First blog from Beaumont, Texas 2009

Well, here we are, in Beaumont, Texas. We could have made it in 3 days, but only went to our trailer storage at Jasper on the third day.

I checked the last blog and will first of all say that as we drove down the highway at Ponca City, the rest of the places were rather run down, so we were glad we stayed where we did.

We came right down Highway 81 and 271 straight south. It was a good trip. When we got into Oklahoma, it was already shorts and sandals weather, too warm to be having long pants in the vehicle.

It was frustrating not to be able to find internet or phone access without going out of our way. When we got to Texas, I tried to use my phone card on a pay phone, and it will not work. I am sure that I used it on the pay phone at Marble Falls, so am not sure what’s going on here.

John and I had worn our “dogs” (foam clogs) all summer while we were working at home, and we have paint all over them. So one of the first things we wanted to do was find us each a new pair at Walmart. What a shock to find out they don’t have them any more, except the leftovers in kids’ sizes. We really liked them! I can’t wear the dollar store kind because the fronts are different and bother my toes...

We got our $5.00 permit to move the R.V. in Newton, Texas, and dropped over to see my cat lady friend, Patty. She was just delighted to see us. She has had problems with the contractor getting her new house finished and is still living in the apartment down the road, with her dog and about 15 cats! Things are not going so well and with Hallowe’en approaching (she was broken into and assaulted a year ago on Hallowe’en) she finds herself very depressed. I was so glad we stopped in to make her day.

We were able to stay in our R.V. for the night after John pulled it up alongside the trailer the owners live in. Everything seemed to fine. However, Texas is having a VERY WET fall. There is much flooding. We had to clean the mould off our window ledges. Everything is damp.

Of course, just because we had to pull the R.V., the weather turned and it was rainy with gusting winds. Fortunately the winds were north/south, so we just drove into them. John said he could feel the gusts while driving, but we made it safely. There was no sense not traveling, as the forecast was the same right into the weekend, and we wanted to get here. While we were traveling though, the rain was very intermittent. For miles we’d drive and not have to have the windshield wipers going; then it would come down hard again for a few minutes, then ease off. Quite weird, actually…

The humidity was very high when we arrived, and the temperature was 80 degrees, so it was like being in a sauna. Everyone was using their air conditions, and then when you stepped outside, you got bowled over by the heat/humidity. However, it poured rain over night, and this morning, Friday, Oct. 30th, it is so chilly it feels like we should have the furnace on. Go figure! Kind of like Saskatchewan – if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute…

Our R.V. parking site is inside Ford Park, a huge complex on I-10 where they hold community events, about 10 times as big as Credit Union Place in Saskatoon. There is lots of grass around, but we are parked on concrete slabs and are in a fenced area with security. So we don’t have to worry about dragging sand into our RV’s or millions of mosquitoes. Of course we do have lots of traffic noise, which we are not used to.

Our homes to be renovated at Cheek, Texas, are about 5 miles down the road. We are advised that the first house we will be working on just required siding and soffit and fascia. There are 6 or 7 homes that are in the works for renovations.

So far we are only 3 couples – Jim and Annette are still on their way.

Today I will go over to the Tourist Information Centre “next door” (across the lot and in the next block). They said I could use their land phone to make my phone calls any time. Also have access to their computers which are for public use. So that’s good.

Have to go shopping for some groceries we need yet. Apparently Beaumont only has one Walmart (a surprise for such a large centre) and it is at the other end of town. I will have to find another place to get groceries that is closer. Will be interesting to get to know the city better.

Hi to all of you at home. I see that the weather is holding so far. Blessings to y’all.

On the way to Texas

We enjoyed a short visit with Mom and Paul at Langenburg and then went to Brandon to spend a couple of days with Jake and Rita. Then headed down across the border, an easy crossing in the scheme of things, and drove through North Dakota. We stayed at Mitchell, South Dakota, the first night. Monday we drove through the rest of South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, so we made a lot of miles! Tomorrow we will take it easier.

Here at Ponca City, we “shopped” at two motels. We ended up staying at the Quality Inn, the second one we stopped at. The price was higher than I wanted to pay, but when I inquired as to whether there were many more motels down the way, I was not impressed to hear her say, “Yes there are many that way, but you really should stick to this side of town, as those are the type that there could be a mouse in your bed, or blood stains on the walls.” It did work though – we decided to take a room here. And a lovely room it is. We’ll see tomorrow how bad or good the motels look down the road. . .

Just checking in. Will write again later.

Finished addition/Going to Beaumont, Texas end of month

October, 2009 Finishing renovation and getting ready to leave for Texas

Our “sun room” was coming together quickly. Now it was time to paint the walls. We made a feature wall of the common wall to the house. We painted it a “Gold Sunset” color, then sprayed white texture over it, and John trowelled down the texture, allowing some gold to show through. Despite the fact that it initially reminded John of “an old grain elevator where the birds had flown in and crapped on the walls for years”, we have had good comments and are happy with the result. We can always change it if we wish.

