank full, and emptied both waste tanks, before I left the camp Monday morning. The only "problem" is that I have to run the generator a couple of hours a day to keep the batteries charged.

Today John and I cleaned. I spent about 4 hours sweeping and vacuuming while he cleaned bathrooms and did misc odd jobs. The non carpeted floor will get mopped Thursday, probably by Mark and/or Robert (the young guys).

The campers are supposed to clean up before leaving. Below is the pile of dirt after I swept Fallow's first floor. The pile is about 18" across, the narrow way.

Some variety. Below are photos of the sinks and showers at one end of the Lakeside building. The wall finish is old barn siding.

 

Below are photos of the sinks and showers at the other end of the building. John builds with whatever he can get cheap, or free, at the time.

I like the trim at the ceiling.

Temperatures were much cooler today. The high was maybe mid 60's. John said there was an inch of rain in the rain gage at the camp, more than I thought.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 26th - Motor Home Maintenance

Man it gets dark early here. Last night, a little after 6 and I was working in the dark when I moved the motor home over to an area with a straight shot at the entry gate, and where I could hook up the CR-V. I guess it should not have been a surprise since I've been here as long as I have.

I made it to the Freightliner place without incident. I checked in, unhooked the CR-V and was back at the camp by 9. I did more insulating and cutting and fitting wood boards to finish the room around the water to heater as much as possible. When Fred did the plumbing it is obvious that he did not think the inside of the room was going to be finished. I also cut some scrap T100(?) siding pieces to finish a wall area behind a future vanity. Doesn't sound like much, but it kept me busy all day.

I got back over to the Freightliner place around 4. There were still waiting for a hydraulic filter, the chrome tailpipe, and the hubcap I lost on the way down here. The tailpipe and hubcap won't be here until tomorrow. I told them I would stay the night in the parking lot because I didn't want to drive back down miles of BUMPY dirt roads and then come back in the morning. I'm going to have some discussions with them in the morning about the grease on the carpet, between the bed and the closet. My guess is that the guy was on his knees while changing the air filter, through the closet floor, and the tops of his shoes got oil/grease on the carpet.

It rained quite hard here this evening. It is still sprinkling but the radar looks like most of the rain is done. I doubt that we got more than a half inch, but it came in a short period of time. The temperature dropped around 15 degrees. The high today was 83 while tonight's low is supposed to be in the 40's.

I had supper at Denny's, it is right across the highway from the Freightliner dealer. The waitress was an older lady, not as old as me. It was sad. She was obviously new to Denny's and maybe had never waited tables before. It took her three tries to get everything right on my food order, I think the kitchen kept sending here back to ask more questions about sides. I waited and waited for the salad. When it came she brought all my food at one time. It was a nice salad, the grilled tilapia was good and so were the other sides. Hopefully she will catch on quickly, because if she doesn't I can't believe they will put up with her for very long. The other two waitresses seemed to be efficient, I don't know why they weren't watching over her a little.

It's about 9, I'm going to hit the bed and read until I go to sleep. If they think the tailpipe will be delivered so that they can get it installed by noon I may just wait so that don't have to come back again. It isn't a big deal, it is a 30 minute drive in the motor home, back to the camp; maybe 25 minutes in the car.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 25th - Moving (Not Really)

I went to church at Five Points again this morning. BOY DO I LIKE THE PASTOR!!
I don't think I would look any further for a church if I were living here, not much danger of that happening.

All four of the messages I've heard him deliver have centered around we, as individual Christians, need to do what God call us to do. If each of us does our jobs, as individuals, the "Christian Team" will flourish. We need to focus far less on "the other guy" and more on ourselves.

He provided the "special music" today. They played a 26 year old recording of him singing "People Need the Lord". I don't know if he sings any more, he has not during the services I've attended, but man he sure could sing back then.

Today's message was titled, "Diagnosis of America". He preached while decked out in surgeon scrubs, he even had a hair net over his shaved head. The basis of his message was taken from Hosea and Amos. The passages came from the Message Bible.
He commented that he wondered if present day America was much different that Israel when the nation continuously fell away from God. The following is God thoughts about Israel's condition at the time.
Hosea 13:1 and following - God once let loose against Ephraim a terrifying sentence against Israel: Caught and convicted in the lewd sex-worship of Baal - they died!
2 And now they're back in the sin business again, manufacturing god-images they can use, religion customized to taste.
Professionals see to it: Anything you want in a god you can get. Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods - kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
3 And now there's nothing left to these people: hollow men, desiccated women, like  scraps of paper blown down the street, like smoke in a gusty wind.
6 I took care of you, took care of all your needs, gave you everything you needed, you were spoiled. You thought you didn't need me.

American has been one of the most prosperous nations of all time. Name some other place where people flock to as they have flocked to the opportunity provided here.

Now we are falling. We Christians have been so besieged by all the smut that we have become numb. It is almost as though we have been given a shot of spiritual novacaine. ( The following are my comments. We accept people shacking up as normal. We accept men refusing to pay child support as normal. We accept nearly half of all babies being born out of wedlock. We accept that we taxpayers have to foot the bill for over 40% of all births in the nation.)

He mentioned some of the reasons for the fall of the Roman empire; i.e. total moral decline, a heavy tax burden to pay for an ever government, etc. We have similar issues in America.

He then moved Amos 6:1 and following: Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion, who think Mount Samaria is the good life. You assume you're at the top of the heap, voted the number-one best place to live, (he replaced Zion and Mount Samaria with locations in Texas)
2 Well, wake up and look around, get off your pedestal. Take a look at Calneh. Go and visit Great Hamath. Look in on Gath of the Philistines. Doesn't that take you off your high horse? Compared to them, you're not much are you?
3 Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster! Catastrophe is just around the corner!
4 Woe to those who live in luxury and expect everyone else to serve them!
5 Woe to those who live only for today, indifferent to the fate of others! Woe to the playboys, the playgirls, who think life is a party held just for them!
6 Woe to those addicted to feeling good-life without pain! Those obsessed with looking good-life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin.

