Can't believe another project is done

Some pictures from Twin Oaks Ranch in Buda TX.

 Carole and Jo making flower arrangement for the Austin Christian Bass Club annual meeting

 Roy and Bill's job was to collect sticks and stones for the center pieces--the more moss the better.

 Finished center piece

 Roy pausing from painting

 Watching the Super Bowl-notice how interested the ladies are.

 Moved the furniture from one bedroom to another in preparation for tiling

 View from the back window of our RV

 Strange neighbor

 How many deer can you see? They are from a lodge next to the camp.

 Look at all the green grass in February--This area of TX finally got some rain.

Interesting rock formation at the "Ranch"

Who needs walls for a laundry room when lattice works?

 One bedroom tiled ready for grout.

 Valentine's Day at Red Lobster

 Termite damage.  We moved the bed and Roy walk around the side and said "this floor seems rather soft."  When we pulled up the vinyl floor there wasn't any floor board left.  He was walking just on the vinyl flooring.

 We were short about 14 tiles so had to add another color under the beds.  SOWERs have to be creative.

 Carole putting clean curtains back on the rods for the cabin that was tiled and painted.

 Jo cleaning the kitchen walls.

Joey waiting for the Host family to come home.

 Can't believe I was painting again.

 Water softener installation.  Sure glad I brought my pex pipe crimper along--made the plumbing easy. Since it wasn't convenient to run the lines in the building, we just buried them outside--only have to bury them a few inches.  That may seem easy but it is all rock with about an inch of top soil--pick and sledge come in handy.  It is sandstone so with lots of effort you can get a trench about 8 inches deep. Luckily the grounds keeper dug the trench for us "old" guys.  He did put the pick through a sewer line so had to do a little repair work.

Roy and Jo have a set of Carol Burnett DVD's so we had several movie nights.  Lots of good laughs. Fun to project them on a big screen.

Last night Don and Debbie (Host) took us out to the Texas Land and Cattle Steak House--Wow! was that ever good food.

It has been very quiet at the "Ranch" this month but this afternoon about 100 college girls are coming in for a retreat. Then a family is coming in for a reunion on Saturday.  This camp provides the facilities and the groups bring their own program.  The camp is continually updating the facilities.  Plans are to have more nice rooms for retreats to utilize the facilities during January and February.  Also they would like to build a gym for kids recreation during the summer when it is too hot or rainy to be outside.  They are also meeting with landscape planners to improve the overall site.  It has been very rewarding to serve here.

Half done already

Thanks Alice for the comment--it is a crested caracara.  I updated the earlier post.

It is hard to believe that we are half done with our February Project at Twin Oaks Ranch in Buda, TX.  Roy and I have been working on the Nurse's cabin.  Started by removing vinyl flooring and vinyl tile.  Repaired the bathroom floor.  Then laid backer board for porcelain tile--lots of screws--of course since the room was cleaned out we painted the walls. We have one bedroom tiled and grouted and the bathroom tiled.  We need to move all the furniture from the other bedroom back across the hall before we can tile the second bedroom.  May wait another day for the grout to set up before moving the furniture.  We will grout the bathroom tomorrow and may plumb in the new water softener for the dining hall--pex pipe with crimp rings so should be easy.

CC and Jo have been cleaning the kitchen since it has been remodeled.  New tile floor, tile counter tops, hanging racks--lots of dust. CC's knee has been a problem so she has been limited on what she could do.  She has been going to PT this month--that seems to be helping.

We enjoyed setting up for the Austin Christian Bass Club annual awards banquet.  An outdoor theme with rock, sticks, weeds, fishing lures in the center pieces--Debbie (Lady Host) is really creative. Roy and my first job was to pick up sticks and stones--check to make sure that no creepy critters were attached to the stick or stones.  Great meal and speaker.

We have been attending First Evangelical Free Church in Austin (large church).  Great SS class on what Questions do you have.  Last week the guest leader was a Physicist who talked about the wonders of God's physical creation--very interesting.

We have had several movie nights--St John in Exile, Carol Burnett shows, and the Super Bowl.  Celebrated Valentine's Day by going out to eat at Red Lobster.

I don't have many good pictures yet.  Cleaning kitchens and laying tile make boring pictures.

This is a beautiful place with big Oak trees and green grass.  They are updating the existing building and have plans to update the landscaping and add some additional buildings.  A great SOWER project--just needs more sowers to get all the work done.

nlsower

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