My Article for the P.A. Shopper May 30, 2011
Rhubarb season is here. If I hadn’t discovered, last year, THE BEST RHUBARB CAKE RECIPE EVER, rhubarb season could have come and gone and I wouldn’t even have noticed. Two years ago, we dug up our patch of rhubarb, as it was encroaching on our raspberries, and there was rhubarb readily accessible at our son’s place if I ever needed any. We had company over to watch our Ken Davis video last weekend, and there was the opportunity to make my rhubarb cake! What I really like on this cake is the wonderful topping, which surprised me the first time I made it.
THE BEST RHUBARB CAKE EVER
Base: 2 cups flour
1 cup margarine
¼ cup icing sugar
½ tsp salt
Mix and press into 9 x 13 pan. Bake 12 minutes at 375 degrees.
Cover with 3-4 cups of thinly sliced rhubarb.
Sprinkle one small package of strawberry jello crystals over the rhubarb.
Topping: 1½ cup sugar
¾ cup flour
½ cup melted margarine
Spread on surface of rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
ENJOY!
Our friends and relatives in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been praying the rain would STOP. The water from the snow melt in our daughter’s yard in Pierson, Mb. had just all dried up (maybe a week or two), and she now says they need a boat to get around again!!! It was almost getting to the point we’d have to pray the rain would START here – our new patch of seeded grass required watering every day and then it only wet the very top of the ground. Our front lawn and garden were dry as a bone. We were very happy to get the nice rain on the weekend, even though it arrived precisely at the time my husband and son were resuming siding on the front of his house in town… I think they got three rows done before the sky opened up. What a difference new siding makes! It seemed that with the rain, our front lawn grew three inches over night!
We are in the process of looking for another cat. Our daughter’s beloved cat that she had gotten last October died in March, of natural causes, we believe. A friendly, adult, long-haired, “fixed” cat is what we are looking for. Our little Maltese dog is probably saying to herself “enough with the cats already”, but we really do love to have a cat in our home. The SPCA sees us looking frequently, but we have not brought anything home yet.
It is amazing how “life goes on” despite the devastation many people have suffered in Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and even Slave Lake, Alberta, and southern Manitoba and Quebec, in Canada! We have seen some of the rebuilding required down south with Mennonite Disaster Service, but nothing like what we have seen on T.V. and on our computer in the last week. The most revealing devastation on Facebook is a superimposed picture of part of Joplin, Missouri, before and after the tornado. And even thinking about how the people of Japan are surviving after their devastating earthquake and tsunami is unimaginable – we hear very little about how they are coping and getting their lives back on track. We can certainly count our blessings each and every day that things carry on in a “normal” fashion, and pray for those who are living in uncertainty, wondering if anything will ever be normal again.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Cruisin' weather - finally!
What a little bit of sun can accomplish! It seems the leaves on the trees are exploding, as well as the dandelions! It feels like just last week the hostas in the flower garden at our church were mere little nubs, and this past Sunday, there were full-blown beautiful purple flowers on them. I hope the grass seed we planted this week shows the same progress…
Recently our daughter-in-law’s dishwasher required repairs. Her handy dandy dishwasher repairman passed along a helpful hint with respect to keeping her dishwasher clean. As we use well water in our home, and have experienced problems with spots and dishes not always being clean, I thought I would try the “cure”. I am happy to say that I am 100% satisfied, and am also happy to share this helpful hint with all of you. Citric acid crystals is the answer. You can buy it bulk at the healthful store and it is relatively inexpensive. You put your regular soap into the soap holder and the citric acid loose in the extra little dispenser in the door of the dishwasher. No extra rinse agent is required. My glasses come out spotless and the dishes clean…another problem solved!
The first car that John and I bought together (way back in 1969 in Calgary, Alberta) was a red 1961 Thunderbird convertible, for the grand sum of $900.00! How we loved driving that car – for a while anyway. After a while, it began breaking down all too regularly. We were both working, but that car seemed to nickel us to death. Everything was power – the top, the steering, the brakes, the trunk and the windows. We could pretty well count on it breaking down any time we took it on a trip, and finally it was necessary to park it, as repairs were too costly. Eventually we sold it to a friend for $250.00, as we were moving and it had to be removed from the driveway.