He is quite down on the massive growth of government and its intervention in our lives. Government is not the solution, it is the problem (I think that is a Reagan quote).

As usual he ended with an up note. He mentioned God sending Jonah to Ninevah to warn it of God's upcoming wrath. Those in Ninevah repented and the city was spared. We in America have the same opportunity.

Time to get out and "fold up my tent". I'm taking the motor home over to the Freightliner place near Bryan tomorrow, for some maintenance. I want to have it all folded up and the car hooked to it so I can leave the camp no later than 7:30.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

PS. I didn't proof read this. Please forgive my typo's, etc.

Nov 25th - Photos

Just made my morning rounds. Put out cat food at the barn and at the dining hall. Feed the fish in the pond and those in the aquarium. Picked up a couple of bags of trash left by the folks who were staying at Lakeside. Went down and checked on the folks who are staying at Magnolia. On my way down to the barn I chased out a buck with a decent rack. I had to stop the Mule and wait for it to find its way back along the fence. It thought it was cornered and ran into the fence a couple of times.

I forgot to post these photos yesterday.

Below is a photo of the ball field near Magnolia. No one has used it for years. John doesn't even bother marking the base paths any longer.

This is Magnolia. Note the nice patio behind, to the right of the photo. It is a three bedroom house.

This is one of the three pipeline right aways on the property.

It is about time to leave for church.

Good day to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 24th - Odd Jobs

Today was odd jobs around the camp. First I went around and checked in with the three groups that are here, to see if they needed anything. They were all fine. Next came feeding time. I put out some cat food by the dining room but since I didn't see the cat anywhere I thought it had gone back down to the barn.  The barn is about a quarter mile from the dining room. It is where the cat normally lives/eats. I went down there and put out some food.

On the way back I stopped and fed the fish in the pond. They were waiting to be fed. They get fed at two different locations. There is at least one turtle that comes up to eat at each location. After that it was back to the dining room to feed the goldfish. They go nuts when you get within 5 feet of the aquarium.

I worked on the gate again. I thought I had everything OK and tightened up so that the hinges wouldn't slip again. WRONG! By the time I got back from Bryan enough people had went in and out of the gate to cause the hinge to slip around again. Maybe this time I've got it fixed.

I went to Bryan Freightliner and made an appointment to take the motor home there Monday for general maintenance work, and a general checkup. I may go there tomorrow and spend the night outside their gate (they are in a rural area), so that I can get checked in first thing Monday morning. Then I can head back to the camp in the CR-V and be ready to go to work first thing in the morning. I don't want to miss a days work <grin>. John told me to take the day off, but I don't relish the thought of sitting around a truck repair place all day.

I went on to Bryan, picked up a prescription from Walgreens and went to Walmart for groceries and some other odds and ends.

When I arrived back at camp the big group of people were packing up and getting ready to leave. I think they had a great time and I would be surprised if they don't come back here next Thanksgiving. After they left I went over and took their trash out to the dumpster. I took a quick look at the building and it looked like they did a great job cleaning it before they left.

The weather was just awesome today. Officially the overnight low was 37 but according to my thermometers it never go below 40. The high was in the mid 60's. Most of the time there wasn't a cloud to be seen.

When I was out fixing the gate the last time I heard what sounded like sand hill cranes. I didn't see them but they were loud enough that they had to be relatively close. I don't know if any spend the winter around here or if they all go on further south. I think that some of them spend the winter in the Houston area, which is 120 miles southeast of here.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 22nd - Thanksgiving

I spent a lot of the day cleaning the inside of the motor home. I am SLOW!!!

I never realized how much woodwork we have, and how pretty it is, until today when I was dusting/polishing it. I did all the woodwork in the living/kitchen area before I ran out of Pledge, boy was I glad <grin>. I also vacuumed the carpet. I still have to wash/mop the ceramic tile floor areas and clean the woodwork in the bathroom/shower and bedroom areas. I plan on a trip to Bryan tomorrow. I can pick up some more Pledge and maybe get at least part of the rest of the job done.

Two more small groups are supposed to come in for a day or two over the holiday weekend. Hopefully I will be able to take care of everything tomorrow (feeding the cat down at the barn, feeding the fish in the pond, feeding the fish in the aquarium, dumping the trash from the buildings where people are staying, etc) so that John can take a day off. I will be surprised if he manages to stay away the entire day. He lives in downtown Bryan so it is at least a half hour drive for him to come out.

I had Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with him and his family. I think there were 13 of them. The food was EXCELLENT. Turkey, ham, two types of dressing (both were good), gravy that people put on the dressing and so did I (good stuff), two different green bean casseroles, a potato/cheese casserole, fruit, fresh vegetables, rolls and bread sort of like Texas toast. Lots of desert stuff but I stayed out of it. I brought a big plate home with me for supper.

John's youngest son (22) is racing around on the four wheeler taking the grandkids for rides. Caleb and John's son-in-law (can't remember his name) headed out into the woods after dinner, to do some target shooting with handguns. They must have walked a good ways away because I know they took lots of ammunition and I never did hear them shooting. I got to meet John's wife Lydia. She seems to be a very nice lady. She left soon after dinner was over. She was going to take John's mother back to the nursing home and then go home and rest herself. She is suffering from shingles, and just being worn out. She spent last week in the hospital with their daughter who had blood clots in both lungs, caused by a birth control device that malfunctioned. The daughter was here today.

I asked John if he had heard anything from Fred and Gail. He called them this morning. They are installing windows at one of their kids homes in New Mexico.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 21st - A Slow Day

Not much happening today.

I dumped the waste tanks, did a load of wash in the campground washer and a load in the motor home washer. Did several days worth of dishes in the evening. I need to get the vacuum out and also do some dusting. Manana (don't know how to put the squigle over the n).

