Fourth Week at Marble Falls Nov 2010

LAST WEEK OF NOVEMBER, MARBLE FALLS 2010

The evening before the Winkler concrete crew left, the Board Members of Camp of the Hills invited all of the volunteers on the property, namely, those 16 people, our RV crew of 12, and 6 RVIC couples, for supper at Mel’s again. There were 50 in all for the Cajun gumbo supper with soup, rice and desserts. Also present were four of the Board Members as well as Lacey, a young lady who had been a camp counselor for several seasons.

Mel had a different (older) promotional DVD to show us. It was very enlightening for the Winkler crew and it showed what hallowed ground they built this concrete slab on. Lacey was asked to say a few words about her experiences as a camp counselor. She told us it was a fairly difficult “job”, but extremely rewarding. She said that some young prospective counselors figure they will try it for only one month, and in every such case, they have ALWAYS stayed for the full term. Last year was the first time they have had a camp counselor from China. There has never been a counselor from Canada. Mel gave us a challenge: get him TWO camp counselors from Canada for next year. Counselors are between the ages of 18 and 26. Anyone who wishes to find out more information regarding how to apply to be a camp counselor can find the application criteria on the Camp of the Hills website, click on “About Camp of the Hills”.

John and I were happy to be working exclusively renovating Miss Kaki’s cottage. He laid the laminate flooring in the large closet room, which will also double as her grandson’s sleeping quarters when he visits. I painted the bathroom and then John put the tubsurround on and laid the ceramic tiles. I fastened the newly painted baseboards with the air nailer and did the caulking around the windows and baseboards. John had installed the kitchen cabinets and was putting on the finishing touches.

The other men started straightening up the ground around the new floor and making way for the pouring of a veranda. We stopped by after work on Monday and they were still making forms and pounding in stakes, which did not really look like something seniors should be having to do at this stage of the game. However, if the project is to be ready for a full slate of volunteers for January and they expect to have a building to build, this difficult work has to be done.

American Thanksgiving was Thursday and everyone was on the move “home for the holidays”. Although the weather was over 80 degrees for the first part of the week, the weatherman promised a cold front for Thanksgiving.

We were free to work on the holiday. The ladies, all of whom are over 63 years of age, found themselves doing something they never dreamed would be in the line of duty for MDS! We confirmed to each other that it was not on any of our bucket lists!! The steel workers had finally lifted up and welded the steel beams for the first building. They were off for Thanksgiving long weekend, and our mission, should we choose to accept it, was to stain the four largest beams and the welds, up on 20 foot scissor lifts. Hesitant Henrietta and Reluctant Linda were not too keen on this idea, but we did manage to paint some of the lower parts of the beams, mastering using the lifts. Up-for-anything Agnes, Mighty Mary and Eager Ena were ready willing and raring to go, and with some assistance from Mike, managed to do all the apexes of the eyebeams (that’s steelworker lingo), on their lift. We all spent the day being steel workers. In the morning, it was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, so warm that we needed sweat bands and looked forward to going back to the RVs at noon to change into some summer clothes. That cold front the weatherman had promised came in PRECISELY at 12:45, so that by the time we went back at 1:00 p.m., we were putting on jackets. It was uncanny! By the time we quit at 3:30, we were looking for warm gloves and winter coats!

Black Friday, we all went to town for breakfast. Stores were all open, but restaurants serving breakfast were few and far between. In the afternoon, we each headed our own direction to get the specials we were looking for. We needed a new flash drive for our computer and also found a wireless mouse, and John could not resist a cordless 18 volt screw gun complete with 50 bits for $19.99!

Saturday, we took a drive in our truck, with Marv and Henrietta along for a tour of Burnet (we were advised it is said “Burnet: learn it, durn it”!), Bertram, Georgetown, and around back to Smithwick. Lovely day for a drive. We also stopped to do a bit of shopping at Old Navy in the large Georgetown Mall.