Fast forward to 1989 – no longer on such a tight budget and we were looking for a classic car to drive as members of the Klassic Kruizers Kar Klub. We found an awesome 1963 red T-Bird in Nipawin and made it ours. It was not a convertible, but we remembered the hassle with the power top, and with children, having a convertible did not seem appropriate. During our time with the car club, we enjoyed many cruises and car shows and the friendship of many car enthusiasts.
Unfortunately, over the years, the frame rails on the ’63 rusted out badly and John did not feel it was safe to drive. He was able to find a 1962 T-Bird, originally an Arizona car, which had an excellent body. He purchased it to use the body and transfer all of the good usable parts from the old Bird (motor, transmission, etc.) into the ’62. For John, this was a tremendous undertaking in itself, without the interruption of work by a heart attack and by-pass surgery which intervened. He managed to get the body painted red and then the poor Bird sat in pieces for several years until the will and the way came together, in 2002. Over the last few years, we have driven it occasionally over the summer. However, this year, we figured it would be better for the car to actually DRIVE it often… first thing to need attention when we got it on the road was the brakes.
Then when we went to do a wheel alignment, it was discovered an outer tie rod end is required before the wheels can be aligned properly. With a quick phone call to Larry’s Thunderbird in California, the part was ordered and should be here next week. Then that big puddle of engine oil on the floor of the garage needed looking into – the rear main seal in the engine is leaking. As the vehicle sits, seals and gaskets dry out. Try to find someone in this day and age who has the expertise to work on a classic vehicle like this one!? We managed to find one at Walter’s Service. He is as excited to work on it as we were to find someone qualified. The young fellow who was to drive it into the garage to be put up on the hoist had never seen slide-away steering, and was in awe of how to get the steering column to slide back. By the time this is published, the main seal will be replaced. Hopefully it will be back on the road by the middle of June and gas prices will go down so we aren’t grumbling about that every time we go for a drive! Honk when you see us go by!
TIME ON OUR HANDS
Since returning home, I find myself spending increasingly more time at my computer. Unfortunately, it is not for anything “productive”, but mostly for entertainment. I had signed up for Facebook some time ago and initially, upon viewing the unacceptable photo that our teenage granddaughter in B.C. had put on her Facebook page, decided this was not for me. That was about three years ago, and since then, her choice of photo has improved, and I have found that many of our MDS friends have signed up. Following the postings is sometimes quite interesting, but sometimes makes me just shake my head! To see the postings of friends of friends of friends is mind-boggling. It is like a giant pyramid encompassing thousands of friends.
More recently, I have discovered some Facebook games – Slotmania and Tri Peaks Solitaire are my two favorites. Some friends and relatives are trying their hand at farming, waitressing, building a city, creating an aquarium, or playing T.V. games like Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right and Family Feud, on Facebook. All in all, it can be very time-consuming and enjoyable, and you can even watch T.V. while you are on the computer… I must confess, at the same time, to feeling guilty about wasting all that valuable time!!! Maybe when the weather improves I can get “into” my gardening instead.
And speaking of television, the new OWN Network (Oprah Winfrey) seems to have some pretty good programs to my taste… It’s always a battle of the channels. At our house, as in most, “the man” usually has control of the channel changer. We are not interested in many reality shows, but have been following Dancing With the Stars. It appears to make a difference when a wrestler is dancing… Chris Jericho was great – too bad he didn’t make it into the top 5. Super Nanny, Undercover Boss, Heartland (Canadian show, no less!), and the new show, Mike and Molly are on my list of favorites. Not so much for the man in our household though. He prefers the History Channel and the Discovery Channel with Ice Pilots, American Pickers, Judge Judy and The First 48. One of our old friends had told us in the past that her second husband had always (only) watched all the cop and crime shows. and that should have been a sign to her that he suffered from severe depression. In rethinking the matter, I believe it just showed signs that he was A MAN!!