Morning campground chores consisted of feeding the goldfish, cleaning up some broken window glass (it has been broken for some time, just hasn't been fixed yet) and taped a piece of styrofoam over the window to keep out the bugs (lots of wasps/hornets around right now). I also used the leaf blower to clean off the porches at Lakeside, the Dining Room and Fallow. John's family is supposed to be here over the holiday and he told me that another family had rented one of the buildings for the holiday. Since each building is pretty much self-contained, all have bunk areas, meeting rooms and kitchen and bath facilities, a group can be here almost without even knowing it.

I added another post to my poltical blog while waiting for John to show up. He arrived around noon, his wife has shingles and he is doing a lot of the Thanksgiving cooking. He had been grocery shopping before coming out to the camp.

He showed me how to "winterize" the pool. Down here, where they rarely get temperatures below freezing, there isn't much to winterizing. Backflush the filter and drain it, drain the pump and stainer and spread a couple of bags of hypochlorite(?) across the pool surface. I also dug up a piece of wood and put it over the hole where a window air conditioner had been removed from the concession stand.

I also dumped the trash can in Bluebonnet. The kids who had been in there over the weekend had made posters. I can't imagine how they managed to cram all the poster paper into the trash can. They must have stood on it and jumped up and down. There was no way the bag was just going to slide out of the trash can. I had to tip the can up and pull most of the paper out.

I did manage to get my exercise. I made 7 or 8 trips up the 20 steps to the new building upstairs, carrying pieces of hardwood flooring.

It got close ot 80 here today. It felt nice, with the breeze. Most places here are in the shade so you don't do a lot in the direct sun, unless you want to.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 20th - Sawed Logs

Good news - no leg cramps last night.
Bad news - I downloaded a fiction book from the Crossville library yesterday afternoon and got hooked reading it. I kept reading it after I went to bed. When I finished it I looked at my watch and it was 3:05AM. DUMB!

Mark and I put up a few pieces of elm trim this morning. We soon ran out of material, again. We have done about all the trim work that can be done up there until the HVAC area is finalized and the bathroom and shower areas are much further along.

We went over to the sawmill intending to saw a pretty good sized oak log, we needed a piece 12" wide by 8' long, and and elm log. The oak log had a lot of areas where critters had burrowed into it. We think the trash in the burrows caused us to dull two blades while sawing that log. We didn't have any problems with the elm log.

The starter on the Mule was acting up again so Mark removed it. I did some sweeping over in the Lakeside building.

We knocked off a little before 3 today.

Mark isn't coming out to the camp the rest of the week. I think that there isn't going to be much for me to do until next Monday. I didn't know that until today.

Weather was beautiful here today. High was 77. Low tonight is supposed to be in the 50's. It may hit 80 tomorrow, but will be cooler by the weekend.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 19th - More Trim Work

The weather is warming back up this week. Last nights low in the high 40's. Todays high was in the low 70's. Highs are supposed to be in the mid 70's for the next week, with lows being in the low 50's.

Mark and I worked together today. (Mark is probably in his late 20's. John hires him on a part time basis.) We started out trimming the upstairs. One of the rooms up there is done in oak and the other in elm. We are to use elm for all the trim. We ran out of elm while doing the first window. It was time to fire up the sawmill. I think I am going to pay for all the stair climbing today, with leg cramps tonight. It is 20 steps from the ground, where the table saw and chop saw are located, up to the 2nd floor. I didn't count how many times I climbed the stairs but I'm sure more than 20. My legs aren't sore. I'm not sure why I get the craps in the evening and during the night. I eat a banana most days and had a baked potato last night so I'm pretty sure I'm getting plenty of potassium. I think I will drink a lot of water this evening and see if that helps. It was warm enough that I did sweat some today, but not nearly as bad as I do when the weather is really warm. Its tough being old <grin>. 

John and Mark put an elm log on the saw while I did some clean-up work around the job site. I then went over to the sawmill and we started sawing the log. On about the 3rd pass we hit a nail and ruined the blade. We got the rest of the nail out of the log and changed the blade. We found another nail and broke the head off while trying to pull it out. Of course we had no tools for that. I made a trip to the motor home for a pair of channel locks and a pair of vice grips. We removed the nail and continued sawing.

When we got near the bottom of the log Mark noticed that a guide needed adjusted in order to cut the last board as thin as possible. I made another trip to the motor home (it is over an eighth of a mile from the sawmill to the motor home so I was using the camp 4 wheeler for the trips) for tools. After the adjustment we finished sawing the last board.

I had been loading the boards in the back of a pickup while Mark was sawing them. We headed back to the job site and after lunch started work on the trim again. We made good progress. Mark had some good ideas on how to do the trim. The upstairs trim will look nicer than what Fred and I did downstairs. We worked until 4, and hour longer than Fred and I normally did. About 3 he had asked when I wanted to quit and I said 4 was fine with me. I think we will be able to finish the upstairs trim tomorrow.

Once we finish the trim we are supposed to saw up logs until all the logs are gone. Depending on how long that takes, and how long I remain here, we will probably cut down some more trees.

Fred and Gail left around 8 this morning, according to John. They are probably most of the way across Texas tonight. I think it is about 800 miles to where they are going in New Mexico. They will stay there through Thanksgiving and then leave to visit another of their adult children, and grandchildren, in the Tucson area.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 18th - Sunday

This morning I attended church at Five Points Baptist, so did Fred & Gail.

This is Five Points main building. The old wood sided little church is still on site and I think is used. I haven't been in it but it appears that the old building has been well maintained.

You might just be able to make out the old dog that welcomes people. It is laying down at the entrance area. It's arthritis(?) must have been bad this morning because it just wagged it tail and looked up at people begging for some attention. Once almost everyone had left the service it did manage to get up and walk out into the parking lot, for some additional attention.



Today was "shoe box" day. The church has 205 plastic containers containing crayons, tooth brushes, tooth paste, scissors, etc.; to ship out. When I first heard that this small church had that many I was impressed. When I found out that not only do they have to purchase and assemble they "shoe boxes" they also have to pay $7 per box to have them shipped overseas. Then I was really impressed. They started out with 14 boxes a little over 5 years ago. Next year they want to do 400.

