Blog 8 from Beaumont Dec. 28, 2009

This year is fast winding down. We picked Shari up at Houston airport on Dec. 22nd and spent Christmas with her at New Braunfels time share. It was a beautiful condo, exactly the same place we went for Valentines weekend, courtesy of sister-in-law Peggy and her husband Steve.

Although the weather did not co-operate as we had hoped, it was (almost) warm enough on Christmas Day to spend some time in the heated pool and hot tub.

I am certain the pots and pans in our unit had not seen as much use as they did in the four days we occupied it. We went out for several meals, but do enjoy a home-cooked meal even when on vacation. On Christmas Day, we feasted on a roast chicken with the stuffing made the way we like it, gravy, and mashed potatoes that we knew were not instant.

One of the nearby attractions in San Antonio is Sea World. John and I had been to Sea World in Tennessee a few years ago. The entrance fee was around $10 and we were amazed at what we saw. We were very excited that Shari would be able to visit Sea World as well. However, one really should check on prices on line so there are no surprises when you arrive at a tourist attraction. We choked when arriving to see the sign at the gate which said “Parking $15”. When we asked how much the actual tickets were and the gate attendant said, “$57 each”, they just about had to pick me up off the pavement! Suffice it to say, John and Shari spent the afternoon at Sea World while I took the truck and went for lunch, looked for some free WYFY and did some shopping, all the while trying to keep my bearings so as not to get lost in the “big city”, which is easily done. When I picked them up, John was quick to advise this tourist facility was a huge rip-off in every way. Children’s tickets were $46 each for a child over 10. Anyone taking a family should be prepared for a $150 per person day which is outrageous and definitely not worth it.

Now, the Snake Farm on I35 was another thing. For $9.95 per adult, you can spend all day looking at all kinds of caged reptiles, exotic animals and a petting zoo.

We also went on an African Safari adventure for $16 each which was extremely enjoyable and worth the entrance fee. You stay in your car and listen to a very informative CD as you drive through the 400 acre park and throw food out for the various exotic animals. It was awesome. The most social animals were the ostriches “with attitude” and the burros who just plain wanted close-up attention.

Shari and I spent an evening walking through the Schlitterbaun Christmas Display. In summer it is a huge water park, and in winter, they turn it into a Winter Wonderland of Christmas lights. The charge is $16.00, but well worth it. There are many activities for children and the lights alone are spectacular.

Eating out in the U.S.A. can be quite interesting. At Sea World, for lunch John and Shari had a turkey wrap for which they paid $8.00 each. John said the wrap itself would have made an excellent shoe sole. He was not impressed!

At the Safari, they had an excellent restaurant with excellent prices. However, John ordered his favorite: a “bacon and turkey club sandwich”. When it arrived, he asked, “What’s this??” What he got was a layer of bacon and turkey with lettuce, cheese and tomato in a soupy ranch dressing, between two pieces of grilled panini bread the thickness of a pizza crust. Oh for a Canadian club house sandwich!

Since we have been parked at Ford Centre, we have been complaining about the noise of the nearby interstate highway. On our trip to New Braunfels, we encountered an RV park that has this one beat for traffic noise. This one has RV’s parked UNDER and BETWEEN the interstate highways. It is unfathomable who would ever want to park underneath such a busy highway!!

We have found an absolutely wonderful FM radio station in the area. It is Country Legends 101.2 and plays all of the old favorites, both country and western and hits of the 50’s and 60’s. No sense turning to any other radio station!

I decided to use the above text from my article for the newspaper instead of having to re-do it. It gives the whole story…

We had a good trip back from New Braunfels to Beaumont. Have a list of things to keep Shari occupied and have crossed a bunch of them off already! Today we took her to meet Mr. John and Miss Jane, as well as Miss Tiffany from SETIO. Went to Gator Country, a tourist attraction just up the road, but it is only open on Saturday and Sunday in winter. So she and I went and played a round of Mini Golf at Colorado Canyon Fun Centre, then to the Lunch Buffet at Ryans and to the Parkland Mall for a couple of hours. Hope we can find something neat to do for New Years Eve.

Night’all.