Every month, receiving our Star Choice bill is a traumatic time – kind of like complaining about gas prices. When we started out, our bills were around $30 for the minimum package. Now it’s over $60 for the same thing, and it seems that every month it’s up a dollar or two. John keeps threatening to change to some other provider, but Sask Tel Max is not available in our area and there seems to be no better alternative. Whatever we end up with, it had better include my VERY favorite channel: Country Classics Music at 920! We usually listen to CJWW radio in the mornings, as we enjoy Rod and Dave, Vic’s coffee talk and the Boots and Salutes Show. Often we leave the radio on for the Moo Crew Garage Sale as well. But then when they play the “new country” music, it is simply too hard on the ears. I can honestly say I have never felt the need to turn off the Country Classics channel; it seems each song is better than the last!
Sister-in-law Rita has been in touch by phone often, and is doing well. You know the flooding in Brandon is really getting bad when she can’t get to Walmart to buy the new phone she needs!!! It is also beyond comprehension to see the flooding of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our garage is getting some use these days. First, our van door had a 6 inch strip of rust along the bottom of one back door. With a replacement door, a coat of paint applied in the garage, and the unfamiliar task of putting the old window into the new door, thanks to my handy husband, we soon had a “new” door on the van. His next project is putting new brakes on our ’63 T-Bird so we can drive it this summer…
More recently, I have discovered some Facebook games – Slotmania and Tri Peaks Solitaire are my two favorites. Some friends and relatives are trying their hand at farming, waitressing, building a city, creating an aquarium, or playing T.V. games like Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right and Family Feud, on Facebook. All in all, it can be very time-consuming and enjoyable, and you can even watch T.V. while you are on the computer… I must confess, at the same time, to feeling guilty about wasting all that valuable time!!! Maybe when the weather improves I can get “into” my gardening instead.
And speaking of television, the new OWN Network (Oprah Winfrey) seems to have some pretty good programs to my taste… It’s always a battle of the channels. At our house, as in most, “the man” usually has control of the channel changer. We are not interested in many reality shows, but have been following Dancing With the Stars. It appears to make a difference when a wrestler is dancing… Chris Jericho was great – too bad he didn’t make it into the top 5. Super Nanny, Undercover Boss, Heartland (Canadian show, no less!), and the new show, Mike and Molly are on my list of favorites. Not so much for the man in our household though. He prefers the History Channel and the Discovery Channel with Ice Pilots, American Pickers, Judge Judy and The First 48. One of our old friends had told us in the past that her second husband had always (only) watched all the cop and crime shows. and that should have been a sign to her that he suffered from severe depression. In rethinking the matter, I believe it just showed signs that he was A MAN!!
Every month, receiving our Star Choice bill is a traumatic time – kind of like complaining about gas prices. When we started out, our bills were around $30 for the minimum package. Now it’s over $60 for the same thing, and it seems that every month it’s up a dollar or two. John keeps threatening to change to some other provider, but Sask Tel Max is not available in our area and there seems to be no better alternative. Whatever we end up with, it had better include my VERY favorite channel: Country Classics Music at 920! We usually listen to CJWW radio in the mornings, as we enjoy Rod and Dave, Vic’s coffee talk and the Boots and Salutes Show. Often we leave the radio on for the Moo Crew Garage Sale as well. But then when they play the “new country” music, it is simply too hard on the ears. I can honestly say I have never felt the need to turn off the Country Classics channel; it seems each song is better than the last!
Sister-in-law Rita has been in touch by phone often, and is doing well. You know the flooding in Brandon is really getting bad when she can’t get to Walmart to buy the new phone she needs!!! It is also beyond comprehension to see the flooding of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our garage is getting some use these days. First, our van door had a 6 inch strip of rust along the bottom of one back door. With a replacement door, a coat of paint applied in the garage, and the unfamiliar task of putting the old window into the new door, thanks to my handy husband, we soon had a “new” door on the van. His next project is putting new brakes on our ’63 T-Bird so we can drive it this summer…
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Sprng has sprung article
Spring has Sprung!
After all the years of saying in spring “we have to burn off our mound” before the grass starts growing again, we finally got it done this spring on a cool overcast day. Mama was happy! After a little bit of revamping of our back yard, our garden is about ready for planting. I had envisioned a nice board walk from our lovely garden shed to the house, and that was the project for last Friday. It is beautiful! There is still way too much JUNK in the back yard, but what can I say – we are both “collectors”. And then there’s our son’s tent trailer back there as well… We’ll have to work at it a little bit at a time.