I've enjoyed all three messages that the Pastor has preached while I've been here. His family is very active in the church. The introductory singing is led by his father, his mother, his wife, his daughter, and one or two other people who Fred says are his relatives. The lady who plays the piano is also a relative. I get the impression that most, or all, of them have travelled as a singing group in the past, including the motorcycle racing, airplane restoring, Pastor. The congregation is not what I typically think of when I think of a Baptist church. Dress is very casual, as you will note in the photo of Fred and Gail. One of the younger gals (early 20's) who has been part of the singing group two of the last three weeks, has one arm completely covered with tattoos. She also wears at least one nose ring and dresses in an unconventional manner (a little like Abby from NCIS).

In today's message the Pastor made a distinction between people who have taken out "fire insurance", people who have accepted Christ as their Saviour because they are afraid of going to Hell; and believers who want to be Christlike. He message was taken from Mark 2:13-17, where Christ has supper with Levi, the hated tax collector, and other undesirables. We all have biases and tend to "discriminate" against certain groups of people. The Pastor told of his experience preaching at a mission. He was basically ignored and it made him mad. He was there to help them, they were mostly there because of bad choices they had made during their lives. God spoke to him telling him that he had to love all sinners, just as Christ does, if he wants to be a true follower. (My 2 cents worth. I agree, but sometimes that love must be tough love. We can not help someone continue a lifestyle that hurts them or others. I believe the Pastor would agree.)

Fred and Gail outside of Five Points this morning. They are all packed up and ready to leave Messiah's Ranch in the morning.

 I don't know why something turns this photo 90 degrees when I paste it into the blog post. It is my lunch at Amigo's, in Hearne, TX. I had never heard of this menu item before. I asked the waitress and she described it before I ordered it. The best way I can describe it is somewhat mushy pork rinds. It was edible but I sure wouldn't order it again.

I arrived back at Messiah's Ranch around 2 PM. The leaders of the weekend group were just leaving. John said they were students at Texas A&M.

I watched a little football and took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. Just finished steak, baked potato, and corn for supper. I'll probably surf the net a little and then head off to bed. Tomorrow will be different with Fred and Gail gone.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 17th - Sightseeing

When I got up this morning I dumped the waste tanks on the motor home and then started a load of laundry. After washing a couple of days worth of dishes I left for College Station and the Bush (41) presidential library.

When I got there I was amazed at all the cars and RV's in the parking lot. Only a few of them show in the photo.

 When I bought my ticket for the library a lady asked me if I was going to the game. She was helping me decide what, if anything, I needed to pass up in order to get the the Texas A&M football game on time. RV'ers are allowed to start parking in the library's RV parking area at 6 PM on Friday, and stay the weekend. When leaving the library parking lot I drove by the entry into the RV area. I could see a lot of preparation work had been done to get ready for "tailgating" parties after the game.

The library is located on the campus of Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas. This was the first time I've been to a presidential library. I was impressed! Only a relatively small area of the complex is open to the public. Only serious scholars are allowed access to all the presidential papers, videos, etc in the actual library. There is also a conference center and another building (I forgot the use of the other building.) The Bush's have an apartment in one of the buildings and they use it when the come to A&M football games. One of the docents said that it was not unusual to see George or Barbara walking around the library grounds. She didn't know if they were in town for today's game.

I spent about 4 hours in the library and enjoyed every minute of it. I began to realize how little I knew about them. There were a lot photos of both George and Barbara's families while they were growing up. I had forgotten that George H.W. Bush had been a Navy pilot during WWII and that he had been shot down. Neither of his two crew members survived. George managed to swim to a life raft and was rescued by the Navy.

I also either forgot, or I never knew, that they had a daughter who died when she was just a child, she had leukemia.

Barbara Bush had a humorous note in the archives about her gaining 60 pounds when she was pregnant with George Jr. She said she was somewhat disappointed when she found out that he didn't weigh nearly that much when he was born. Another interesting thing was a photo of their first house when they moved to Texas. It looked like one of the Louisiana shotgun houses. It was certainly not much.

After the library I picked up some groceries and a pizza from Little Caesars and headed north. I decided to drive on up to Hearne, TX on my way home, just to check it out. Hearne is about 12 miles for the camp. I had driven through it on my way here, but was focused on my driving, not sight seeing. At one time Hearne was probably a nice little town. Now the majority of the downtown sits empty.

Once back at the camp I put my groceries away and took a LOAD of laundry over to the camp washer and dryer. I'm sure I overloaded it even though it is supposed to be a large capacity model. I would have had to divide the laundry up into 3 or maybe even 4 loads if I had washed it in the washer/dryer in the RV.

It was a nice day.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 16th - TIRED!!!

I am really tired tonight. Not so much from what we did today, it was just a normal day, but I guess from being in such pitiful physical condition. Today was Fred's last day of work at the camp until they return in January. Working beside him has just worn me out! That is embarrassing because he is a 75 year old colon cancer survivor. He is TEN YEARS older than me and I'm worn out <GRIN>.

It isn't that either of us tried to outdo one another, we just both have a good work ethic and like to see progress being made. John, the camp director, might kid about us "old guys" not working hard (in fact he does), but he also makes us very aware of how much he appreciates our efforts. I'm sure that if we wanted to work fewer hours/days he would not mind. If we mentioned being tired I don't doubt that he would tell us to take a day, or more, off and rest.

This morning started out OK for me (no more coffee all over the countertop and floor), not so much for Fred. Yesterday we saw that we were getting short on the sawed boards, that we needed for the trim work that we are doing. When we met this morning we decided that the first thing we needed to do was saw several more logs into boards. We went over to Fred's saw and started prepping. We got the saw uncovered and put log on it. Fred went to start it and the key was gone. He normally keeps in in a magnetic case that is attached to the saw frame. We looked for awhile and gave up. He went into their motor home to get a spare key and it was not on the hook where he keeps it. He took the cover off the control panel and we looked at the switch to see if we thought we could safely jumper it. After some discussion we decided that would not be a good idea because we would not know what safety features we might disable. He called Woodmizer and ordered a new switch. We probably fooled around for an hour and a half before we gave up on sawing logs.

