Catching up

After nearly 2 weeks of busy-ness, the time has come to catch up with this blog.

 

When we last posted here, we had been setting up at Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills campground.  We had a busy 4 days there, complete with 3 granddaughters staying with us for a couple of nights, as well as both of our sons camping nearby.  David brought his trailer and Brett and Jen stayed in their tent.  It was like a mini family reunion campout.  David also brought LaJoy and her 2 kids and a great time was had by all.  We learned that a 40 foot motorhome is large enough to feed 11 for breakfast.

As the weekend wound down, we moved to the street in front of Brett’s house for a series of grandparent activities: one soccer practice and one choral concert.  Mid-week we moved the motorhome to the cabin where, thankfully, we had an uneventful setup – unlike last year!  During a short 3-day stay there, we got the cabin opened up, the sauna stove painted, and the pine needles raked up.

 

The winter was milder this past year (compared to the year before) with less snow.  As a result, the water level has been low, but is now rising due to spring rains.

 

We also got to Duluth for a belated Mother’s Day lunch with Joyce and completed a few things on her “to do” list.  Then we returned to Elk River for more grandparent duties: a 3-game hockey tournament and a belated birthday party for Anna.  Yet to come during the next few days are another birthday dinner (Pam), another music concert (Sophia), a soccer game (Olivia) and a few medical appointments (us). 

By mid-week we will get back to the cabin just in time for the long Memorial Day weekend.

We sure have been busy with a lot of coming and going.

Back in Minnesota

After a 2-day drive from Conway AR to Forest City IA, plus a quick trip to Minneapolis and back the next day (almost 1,000 miles in 3 days), we had plenty of time to rest up at the Winnebago factory.  The quick trip to Minneapolis was to support Sophia at the state competition of History Days for middle and high schools from all over the state.  We picked up Valentina so we got to see all the granddaughters.

 

The Winnebago factory service group handled a couple of minor warranty issues to our satisfaction on Monday and took care of another new issue on Tuesday.  We had a pleasant time at “Camp Winnebago” meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones.  After a late sleep-in on Wednesday, we waited for the morning fog to lift, then had a short day to Lebanon Hills Campground, a Dakota County park, in Apple Valley MN. 

 

We plan to be here for the rest of the week and into the weekend, with guests.  Brett will be bringing his girls here for a couple of days, and David will join us for Saturday with his trailer.  We plan to help him restring a day/night shade.

 

Back to the NorthCountry

While our week at Conway Arkansas was brief (only 3 working days), it was also quite physical.  As we mentioned in the prior post, a tornado came through here last year and did a lot of damage.  The county disaster program, working with Habitat for Humanity and many volunteer organizations will be working here for a long time.  We’ve learned that some volunteers know what they are doing and some others should have stayed home.   

Half of our crew spent most of this week removing and replacing drywall joint compound (mud) that was very poorly applied at one house.  Here is Paige, after doing some re-work:

 

The rest of our crew installed drywall at a new house nearby:

  

While working there, we met the future resident and her family one day, and we were interviewed by one of the local TV stations on another day.  Here is a picture of the TV screen.  Danny is holding a sheet of drywall with Bob (whom you can’t see) at the other end:

 

Since our granddaughter, Sophia, is competing in the State finals of a history competition, we got permission to leave a day early.  We joked that we did 4-days worth of work in the three days we were there.  This is our last Nomads project until the Fall.  We’re looking forward to life at the cabin for the summer and our own little “Nomads” projects up there.

Thursday had us driving through scenic northern Arkansas (through Harrison) and into Missouri (through Branson and Springfield) stopping for the night in Kansas City.  Friday’s drive was not quite as far, to Winnebago’s plant in Forest City Iowa.  We have an appointment for a little warranty work to be done next week.  Saturday we will be with all the granddaughters at the University of Minnesota for Sophia’s presentation. - - - -    

              Lots of driving in only 3 days, but worth it to see those girls!!

 

Ready to Get Back to Work

Our week of recuperation is nearly over.  We did lots of errands, repaired the TV antenna, had lunch with Nomad friends who are workcamping at a nearby Corps of Engineer campground and had them over to our campground for a short visit and met other Nomads who were also camped at Toad Suck.  Plus our rig got a well needed bath.

 

After cleaning everything, we spent Friday listening to the rain on the roof all day.

 

Today we left our quiet Corps of Engineers campsite at Toad Suck and traveled a grand total of 12 miles to a church parking lot on the east side of Conway AR.  One year ago this weekend a tornado, rated EF4, came through here and produced lots of devastation.  Not only Nomads, but many other volunteer groups as well, have been here helping to rebuild homes and lives.

Disaster Recovery projects are handled differently from traditional Nomad projects.  These can be long term, with team members signing up for any number of weeks at a time (not the usual 3 weeks only).  Each week some members might leave, to be replaced by others.  They have room here for 6 rigs to park.  Three have stayed over from last week, and 3 replacement rigs just came in today.  When doing laundry yesterday we met a couple who had been here, but were about to leave.  We have committed to just one week (4 working days) but we will have to leave a day early, next Thursday, so that we can attend Sophie’s history competition at U of Minn.

We will have an official introductory meeting tomorrow evening, but unofficially we have learned that some of us will be doing drywall work, while others will be finishing some plumbing items at another house.