Then instead of buying new paint, we threw all the paint we had stored for years together and ended up with a warm beige color and did California walls – sprayed them with the mud and then painted over them. They REALLY look nice.

Next it was time to do the cathedral ceiling. This was a challenge because of the heights (two of them). However, John managed to set up the scaffolding with his ladders and an old conference table we had laying around from Sanderson Balicki. He did one half of the ceiling at a time. We had decided to go with marble ceilings, as we didn’t want regular textured ceilings. First he had to paint the ceiling with oil base paint on top of the primer. Then while it was still wet, he lit a cone of tarpaper on fire and smoked the ceiling. What an awesome sight!! Then he did the other half. It turned out beautifully!

The beam was painted plain white.

The following week, we hired a young man to lay the cobblestone lino and the room was looking great!

As soon as the lino was laid, we brought up John’s A & W table and chairs so we could sit and have our coffee at the window.

He then worked on building the large coat closet at the entrance. We decided to put our leftover laminate in the entrance, as I could not find lino I wanted for a price I was willing to pay.

It was a long deliberation as to exactly how the stairs should be built, but our neighbour John Vansil came up with an idea we hadn’t formerly considered, and we went with his suggestion. The stairs look very nice, and both the kitchen and sun room can be accessed from the landing.

We bought some pantries from Walmart and Jysk and John put them together to store all the things that I had in my former pantry.

Ted came over one evening and said he was here to help John put on the window casings. They didn’t quit until all 6 windows and the door were done. That made quite a difference as well.

That the left the stair railings to be done. We found some spindle rails at Habitat for Humanity for $1.00 a piece (compared to over $6 each at Rona) and painted them white. John built the railing and although it seemed to close off the two parts of the room, we are getting used to it and it looks lovely.

Had our “housewarming” party with a few friends and family over on Saturday night, the 17th, to thank them for all of their help.

Monday morning, we are having our A & W coffee friends over and then we can put our minds to getting ready to leave for Texas on Wednesday morning.

September, 2009

Three brothers and wives - reunion



September crew



Mom even helped me wipe down the siding...

September, 2009

After Jake and Rita left for home, it was time for me to pay some serious attention to my mother in Langenburg. I left Shari in charge of the home front and keeping Dad and his crew stocked for coffee breaks. Mom and I had a wonderful time together for a week. We did a lot of things and enjoyed our one-on-one time.

By the time I got back home, the windows were in and the siding underway. Work continued the last two weeks of August. Our house is a dreadful mess, but the new sun room/entrance is just awesome. I enjoyed shopping for the light fixtures and floor coverings.

We decided to take time off to go to Brandon for a little family reunion with Jake and Rita. George and Mary drove out in their BarbieDoll camper, as John calls it, and we all enjoyed a very special 5 days together.

We had been trying to convince my Mom to take a little holiday too and come to our place, and she finally agreed. We brought her back with us when coming home from Brandon. Our lifestyle is definitely a lot more active than hers! Building going on, grandchildren coming and going, meals to prepare, always dishes to be done… I think she really enjoyed it, but was very happy to be getting on the bus to go home after a week and get some rest!

Saturday, Sept. 12, Darren came over and helped John put the drywall up on the high cathedral ceilings in the addition. Then he had some help from Kevin to do the walls over the next week, and before long I was able to tape the upper level while John and Kevin finished the siding on the long wall outside. It was really nice that Mom was able to be here for Darren’s 34th birthday on September 15th.

We even had a doozy of a hail storm while she was here. The thunder cracked and lightning flashed for about an hour, and then around 4:00 a.m., the rain came down in buckets, and then came the hail. Some of the hailstones were almost the size of golf balls. Our metal roof certainly amplified the sound of hail coming down! I thought I would be able to salvage my beautiful tomatoes, but they ended up rotting before they ripened. What a shame! The cherry tomato plans were loaded.

On the 21st of September, we marked the 10th anniversary of John’s heart attack. How those 10 years have flown by!

On my birthday, Bob and Alice and Ben and Mary came and brought farmer sausage for supper. Later, some of the neighbours came over as well. We had a lovely day.

We heard from MDS that we were assigned to Cheek, Texas for November and December this year. Our RV Park is on I10 at Beaumont. We have become quite familiar with that area so are pleased to be returning, and to learn that our Project Director and Office Manager are friends we have worked with previously. We look forward to working with another couple from last year, and to meet another new couple this year. We have to be in Beaumont by October 31st, so will be leaving home on October 21st, so we can stop in at my Mom’s for one night, and visit Jake and Rita in Brandon for one or two nights before we cross the border.

Finally we got some decent weather. The temperatures were up to 80 for a couple of weeks and we really enjoyed having a taste of summer anyway.

There is still plenty of work to do before the addition is finished, so the push is on to get the painting and ceiling done. Our neighbour, Kevin and his wife are going to Las Vegas for a week so he will not be available to help, and Ted is helping his son do sileage.

It has been a busy summer. Some people enjoy doing renovations and choosing decorating colours and stuff like that, but it is NOT my idea of fun. However, the end product will be worth the aggravation.