We ended up scrounging some pieces that we had sawed previously and we ripped them to size, as best we could, on the table saw. (He came back from lunch with a grin. He had found his spare keys. Somehow they had gotten down into the back of a chair. He cancelled his switch order.) We managed to contine working without the additional boards. By the end of the day we had accomplished enough that we were OK with our progress.

Mark, the young man (30?) who works here part time, has went through the Woodmizer training course for the saw. John told me that Mark and I would be sawing a bunch of logs before I leave. John wants to build up a stock of wood for projects he has scheduled in January. That is fine with me. It is something new. I imagine that after a day or so of constant sawing it will get boring, but who knows.

65 camper are here this weekend. They signed up two weeks ago and at that time there were only supposed to be 40 of them. Since the camp only furnishes them with bunkhouses and kitchen facilities, as well as all the play stuff, it doesn't take a lot more work for 65 than for 40. Actually before we went to saw the log this morning I used a leaf blower to blow all the leaves, and sand, off the porches and decks of the building the campers would be using. Mark and John mopped all the floors in the buildings that will be used while Fred and I put up more trim (after fooling around with the saw mill).

Tomorrow I think I am going to the George Bush presidential library in Bryan/College Station. I've seen the sign for it a couple of times and I want to make sure I get to see it while I am here. Depending on how I feel I might walk around some of the Texas A&M campus, it appears to be huge. I guess it has to be for 50,000 students.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 15th - Coffee Making

The start of the day was not all that I was hoping for. I got to bed at a decent hour but had problems sleeping. This morning I hit the snooze button a couple of times and finally had to get up. While still in bed I had planned getting around so that I would still have time to make and eat breakfast. I got coffee started the first thing. While the coffee was making I was getting other things around for bacon, eggs, hash browns & hootch. That was when I noticed coffee and grounds all over the kitchen counter and running down onto the floor. I had forgotten to put the coffee pot into the coffee maker. I had a real mess to clean up. I still managed to get breakfast made and eaten in time to make it to work by 8:30.

Fred and I worked on trim in the downstairs today. John and Mark started prepping the “recycled” hardwood flooring to get it ready to install in the new building. The flooring came from the some high school gym floor that was demolished. LOTS of labor to get it out, lots more labor to get it prepped and then the labor to install all the 2” wide boards, sand them and re-finish them. It will probably end up being a nice floor, and inexpensive. Guess that is how John can get his building constructed for less than $15/sq ft. 

I think tomorrow will be more of the same. It may sound like I’m bored. That is not the case. I enjoy working with these guys.

 
Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 14th - Nice Dinner

Fred and I worked on the new building today. We finished installing all the interior walls than can be put up at this time. In the afternoon we started the trim work on the lower level.

John took us out to dinner tonight. We went to a restaurant in Bryan. I had a rib eye steak that was good. John also gave us thank you cards with personal notes from him and a restaurant gift card. It was a very nice "thank you" for our labor.

Not much else to report. Supposed to drop into the high 30's tonight but I think it is going to be colder, hopefully not below freezing since I put my water softener back out and hooked up my water supply hoses again.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 13th - Cold Last Night

The thermometers in the motor home both said it only got down to the high 30's last night. Weatherbug claimed that the low was 30. In any case it was the coldest night since I've been here. At 7:30 it is still 52. It is supposed to get to 33 tonight. I noticed during the weather forecasts that the lows in Hearne, about 7 miles northwest of me are typically 10 degrees cooler than in Bryan, about 15 miles southwest of me. John says that is normal, he doesn't know why there is such a big difference. Both towns are in the Brazos valley. By Sunday the highs are supposed to be in the low 70's with lows in the mid 50's.

It is raining here right now, just started. I don't think it will last long.

More work on the upstairs of the new building today. Nothing to exciting.

When I came back from Byan last Sunday I backed the CR-V up near the front of the motor home, to make it easier to unload groceries. I didn't have thay many, just being lazy.

Remember last week when I included the photo of the deer walking down the road, less than 50' from the front of the motor home? This morning when I walked between the CR-V and the front of the motor home I noticed that a deer had walked between them last night. The distance between the car and the motor home is less than 10'.

Tomorrow night John is taking us out to dinner. It is a "welcome" dinner for me and a "leaving" dinner for Fred and Gail. Monday they are heading out to visit their kids and grandkids, in New Mexico and Arizona. They plan on returning right after the first of the year.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 12th - Cleaning and Construction

This morning we started out with prayer and the normal Monday morning meeting, to discuss what things needed to be done during the week.

Fred and I then went over to Fallow to change some light bulbs. One was in the high ceiling area. Fred had put a toilet plunger on the end of a 6' wooden dowel. He, he is 75 years old, climbed up to almost the top of a 10' step ladder and could just reach the bulb with the plunger on the end of the rod. He managed to get the old one out and screw a new one back in. The new bulb was a slighly different type of bulb and did not work. We don't know whether it is the bulb or the fixture. John will need to decide what he wants done, since we don't have any direct replacement bulbs.

Next we put a couple of 4' flourescent bulbs in one of the 4 bulb fixtures in the Fallow shower area. We struck out again. The bulbs would not start. We exchanged them for bulbs that we knew worked and still no light. Apparently a ballast is bad. Another decision for John, new fixture or replacement ballast.

Success at last. We put new bulbs in one of the exit lights and got it working OK. Then we noticed another exit light that appears to only have one of the two bulbs working. We need to make another trip to the "barn", which is on the other side of the property, to get another bulb, but that is another day.

While Fred was off getting the first set of bulbs I swept the Fallow downstairs floors. They are bare concrete and didn't look bad. The campers are responsible for leaving the place in the same shape they found it, but I guess that rarely happens. I swept up a fair amount of sand. Before the new campers come this weekend one of us will need to mop the floors I swept.