One of the things we have been enjoying tremendously since we returned home this spring is the home-made crabapple juice which we made last summer. We had tasted some our sister-in-law in Neuanlage had made when we visited there, and she asked if we wanted some crabapples, as they had more than they needed. I initially declined, saying we had made apple juice when we lived in B.C. and it was too much trouble to bother with. When she described how she made her delicious apple juice, it wasn’t anything like the process we used! All you do is wash and cut the crab apples in half. As she used to be a painter, she has access to paint straining bags and uses them instead of a cheesecloth bag. You put the strainer bag into a big crock or pail and fill it with the cut crab apples. Then you pour boiling water over them to the top of the apples and leave them sit. After 2 days, you pull the bag with apples out, allowing the juice to drain. For every 10 cups of juice you bring to a boil in a pot, you add one cup of sugar, and then put the boiling juice in hot sealable jars or bottles. For that little bit of work and only crabapples and sugar, the juice is every bit as good as bought apple juice, and better.
Last December, for John’s birthday, he had only one request for a birthday present: a Ken Davis CD. While we were down south, we had the occasion to watch one of our friend’s CD’s of this Christian comedian doing his thing. He is absolutely hilarious, without being strictly religious or off-color. It is just plain good comedy. I was able to order the “Under the Influence” CD for his birthday, and even after the half dozen times we have watched the CD with friends, the tears are just rolling down John’s eyes! The content is mostly family oriented and Ken has a great talent for expressions and telling a story. Although he lives in Tennessee, we learned that he has been on tour in Saskatchewan; that would have been before we knew he was someone we would travel miles to see if he was in the area. We recently saw a commercial on the Gaither program that Ken Davis was on the list of entertainment for one of their Caribbean cruises. Hey, that might be a good point in favour of going on a cruise!!
With Dancing with the Stars winding down, it is amazing to see how Kirstie Allie is hanging in there, and how much slimmer she looks compared to when she started! She has sure given the other much younger ladies with hour glass figures a run for their money… The pro dancers on the show are so very talented with the choreography they have to come up with every week!
After all the years of saying in spring “we have to burn off our mound” before the grass starts growing again, we finally got it done this spring on a cool overcast day. Mama was happy! After a little bit of revamping of our back yard, our garden is about ready for planting. I had envisioned a nice board walk from our lovely garden shed to the house, and that was the project for last Friday. It is beautiful! There is still way too much JUNK in the back yard, but what can I say – we are both “collectors”. And then there’s our son’s tent trailer back there as well… We’ll have to work at it a little bit at a time.
One of the things we have been enjoying tremendously since we returned home this spring is the home-made crabapple juice which we made last summer. We had tasted some our sister-in-law in Neuanlage had made when we visited there, and she asked if we wanted some crabapples, as they had more than they needed. I initially declined, saying we had made apple juice when we lived in B.C. and it was too much trouble to bother with. When she described how she made her delicious apple juice, it wasn’t anything like the process we used! All you do is wash and cut the crab apples in half. As she used to be a painter, she has access to paint straining bags and uses them instead of a cheesecloth bag. You put the strainer bag into a big crock or pail and fill it with the cut crab apples. Then you pour boiling water over them to the top of the apples and leave them sit. After 2 days, you pull the bag with apples out, allowing the juice to drain. For every 10 cups of juice you bring to a boil in a pot, you add one cup of sugar, and then put the boiling juice in hot sealable jars or bottles. For that little bit of work and only crabapples and sugar, the juice is every bit as good as bought apple juice, and better.
Last December, for John’s birthday, he had only one request for a birthday present: a Ken Davis CD. While we were down south, we had the occasion to watch one of our friend’s CD’s of this Christian comedian doing his thing. He is absolutely hilarious, without being strictly religious or off-color. It is just plain good comedy. I was able to order the “Under the Influence” CD for his birthday, and even after the half dozen times we have watched the CD with friends, the tears are just rolling down John’s eyes! The content is mostly family oriented and Ken has a great talent for expressions and telling a story. Although he lives in Tennessee, we learned that he has been on tour in Saskatchewan; that would have been before we knew he was someone we would travel miles to see if he was in the area. We recently saw a commercial on the Gaither program that Ken Davis was on the list of entertainment for one of their Caribbean cruises. Hey, that might be a good point in favour of going on a cruise!!
