Blog 16 - Work wee of Feb 16/09

Siding the house



Gift for Warren and Carol



Goodbye Sherm and LaVonne

Everyone was excited to get back to the work site after another LONG weekend.

John and his crew were busy stabilizing the trusses, sheathing the roof, finishing the skirting and carrying on with the siding. The roof was built over the front deck and both decks were finished, soffitting and fascia were started. After word last week that yet another MDS volunteer had fallen off the roof at Deweyville and broken his heal, safety was uppermost is our minds and thankfully the work proceeded with no casualties.

I helped finish painting the doors and door frame materials at the camp site work shop and on Thursday, they were picked up and taken to the job site where they would be assembled.

At one of our morning devotions recently, Warren had presented us each with a granite cross with Marble Falls printed on it as a token of his appreciation for the great crew we have.

It was agreed by our crew that we also sincerely appreciated his leadership as Project Director and that we would all throw in some money to get he and Carol a gift.

At Wednesday morning devotions, John presented the gift to Warren and Carol. As they are bird lovers, he had searched to find something appropriate. When we were at the antique and collectible stores in Gruene, a lovely “affordable” ceramic birdhouse caught his eye. Then he found a beautiful ceramic cardinal for Carol and a carved wood bird sitting on a log for Warren. Jim built an 8 sided base so we could each sign our names along the edge. John glued the birdhouse and the birds onto the base and it was a work of art. Warren and Carol were thrilled with it and said it was going to sit on the mantle in the “great room” in Albuquerque.

On Wednesday evening, we had a farewell supper for Sherman (Tank) and LaVonne (Short Stuff). Mary Anne and Pete made heart shaped waffles on their propane cooker and we each brought “accessories” – farmer sausage, vanilla sauce, syrup, strawberries, hot blueberry topping, whipped cream, and ice cream, No dessert needed for this meal!!! Joanne made a very nice “farewell” banner and drew a perfect likeness of their faces on it. She sure is a talented artist.

LaVonne had signed up to do devotions their last day here, but it proved more difficult than she had thought it would be. She picked my Grandma’s favorite hymn to sing although it has different words in the hymnal we were using – it was the old favorite “God Loves Me Dearly”. More than a few tears were shed by the time the devotion was over.

They pulled out after many hugs of goodbye and lots of tears. Who would’ve thought we could bond so closely in such a short time. LaVonne would have won the “Miss Congeniality” contest in our group. John called her “the real boss” in addition to “Short Stuff”. Sherman would always come out of their R.V. in the morning with a big welcoming grin and a HOWDY for everyone. We wished them God’s speed and sae traveling home to Ohio, and all look forward to working with them again some day.

As an aside, we have seen many ant hills at our camp site, but it is quite evident by the round holes all over the ground that the armadillos, which must come out at night, have been routing them out. Wish we could see them in action!!

Blog 15, New Braunfels, Texas

Wonderful accommodation



Good Buddies

Valentine Weekend at Wyndham Resort Time Share, New Braunfels, Texas

Finally, the weekend we had been waiting for: courtesy of Steve and Peggy, we had the pleasure of utilizing their time share - which we picked for New Braunfels, near San Antonio, for our three day long weekend Valentines Day. We had invited Paul and Mary Stoltzfus who are at Deweyville, as well as Len and Nettie Hiebert, who are working with us here this year. We took Len’s little Jeep, with Len driving. Paul and Mary rented a spiffy red car and met us at New Braunfels. We both arrived at about the same time. They had over 6 hours to drive while our driving time was about 1 ½ hours.

Check in time Friday was 4:00 p.m., so after we checked in, we just went out for supper and then back “home” to visit. Saturday was a big day, as we were to meet our MDS crew at the River Walk in San Antonio. We also toured an ancient Mission, saw “The Alamo” movie at the IMAX Theatre (which of course was very violent because it was a war scene), walked around the Alamo ruins/gift shops and then joined the million other people who were on the River Walk for Valentines Day. We had planned to eat at the Rain Forest Café, where the "ambiance" is a jungle atmosphere, but it was so packed and there was a 3 hour wait, so we decided to go to the Golden Buffet on the way home instead. It’s a good thing we only took one vehicle downtown, because it was a nightmare driving down there. John sat in the back of the Jeep and was not uncomfortable.