Last Sunday, Pastor Hank at Cowboy Church advised that the Mennonites were leading their singing next Sunday. That was news to us, but we were game. We led their music worship with 8 old-fashioned country hymns. It was a blessing to our group as well as their very small congregation. There does not appear to be the interest in this small cowboy church as there was in Beaumont last year, and no apparent reason for it. Their pastor is one of the best we have encountered in this area.

Texans are crushed because their Longhorns lost the big football game. We know how they feel… But it was a good game anyway.

Third week at Marble Falls 2010

We all finally got to meet Mike and Ena Baldwin, who arrived from Miramichi, N.B. on the weekend. This couple took advantage of the offer of MDS to try out a Senior RV Project without having an R.V., as Camp of the Hills has several fully furnished cabins available for use for special visitors. Mike and Ena have been on many other regular MDS projects, but the RV Project will be a new experience for them.

We attended the Cowboy Church again this Sunday and were pleased to be invited by Jennie, the guest musician, to sing several songs with her. What a blessing that was for the four of us who enjoy singing. Pastor Hank Wilson also had our leader tell his congregation what the Mennonites were doing in their midst, and thanked us for our presence.

Fifteen men and one cook arrived in three vehicles, with a skreeter, from Winkler, Mb., on Sunday night to pour the footings and the concrete floor for the main Lodge Building. The group consisted of a contractor with several crew skilled at doing concrete work, a plumber, a real estate salesman, a few retired farmers and some strapping young men, all eager to get to work. They had a monumental task ahead of them and were equal to it. There was MUCH site prep work still required and the goal was to have the 1000 feet of grade beam and 94 x 110' concrete floor finished in five days. They pounded the stakes into the compacted crushed rock, leveled and covered the mounds of rock with heavy yellow plastic with duct tape to hold it together, and tied the rebar in place. To the astonishment of everyone, they advised they would be ready for the concrete on Wednesday. The footings were poured on Wednesday. When our Project Director called to arrange for the pumper truck and concrete for the floor, he found that the ONLY time the two could be co-ordinated was at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday. The 9,420 square feet of floor was poured and finished in 19 hours, from 4:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. It was nothing short of a miracle, which we all had desperately prayed for, to get that huge job accomplished. There were some pretty exhausted fellows. They slept in the dorms for campers and were fed in the temporary camp kitchen by Erna and two of our RV ladies. When asked what the value of the volunteer work for this job would be worth, the reply was at least $70,000.00! The contractor also commented that if he would have been offered this job for pay to be done in the time constraints required, he would have said it could not be done! With God, nothing is impossible.

Mel treated the crew to a pontoon boat ride on Friday afternoon and they were able to spend some time enjoying the scenery and relaxing a bit before they headed back home at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. The Highlander local newspaper printed a very nice article in the informing the local inhabitants of the participation of the Canadian volunteers at the Camp of the Hills.

Staining and varnishing the new kitchen cupboards were first on the agenda for the ladies this week. John and two other men finished tearing apart the very small bathroom and replacing the damaged shower enclosure with a 54 inch bathtub. While the other fellows put in the tub and new gyproc, John laid the laminate flooring in the kitchen/livingroom so that the cabinets could be installed.

The baseboards were all given two coats of paint up at Mel’s shop. In addition, the kitchen/livingroom ceiling and walls were painted. Miss Kaki was totally thrilled with each step. We gave her a new name: Miss Kaki-Gopher, because she made many trips the 10 miles to town to pick out cupboards, countertop, tub, tubsurround, etc. etc. etc.

Friday evening, more than 2.5 million twinkling lights turned Marble Falls Lakeside Park into an enchanted winter wonderland (with no snow???) in the lighting of the annual Walkway of Lights, with the first appearance of Santa Claus. There was also a parade which was not as great for watchers as it could have been, as it was in the dark. Anything that was lit up was very pretty, but where there were bands and marchers, you couldn’t see them, and can you imagine trying to find candies thrown from floats in the dark? The entry that intrigued us the most was the group of about 30 seniors who called themselves “synchronized lawn chair marchers”. They marched with folded up lawn chairs with lights on them, doing all kinds of motions in time with music. It was really neat.

