Camp neighbors

I thought you might like to see some pictures of the neighbors of Camp Loma de Vida.  I didn't get any pictures of the wild pig with her piglets.  Also no pictures of the crested caracara--is that the correct name Alice?--or the eastern blue birds.  Also Phil has a picture of blue indigo "stick" that crawled away but I am not going to post that one.

It is cool and cloudy this morning--we are going to a bead store and visit some SOWERs at an RV park. Wednesday is our day to head to Buda, TX.

Splitting up

After working together for three weeks, it is a little sad to split up and each couple head out in different directions.  Some are sightseeing, some golfing, some getting their rig fixed after a blown tire and some are just relaxing.  For me it is time to sort my tools so I can find the right tool at the next project at Buda, TX.  We plan to be on the road next Wednesday since we are group leaders next month.  Carole's knee is better but still needs time to hear--MRI showed no tears. PT will help so will try to find a place near Buda--Dr here will send referral to Buda when we find a place.

If you can't think of anything else to do, you could watch the buzzards soaring above the cell tower where they roost at night--100's of them.  It is best to park on the south end of the RV park--the north wind can be rather strong.

We have had a great time at this project--weather has been great.  Some highs in the 80's and some lows in the 40's.  The wind does know how to BLOW.  We had sand dunes on the building slab after a night of wind.  The wind did try to blow a wall over but Big Don was able to hold it up until we could get some new stakes pounded in and more bracing.

John visiting with SOWER Group Leader

Jason greeting the SOWERS at church on Sunday
His father is the pastor of the church.

It is encouraging to hear Jason and John share the vision for Camp Loma de Vida.  The new site is progressing but still lots of work to be done.  Some things to pray about.  John has his house for sale, the old campus is for sale, permits for the development of the new campus, willing workers and all the hundreds of campers who meet Jesus at Camp Loma de Vida each year.

nlsower

More pictures from Camp Loma de Vida

I hope these pictures upload faster than the last pictures. Blogger would upload one picture at a time and then when I would have three or four pictures uploaded it would crash and lose all the pictures.

I switched to a different browser and things worked much better--maybe I will be more excited about posting new blogs.  Instead of taking five hours to do two posts it may only take a few minutes.

SOWER ladies "beading"

Bob, Terry and Paul laying wood flooring

An excavator/farm family from IN moving a mountain

Another family from IN helping landscape in front of house

This is what the new SOWER building looked like when we left the project.

Bill and Leonard nailing headers together

Break time on the back porch
The GL had to stand.

Guess there was one more bucket for the GL to sit

Project at Loma de Vida is over

This is the group of SOWERS that worked at Camp Loma de Vida in January 2012 in Edinburg Texas.

Our Group Leaders Phil and Rita Jo

Terry and Alice

Bob and Lois

Bill and Carole

Paul and JoAnn

Leonard and Karen

John and Barb
Don and Priscilla

Harold and Eunice

Don and Charlie

Much was accomplished by the above group.

week one pictures

Thanks to everyone who viewed our Blog-the counter was really spinning since last night..

Some pictures from Camp Loma de Vida

Ladies cleaning camp kitchen

Men working on a camp house

Installing receptacles

Installing lock sets

Installing more receptacles

Tiling the bathrooms

More tiling

first week at Loma de Vida

Hi, everyone. We have had quite an eventful first week. It started off last Saturday with the group organizational meeting. I was almost late for the meeting so I hurriedly went to get our lawn chairs for the meeting. I didn't duck enough when I came out from under the bedroom slide so I proceeded to put a 1 1/2" scrape across the top of my head--blood? yeah lots of it, so I sat at the meeting with a towel and ice on my head. The GL wanted me to quickly sign the emergency treatment form. Ha. I think a couple of the SOWERS didn't listen to the GL since I guess I had a little trickle of blood running down the back of my neck--Oh well nothing like a grand entrance. The reason for the near tardiness--I was helping Don and Charlie with their plumbing--their plumbing had frozen and broken the pipes under the kitchen sink. (they also had two blow-out on their way south--some damage to the bottom and skirting on their RV.)

Monday and Tuesday were rather uneventful--just painting and cleaning a mobile home and the camp's kitchen--what a transformation a little paint and cleaning can make.

Wednesday was time to empty the holding tanks--galley tank ok--a little grey water ok--a little black water not ok--the sewer line is plugged. Thanks to our GL Phil and Harold's hard work the line was fixed by Saturday afternoon. Other SOWERS also lent a hand as needed.

Wednesday and Thursday, the men worked on Joe's house--tile bathrooms, install door lock sets and install electrical receptacles. The women continued to clean and inventory kitchen "stuff".

The concrete for the new SOWER (volunteer) building was poured on Thursday and the apron around the building was scheduled for Friday. The lumber was scheduled for delivery on Saturday. If all that happened, the men will start framing the building on Monday. The women are planning to start baking cookies for summer camp--hope we get to sample some.

Friday and Saturday, we scatter in all directions--shopping, birding, concerts, visiting friends....of course there was the sewer problem that took some time.

Sunday we are all going to church together and then out for lunch together.

The weather has been very cooperative for our work--temps are cool in the morning and very pleasant in the afternoon. It was very cool and windy one day but we all had inside jobs so it didn't disrupt our work.

Devotions--"Encouragement", "Working together", "God's Love", and "Seize the moment".

Carole is still dealing with an ailing knee--pray.

nlsower

Where does the time go

We are getting ready to move to our January Project at Camp Loma De Vida in Edinburg TX. It is only 20 miles up the road. I can hardly believe that we have been here 3 weeks already. I have gotten lots of paper work done--even had time to play some games on the computer.

We went to this park's pot luck last night--fun visiting. The lady across the table from us said her sister was a SOWER and they had worked at Loma De Vida several years ago--they are not on the road any more but she would tell them about us working there.

Thursday night the park has some entertainment--the couple may be from Brandson. The park Chaplain is from Brandson. He has a gospel show there--Fountains of Faith. Most of the Brandson shows shut down from the middle of Dec to the middle of April.

Bob and Lois may make it to Pharr today--they spent yesterday in Johnson City so they are about 300 miles from here.

Rather cool last night--had to put on another blanket and turn the furnace on this morning. The sky is clear so it should get up in the 70's later today.

One of the couples here is from Montana--they are cattle ranchers. I would like to visit their ranch some time--guess I'll have to get their address.

Must get some breakfast and take some chicken out of the freezer for supper. nlsower