With Dancing with the Stars winding down, it is amazing to see how Kirstie Allie is hanging in there, and how much slimmer she looks compared to when she started! She has sure given the other much younger ladies with hour glass figures a run for their money… The pro dancers on the show are so very talented with the choreography they have to come up with every week!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
A lot of words about nothing...
We ran into my publisher at the A & W downtown in April and he said he hoped I would keep writing for the newspaper all summer. I had already decided that I would like to keep writing until I ran out of words. Could be interesting....
Here is my last article called: TIME ON OUR HANDS
Since returning home, I find myself spending increasingly more time at my computer. Unfortunately, it is not for anything “productive”, but mostly for entertainment. I had signed up for Facebook some time ago and initially, upon viewing the unacceptable photo that our teenage granddaughter in B.C. had put on her Facebook page, decided this was not for me. That was about three years ago, and since then, her choice of photo has improved, and I have found that many of our MDS friends have signed up. Following the postings is sometimes quite interesting, but sometimes makes me just shake my head! To see the postings of friends of friends of friends is mind-boggling. It is like a giant pyramid encompassing thousands of friends.
More recently, I have discovered some Facebook games – Slotmania and Tri Peaks Solitaire are my two favorites. Some friends and relatives are trying their hand at farming, waitressing, building a city, creating an aquarium, or playing T.V. games like Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right and Family Feud, on Facebook. All in all, it can be very time-consuming and enjoyable, and you can even watch T.V. while you are on the computer… I must confess, at the same time, to feeling guilty about wasting all that valuable time!!! Maybe when the weather improves I can get “into” my gardening instead.
And speaking of television, the new OWN Network (Oprah Winfrey) seems to have some pretty good programs to my taste… It’s always a battle of the channels. At our house, as in most, “the man” usually has control of the channel changer. We are not interested in many reality shows, but have been following Dancing With the Stars. It appears to make a difference when a wrestler is dancing… Chris Jericho was great – too bad he didn’t make it into the top 5. Super Nanny, Undercover Boss, Heartland (Canadian show, no less!), and the new show, Mike and Molly are on my list of favorites. Not so much for the man in our household though. He prefers the History Channel and the Discovery Channel with Ice Pilots, American Pickers, Judge Judy and The First 48. One of our old friends had told us in the past that her second husband had always (only) watched all the cop and crime shows. and that should have been a sign to her that he suffered from severe depression. In rethinking the matter, I believe it just showed signs that he was A MAN!!
Every month, receiving our Star Choice bill is a traumatic time – kind of like complaining about gas prices. When we started out, our bills were around $30 for the minimum package. Now it’s over $60 for the same thing, and it seems that every month it’s up a dollar or two. John keeps threatening to change to some other provider, but Sask Tel Max is not available in our area and there seems to be no better alternative. Whatever we end up with, it had better include my VERY favorite channel: Country Classics Music at 920! We usually listen to CJWW radio in the mornings, as we enjoy Rod and Dave, Vic’s coffee talk and the Boots and Salutes Show. Often we leave the radio on for the Moo Crew Garage Sale as well. But then when they play the “new country” music, it is simply too hard on the ears. I can honestly say I have never felt the need to turn off the Country Classics channel; it seems each song is better than the last!
Sister-in-law Rita has been in touch by phone often, and is doing well. You know the flooding in Brandon is really getting bad when she can’t get to Walmart to buy the new phone she needs!!! It is also beyond comprehension to see the flooding of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our garage is getting some use these days. First, our van door had a 6 inch strip of rust along the bottom of one back door. With a replacement door, a coat of paint applied in the garage, and the unfamiliar task of putting the old window into the new door, thanks to my handy husband, we soon had a “new” door on the van. His next project is putting new brakes on our ’63 T-Bird so we can drive it this summer…
Here is my last article called: TIME ON OUR HANDS
Since returning home, I find myself spending increasingly more time at my computer. Unfortunately, it is not for anything “productive”, but mostly for entertainment. I had signed up for Facebook some time ago and initially, upon viewing the unacceptable photo that our teenage granddaughter in B.C. had put on her Facebook page, decided this was not for me. That was about three years ago, and since then, her choice of photo has improved, and I have found that many of our MDS friends have signed up. Following the postings is sometimes quite interesting, but sometimes makes me just shake my head! To see the postings of friends of friends of friends is mind-boggling. It is like a giant pyramid encompassing thousands of friends.
