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.

Beamont Blog 5 - Thanksgiving weekend

New garden door

Crew at Miss Loretta's with Destiny supervising

Lois and Jack

Beaumont Blog 5

Miss Loretta’s renovations are complete after some final finishing touches. There is a certain amount of satisfaction for the volunteers to have one job completed, especially since there were many more improvements done than were initially approved.

The new garden door is absolutely beautiful and the new flooring will be so much easier for her to clean. The many upgraded items will certainly make her life more comfortable, and that is a blessing to us.

We enjoyed the company of Miss Loretta’s 4 year old granddaughter, Destiny, for two days while we worked there. Loretta’s 15 year old nephew, Will, was babysitting Destiny, as there was no school. He mainly stayed in his bedroom watching T.V. Little Destiny shyly came out of her room at first, but in a short time, she was talking the ear off Lois and I, and entertaining us as only a 4 year old can! She’s a little cutie. It was somewhat difficult to understand what she was saying sometimes, because she has that “drawl”, but we managed to communicate quite well. John always stays there for lunch to babysit the tool trailer, and he shared his lunch with Destiny the one day.

The crew at Darcy’s did the last wall of siding. Lois and I helped do the caulking on the last wall so Agnes and Annette could stay home. The men had stabilized the front porch and then they were finishing it off with aluminum fascia and putting up two big posts. The whole exterior of the house will look 100% better than it did, even though painting it is not on our agenda.

The third project started is Miss Orma’s. This is a house trailer up on pillars which FEMA provided to the elderly Miss Orma and her blind husband when their home was destroyed in Hurricane Ike. It is barely liveable, but SETIO is providing funds for some minor renovations. John fixed the plumbing under the sink and a bank of drawers that was falling apart, as well as fixing her commode. He was quite happy that there was no further interior work we were committed to do, as she has a cockroach infestation! We certainly hope SETIO will look after getting an exterminator in to help them with that situation!!

What will keep John and Bernie busy next week is finishing the 30 feet of handicap ramp which was started on Friday. There was a lot of heavy bull work getting the beams set up and ready, so they were very tired when they got home from work. We are told the girls can screw down the boards and put up the spindle railing next week…

Our highlight of last weekend was driving to Johnson Bayou where we had built homes after Hurricane Rita, to attend church there. Since Hurricane Ike destroyed their lovely church building, the Baptist Church has been holding Sunday services in the Pastor’s home. Their small congregation was also having a pre-Thanksgiving feast after the service and our entire MDS group was invited and greeted as long-lost family. We learned that Miss FloraBelle’s husband, Mr. Alvin, had passed away this summer. He had been an old Louisiana cowboy with Mr. Archie. We had gotten to know them a bit, as they were the first house beside our campground and their son, Tim Trahan, owned the campground.

The Pastor advised us that MDS regular unit in Cameron is building a new house for Miss FloraBelle, and later in the week, we learned that Gerry Sapinsky, one of our MDS RV Program friends, will be heading up an RV unit there in February to finish that house and another one for one of the ladies who was at the church service. That was very heartwarming to hear.

Jim and Annette are going home to Steinbach for December and will be returning for January and February. We will certainly miss them, as they are both hard workers.

We will probably be going out shopping for Black Friday to see what kind of specials they have out there. Our 15.4 inch HD Widescreen LCD was sufficient when we first bought it, but we think we’d like to find about a 29-32 inch. Would like to have one with a built-in DVD player, but it seems like there are none of those on the Black Friday sales we’ve seen so far.

Then if we buy an antenna, MAYBE we will be able to get some TV reception here!! John is sick of reading books already.

The traffic on our highway about doubled with the Thanksgiving holiday starting on November 26th. The Americans REALLY celebrate Thanksgiving! Food, family and football, they say here.

We are looking forward to Sunday with the Grey Cup game between the Riders and Stampeders. Will be watching it on the web site that Darren gave us to use (maybe on our brand new 32 inch T.V.???). GO RIDERS GO!!!!

Blog 4 from Beaumont

Miss Loretta and I

Darcy's house - Project 2

Annette in front of "Landmark" in Beaumont

Cowboy Church




We wished we could have been there every day when Miss Loretta came home from work to see her reaction to the progress.