Blog 7 - Christmas is around the corner

Things have been moving right along here on our new project. We have started on Mr. John Batiste’s house. We had driven past the house several times before realizing that we would be renovating it. I have to plead guilty to feeling pity for the two “pathetic souls” who appeared to inhabit the place. The wizened old man often sat in his chair in the carport just watching the world go by. A very unkempt thin woman in a ball cap would trudge from the burning pile just back of the house, or be sweeping, looking up as traffic went by. Both appeared very wary of strangers.

Mr. John is a 76 year old gentleman whose wife passed away one year ago in November. His home was damaged in Hurricane Rita (2005) and suffers from drastic disrepair. He had worked until he was electrocuted in midlife and only has a nub of a thumb left on one of his hands. Later, he had a stroke and he has lost the use of his other arm and hand. He manages to hold a cigarillo with his left nub. The only way he can light it himself is to leave his burner on the stove on all day, and light it from there.

John's sister, Miss Jane, is 73, and lives four houses down the road from John’s house, by herself. She often sleeps at John’s house, as her house was also damaged by Hurricane Rita and she has been without power since then. If she does sleep at her house, she walks over to John’s house every morning and spends most of the day there, sweeping and making sure he gets fed. She promised his late wife that she would look after him.

From the outside, Miss Jane’s house looks undamaged and is quite a pretty home. She keeps her yard immaculate. However, upon walking inside, it is evident extensive repairs are required for it to be liveable. Unlike Mr. John’s house with a concrete floor, hers has a wood floor and the wood is rotten. The SETIO people have advised that it has been condemned and the Power company will not hook the power back up. They have offered to build her a new house but she has refused.

None of our volunteers could understand this refusal until Miss Tiffany explained it to us. She was raised in Cheek, which is also known as “Cheeks” to the locals. The ancestors of the people of Cheek had been slaves. When slavery was abolished, they were either given land or worked for it and this land and these homes are all they had to hand down from generation to generation. If their home is renovated by volunteers, they own it and can hand it down with no strings. If they are built a new home, the government has a lien on it and when the owner dies, it goes back to the government.

Miss Jane is still hopeful that someone will come along and fix her house for her, and of course, the renovation happening at her brother’s home gives her a great deal of hope in that regard.

We are finding it a great blessing to be working in the house with Mr. John and Miss Jane there, giving us an opportunity to get to know them. These folks are wonderful people and just plain lonesome for company. Once they knew we were there to complete the job and not rip them off, they welcomed us with open arms and are totally enjoying having us around. John’s grandson helped us tremendously since we started, and he will benefit from our work in the long run. Miss Jane is an absolute delight and we love having her around. She was totally surprised and delighted when our volunteers helped her celebrate her birthday last week with flowers and other gifts.

So far, we have renovated the master bedroom. Our goal is to get it painted so that we can move Mr. John’s bed back in and he can sleep there for the three weeks we are shut down. I think we’ll be able to meet our goal.

It was a dirty job taking the walls out as well as an old tiled shower enclosure in the en suite which hadn’t been used in years. There was a lot of termite damage, and a couple of cockroaches and other insect inhabitants who had to vacate. Some of the 2 x 4’s were eaten totally away and had to be replaced before the gyproc could be put up. The new acrylic shower enclosure will not be installed before the new year, but it is out in the carport waiting its turn.

The whole house is required to be re-wired as well. That will le a big job in itself.

I drove to Newton last Saturday to spend the day with my friend, Patty. She was sure happy to see me. Spent several hours with her and then headed back to Beaumont. John was already starting to worry by the time I got home in the dark. It is a 2 hour drive, but I made some other stops along the way. I enjoyed driving and listening to my Country Legends radio station.

We attended Cowboy Church in Bridge City again last Sunday. It sure is an awesome church. There was one immersion baptism of an 11 year old boy last time we went, and three adult baptisms this week. They are doing a fabulous ministry there. The new church is bulging at the seams already!

We have discovered the “Cheddars” Restaurant and I have to say it is my favorite. The prices are reasonable and the food is delicious. There is WAY too much food, but you can always take a doggie bag. I wouldn’t mind taking a picture of their “onion rings appetizer” which is the hugest pile of onion rings I have ever seen; as well as the deep fried chicken tenders – a plate of monumental proportions which is quickly gaining more candidates for the World’s Biggest Loser!!! And their Potato Soup is out of this world.