This weekend was the monthly Trade Days at Fredericksburg. As John had found some treasures there last year, it was on our list of places we wanted to go. We drove with Ben and Mary Klassen from Winkler in their Honda Civic, and as we found that most of the prices at the Trade Days were “out of sight”, we only stayed an hour and a half. There was a small private yard sale about a block down the highway and there we found some useful things that were garage sale prices. Our Project Director had said that if we ever saw a bread maker for about $5 or $10, we should get it for him. There was one there for $3.00. Haven’t heard if it works yet… Then we went on to Fredericksburg and while the men toured the National Museum of the Pacific War, Mary and I did Main Street. The city is a major tourist trap in Texas and the tourists were out in full force. It was very enjoyable checking out the shops, even though many of them were for Texas millionaire pocket-books!

Second week in Marble Falls Nov. 2010

SECOND WEEK IN MDS SERVICE AT MARBLE FALLS

Our Project Manager couple here are both licensed pilots. Accordingly, when they learned that the San Antonio Air Show was on this weekend, they asked if anyone else would like to go. It was at Lackland Air Force Base and admission and parking were free. We all piled into the MDS van to travel the 120 miles to San Antonio. For outings such as this, the MDS van is available for our use if we pay for the gas. We went on Saturday, a very hot day. None of us had enough foresight to take our lawn chairs or sunscreen, so we all ended up with sore necks and burned faces from looking up. It was a fantastic show, with a Viper Four-Ship Flyby, F-15 Strike Eagle Flyby, Warbirds Demonstration, F/A 18 Hornet, U.S. Army Golden Knights, and USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration, just to mention a few. Of course there was a tremendous turnout by the public and everyone was security-checked at the entrance to the airfield. We all agreed that none of us had ever stood in such a long line-up for such a long time, but it was well worth it. Naturally, being an official Air Force function, it was done in a very orderly fashion.

Last weekend, Camp of the Hills had its first ever family retreat for campers who had attended as children 15 years ago. It was a very exciting time. It was promoted by a Camp Counsellor from 15 years ago with her group that she had led at that time. Living in the inner city, the young families are experiencing the usual struggles of young families and came to recapture the experience they had as campers with their families. The camp is hoping that this will be the beginning of a whole new chapter of campers every year.

Sunday found us at the First Baptist Church of Marble Falls. It is a huge church and has a fairly new very young, passionate pastor. We came away greatly blessed by his message. This church is very involved with their community.

Sunday afternoon, most of us enjoyed an afternoon picking and shelling pecans out in the sunshine on the picnic table, and the men convinced Mary she would like to make some pecan pies for our Thursday night pot luck.

Back to work on Monday. No sooner had the ladies again started working with their sorting plumbing supplies than Mel showed up with a more urgent task for us… a much more strenuous task! The concrete was due to be poured into the styrofoam forms in the first building the next morning. Before then, we were to lay 10 foot strips of canvas tarp all along the inside of the 60 x 80 foot building, as well as on the outside where there were concrete pads poured for verandas, so that there was no overspray of concrete onto the concrete already finished. However, these 10 foot strips of canvas were still in the form of a 10,000 square foot circus tent! It was our job to unroll the 4 sections of tent and cut them into 10 foot strips. Luckily there was a gravel parking lot accessible to accomplish this. By the time this canvas was all cut up, we were done in! Then we had to lay them out, as the concrete was coming at 8:00 a.m. Thankfully a couple of the men came and helped us move the rolls of canvas over to the building and lay them in place. It was probably the hardest day any of the ladies had in their service with MDS! We were very happy to get back to sorting plumbing on Tuesday. By 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, that part of Mel’s shop looked better than it ever had, complete with vacuumed floor. We were mighty proud of what we had done.

Meanwhile, the men spent their days getting the footings ready for the crew to come in and pour next week tying steel for beams and pilings, another very demanding task, John says not for the weak and feeble!!