Sunday morning, instead of going to church, we sort of had our own little church service and visited some more. Then took some pictures, and Paul and Mary headed off back to Deweyville. The four of us remaining went over to the historic townsite of Gruene and had lunch at a restored Grist Mill. I wish Paul and Mary could have come there too, as they would have really enjoyed it. No time…

We checked out and traveled back to Marble Falls a different route, past one of the most gorgeous vacation areas in Texas we’ve seen so far. One of the signs at a resort said “Elvis tubed here”. I finally got to stop and take pictures at the granite lighthouse which we have driven by several times, just out of Marble Falls …

Our “time share” weekend was a great time of fun and fellowship with friends in a different environment!

Blog 14 - Wednesday BBQ

BBQ Wednesday, Feb 11th

Rather than having a pot luck this week, we decided to have a “cook out” as some of the Americans call it down here. We each provided our own meat and then each brought something extra.

Young Alex joined us, even though it we had to start without him.

John had picked out his own steak and we barbequed our steaks on Len’s BBQ. It was a lovely evening, despite the storm the night before. Later on, it got cooler and we didn’t stay out past 8:00.

After eating, Gerry led us in some singing.

The Camp Director, Mel, drove down to go fishing in the river as we were eating, and when he came back up, he said he could hear us singing all the way to where he was, and he thought we sounded great!!!

Blog 13 - Marble Falls work week Feb. 9/09

House Looking Good...

A local country radio station out of Austin, KVET, entertains us every morning when our alarm goes off. It keeps us from being too homesick for CJWW, Saskatoon. Bucky and Bob are our “Moo Crew” these days - they play lots of our favorite classic country.

I CANNOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT GOT ACCOMPLISHED BY THE END OF THIS FOUR DAY WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At about 9:00 a.m. Monday morning, the trusses arrived at the building site. John and his crew were so excited about getting the trusses up and the roof on as soon as possible. However, upon eyeballing the trusses on the truck, something didn’t look right to him. Before unloading them, he asked to measure them. Sure enough, the trusses were 26’ instead of 28’. Turns out the person with the Texas authority responsible for ordering the trusses ordered them for the wrong house plan. Estimated time to get new trusses – at least 8 days. What a disappointment!

As the truck with the trusses drove away, it was necessary to find some other work to keep 14 people busy! Annette, Georgie and LaVonne working together, and Nettie, Suzette and I, working together, began the task of stapling up the insulation underneath the house – the space under the house varies from 36 inches to 18 inches. We spent the day basically on our backs.

Some of the guys put up interior walls and some started working on the front and back decks.

Tuesday, I didn’t go to work because I think I strained a pectoral muscle in my chest maneuvering around under the house. The other girls continued.

Tuesday evening we experienced some severe weather in Texas. Weather forecasting the way it is done here is totally different than in Canada. They can forecast all the weather they want in Canada, and 90% of the time it is inaccurate. However, the Austin T.V. station was giving weather forecasts of such a specific nature, it was uncanny! They were tracking a severe storm with 40-50 mph winds, rain and medium size hail, that they said would be a “quickie” – it was to hit certain areas at 9:35, and then certain areas south at 9:50, etc. etc. It was scheduled to go through Marble Falls and Smithwick at precisely the time the wind started blowing here. The rain pounded down and hailstones pummeled our R.V., for about 10-15 minutes, then it was over. The wind continued for the most of the night and we thought our R.V.’s were going to take flight. It was very upsetting to learn in the morning that 8 people had died in a tornado in and near Oklahoma City, just north of us.

The next day, everything was clear and sunny and we had the most beautiful warm day!

Wednesday, Andre helped Len install the windows and then several of the crew put up the Tyvec vapour barrier all around the house. Now we had a house with windows and a door, and no roof! On Wednesday afternoon, Warren received a call from the truss company that the trusses would be delivered Thursday morning. That was a big surprise! He was also advised at that time that unfortunately no crane would be available to put the trusses up onto the roof until Friday, which is not a work day for us, so we would have to wait until Monday…

On Wednesday, some of the crew started stapling up the chicken wire to hold up insulation under the house so it could not fall down.