 

Taking a Short Break

We have left the OWL Center after 3 weeks.  Here are some of the things our group of 9  accomplished:

Replaced and painted front door of office
Removed hideabed from Samantha's office
Primed and painted Samantha's office
Dismantled old horse shelter and moved roof to Maze area
Designed and built replacement horse shelter (larger)
Helped Miss Laurie with lunch preparation
Serviced large Bush hog and large lawn mowers
Power washed and cleaned conference room tables and chairs
Dismantled cardboard wall partitions and moved them to loft in tool shed
Dismantled staging and moved to white horse shelter
Replaced and painted back door of office
Primed and painted letters for new OWL sign
Trimmed shrubs by front door
Assisted Samantha with students on horses, three rimes
Scraped, primed, and painted NE entrance gate
Power washed and cleaned north end of office building
Power washed front sidewalk at office
Cleaned and prepared 8 rooms at the Lodge for guests
Painted numbered signs for Samantha
Cleaned and prepared strawberries for jam
Cleaned north greenhouse
Started clearing south greenhouse
Prepared 2 batches of salsa
Fixed broken desk support
Washed Conference Center Windows

We had a long list of things to do, which we like to have.  We were unable to get to everything.  There is always lots of work available here.  Some former Nomads, who are still RVing “Snowbirds”, come here on their own every winter to “drop in” and help out wherever they can.

One of the special activities included a field trip to the main campus in Ruston, LA where we got a tour of the classrooms and met with the school principal.  I should point out that the Louisiana Children’s Home is a Residential Psychiatric Treatment facility, not just a school, or an orphanage, but is a very intense place which houses teens with many difficult problems.  One of the more effective ways of reaching out to them involves the use of horses.  Paige got particularly close to one of the girls by leading her on Babe, the Percheron.

         

They have about 15 horses to work with, so a new (and larger) shelter was appreciated by both the staff and the horses.  Here is the new shelter and the builders:

   

Another special activity is to help bottle salsas and jams in their commercial kitchen.  These products are sold for fundraising.  Improvements to their process since we were here last, has made it possible for a group of our size to get 2 batches done using half of us for each version.

 

We finished working on Thursday and had a “going away” dinner that evening.  Two rigs pulled out on Friday morning, but the rest of us stuck around a little longer.  We left on Sunday morning for Conway Arkansas.  Two years ago we were here and stayed at a Corps of Engineers campground at Toad Suck Ferry.  For more details check out:http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/44   

We will be here for a week, taking things easy, until next week when we will help rebuild some areas damaged by heavy tornados about this time last year.

 

OWL, Again

We arrived at the OWL Center in Duback, LA a week and a half ago.  Officially it is the Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center, or OWL for short.  It is a rural facility affiliated with the Methodist Children’s Home of Louisiana with headquarters in nearby Ruston.  We got here early so that we could get our taxes done, and get some body work on the truck scheduled.  It’s such a peaceful, quiet place!  We were here two years ago for a project so it was familiar and we looked forward to our return visit.  This is the first site that we’ve had a repeat visit since we’ve been involved in Nomads.
The other team members arrived last Saturday and Sunday.  We have a total of 9 of us working together.  We are from MN, IL, GA, KS, and MO. The week started off with a detailed tour of the facility on Monday.

There are many projects on our list – which is always good!  The men started by removing a horse shelter and started the building of a newer, bigger shelter.  Lots to do there yet.  The women started scraping the front door for repainting only to find that it was almost rusted through so that project turned into the purchase and installation of a new front door.  We also prepped an office for painting and, the big project, was washing and cleaning conference center tables and chairs.  There were over 200 chairs and many round and rectangular tables.  This was a huge job which ended on Thursday with the guys helping so we could finish before the weekend  (thank you, guys!).

 

On our day off, Friday, we took a field trip into Monroe, LA which is the closest large city and the home of Duck Dynasty.  We have some fans of the show in this group and they were excited to see some of the local sites featured in the show.

 

We also toured the Biedenharn Gardens and Home which is where a local family started the Coke bottling business.  Very informative and the gardens were beautiful.

 

A Couple of “Firsts” for Us

This past week was our first one working on a DR, or Disaster Recovery project.  Here is what our leader has posted as accomplishments:  http://www.nomadsumc.org/newsdetail/939465 .  Work on Miss Mae’s house was begun about a month ago and completed last Thursday.  She has been living elsewhere for the past year.  Paige and Joanne installed a laminate floor in her bedroom – turned out very nice!!  On Thursday we had a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the work and give the keys back to her.  She is an 86 year old with a lot of energy and spunk!  In addition to getting a lot of repairs done this week, we also had the time to take in some local sites, like Joe Patti’s seafood market – yum!!

 

Pensacola’s biggest claim-to-fame is its Naval Air Station.  All Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard pilots get their initial training here, and the base has an excellent museum showcasing the history and equipment used by their flyers.  We spent most of Friday here.

This base also happens to be the home of the Navy’s Blue Angels, who have just returned here from their winter training base in California.  They practice every Tuesday and Wednesday here, but are gone to airshows around the country nearly every weekend.  We could hear them practicing but weren’t able to see them.

  

 

Saturday we said our “goodbyes” to the Nomads and hit the road, traveling north and west into Mississippi where we stopped for the night in Hattiesburg, home of Brett Favre. 

 

Tonight is another “first” for us: parked at Walmart with no hookups (boondocking).  It’s a rainy night here. Tomorrow should be a short day up to Jackson and over to Vicksburg, the location of a major battle of the Civil War.