We spent the rest of the day working on the upstairs of the new building. We are putting up more of the board siding on the interior walls. The upstairs gets oak in one room and elm in another. Most of both upstairs rooms are done, except for the trim. We need to finish the toilet and shower areas. And add trim both upstairs and downstairs.

They were forecasting 29 for a low tonight but I just looked and now the forecast is 32. We moved a bunch of potted plants, and two potted trees, off the dining hall front porch and into the dining hall. Fred has "dollies" under the potted trees so that they can be rolled around. The trees are 8-9' tall, they take a beating going through the front doors.

Earlier we noticed that the "fire pit" was more than full of ashes. I went over and dug out a bunch of the ashes and dumped them in the woods. We have lumber scraps, from the construction, as well as other wood, near the fire pit so that campers can have a camp fire if they want.

When I was over doing that I walked on over to a building I had seen but never gotten close to. It is a small, very simple, chapel.

 The walls appear to be landscaping timbers.

 After I got back home I called Kathy and had her walk me through making potato soup, AGAIN. It isn't what most people think of when they think of potato soup. It is like my Grandma Ruthie, my Mom, and Kathy make. I LOVE IT! Mine wasn't as good as they make, but it still tasted good. I made enough for at least two more meals.

The heat pumps are cranking away. I was a little surprised at how much they are running until I looked at the outdoor temperature. It is 37. The heat pumps on the motor home are not the most efficient. They stop working, and the system switches over to the propane fired furnace, when the temperature drops much below 40 degrees.
The switch will probably be happening any time now.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 11th - Church and Golden Corral

This morning I met Fred and Gail at Five Points Baptist Church. We went to Bible Study (Sunday School) and church. I really like the Pastor, and the folks in the congregation seem quite friendly. There were about a dozen adults in the Bible Study class and 50-60 people in church.

The Pastor regularly uses the Message bible when he quotes Scripture. I had never heard of it. I like what I’ve seen of it. I bought a copy and downloaded in onto my phone a few minutes ago. I will let you know my further impressions.

The Pastor bears a striking resemblance to my brother; tanned, shaved head, red van dyke beard, etc. (If I saw them side by side they probably don’t look as much alike as I think.) Fred told me that the Pastor is a window salesman during the week. He is apparently also quite the mechanic. He works on, and rides, motorcycles. Today he told a story about his restoration of a 1946 Taylorcraft airplane, when he was a young man. The story was about the first time he piloted the restored plane.

The Pastor’s message was one I needed to hear, especially after the recent election. The basis of his message came from the 29^th chapter of Jeremiah. The 29^th chapter is a letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent to the Jewish elders and priests (believers) who were in captivity in Babylon. He started with verse 11 where God tell the Israelites, “I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not to abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Our nation is going to change dramatically in the next decade. Obama’s influence will extend far beyond his next term if he appoints more liberal Supreme Court justices, justices who ignore the Constitution and make laws in whatever manner they choose. This passage gives me hope because I think it also applies to the remaining true Christians in the United States. Quite obviously we are in the minority, and certainly our nation can no longer remotely be considered to be a Christian nation.

The Pastor tempered our enthusiasm when he moved back a verse, to verse 10. In that verse Jeremiah tells them that they will be in captivity for 70 years. That was something of a downer. We think of a few years as a long time. In Gods terms I’m sure that 70 years is far less than the blink of an eye. Even though we are going to be in “captivity” for a long time we should not lose hope.

The Pastor next read verses 5 thru 7 where Jeremiah tells them, “Build houses and make yourselves at home. Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you’ll thrive in that country and not waste away. Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare. Pray for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.”

We Christians should not consider ourselves defeated. God has a plan and he will take care of us. We need to continue to work diligently and make what we can of ourselves during our “captivity.”

After church I met Fred and Gail at the Golden Corral in College Station for lunch. When we left they were going to one of the Walmarts in the Bryan/College Station area and I was going to Krogers to pick up a few groceries.

I headed of cross country, through town, in the general direction of the Kroger store. On the way I came across a Walmart, with Lowes next to it. I wanted to get a saw blade while I was in town so I figured I would just get my groceries at the Walmart. When I got to the back of the store there was Gail. It was the Walmart that is their regular Sunday afternoon stop. I will miss them when they leave a week from tomorrow.

I arrived back home a little after 4. We had a tornado watch earlier but it has now expired. We are getting some rain, which is certainly needed. Today’s high was 81, it was still 79 when I got home. The temperature is now 57 and the low is forecast to be 47, with a high of only 62 tomorrow. We have had one or two nights with lows in the high 40’s while I have been here but the “lowest high” we have had was in the mid, maybe high, 70’s. Tomorrow, and the next couple of days, will be quite a change.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 10th PM - Cleaning Done

I got my two loads of laundry, in the big machines, done. I also did a reasonably good job of cleaning the inside of the motor home. Also did some online shopping for a few miscellaneous items.

This evening I walked to the dumpster, it is about 3 tenths of a mile to the dumpsters and back, and around the camp a little.

The photos below are of the pond/lake. The first one is looking east, toward the dam. 

 This one is looking north northwest. The structure going to the island is another project in the construction phase. it is a house trailer frame that will be a bridge to the island some day. Right now it is just the bare steel frame supported by timber piles and beams.

Nothing much exciting today. I just took it easy in the afternoon and evening.

Have a good evening. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 10th AM - Cleaning Day

I need to do "housekeeping" today. I haven't run the vacuum while I have been here. I'm also going to use a camp washer and dryer to do a couple of loads of laundry. I've been doing small loads in our "onboard" washer/dryer. Today I want to wash bed sheets, and some tee shirts and socks, in one load, and a pair of bib overalls and some shorts in another load. What would take me four or five loads, and all day, in our washer/dryer shouldn't take nearly that long in one of the camp units. The one I'm planning on using is on the back porch of the dining hall, less than 100' from the motor home.