More recently, I have discovered some Facebook games – Slotmania and Tri Peaks Solitaire are my two favorites. Some friends and relatives are trying their hand at farming, waitressing, building a city, creating an aquarium, or playing T.V. games like Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right and Family Feud, on Facebook. All in all, it can be very time-consuming and enjoyable, and you can even watch T.V. while you are on the computer… I must confess, at the same time, to feeling guilty about wasting all that valuable time!!! Maybe when the weather improves I can get “into” my gardening instead.
And speaking of television, the new OWN Network (Oprah Winfrey) seems to have some pretty good programs to my taste… It’s always a battle of the channels. At our house, as in most, “the man” usually has control of the channel changer. We are not interested in many reality shows, but have been following Dancing With the Stars. It appears to make a difference when a wrestler is dancing… Chris Jericho was great – too bad he didn’t make it into the top 5. Super Nanny, Undercover Boss, Heartland (Canadian show, no less!), and the new show, Mike and Molly are on my list of favorites. Not so much for the man in our household though. He prefers the History Channel and the Discovery Channel with Ice Pilots, American Pickers, Judge Judy and The First 48. One of our old friends had told us in the past that her second husband had always (only) watched all the cop and crime shows. and that should have been a sign to her that he suffered from severe depression. In rethinking the matter, I believe it just showed signs that he was A MAN!!
Every month, receiving our Star Choice bill is a traumatic time – kind of like complaining about gas prices. When we started out, our bills were around $30 for the minimum package. Now it’s over $60 for the same thing, and it seems that every month it’s up a dollar or two. John keeps threatening to change to some other provider, but Sask Tel Max is not available in our area and there seems to be no better alternative. Whatever we end up with, it had better include my VERY favorite channel: Country Classics Music at 920! We usually listen to CJWW radio in the mornings, as we enjoy Rod and Dave, Vic’s coffee talk and the Boots and Salutes Show. Often we leave the radio on for the Moo Crew Garage Sale as well. But then when they play the “new country” music, it is simply too hard on the ears. I can honestly say I have never felt the need to turn off the Country Classics channel; it seems each song is better than the last!
Sister-in-law Rita has been in touch by phone often, and is doing well. You know the flooding in Brandon is really getting bad when she can’t get to Walmart to buy the new phone she needs!!! It is also beyond comprehension to see the flooding of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our garage is getting some use these days. First, our van door had a 6 inch strip of rust along the bottom of one back door. With a replacement door, a coat of paint applied in the garage, and the unfamiliar task of putting the old window into the new door, thanks to my handy husband, we soon had a “new” door on the van. His next project is putting new brakes on our ’63 T-Bird so we can drive it this summer…
Thursday, May 5, 2011
More devastating tornadoes down south
We met Len and Nettie Hiebert of Grunthal, Manitoba, on our second tour of duty with MDS, at Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, in 2009. We immediately “bonded” and they have remained close friends ever since. As a matter of fact, when they learned John was building a sun room onto the back of our house in 2009, they came and helped for a week putting up the roof. It was like our own little MDS project at home!!
In recent years, in addition to volunteering with the Senior RV Program with the actual rebuilding, Len and Nettie have also undertaken the responsibility of receiving, servicing and inventorying all of the MDS vehicles and tool trailers at the large storage facility at Columbus, Mississippi, when the projects close. More recently, they have also been needed to HAUL some of the tool trailers and office trailers from the projects to the storage facility. It’s a good thing they enjoy traveling, as they put on a tremendous amount of miles in one season.
When we learned of the horrific tornadoes which ripped through Alabama, Mississippi and the other states recently, we were wondering whether Len and Nettie were still down there finishing up. A quick e-mail the day after the news of the tornadoes brought the following response: “We are in the midst of things down here and our guardian Angels will be getting overtime pay for sure…We have been scrambling to get the vehicles and equipment serviced and ready to respond to the devastation around us. Macon is half hour south, Birmingham is ninety minutes east, Aberdeen is twenty minutes north. Tuscaloosa is forty five minutes south east. We have strong winds, some thunder and lightning, the power went off around 4 pm and came back on during the night We expect some people tonight yet [from MDS Head Office in Pennsylvania] and by early tomorrow they will be off to investigate as to how to respond to this crisis.” We were very relieved to hear that they were safe, as well as those they have come to know and love as family down there from their yearly visits.