Tuesday evening some of the Board Members of Camp of the Hills prepared a soup supper for us and the RVIC group at Mel’s home. After supper, Mel gave us a presentation about the camp and its history and showed us a video which they use for publicity purposes. It was a lovely evening and they are hoping we can all get together for an evening of song before we leave.

Next on the agenda for the ladies was making the “Big Ark” cottage liveable for Miss Kaki, the Camp’s volunteer co-ordinator, She has been hired full time and now lives on site instead of commuting 3 days a week. It started out that we were to paint the three room cottage, but in accordance with Murphy’s Law, there was much more upgrading required: a new shower enclosure which turned into a bathtub with shower instead, removal of carpeting and installation of laminate, removal and replacement of kitchen cupboards to allow for a small cook stove, and finding mold and leakage underneath the vanity; nothing new in the life of an MDS volunteer (or anyone renovating, for that matter). It will keep us busy for a while - we really have nothing else to do while we are waiting for the site prep.

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY KEELY!

First week in Marble Falls Nov 2010

Former Lodge which burned down



Where the Lodge Used to Be


New start in Marble Falls

Somewhere along the road while we were driving the second last day, we lost one of the small windows in the bedroom of the R.V. along the highway. It must have simply popped out. John taped in a piece of cardboard until we can get a new one.

There is no doubt that the hill country around Marble Falls, Texas, is some of the most beautiful scenery in America. It was like coming home to drive down the hill to the MDS campsite where we will spend the next month. By Saturday evening, all of the volunteers had arrived. There are 6 couples, all Canadian. We have become friends with two of the couples on other projects, have met one of the couples previously and have briefly become acquainted with the Project Directors on another occasion. This is the first Senior RV experience for the one couple from Winkler, Mb.

When we first joined the Senior RV Program, we were advised that the key requirement of a volunteer is flexibility. This is certainly true here in that we were expecting to begin putting up metal interior walls in one of the two new buildings that are being constructed to replace the former Lodge. Upon arrival, we could see the project is way behind schedule and that the concrete slab for first building had just been poured. We will be lucky if it is ready for interior walls in two weeks!

Accordingly, we went to “Plan B”. The site preparation where the Lodge used to be had not even begun. As crew foreman, John shot in the elevations and determined that 7 feet of fill would be required on the west end of the building site!

There was heavy equipment on the site available for use and two of our volunteers had some experience driving the dump truck, backhoe and packer. They were both in their glory, never dreaming they would be playing with these big machines for days on end. We learned that to run some of this heavy equipment was on our Project Director’s “Bucket List”!

The other men were put to work doing odd jobs around the camp. On Monday, the ladies had a new double washroom building by the soccer field to paint, inside and out. When that was done, we cleaned up the “Lewis Cabin”, a two room rustic cabin with twelve double bunks and a full bath on each side. We are expecting a group of volunteers from a church in Winkler, Mb., to arrive on November 14th to do the concrete floor for the new main building. The Winkler volunteers will be staying in that cabin while they are here.

When the ladies ran out of work painting and cleaning, they were assigned the important task of sorting out many boxes of plumbing supplies which had been donated to the camp. That was an interesting job, as about all we could do was sort them into the proper sizes. We had a few good laughs for the afternoon, as none of us are familiar with the various connectors and fittings, and there were so many different kinds.

Our first pot luck of the month was Thursday night, and as usual, there was a great feast and more than enough food for everyone.

Some members of the volunteer group known as RVICS (Retired Volunteers in Christian Service), are also camped in RVs at the top of the hill and are lending their assistance to the camp for maintenance and upkeep.

The weather this week was up and down like a yo-yo. The weekend was beautiful. The day after we arrived, Saturday, we enjoyed a two hour pontoon boat ride in 80 degree weather. What a lovely afternoon! It was hot enough to enjoy a leisurely Sunday lunch on the deck at River City Grille overlooking the Colorado River. Monday we were painting in sweltering 85 degree heat. Tuesday, it was cloudy and 65. It rained that night and was so windy it felt like our RV was going to end up in the lake! Wednesday morning it was just above freezing and then it rained all day. Thursday was a nice sunny day again.