This week the old flooring was removed right down to the concrete, and new lino installed in the kitchen, livingroom, two hallways and one bedroom. Lois and Agnes and I scraped away for an afternoon, and Jim and Annette did a very fine job of laying the lino.

As a section of the floor by the patio door was wet where we were scraping, we called John and he found there was a leak in one of the water lines to the bathroom which had a common wall with the kitchen. Thankfully he was able to remove one sheet of wallboard in the kitchen to fix it. The bottom of the wallboard was totally separated, so they replaced a half sheet and the wall is far more sturdy now.

Some of our volunteers continued with the siding at the second project, Darcy’s home. John’s project for Thursday was to fix the plumbing there, necessitating two trips into Beaumont for parts.

Lois and I didn’t work on Wednesday, and went to town shopping. The other ladies were busy working on specific jobs alongside their husbands.

When we learned that in order to hire someone to remove the garbage pile, the cost would be over $400.00, we found a suitable alternative. Darcy advised that we could move it over to his “back 40” and he will burn it at a later time, along with his garbage. Lois and I volunteered for that job, as we had prayed for a solution. On Thursday morning, we moved three truck loads of garbage, using our truck. It was just wonderful to see the front yard all nice and cleaned up again. Another cause for joy when Miss Loretta returned home from work.

I am amazed that in Beaumont (and probably other cities in the USA) if you want to mail a letter, you have to go to one of the two Post Offices. This is for a city at least the size of Saskatoon! There are no mail boxes anywhere – at the malls or banks or anything.

As I mentioned in our last blog, the Orange Cowboy Church was where we chose to worship our third Sunday here. What a breath of fresh air! We were greeted at the church gate by two teenage girls holding flags on poles, on horses standing at attention. By the time the service started, the new church, which had been recently dedicated, was plumb full of members of all ages. We were advised that this church had been started two years ago with 9 members. They had previously congregated in an old barn near Bridge City. Their music was led by the Chuckwagon Gang and the preacher told us to feel free to use “Eee-haw” for Amen! We witnessed the first immersion baptism in their new church – a boy about 11 had made his commitment for Christ the week before. Their baptism fount was a new cattle trough. We also noted the 20 or so light fixtures in the ceiling were wash tubs. We went away having been greeted with the love of Christ and a hearty invitation to “Y’all come on back now”.

This week John and I received an invitation to return to Cheek to work after New Years, which was what we were hoping for. There was also a hint that our dear friends, Paul and Mary Stolzfus from Pennsylvania will be at this site, but until that is officially confirmed, we dare not believe it to be true. What a blessing that would be!!!!!

Our Shari at home is counting down the days until her flight leaves (Dec. 22nd). I am sure she is already packed! She is flying to Houston to spend a couple of weeks with us. Thanks to Peggy and Steve, we have a reservation at New Braunfels time share over Christmas and we will be taking Shari down to San Antonio to visit the River Walk which should be beautifully decorated for the season.

Well, I guess I’ll post this now. Nice chatting with y’all.

Beaumont Blog 3

We thought our crew was complete at 8 and got quite a surprise to have another rig roll in on Saturday. We welcomed Carl and Lois Ramer, from Elk Valley, Alberta, into our little group. Now we are 10.

Another 4-day work week has been completed. Again, we are very satisfied with what was accomplished, and some of our crew even started a second renovation job!

Thanks to Annette and Agnes, the whole exterior of the house is painted, complete with window trim and metal decorative pillars painted brown. Bernie scraped the old paint off those old pillars for two days! Bert then spray-painted them to match the trim.

The drywall was second-coated and then John went back to working on the plumbing. He fixed the drain in the kitchen and put a framework under the sink with two shelves. Miss Loretta was totally delighted to see not only one new shelf, but two!

Tuesday, Bernie helped John texture spray the one bedroom and John sprayed the ceilings in the hallways, diningroom and kitchen.