The next day, the following e-mail arrived from them: “The stories are coming over local media, a kindergarten class wiped out ---a person driving home when the vehicle is lifted up and found maybe seven miles away with occupant dead…” We are hoping the survivor stories will also start to come through. When we see the pictures of these places around us we know that we have truly been protected.”
We are so thankful that our friends are safe, and almost wish we could be there to help them with the initial contact and clean-up. However, the word is they have many agencies and assistance from neighbouring areas that the tornadoes did not demolish, and if MDS requires volunteers, we would be notified. Our Senior RV crews are not involved in the initial clean-up, but rather are called in quite a time afterwards for rebuilding and repairing homes for those citizens who “fall through the cracks” – the elderly and the poor who don’t have insurance. The MDS field reps are already in the area of the new tornadoes assessing where its assistance will be best provided by regular MDS volunteers. They will be on the front lines dealing with those in crisis, hearing many of the stories of the people who have lost everything.
John is in the process of getting together a local MDS response team which will be ready for action in the event of a disaster in our area. It is in the beginning stages. He has met with members of the Ministerial Association to inform them of the plans and provided the with sign-up forms for volunteers. There are no special requirements for volunteers, just be ready, willing and able to assist should the need arise. The “purpose” is: (1) to assist citizens in Prince Albert area in cleaning up debris after an initial disaster and (2) to make temporary repairs that will help secure structures and prevent secondary damage after an initial disaster (intended to address wind damage to buildings and trees and flooding damage to buildings). We were astonished to hear about the severe wind damage that was done in Prince Albert area several years ago. It certainly refuted the idea that tornadoes do not occur in our area. The consensus is that sooner or later, there will be some natural disaster which will require such a team to be ready to go.
Please call John at 763-8180 in the event you would be willing to be a part of a local MDS response team.
In recent years, in addition to volunteering with the Senior RV Program with the actual rebuilding, Len and Nettie have also undertaken the responsibility of receiving, servicing and inventorying all of the MDS vehicles and tool trailers at the large storage facility at Columbus, Mississippi, when the projects close. More recently, they have also been needed to HAUL some of the tool trailers and office trailers from the projects to the storage facility. It’s a good thing they enjoy traveling, as they put on a tremendous amount of miles in one season.
When we learned of the horrific tornadoes which ripped through Alabama, Mississippi and the other states recently, we were wondering whether Len and Nettie were still down there finishing up. A quick e-mail the day after the news of the tornadoes brought the following response: “We are in the midst of things down here and our guardian Angels will be getting overtime pay for sure…We have been scrambling to get the vehicles and equipment serviced and ready to respond to the devastation around us. Macon is half hour south, Birmingham is ninety minutes east, Aberdeen is twenty minutes north. Tuscaloosa is forty five minutes south east. We have strong winds, some thunder and lightning, the power went off around 4 pm and came back on during the night We expect some people tonight yet [from MDS Head Office in Pennsylvania] and by early tomorrow they will be off to investigate as to how to respond to this crisis.” We were very relieved to hear that they were safe, as well as those they have come to know and love as family down there from their yearly visits.
The next day, the following e-mail arrived from them: “The stories are coming over local media, a kindergarten class wiped out ---a person driving home when the vehicle is lifted up and found maybe seven miles away with occupant dead…” We are hoping the survivor stories will also start to come through. When we see the pictures of these places around us we know that we have truly been protected.”
We are so thankful that our friends are safe, and almost wish we could be there to help them with the initial contact and clean-up. However, the word is they have many agencies and assistance from neighbouring areas that the tornadoes did not demolish, and if MDS requires volunteers, we would be notified. Our Senior RV crews are not involved in the initial clean-up, but rather are called in quite a time afterwards for rebuilding and repairing homes for those citizens who “fall through the cracks” – the elderly and the poor who don’t have insurance. The MDS field reps are already in the area of the new tornadoes assessing where its assistance will be best provided by regular MDS volunteers. They will be on the front lines dealing with those in crisis, hearing many of the stories of the people who have lost everything.