There are several large pecan trees near our campers and one evening we went out and picked an ice cream pail full. Pecans in the roadside stands are $10.00 a pound!

We discovered Hallowe’en in Texas is just as much for the adults as for the children. Hundreds of costumed adults partied in the streets of Marble Falls. At lunch on Sunday, the waiters and waitresses were all costumed. Our waiter was a Mutant Ninja Turtle – I asked him if it was easy being green. He laughed and said “Not really, the green keeps coming off.” Our son Darren knows all about that from the time he won tickets for the Grey Cup Semi-Finals with the Riders by painting himself green and appearing in the CKBI parking lot in -15 degree temperatures, with snow falling, dressed only in cut-offs and work boots!

We have not been overly impressed with the T.V. we get down here. We can pick up about a dozen channels, a third of which are Mexican (Spanish). However, we were thrilled to have a front row seat (in our R.V.) Thursday evening for an hour long Statler Brothers special. It was absolutely awesome! We also watched an excellent documentary about Gulf War casualties and the emergency care they receive. It was a real eye-opener.

Back to Beaumont

Back to Beaumont


Finally we have arrived in Texas. When we had driven through last year, there were very beautiful multicolored potted tiny chrysanthemums at various plant stands. This year, we stopped at one of the first stands, and came away with two pots – one bright yellow and one dark red, each about 18 inches in diameter, on sale that day for $5.00 each! They fit nicely into the truck box which John had made, and we will surely enjoy them in “our yard” for the 4 months we can keep them down here.

While traveling in the evening on Tuesday, we noted some ugly storm clouds gathering to the south and east of us, with the odd streak of lightning. The next day, as we drove, it was apparent in the ditches that there had been heavy rain. Stopping at Lone Oak for coffee, we learned that there had been a tornado in the area, with golf size hail in some places and pea sized hail in others.

As we drove on, we noted that Americans are mighty big on pumpkins. There are hundreds of them in every school yard we see waiting for upcoming Hallowe’en.

The owners of the storage unit were happy to see us. They said they had some hail there as well this summer. It appears our awning may have some hail damage but we won’t know the extent until we roll it out. We stayed the first night in the storage yard, and enjoyed watching Arnie Armadillo rooting around in the yard just after dark.

There was time the first day for us to make a trip to Newton to visit with my cat lady friend and see her new house. Unfortunately she still has some problems with shoddy workmanship in her home, and also problems with harassment from her neighbours. She was delighted to see us.

We pass by all kinds of flea markets and there is little point in stopping, as there is virtually nothing I need, either at home or in the R.V. However we did stop at one very interesting little place just out of Jasper and there was a bobblehead Aunt Jemima piggy bank which will be perfect for my Aunt Jemima collection…only $2.00.

We left our R.V. at Jasper while we traveled back to Beaumont to see our friends at the Ben Rogers Welcome Centre who were so helpful to us last year. Then we checked in on Miss Jane in the Alzheimers wing of the Care Home. She has deteriorated considerably since we left her in February. I had a little visit with her and left her a couple of photos and a stuffed animal and can only trust that God is holding her in the palm of his hand as she lives out her life in that facility. Travelling through Cheek, we stopped in to see Miss Orma and Mr. John, our two favorite homeowners, both of whom were happy and healthy and thrilled to see us. It was great to see quite a few more new homes have been built in that poor area since we left.

Texas weather has been superb. It was 80 degrees for 3 days, one of which we understand it snowed in Prince Albert.