Thursday morning, Ron and Sherman (aka Tank) continued building the decks. LaVonne (aka Short Stuff) was doing siding with Pete and Gerry. Nettie and Georgia were cutting the spindles, routering the edges and pre-drilling them. Len and Andre finished installing the doors and door locks.

Joanne, MaryAnne, Suzette and I worked at the camp, sanding the used veneer interior doors so we could paint them white. I had delivered the doors to the mechanic’s shop at our camp from the storage unit where they have been stored. We started priming the doors and worked until we ran out of primer. About that time, we received word from Warren that the crane truck was indeed going to be available around 2:00 p.m. so the trusses would be going up after all. Everyone left back at the camp agreed we didn’t want to miss that, so we all hopped into vehicles and drove out to Granite Shoals to witness and film the trusses going up.

It was quite a sight! Once the crew got organized as to who was doing what, the job went smoothly, and in 2 hours, the trusses were all up. John got a big sliver at the bottom of the thumb on his left hand on about the second truss, but stayed up on the wall arranging trusses until all 23 were up and in place. As soon as he got down, he performed some minor surgery with his utility knife (with all the women cringing and looking away, including the former nurse) and the sliver was out. Suzette and Andre treated us to their “BRAVO” song in French to celebrate a job well done. I tried to video it, but was disappointed that it didn’t turn out…

Blog 12 - First weekend of February

Downtown Luckenbach, Texas

I forgot to mention – Verna and Jake returned from Belize and Mexico on Thursday. They drove right out to the building site and we crossed paths as the ladies drove out of Granite Shoals. After getting some groceries, they arrived on our site and pulled out their slides for the night. I invited them for supper and we had a nice visit. Later in the evening most of the other volunteers came over and visited as well. It’s been a long time since we had so many guests…

Friday morning, a bunch of us headed for breakfast at the Blue Bonnet Café, Jake and Verna’s favorite haunt.

John and I then drove to Fredericksburg, about 60 miles away, to see the sights there. We had missed that trip when we went to Newton. We drove through Johnson City and found a place that sold granite just past the city. We stopped and the store owner said we could help ourselves to whatever cutoff pieces we wanted, so we did.

Then we continued on to Fredericksburg, a tourist city with a German flavour. We watched a 9 minute movie at the Tourist Information Centre and then looked for a place to eat. Fancy meeting Gerry and Georgia from our MDS group at the restaurant, and then at the Vereins Kirche Pioneer Museum…

We also found a Goodwill Store and I was able to spend a little while looking around.

Luckenbach, Texas, was our next destination. It was not easy to find. We drove down Highway 1376 and there was no sign of it. Finally, there was a yard with a sign saying “Uptown Luckenbach”. It looked sort of like a garage sale yard with granite knickknacks, and a little store behind with Luckenbach T-shirts and souvenirs. No one was inside the store, but there was a handwritten sign saying “I’ve just had major surgery, so if there’s no one here, if you find something you want to buy, just put the money in the pipe outside”. There was no sign of a music stage or anything. Then we saw another handwritten sign in the back which said “Downtown Luckenbach is one mile down the road and turn right at the bridge”. So that’s what we did. Still, no noticeable turn-off sign, but we drove down the lane and soon saw a Parking Lot sign and people milling about. We drove into the main yard and it was apparent they only allowed their entertainers with instruments, and handicap parking there. So after parking our car in the right parking lot, we walked over to this very unique place called “Luckenbach, Texas”. IT IS as they say in the song, a low-key, down home, “good ole’ boy place. The only buildings located in Luckenbach, Texas, besides two Portable Bathrooms which greet you on the way in are: a Post Office with a very small bar in the back; a little rustic building which sells hats and boots, another small rustic building which is covered on the front wall with license plates, and a very plain fairly large dancehall with a concession stand attached. Oh, I forgot the huge tame longhorn steer which greeted us as we first walked through. A tall lanky, mustached cowboy offered to let us sit in the saddle on the steer (for a small donation), which offer we declined. Some time later, we heard the clop of hooves and before we knew it, the cowboy was galloping past us down the road on this steer. What a sight! I never would have thought the steer could move that smoothly. And lo and behold, who drove into the yard but – Gerry and Georgia. I guess we could have traveled together…

Jake and Verna headed out for Newton at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Pretty well everyone on the site went out touring or shopping on Saturday. John and I went shopping and got propane. Len and Nettie arrived in mid afternoon. We were delighted to see them and thankful they had an excellent trip.

