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.