Well, now I have to tell you my “turkey” story. The Walmart greeter at Jasper welcomed us inside the door. A few seconds later, she hurried after us, saying she forgot to tell us that there was a big sale on turkeys. She said some people were going out with 6 and 8 turkeys. I told her I would be going out with the same turkey I came in with. We all laughed. As John waited for me at the checkout, he learned that the older round gentleman sitting beside him had been at a family Thanksgiving in Newton, Tx. where we had been invited two years ago. When I was done at the checkout and joined John, this fellow’s wife came over with her cart as well and she showed me the price of the turkey she had just bought. It was a large turkey for under $4.00!!! Anyone who knows Linda knows that 25 cents a pound is simply too good a deal to pass up. So despite the fact that John thinks turkey once a year at Christmas is one time too many, that we just had turkey for our Thanksgiving at home and that our oven in the R.V. is too small to cook a turkey, a small one was purchased. I can probably make it for a pot luck and our friend Nettie won’t mind putting it in her oven,. Went in with one turkey, came out with two…

Crossing the Border Oct. 22nd

CROSSING THE BORDER

The day came when we were scheduled to cross the border – October 22nd. We said our sad goodbyes to Warrior Jake and his wife Rita.

The border crossing was excellent. No delays and no problems.

The truck runs just great on the highway. I am very impressed with the running lights at night. It lights up like a Christmas tree!

It seems to be election season in the U.S. as well as in Manitoba. There are election signs EVERYWHERE.

Driving through “corn country”, the combines were out in full force, well into the evening.

As we drove south, we found a fantastic Classic Country radio station. We were disappointed to be losing the station as we drove on. However, on pressing the “seek” button on the radio, there was another station with the same music, and another. All through North and South Dakota and Nebraska, we enjoyed our favorite country classics and never heard the same song twice all day.

It was interesting to see Buchanan a short distance from Melville, as in Saskatchewan. In South Dakota, we noted that Minnehaha is a hop, skip and jump away from Humboldt. That’s one we don’t have…

We stayed our first night in a motel where we had stayed two years ago when the starter went on our old truck. There were just as many pheasant hunters in the motel, but we didn’t witness any problems with all the hunters and dogs this time.

One strange sight I noticed as we drove was a farm with a large body of water in the yard. There were several cows hanging around the edge of the water - nothing strange about that, but one cow was right in the middle of the water, up to its belly. I don’t know if it was stuck, or what…

John noted that Poverty Valley, South Dakota appeared to be ineptly named, with many huge mansions on the hillside.

The weather has been great for traveling. It was 74 to 78 degrees.

When we saw “Yesterday’s Café” coming up on a sign coming into Yankton, N.D., we knew that was where we would be eating our lunch. The 50’s décor was very impressive, the staff was superb and the food was excellent. John usually gives waitresses a hard time, and our feisty little waitress, Becky, was ready for him, returning as good as he gave. She got an extra tip out of that…

What a refreshing sight we encountered driving into Yankton. There were hundreds of high school kids running, in gym clothes, everywhere we looked, in the park alongside the highway. There was obviously some kind of a meet happening where all of the schools had come together, but no one we asked seemed to know exactly what it was. It was an excellent indication American high school students are getting good phys ed training.

Another interesting sight was a pumpkin orchard. Hundreds of pumpkins were laying in the field and you could go and pay for a pumpkin and pick your own.

Love this country – almost every home alongside the road has a verandah, with pillars, and at least one rocking chair, with someone usually sitting in it.

Saturday night brought us to Hesston, Kansas, the birthplace of Mennonite Disaster Service. Last year we stopped in at Hesston briefly. This year we decided to stay over and attend the Hesston College Mennonite Church. The congregation was extremely friendly and we were even invited to a home for lunch afterwards.

With the publicity about the bed bug infestations these days, we have checked out our motel rooms before paying for them. So far they have been clean and bug-less. Apparently bed bugs have even been found in motels in Brandon…

As we are gadding about heading for Jasper, Texas, our daughter is welcoming a new feline into our home. She found one she wanted at the SPCA and the only way we have met him is in e-mailed pictures. It appears Minx is settling in nicely. He’s a mature long haired tabby with a little stubby tail. Sounds like our dog Abby and the new cat have made a good start, and we look forward to having a cat again when we get home for December. My motto has always been: A house without a cat is not a home.