I mentioned that about 5 miles of the road to the camp is gravel. One thing that was a surprise for me was the number of curves in Taylor Road. Jack Rabbit Lane, the first road after you turn off the paved road, is wide and straight, as I expected of roads in Texas. Once you turn off onto Taylor Road this is one of the longest stretches of straight road. It is relatively flat so I don't know why it is so winding.

This is the pine board ceiling we finished Thursday. The dark corner post is an old utility pole. The ceiling boards are cut to width so that they can be butted together. The width of the wall boards is just whatever came out of the log. They are lapped as much as required to get coverage. It is not as plain as it looks in the photo. Probably not my choice, but the material cost is minimal. The logs were free. Fred sawed them on his sawmill. Also, Fred and I are volunteers, so labor cost is small. John told me that the only building on the camp that cost more than $15/sq.ft. was the dining hall, and it wasn't much over $15.

Just after sunset last night a deer walked down the road in front of the motor home. The edge of the road is less than 50' from the front of the motor home. I was slow getting my camera out so I didn't get a photo until the deer was behind these small trees. The photo is taken through the motor home windshield.

Saturday breakfast. Anyone who knows me sees that something is missing. Someone forgot to take meat out of the freezer, so no meat for breakfast. When I made pancakes earlier the batter was to fluid and the pancakes were to thin to suit me. I thickened the batter this time and went overboard the other way. My pancakes ended up being a half inch thick and I overcooked them a little to make sure the inside was done. Still, not a bad breakfast. The other thing missing is "hootch" instead of OJ. Kathy sent me some of her hootch (tomato vegetable juice that is FAR superior to V8) but I've been saving it. I need to break open a quart.

It is 8:50 and activity is picking up. I just saw Fred on his four wheeler and Gail in her golf cart. Fred is going over to the pond to feed the fish, so that John doesn't have to come in today. I'm not sure what Gail is doing.

I just saw Fred go by the other way with the power washer in the trailer behind the four wheeler. He said something about washing his motor home today. Although he wasn't sure why since he will have 5 miles of dusty, or muddy if it rains, gravel roads to travel to get to the highway when he and Gail leave on the 19th.

Hope all of you have a great day. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 8th - Concrete and Ceilings

Before lunch Fred and I helped John, Caleb (John's son) and Mark (the part time hired man) get a section of the "barn" ready for a floor slab. They were supposed to pour the floor in the afternoon. I haven't been back over to see if they got it done.

I did a dumb thing and could have hurt myself this afternoon. When travelling around the camp Fred drives the four wheeler and pulls a trailer. I ride on a tool box on the front of the trailer. The camp is fenced with 8' high fence to keep in the fallow. Going to the saw mill or the barn requires opening and closing gates. Going over to the barn today Fred stopped, I jumped off the trailer and opened the gate. He drove through but before the trailer cleared the gate I stepped back, I was facing away from the road, and stepped right in front of the trailer tire. It bent my leg a little but nothing bad. If I had stepped back another inch or two I think it might have broken my ankle. Just a good reminder to PAY ATTENTION. By the way (Mom) I don't even think I'm going to have a bruise.

In the afternoon Fred and I finished the wood ceiling in one of the rooms of the new building. putting 11' long boards on the ceiling may not be as bad as drywall sheets, but it ain't that easy. I will try to remember to get a photo tomorrow.

After work I did some more work on the sewer line. I uncover a few feet of it and moved it slightly sideways so that I could move the end at the RV about a foot. That made opening the "basement" door on the RV much easier.

By the way, my biscuits were good. The canned sausage gravy was not so good. It was as good as what they serve in most restaurants, but not nearly as good as what Kathy makes.

Weather was great again today. A little warm but still very nice. At 7:00 it is still over 70 degrees but it feels comfortable. Tonight's low is supposed to be 58. Highs for the next three days are supposed to be in the low 80's.

I need to get busy and figure out some sight seeing for the weekend. I also need to do some motor home cleaning. I've been good about doing laundry and dishes but time for some dusting and vacuuming.

Have a great evening. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 7th - Business as Usual

Nothing exciting to report today. Just more business as usual. Fred and I continued working on the new building. I think we move upstairs to work tomorrow.

I did a another load of laundry this evening and baked biscuits. I can't imagine how many loads of laundry Kathy must have done for the two of us. This washer/dryer is really small. Check out my biscuits

Actually they were frozen biscuits. I just stuck them in the convection microwave and backed them. I ate one and it was fine, not as good as Kathy's, but OK. Kathy found a can of Libby's Sausage Gravy at some store and bought it for me to try. In the morning I will have biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast.

I will comment on the election, but not go into a rant. It was what I expected in our post-Christian nation. Our morals are gone and we have become a nation of entitlement rats who think we are owed a federal teat to suck on. We also think someone else should pay to keep the milk flowing to that teat. My political blog has more if you are interested. http://bertdspoliticalcommentary.blogspot.com/

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours during the upcoming upheavals, as our nation changes from the most powerful nation on the planet to some 3rd world socialist craphole.

Nov 6th - Sawing

This morning I grabbed a pair of work pants only to find that I apparently got battery acid on them when I changed the chassis batteries. This was one of my better pairs of work pants <grin>.

 This morning Fred and I sawed up another two logs and then used the wood for more interior wall covering. We damaged a blade while sawing the first log so I got to see how to change a blade. Fred also showed me his equipment for sharpening and setting the teeth on blades. It was quite interesting.

We load the cut wood on a trailer behind the four wheeler. One of the logs we cut today was over 10' long. I managed to "hook" the long pieces on another log when moving the trailer. I unloaded all the long pieces that I had just loaded. I let Fred drive the load through the gate into the main complex. It was quite funny.

Nothing earth shattering in the afternoon, just more work on the new building.

Have a good evening. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 5th - Back to Work

Today was another nice day. I'm getting used to the warmer temperatures, and it was a little cooler. Today's high was 81 while tonight's low is supposed to be in the mid 40's. It was partly cloudy but there was still plenty of sun. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be only 70. That will be the coldest day we have had since I arrived.