When that was done, his next task was to get the bath tub ready for a tubsurround. The walls around the bathtub were the worst he has ever seen! The termites had eaten out the whole inside of the 2 x 4’s and there was only the outside left – nothing to nail or screw to. After cleaning up the terrific mess of termite-infested old gyproc (which took almost a whole afternoon, he used his best expertise to mickey-mouse something so that there would be backing for the new gyproc. By the time we left on Thursday, the new tubsurround was installed. What a thing of beauty compared to what she had. Of course, we take such a simple convenience for granted at home. The only thing remaining to do in the master bath is replacing the bottom of the cabinet. Under ordinary circumstances, he would be taking out the vanity and putting in a new one. Not here. The plan is to give her a new floor for the cabinet. He also fixed the plumbing in her en suite.

Doreen and I painted the walls of the hallway and then painted the bedroom. I painted the ceiling. Miss Loretta picked a dark beige/yellow colour. We did the walls and ceiling the same colour.

Then Lois cut in while I primed the ceilings in the other rooms. I don’t usually paint the ceilings but John had his work cut out for him in the bathroom and I felt I could do it. He painted the final coat on the ceilings just before we left Thursday. We painted them white rather than the yellow, in to make the rooms brighter. We also painted the bifold doors for little Destiny’s closet (it is her bedroom we renovated) and some trim boards.

Agnes painted the new exterior doors while Lois and I worked on the inside.

Jim and Carl were working at the second job removing siding and getting the house ready to put soffiting and fascia, and new siding on. It was in VERY VERY sad shape as well. Again, termite-infested wood had to be removed and something solid put in its place, which was a real challenge for them. Then Annette helped them start to put the soffiting on when the painting was done at Miss Loretta’s.

Bernie made a new attic hatch in the garage and all the fixtures were put up one final time.

One more week at Miss Loretta’s should complete the flooring in the bedroom, the hallway, kitchen and diningroom. There is also a double garden door to arrive yet.

Unfortunately, we have a very large pile of garbage laying on Miss Loretta’s front lawn and it appears not to be an easy task to get it removed. Soon her lovely grass will be at risk. We are hoping SETIO will get it removed this weekend. Of course then we will have the flooring and some carpet to get rid of next week – maybe they are waiting to complete the load….

The second Sunday here, we decided to attend Miss Loretta’s church in Cheek. We were sorry she was unable to attend. We were the only white people there. They had just dedicated their newly renovated church the Sunday before. We were told the service started at 11:00, so there we all were, parked in our seats, with people wandering back and forth, but no sign of the service actually STARTING until 11:20. It was a very animated service. Their very talented young pastor has been invited to perform at the JDI Record Production Talent Search Finals in Waterloo, Iowa! Man, can he belt it out! He kinda reminded me of Will Smith in a way!! It was an interesting service. The sermon was around 45 minutes, but the service lasted 2 hours. We were out at 1:00. Very spirit filled - as John said - he wasn't disappointed. It was everything he expected it to be. The children's choir of 7 children led the singing. I would like to see the adult choir myself. And there were no hymnals, nor overhead, so I guess everyone has to KNOW the words...

This Sunday we are going to the Beaumont Cowboy Church. We drove by the driveway many times when we were in Johnson Bayou, but never did attend. I am looking forward to it. They have built a new building which looks quite interesting on the website.

We had our weekly supper together in the office trailer on Thursday evening and afterwards shared how each couple had met. It was interesting to hear the stories.

Friday, we drove to Galveston to see the damage from Hurricane Ike. It was substantial, but there is a lot of rebuilding happening. Five of our crew including John took the tour of the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum. They were very excited to also get to see some dolphins frolicking in the bay as the barges rolled by. There were also hundreds of pelicans hanging around waiting for handouts of fish entrails.

I wasn’t interested in offshore drilling rigs, so I walked around the very old tourist area nearby. I was sorry to miss the dolphins though.

Galveston has some beautiful historic buildings with shops of all kinds within walking distance of the Museum. They even had horse and buggy rides for sight-seers, but I imagine they were quite expensive. No cabs in sight.

We stopped at Galveston Beach and dabbled our toes in the water. There were a few shell collectors and some children wading in the surf while their parents watched. I had no idea of the scope of that beach, though, until I purchased a postcard of the beach in summer – it was wall-to-wall people with umbrellas, beach blankets and sunlovers - as many people as there were seagulls when we were there.

A big howdy to y’all out there who are reading our blog. The weather at home is holding by the looks of things, so you will enjoy a shorter winter as well. We have had 80 degrees most of last week and are thoroughly enjoying it.