Saturday night, we were invited to go over to Sherman and LaVonne’s R.V. We played a couple of games of STIX and then came home to bed.

We had intended to go to the Cowboy Church on Sunday, but decided to go with the group instead, to Alex’s Anchor of Hope Their congregation was delighted to have 18 additional seats taken, their service was lively and the people very friendly.

After church, we pigged out at the Lucky Chinese Buffet, where, among other things, John had a plate full of the ugliest crawfish I ever saw! Lots of work for a little food!!

Sunday afternoon, Len and Nettie and us got into our truck and went to show them the building site. Then we decided to take them to the Longhorn Cavern area which we had already seen. It was a nice drive and we saw more of the site this time. When we got back to the camp around 5:30, Suzette kindly invited us to their R.V. for soup (nobody was very hungry after the buffet at noon)!! We spent the evening visiting and relaxing before having to go back to work Monday morning.

Blog 11 Week of Feb. 2nd

Here I am stapling up insulation under the house


Blog 11 – First week of February

Construction of the new house is finally underway. Most of the ladies went straight to work at the house. Carol and I, who are not “into” doing the actual construction work (we’ll be there when it’s time to mud and paint) had a side job to work on. A couple of the men had gone and fixed Mr. Edwin’s bathroom and it now required painting, which job was assigned to Carol and I. We got the prime coat painted and then had intended to go back in the afternoon and paint the final coat and put some of his belongings back into his office room; however, he said he had to go out and we should call him later if we wanted to come back. “Later” never happened, as when we got back to the home-building site, which is in the same community, we learned that our Project Director, Warren, (Carol’s husband) had to be taken to Minor Emergency with a finger injury which would require stitches. So then Carol and I went over to the clinic to see how bad it was. She waited there until Warren was finished, and I went on my merry way to Walmart and the Dollar Store to pick up some things I needed. He didn’t exactly lose the top of his finger, but it required some inventive stitching on the part of the doctor. Ironically, he had to meet the building supply truck at the site at 7:30 a.m. and had not been at devotions that morning when we prayed for safety on the job site. . .

By the end of the first day, the back 43 foot wall was up and nailed in place!

It turned out to be a lovely sunny day. Apparently the Newton group has had lots of rain and some hail, so their building project has been slowed down. Here, we are dry as a tinderbox and are reluctant to pray for rain because the last significant rain was 19 inches in 3 hours!!! Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “It never rains but it pours”.

Tuesday, Feb. 3, was the one year anniversary of our friend/neighbour, Vimy’s passing. It was very interesting to see a gentleman at church last Sunday whose profile very much resembled Vimy!

Our friends, Len and Nettie, from Manitoba, will be on their way here tomorrow morning. We are very thankful to learn that their daughter-in-law’s back surgery in Germany was successful. Hopefully they will have a good trip and we look forward to seeing them and working and playing with them again. Their motorhome is parked behind us awaiting their arrival.

Today on the radio, there were murmurings about what’s happening in Washington that indicate “the honeymoon is over”. The newscaster was hoping President Obama can stand up to the people he has put into high positions in his Government to keep on the course that he promised Americans for economic recovery, rather than cave to their special interests.

On Tuesday, Carol and I went back to finish painting at Mr. Fortner’s. He wasn’t ready for us to put the boxes back in his office yet, as he says he has to go through them and discard what isn’t needed any more. Good news!

The rest of the ladies worked at the site and by the end of the day, they had the floor sheeted and screwed down while the men were building walls.

Wednesday, the ladies didn’t go to work, but we went just before noon to see the next walls go up. They had quite an “audience” for the raising. This was the day that the Granite Shoals Methodist Church sends a bag lunch for all of our group, so Alex arrived with lunch. Denise, the other Local Recovery Committee worker, also showed up but not in time to see the walls raised. . .

Thursday I went to work with three of the other girls and we started insulating under the floor. All of the walls are up and the men are working on the interior walls. The trusses are scheduled to arrive next Monday. Not bad for a four day work week!