Fred and Gail invited me to their motor home for lunch. Gail made chimichanga's, which I really like. They were very good.

Fred and I continued our work on the new building. We cut up another log and need to cut up at least two more pine logs. We need the tractor to put the logs on the saw mill. We couldn't use it today because John broke a hydraulic hose on it while using it this weekend. It should be back in service tomorrow.

Below are a few photos of the camp.

 The snack shop is near the basketball court and pool. It is only staffed if campers want to bring in snacks and sell them. The upper deck is just a nice place to sit.

 There are white deer (fallow) in the background of this photo. Today was the first time I've seen them.

PTL - Hopefully no more lying politicians on TV after tonight! (is lying politician redundant, I guess there might be an honest one somewhere, if so he/she remains well hidden)

 Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 4th - Sunday & Church

This morning I attended Five Points Baptist church with Fred and Gail. The congregation is on the smaller side, less than 50 I would guess. It is a nice, friendly, little church. The Pastor had a good message.

After church I followed Fred and Gail to Bryan where they bought me lunch at Denny's. After lunch they headed to Walmart and I drove through Bryan and College Station. The route I took through the cities didn't reveal much. I did drive by Texas A&M University. It is a huge complex, but I guess it needs to be huge for 50,000 students.

I arrived back home around 2:30 and have been watching football on TV; and writing a post for my political blog.

Good evening to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 3rd - Day Off

This morning I went to Bryan, Texas. It is about 15 miles, and 25 minutes, (5 miles of curvy gravel roads) from here.

I had a good breakfast at an IHOP. I searched for a "mom and pop" type restaurant but didn't find one. The place was busy when I got there but there were still a few empty tables. When I left the entry area was packed with people waiting for a seat.

After breakfast I went to a Walgreens and picked up a prescription refill and then to a Kroger store for some groceries. I got back home a little before noon.

We had a nice shower, maybe even enough to wash the dust off things <grin>, this afternoon. I downloaded a couple of ebooks and read one of them this afternoon. While sitting here reading I looked up at the "control panel" and noted that the inverter was operating. For some reason the camp lost power for around an hour. It didn't impact me since I just operated off battery power during that time. I wasn't doing anything that required significant electricity.

After the power came back on I did my third load of laundry since I've been here. The washer/dryer in the motor home is nice but it is small.

Fred came over late in the day and asked if I wanted to go to church with Gail and him tomorrow. I'm going to follow them to their church and after church to the Dixie Belle, in Hearne, for lunch. After lunch they are going to Walmart (I think one of the ones in Bryan) for a loooong afternoon of shopping, according to Fred. I think I will spend some time exploring Hearne, TX. It shouldn't take all that long. The population of Hearne is less than 5,000.

One of Hearne's "claims to fame" is that it is one of the few, maybe the only, location in the United States where WalMart closed a store, after 10 years, because it was losing money. Some reports claim that the main reason for the closing was because of all the employee theft.

Temperatures are cooling off. During the next week there is only day when the high temperature is supposed to hit 80 is on Thursday.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 2nd - RV Raising

It was nice, but warm again, today. High was in the mid 80's with humidity's above 60%. Not horrible, but warm enough to switch from jeans to shorts during lunch.

Breakfast was bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee this morning.

Lunch was lasagna, left over from last night. Supper was roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy. Kathy did a great job of stocking my "larder" with frozen left overs before I left.

Fred and I installed more boards on the wall of the new building this morning. We ran out of boards again and after lunch John helped us put another log on the saw mill. Note John's helper riding on the tractor with him.

We didn't cut up the log. Fred was talking about some type of saw mill demonstration for some of the campers who are here this weekend.

Fred mowed during the afternoon and I did other stuff. Turned the air on in several buildings (finding all the thermostats took some time), put paper towels in several fixtures in rest rooms, replaced a light bulb in the girls rest room, used the leaf blower to clean off the porches and decks around the buildings that will be used this weekend, cut up a limb that had fallen on one of the paths, helped John load it so that he could haul it away, spread a couple of bags of mulch around some new plants, etc.

Even after the previous sewer work the line was to high for me to dump the motor home tanks. I moved the motor home and during the afternoon John hauled in enough fill to raise the motor home several inches. The sewer inlet is now just below the sewer outlet on the motor home.

In the morning I'm going to Bryan, TX, about a half hour drive, to pick up some prescription refills. It should be an interesting place to check out.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 1st - Wall Work

Fred and I worked on a wall in the new building today, after he gave me a tour of the facility.

Fred and Gail are the full time volunteers. They have been here about 18 months. They have been full time RV'ers since 1998. Fred retired from the military before becoming a painter, and then retired from painting. He is 75 and a real worker. They spent their first several years after retiring just touring the country, but got bored. They joined MMAP'ers (Mobile Missionary Assistance Program and did service projects with them for about 5 years. After that they decided to go out on their own. I think that Gale does a lot of the work with the flowers and lawn.

The photo below shows the back entrance to the new building. The tree comes up through the lower deck. The upper deck is fit to the tree and a 3" branch actually goes up through the upper deck. The building is less than 100' from the motor home. I can easily walk to work.

 This is part of the wall we did today. They had some old pine logs laying around so they cut them into 3/4" thick boards and are using them to to finish the interior walls. The boards are lapped, not butted together. It is supposed to be rustic. I didn't go upstairs yet but I think I heard that they are using hardwood for the upstairs walls.

 In the afternoon we went over to Fred's sawmill and sawed another log into boards.

Below is a photo of a small fountain that is on site. More site photos of the pond, pool, etc. at a later time.

 John has some very interesting ideas when it comes to decorating. These are sinks in the dining room kitchen. They also have a more conventional stainless steel sink.

 

This is (I think) an area for iced things on the salad bar.

Dining room restroom sink.

It was a fun first day. It was mostly sunny with a high in the mid 80's. At 6 PM it is still 81. It was warm but didn't feel all that hot. So says the guy who is sitting in the motor home with the AC running <grin>.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.