Arrived safely

Hi. Happy New Year. We celebrated New Years Eve by going to a local hamburger joint. Not much atmosphere but good food with "sweet tea".

We arrived in FL last night about 5:30. We were ahead of all the storms. It was about 70 most of the day yesterday. We are staying in a small campground in De Funiak Springs which is about 35 miles from our January project--we can not go to the project until Jan 6th. We will stay here for six nights. The camp manager's brother is a pastor of a church down the road so plan to go to church there tomorrow. His Dad was pastor for many years. He also said God took away his drink and snuff; he praises God every day for that. Yes, we are in the south where everybody talks about their faith. We saw a HUGE tow truck with "Jesus Lives" in BIG letters.

My aches are getting better but still have to watch some movements. I must get busy flushing the water heater of the anti-freeze. It is thundering with a few sprinkles--the storms are going to the north of us.

Continue to pray for us. nlsower

Finally on the road

Hi everyone.

We have had a rather hectic start for this season's SOWER trip. Snow, snow and more snow--I spent too much time blowing snow and not getting everything packed. It took two days to get the snow and ice off the slide outs on the camper plus there was about 20 inches of snow on the roof--next year the camper is going to be in the pole barn before any snow falls. Why not this year you may ask--I don't have the propane line run from the big tank to the pole barn yet. That will be next summer's project.

Sorting out what to take and what to leave home seemed like a never ending task. We thought we must be moving again--hauling tote after tote from Willmar to New London (where camper is parked). I can't believe how much stuff we bring for four months on the road.

To top things off, I went to blow snow one last time on the morning that we were to leave and stepped on some snow in the garage while pushing the snow blower. Slipped and fell on the blower--hit my chest on the shift lever--had to go to the doctor and have it x-rayed--just bruised nothing broken. But am I ever sore.

The roads have been good and truck is working well. We are about half way to Fl. It was misting and 34 degrees much of the afternoon. The ground has been snow covered all the way so far, but it is getting less and less.

Continue to pray for us. B and C

Getting ready

It is snowing today so we are getting anxious to head out for our next projects. January will be in FL, February and March in AL and April in MS. We have not worked in the Southeast so it will be fun to see new country, meet new people and experience new projects.

We moved to a different house this summer, so have been very busy getting adjusted. We are enjoying our new location very much--very convenient for Dr, shopping etc.

Spring update

Hi everyone.

Spring is fleeting rapidly--yesterday was 95*--the normal high is 73*. The 95* set a new record.

We are getting settled in our "new" house. Lots of unpacking. We are enjoying city life again. Just 5 minutes from WalMart and Menards--better leave the credit card home.

Must mow grass and weeds this morning. Will need to spray the lawn or I won't have any grass left, just weeds.

Have a great day. nlsower

End of April project

Compare this view with what it looked like three weeks ago.

We worked an extra hour to finish the steps and railing. The blob jump will be over the railing on the high deck. The water will be raised three feet.

Another view of the completed deck. When the water level is raised, it will be back under the lower deck.

This is the group of SOWERS working during April 2010. We are heading for MN Friday morning.

April 17, 2010

We have had a fun week. We even took time to roast hot dogs.
You can see it was the men's turn to cook.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert--apple crisp in the dutch oven--very good.

These are the crew. Boyd and Marci

Dennis and Marilyn

Edroy and Judy

Frank and Kathy

Chuck and Sue

Harold, Phyllis and Molly

We are making progress on the deck.

Judy painting way up high.

More progress on the deck.

Judy did come down for lunch. We have only 4 more days to finish the deck and railing. The weather forecast is favorable--mostly cloudy so not too hot.

Yesterday and today have been rather quiet--I made chocolate cake in the dutch oven yesterday afternoon. The other SOWERS came over for cake, coffee and conversation--talked a lot since dinner wasn't until 7pm. There were eleven groups coming in so dinner was late. Today there were about 360 for lunch. I even had time to wash the truck and camper yesterday. We are starting to pack up since we will be heading to MN next Friday--should be in NL by Tuesday. Maybe I'll get another posting done before we leave. nlsower

April 9th already!

Hi everyone--It is Friday which means we have completed one week of this project at Trinity Pines, Trinity TX.

Some of the jobs that we have been doing are shown below but we also repaired the vertical siding on the end of a cabin--needed to keep the bats out. Some of the ladies have been doing exterior painting on a house. Also one lady has been sewing on chair cushions. CC has been painting on rocks for the gift store.

Chuck and Dennis (shown below) have been working on the facia on the gazebo plus they worked on the vertical siding.

BC, Frank, Harold and Edroy are building a double deck by this pond. The pond will be raised 3 feet so the water depth will be 12 feet. The upper deck is for jumping onto a blob below. Don't know what a blob is? It is a big inflated "blob" where someone sits on and another person jumps onto the blob which in turns propels the first person out into the middle of the pond. The lower deck is 24 by 40 feet and the upper deck is 16 by 20 feet.

The first picture is before we started. That is Lake Livingston out in the distance.

Tractor with auger--several of the holes filled with water immediately. We didn't need any water for the concrete. It is a trick to drill straight holes on the hillside--also the auger is only 12 inch and the diagonal of the post is almost 9 inches--this required lots of hand work too!!

Three rows of poles set and two to go.

Another angle of view.

All the poles set and some notched ready for beams.

Three rows of beams set--next step on Monday will be to bolt the beams to the post. If the weather continues to cooperate we should make good progress next week

.

This is one of the areas that the camp needs suggestions on how to landscape. There are six more areas that suggestions are needed. Got any ideas let me know (I have more pictures). Right now the camp has unlimited supply of plants from the place that use to supply (I can't remember which) Lowe's or Home Depot.

There has been eleven couples from a church camping club from Houston area here all week. They have been they have been siding a new cabin, painting and gardening. Since that group was here, we got meals all week--sure makes it hard to diet. We are thankful since we are too tired at the end of the day to cook.

See you about the end of April. nlsower