It has been quite cool and rainy here. At least it isn’t 40 below!!!

Sunday evening we attended a choir concert at North End Baptist Church in Beaumont and on the list of people in the choir, it was very interesting to see the name “Linda Mack”. What a surprise. That of course was my maiden name. John was talking to an older gentleman when I found this name, and he went and located “Linda Mack” for me. She was just as excited as I to share the name. We had our picture taken together and exchanged addresses.

Our youngest granddaughter, Emily, turned 5 last week. How time flies!

Needless to say, we are especially missing Christmas preparations with our children and grandchildren, the concerts and other Christmas excitement at home. Only one more week until we pick Shari up at Houston Airport. I wish she could smuggle Abby and Gizmo into her bags… We are very much looking forward to her joining us for Christmas holidays. We will be spending Christmas in New Braunfels at Peggy and Steve’s time share and then bringing her back to Beaumont and Cheek to see what we are doing here. She is quite excited to be coming to Texas!

Well, I could go on here for another hour, but it’s time to got to bed. I have a large closet to tape in the morning. Warren and Carole Siemens are arriving tomorrow for a couple of days to get oriented for his stint as Project Manager in the new year. We look forward to seeing them again.

Good night.

Beaumont Blog 6 - December 1, 2009

Well, the 2009 Grey Cup game is history. Desvastating history for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. How humiliating it was to HEAR the occurrences of the last minute of play.

We did go out and buy a new television set. It is “only” a 26 inch T.V., but it has a built-in DVD player and it fits just nicely into the entertainment centre in the R.V. We found we did not require a new antenna or anything else to be able to get the local channels.

However, we do not have the knowledge to hook it up to the computer, even though we had the cord. So we were quite satisfied to be able to obtain the Grey Cup Game on CHED T.V. out of Edmonton and our whole crew was over for a Grey Cup Party. That last minute of play, don’t you know, our lap top cut out briefly. Only afterwards did we find that the field goal had actually been missed and the Roughriders would have won; but there were too many players on the field so Montreal had the chance to do it again, and won. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Ancient history now…

This week, we ladies have stayed at home so far because it is raining and the men can do all the indoor work there is to do. We don’t mind that a bit. We understand it is snowing in some parts of Texas, as well as on the prairies. Jim and Annette have e-mailed that they arrived home in Steinbach mid afternoon on Nov. 30th and the roads were like summer driving all the way. That is very unusual for the end of November.

John and I learned that our dear friend, Helene Epp, is finally at her final rest and we are so thankful for that. It would be nice to be able to go to her funeral this Friday, but that is not feasible. I have sent my public tribute to Helene and her husband, David, to my publisher to be put in the P.A. Shopper. I hope people will enjoy the article.

We had a “Hootenanny” at our house last Thursday evening and finally enjoyed some music. Carl plays a mean guitar and we all really enjoyed the singing.

We went to a different Baptist Church this past Sunday. We enjoyed the service, the people and the pastor so much that we will certainly go back. Their pastor used to be a running back for a professional football team – he’s just a short guy and although his sermon was longer than most, he was so interesting, the time went by quickly. It is a very vibrant congregation and the lady behind me referred to their pastor as a “real pistol”. He has only been at this church for 4 months, so that is quite a compliment.

I am attaching a picture of our whole group taken at Ryan’s Buffet Thanksgiving Day. There’s entirely too much good food happening down here!!

This week we had a little gathering at Miss Loretta’s to acknowledge completion of her renovation. What a blessing to all of us. Six representatives of SETIO were in attendance as well as all of our group. Miss Loretta provided coffee and donuts and we spent an enjoyable time showing the SETIO group the improvements and sharing our common goal in helping people get their homes back in good shape after the storms. They are as thankful as we are that the Lord is using all of us in this very important mission. Although Miss Loretta was still feeling a bit under the weather with her cold, she expressed her gratitude and delight with the upgrades in her new newly renovated home. Our little friend, Destiny, was not able to be there and we all missed her.