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.