Blog 10 - Week of Jan. 26th

Lovely day for pouring cement



This one's for Uncle Bob -
treasures for the men to drool over
beside the Granite Shoals Flea Market


Last week, John had discovered a small scorpion under one of the pieces of wood by the MDS trailer. With assistance, he transferred the critter into a jar with the intention of taking it home for the grandkids to see. However, we put the lid on the jar and over the weekend, the scorpion died. Alive, it was very dangerous looking, swishing its nasty tail.

Something else new to us in this area is the cedar pollen count which they give with the weather every day. There are a lot of cedar trees in the area and at this time of the year, they give off pollen, especially when it is windy. People allergic to the pollen suffer terrible headaches and stuffyness.

We were anxiously awaiting word by Tuesday of how the political situation was going to play out in Canada. It was an answer to our prayers that Ignatieff did not hold the same position as his ridiculous predecessor, and that further childish confrontations did not materialize except when it came to Jack Layton…

By way of work, the men had the go-ahead from the building inspector to start framing in their pilons. Some of the women helped build the framework while the men did the digging and ensuring the holes were the right depth and the pilons the right height. They were ready to pour cement by Thursday, but the cement truck driver did not want to start pouring at 4 p.m., so they had to go back to work on Friday morning to do the pour. The ladies went and watched and took pictures.

During the week, the ladies worked some more at the Camp of the Hills lodge.

We had another pot luck and games night, with a blazing fire in the beautiful fireplace, on Wednesday night.

Thursday evening, some horseback riders stop by our camp on their evening horseback ride. They invited us to a neighbouring ranch where there was going to be a performance done by Mark Lyon, a trainer of wild mustangs. We were really treated to a wonderful evening. The Texans were delighted we all came, and Mark Lyon is a world-class champion wild mustang trainer. He and his horse were just awesome!

Friday night, John and I went in to Marble Falls to see GRAN TORINO at the theatre. It was clearly evident why they considered the content of the movie "politically incorrect", but the story was excellent, and Clint Eastwood without a doubt deserves the Academy Award for best actor. It was the best movie we have seen since The Bucket List. We don't believe any of our camp mates would enjoy the profanity and content of the movie but we'd like to see it again!

Saturday, a number of the couples headed out for the Llano area. Some of them were going to climb Enchanted Rock, some were going to just check out new country, and some were headed for the interesting shops and flea markets out that way (that would be Andre and Suzette and us). We made about 8 stops along the way at various interesting places and did find some treasures.

We arrived back at our camp just in time to welcome two of our new February people, Gerry and Georgia Sapinsky, from Steinback, Mb., with whom we had worked last year in Johnson Bayou. They came over in the evening and we showed them our pictures of the area after Hurricane Ike had been through.

Sunday morning we were invited to go to a Methodist Church in Granite Shoals which has committed to provide weekly lunches for our group one day a week. The invited us to their Sunday School before church, saying they had a special treat for us this Sunday, a couple from Houston who do a ministry of singing and comedy. What a wonderful ministry they have. Phil Jones shared his moving testimony with us. His wife, Debi, is a very talented songwriter and their songs were extremely good, varying from blues to bluegrass to calypso. Debi also did a comedy skit imitating Lilli Tomblin as the nasal telephone receptionist, Ernestine, on Laugh In. Here she was the receptionist for “the Big Kahuna” and had the funniest material. She talked to some Old Testament people including Noah, Lot, Daniel, and Moses. We just about had to bring our hankies out we laughed so hard! What a talent!

We knew we were SUPPOSED to be there when there were only four or five other people in addition to our group of 16 who attended the Sunday School – so it would have been a pretty pathetic audience without us. Their pastor and several other parishioners were away at some kind of conference… There were a few more people at the church service which Phil and Debi also led. They kindly invited us to their pot luck dinner right after church, so we had to cancel our reservation at the Chinese Buffet.

Sunday afternoon, we all just sat around in the sun and visited and rested until the SuperBowl started. The group set up a television set in the MDS office trailer so they could all be together to watch their version of The Grey Cup. The munchies came out in full force.

Monday we start framing the floor – the real work begins.