John is in the process of getting together a local MDS response team which will be ready for action in the event of a disaster in our area. It is in the beginning stages. He has met with members of the Ministerial Association to inform them of the plans and provided the with sign-up forms for volunteers. There are no special requirements for volunteers, just be ready, willing and able to assist should the need arise. The “purpose” is: (1) to assist citizens in Prince Albert area in cleaning up debris after an initial disaster and (2) to make temporary repairs that will help secure structures and prevent secondary damage after an initial disaster (intended to address wind damage to buildings and trees and flooding damage to buildings). We were astonished to hear about the severe wind damage that was done in Prince Albert area several years ago. It certainly refuted the idea that tornadoes do not occur in our area. The consensus is that sooner or later, there will be some natural disaster which will require such a team to be ready to go.
Please call John at 763-8180 in the event you would be willing to be a part of a local MDS response team.
RV Roof Repair
Looks like I missed posting one of my earlier articles, so I am doing it here:
REPAIR OF RV ROOF
John had been noticing for two years already that the roof of our fifth wheel trailer was becoming spongy around the area of the air conditioning unit. It was high time we got it fixed, or at least start getting quotes to get it fixed.
A guy in Beaumont quoted a minimum of $7,000 and he needed the trailer for 3 weeks. At Orange, where we had bought the RV, the quote was $5,500. The New Iberia RV dealer said he could fix it for $7,000, with another $700 for metal. At that point, John was thinking metal might be the way to go instead of rubber because he thought it would last longer. Then, along the road through our RV Park came a truck marked “Fun in the Sun Mobile R.V. Repair”. John tracked him down and Melvin came over to check out our roof. His diagnosis was that the air conditioning unit had probably been leaking since the factory and that some of the rafters may need replacing. He did not recommend metal, as it was more difficult to put on and not as flexible as rubber.
We indicated that we were under some time constraints, as we were leaving New Iberia at the end of the month and he said that if we could get it to his place on Sunday, February 20th, he could have it done by Wednesday, the 23rd. We somehow got the impression that we could live in it while he was working on it, but that plan fizzled out when we learned later that he lived on an acreage at Cecelia, north of Breaux Bridge, some 40 minutes away! His quote was $4,500, possibly $5,000, depending on what he found when he opened it up. He also advised that he would be putting on a layer of ¼ inch marine plywood underneath the new rubber top.
Now this was something that required serious consideration, when we hear there are all kinds of fly-by-night operators around. The campground owners said they had never heard anything but good comments about his work and pricing. Accordingly, we took the RV up to Melvin’s place and left it for the three days. We moved what we needed into the motel across the highway from our RV Park. It was not a fancy motel by a long shot ($39.99 a night), but it was adequate and clean, and we only had to kill four cockroaches… They are a fact of life down there, and the motel has all the rooms sprayed with an organic pesticide once a month. Our room was sprayed the last day we were there.
An old friend from Fort McLeod had told us the story of a holiday trip they had taken in Southern Louisiana some years ago. She had told us that she particularly LOVED the New Iberia/Breaux Bridge area. I can honestly say that New Iberia itself did not impress me in any way, shape or form. However, when driving up the road to Breaux Bridge from New Iberia, we witnessed what she was talking about. It is an absolutely gorgeous drive, with huge ancient oak trees overhanging the road for miles, branches meeting in the middle, with lush acreages on either side. As John wanted to see the open roof and how things were going at Melvin’s acreage, we enjoyed the scenery one extra time...
At that time, it was also quite obvious it would not have been convenient for anyone to be living in the unit as it was being repaired! Each of the ceiling vents and both sky lights, as well as the air conditioning unit, had to be removed. All of the gaskets and flashing were replaced and a new skylight was installed in the bathroom.
When we picked up the RV on Wednesday at 5 p.m., we were more than satisfied with the result. What a breath of fresh air when the final bill came to $4,500! John had one of his handy dandy bee keepers bars with him and gave it to Melvin as a bonus. It is a tool that he would not be without, and when Melvin looked at it, he could see that it would be something he could certainly use.
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