Heading North Slowly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone. Thanks for the comments.

The reunion is over and we left TX after devotions this morning--Monday. The weather forecast was for a cold front to move in. That means some wild weather when the warm and cold air meets. The worst was to be in central OK so we didn't travel too fast north. We decided to camp in southern OK so we would be south of the severe storms. However about 5:30 pm the cold front decided to move into south OK. We spent almost 3 hours visiting with the camp owners in their home since they had a storm shelter. One storm cell would go past to the south then the next one to the north then three more would be heading our way from the west, but all we got was 2 or 3 inches of rain. Several areas got baseball size hail etc. So much for believing the weather forecast. Tomorrow should be in the 50's. Hope the cool weather doesn't mean the wind will switch to the north. It was great today to have a south wind all day.

We heard that it was snowing in MN today--hope it melts fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great time at the reunion--lots of visiting and singing--plus good devotions. Lots of hugs and tears when we had to leave. Working together develops some very good friendships. That is what SOWERS is all about--fellowship and some work.

Hope we make more than 160 miles tomorrow--that is all we made today.

Great to have wireless at this campground--no cell phone and one poor tv station. Love to all, nlsower

Done with projects

Hi. We are done with our projects so just resting, visiting and working on taxes. We will go to the SOWER reunion on Thursday then head north next week.

Two of the windows installed by Dave and Elmer. The inside of the new chappel-note the size. Makes my truck look rather small.

This is the soffit that Jay, Jake and I were working on. Quarter inch thick Hardiboard.

This is the group of SOWERS that was working at Trinity pines during March.

We are camping in Hideaway TX for four days. It is near Tyler TX, where there are a couple Azalea tours--this is one of the houses on the tour. Beautiful!

Hideaway is a gated community with about 1500 homes around 3 lakes. There are new homes as well as some that are 50 years old. The camping area has only 5 sites in the woods. You have to be a guest of a resident to stay here--really nice. See you soon. nlsower

Wow--Summer came

Hi everyone. Thanks B (kmaj too) for the comments. I would love to see "The Coach" in action. A too.

We had a good week of work--got west roof ready for metal and got the south end sheeted and started to put on the siding. Also did some more soffit work. The metal workers came on Saturday and got metal on--now if it rains we can work under cover.

The center section will be Austin stone.

This is a view of the inside where the stage will be.

Summer came on Friday--91 degrees and 85% humidity. Good thing the AC worked. Saturday was a little cooler. Today it is just beautiful--maybe about 80 with a nice breeze.

Saturday I spent a couple hours building more road with the dozer--a kid and his toy.

Saturday evening seven couples went to Huntsville to a music jubilee time at Old Time Theater. Really fun entertainment.

We are winding up our project this week. Kind of different to be 2 months in the same place--so the week following the project we will head to northern Texas to visit friends and go to the SOWER reunion.

Looks like it is time to grille some hotdogs for supper. See you soon. nlsower

Where did spring go?

Hello from Texas. It has been cool to cold here--even had some snow flakes the other morning. The weather has cooperated with our work schedule--rains late in the afternoon or at night. The rains haven't been too heavy so my road hasn't washed away.

I did have to make a trip to the eye doctor to have a piece of metal dust removed from my eye. I thought it must huge but when the dr showed it to me it was tiny. He gave me some drops to use for three days. Today the eye feels fine. I was using either a face shield but one of the other fellows finished one cut and the wind blew the dust back into my face--guess I must have raised the face shield when I was done cutting.

C and I went to Conroe TX yesterday--shopping and out to eat. Today we went for a couple of walks and I built a platform bird feeder. We have cardinals plus other birds--also several squirrels--both gray and fox. It is a challenge to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeders. We had a flock of finches fly through before I got the thistle seed feeder up--now I haven't seen any since I got the feeder up--don't know where they went.

C has been working on her quilts and knitting projects. Several of the ladies are interested in new craft projects.

C did some deep cleaning in the motel rooms but the dust and chemical got to her asthma. So she has been working in the laundry--folding sheets and towels. The laundry has huge commercial machines. I have been working on the metal cutting and installing metal flashing.

Tomorrow we will go to another church--this time its Calvary Baptist.

I like to go out to eat at the Country Buffet because it has good catfish--now I know I have been in the south too long.

Miss you all--see you soon. nlsower

Ready to Start Our March Project

Hi Everyone!

We are at Trinity Pines Conference Center for another month.

Most of the new couples have arrived--one couple will arrive on Wed. Fun and exciting to get to know each new couple. There will be a total of eleven couples when everyone gets here. The men will be continuing on the worship center but the women will be CLEANING about 60 motel type rooms. Good thing the camp feeds us some meals since no one will have enough energy to cook.

We enjoy visiting different churches in the Trinity area. It is so encourages to see God working throughout the country. Warm Christian fellowship where ever we go.

Pray for safety and health for all the SOWERS. There is a virus going around.

Love to hear from you. nlsower

Finished Feb Project

Hi. We are done with our February project so this week is a time to catch up on shopping, sightseeing, cleaning, fixing leaky water lines in camper, sorting tools, scrapbooking, relaxing, attending HEE HAW show at a local church, etc. B can't resist using the dozer so he plays some. Throttle linkage on the dozer kept falling off so he had to fix that too--rather old machine but runs good. Nine new SOWER couples will be coming in on Thursday and Friday--will be fun to get to know them. Three couples are staying over from February.


This week several members of the Mennonite Disaster Service are working here at Trinity Pines because they ran out of work on one project and another project was cancelled--they put the metal on the lean-to and purlins on the high roof--they are younger so can climb around much better than us "old" SOWERS. The MDS are from "up north" most from PA. Also here this week are the TBMs (Texas Baptist Men) brick layers. About 15 of them. They are laying up the rock facing, These men just lay brick, block or stone but they have worked in Africa and Russia besides the US--many are retired but not all them.

It has been fun to interact with all the volunteers who come from all over the country.

C and I are planning to visit the prison museum in Huntsville today and take a driving tour of the twelve prisons around Huntsville.

B enjoying the break between projects--sunshine and about 80 degrees.

The 32 ft trusses are set on the 16 ft side walls. MDS is putting up lower common rafters

MDS put the metal on the porch roof.

COM (Campers On Mission) built the lower structure of the deck and MDS put on the decking and railing.

You may be wondering what do the SOWERs do--Since there are no blueprints for this building, most of the SOWERs do the design, layout and prep work to keep the other volunteers productive. Lots of fun and lots of progress. A little side line on how God provides--As I said earlier. One of the MDS projects was cancelled when the workers were already on the road so rather than turn around and go home they were available to work at Trinity Pines. Also two of the TBM bricklayers projects were recently cancelled so they too were available to come to Trinity Pines.

Glad to hear that MN is finally warming up. We will be glad to see you the first part of April. We are fix'n (oops, guess I have been south too long) to attend the SOWER reunion in Big Sandy TX the last week of March.

Continue to pray for safety on this project. nlsower

Week 2 at Trinity Pines

The pool looked inviting but rather cool. The cross by lake Livingston.
These ladies made sweat shirt jackets one afternoon.
One of C's painting projects.
The men continued to work on the worship center and B spent thursday running the dozer to build roads--rained Saturday so he may have to repair some washouts. The ladies were painting, cleaning and crafts. Lots of good fellowship--played putt putt golf Sunday afternoon. Five SOWER couples went to the local Cowboy Church--fun. Of course we went out to eat too. Looks like the weather this week will be great for working. Lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's. Must get to devotions this morning. Thanks for the comments. I was beginning to think my readership was very limited. Even a single word would be encouraging. nlsower