Unfortunately I cannot find the charge for our camera and the batteries are dead. I am having to rely on the pictures of others and will be posting some pictures in the next few days. Fat Friday is coming up and I think we'll be looking to buy another digital camera...

Beaumont Blog 2

This place is certainly different from the country setting at Marble Falls! We are a quarter of a mile from I-10 parked in a fenced area opposite the Ford Pavilion in the Ford Communiplex area just out of Beaumont. The traffic is a continuous roar, with a slight decrease between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m… It certainly takes some getting used to!

We are parked on concrete which is convenient. We like it that we can also hang our clothes on a line to dry behind our RV’s because of the fence. This is now the home of our four Canadian couples volunteering for November and December, 2009.

Cheek is a small rural area about 3 miles from where we are parked. We have come home for lunch each day this week, but our personal preference would be to take our lunch and eat there.

After several days of rain, the sun has come out and we have been able to do the outside work at Miss Loretta’s house. She would probably have qualified for a complete home replacement, but just wanted to keep her old house and get some things fixed.

Miss Loretta is a beautiful black lady, very young looking to be a grandmother. She has her 15 year old nephew, Willie, living with her, and also two young grandchildren who live with her part time. We have met Willie briefly as he comes into the house after school, diving immediately into the refrigerator and heading for his bedroom, resurfacing in a few minutes to get more food!

Miss Loretta’s exterior doors all showed daylight all around, and allowed insects and critters to move around freely. Not any more! Bert got busy and replaced all three of them with airtight frames and door, displacing a family of geckos from under the sill of the front door. I was there when they tried to scurry into the house and Bert was waiting for the reaction Doreen would have had – a hysterical shriek. Sorry to disappoint him. I probably would have shrieked had it been a snake. He managed to divert them outside instead of inside and then finished his job!

The ceilings in one of the bedrooms, the kitchen, diningroom and hallways were falling down in places. John and Bernie quickly cut down the old ceilings the first day. I am sure it was quite a shock for Miss Loretta to come home from work to find her ceiling gone and bare rafters exposed. Upon further investigation, these rafters also required some work in order to do their job properly.

Jim and Annette, who had arrived on Saturday, set to removing and replacing the damaged bottom row of siding. Then while Jim put on new upright end boards and fixed soffit and fascia, Annette and Agnes, with Linda’s help when she was not taping the ceilings, scraped and prepared the siding for paint. On Thursday, the last day of our work week, Doreen was excited to finally get out of the office and onto the job. The ladies painted the siding and by 3:30 p.m., only the garage wall remained to be painted.

John got a start on fixing the plumbing, and Bernie put the new light fixtures up so that Miss Loretta and her family would have lights for the weekend.

We were very satisfied with what we had accomplished in four short days!

On Friday, the three couples here went to the Golden Corral, my favorite place from last year. They have the widest choice of food we have ever seen and all of it delicious. I simply CANNOT do this very often. It is not a place for a person who cannot resist food to go more than once a year!!

Our first Sunday here, we attended a very large Baptist Church in downtown Beaumont. They had several services going at one time and we were directed to the “conventional” service. It was very high-tech – all kinds of equipment around, almost like it was being televised. They also had a 50 member robed choir. It was a very large congregation.

Afterwards, we had our weekly MDS dinner, again at a Chinese Buffet. This is going to be a tough stretch with all this eating out!

Bert and Doreen showed us the way to Walmart. I think we will take the alternate route instead of going on I-10. No sense getting all stressed out with that traffic just to go for groceries. I went by myself one evening, and only got lost once. Asked for directions and got back to our site safe and sound, although it was already dark.

Our internet is accessible any time, thank heaven. I sure wish we had access to a pay phone at the park here, but the last time I tried to use my SuperStore phone card at a Texas pay phone, it would not accept it. I was sure it worked at pay phones in Texas last year. The Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Centre is in the next block across a field and when we went there for information, I inquired about telephones. She said we could feel free to use their phone with our credit card any time we wished. I have taken them up on that offer on several occasions. Unfortunately, they close at 5:00, so I have to come home and shower and change in a hurry to get any phone calls made, or save them for Friday.