Blog 18 - Last week of work at Marble Falls

Blog 18 - Final week at Marble Falls

It was a busy week. The goal was to get the drywalling done as far as possible. That was accomplished as much as possible without the plumbing having been done.

Monday morning, the insulation and gyproc were delivered. Nettie, Georgia, Annette and Linda got busy insulating the walls. The ceiling insulation was to have been blown in, but the lumberyard delivered R19 batts for the ceilings as well, so the decision was made to use them in the ceiling instead. As soon as the insulating was completed (with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms), the guys started hanging board, and by Wednesday morning the ladies were able to start taping (mudding). By Thursday noon – quitting time – the three bedrooms were fully taped. We all felt a sense of extreme satisfaction in what we had accomplished in 15 ½ working days.

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of a New Orleans style gumbo dinner hosted by the Denise and the Local Recovery Committee and brought to the Lodge at our camp. The gumbo (soup) was delicious and did not contain anything untoward that I would not eat. It was an excellent meal and a lovely evening. They refused to allow any of us to lift a finger to clean up, so we did some singing while they cleaned up.

On Wednesday evening, we had a BBQ at our camp, with guests, homeowner Debra, her husband, sweet little Granny whose husband had passed away two weeks ago, and Debra’s granddaughter, as well as our young worker, Alex Hebert, and homeowner, Patricia, her daughter, Alicia, and a nephew. Lots of good food and visiting. Time to say our farewells…

Thursday afternoon we did all our errands, filled the propane tank, picked up our RV permit to move it, and got our RV’s all cleaned up and ready to travel.

Friday morning, we pulled in the slides, packed up all the lines and hooked up the fifth wheel to the truck. It was very sad to part with the friends we have grown so close to over the last two months. There were hugs and tears and farewells – hope to see you again on a project – it’s been a great time!

Everyone watched to see if John’s puny little truck would pull that big rig up the first hill – it made it, and up the second hill as well, but it really didn’t like it. We were on our way to Deweyville, Texas, to help our good buddy, Paul, and the MDS crew there with the drywalling part of their project for the next 10 days.

By Friday at noon, there were only two campers remaining at the site: the new Project Managers from Winkler, Mb. and our dear friends, Len and Nettie, who are staying for March. In addition, the MDS Office trailer remains. The new volunteers will be moving in by the end of the weekend, ready to finish off what we have begun.