Month: October 2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Another day like yesterday except it felt colder with more ice on the windshield. Truck had temp of 37 again. Official low of 41. It took longer to warm up today. But another beautiful day.

Bobbi had devotion this morning. She used a devotion from Charles Stanley. Bobbie reminded us that our spiritual preparation for all that we do should be prayer, quiet time and accountability. She also reminded us that God has prepared us and will equip us for what he has for us to do in the world. Thanks, Bobbi, for sharing with us today.

It was back to the barn (or stable, Tom says) for Max, Ken, Tom, Don and Joyce. They all worked on the south side this morning so they could be in the sun. The north side was totally in the shade and too cold. The completed the metal siding on the south side today and about half of the north side. The forecast is for rain Monday and Tuesday so we may not get back to the barn until later next week. Evelyn, Cheryl, Bobbi and Anne worked in the Oasis unit again today, cleaning, removing tape, patching the walls then priming and painting. Another room was completed, (that makes a total of two) and two others are in process. Since this is our last day of work this week, we spent a little additional time cleaning everything up today and cleaning the Guest House. We had a very productive week, accomplishing more than the agency expected. The team has really come together. Everyone is looking forward to a little rest and some fun this weekend.

After work Ken set up his solar telescope and let us all look at the sun. He was excited at finding a large solar prominence. He said it was the largest he has ever seen. It was really cool to see. It looked sort of like a little bush coming out the side of the sun. Ken then hooked his computer to the telescope and was able to capture video of the prominence. It was really interesting the view the video as well. Thanks Ken for being so willing to share your knowledge and passion for astronomy.

Shortly before dark, we went for another bike ride, but since we are planning a twenty mile trip tomorrow or Saturday, we took a light day and did about 6 miles through Cedartown on the Silver Comet Trail. Love this trail!

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Today was a copy of yesterday only colder this morning. The truck thermometer indicated 37 this morning. And we had ice on the windshield for the first time since last winter. The official low was 45, but we are down in a valley so the truck was probably pretty accurate for our area. Another beautiful fall day.

Ken and Joyce had our devotion this morning. They used a devotional book “The Upper Room Disciplines”. It was about servant leadership and of course Christ was the prime example of that. Again we had good discussion. Thanks, Ken and Joyce. We really feel like our devotion time is the most important time of our day and the foundation for all we do.

We split up even more today. Ken, Don and Tom worked at the barn this morning, continuing the OSB installation. Max assisted Joyce in removing another layer of subfloor in bathroom at Noble while Cheryl did some cleaning in the front room. Anne took Bobbi and Evelyn to Pfiepher Hall first floor to begin painting some rooms. The first floor has the Oasis unit, an area where newer residents are housed. We are painting some of the girls rooms. Anne helped get Evelyn and Bobbi started then returned to Noble to work some more on the plaster repair. After the subfloor was removed, cleaning complete and another layer of mud was applied, Joyce and Max went back to the barn, Cheryl to paint and Anne acted more as a gopher. It was a busy day. Don and Tim completed the OSB on the barn. Then the entire barn crew worked on the metal siding. It is actually the metal you would use on a roof but we are hanging it vertically to cover the OSB. We think it is looking pretty good. The ladies must stop in Oasis about 1:30 when the girls start returning from school, but they basically completed one room today. It was another productive day.

After work Anne wasn’t feeling well so she rested while Max rode another nine miles on the SCT. We are all tired but tomorrow is NOMADS Friday!

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

It was quite cool this morning but we had a beautiful fall day. Couldn’t ask for better. We, of course started the day with devotional led by Tom. It was based on the parable of the wedding feast in Mathew. We had some good discussion and thoughts. Thanks, Tom for bringing this to us this morning.

We decided to divide and conquer today. Part of us went back to the barn to work. We had the OSB first thing this morning and some started cutting and installing. The rest of us went to the Noble Building/Administration Building. Here we began by moving the furniture out of a break room, reception area. Bobbi, Cheryl, Joyce and Anne then pulled up all the carpet. There was a roof leak that damaged the plaster in one corner of the room. Bobbi, Joyce and Cheryl started scraping and scrubbing. The small bathroom for this area had a leak that damaged the floor and vanity. We removed those and pulled up the old vinyl. After our afternoon break we all went back to working on the barn installing the OSB. We completed one side and about half of the other side. Lots was accomplished today through everyone’s hard work. We have a great team! Thanks to you all for a hard day of work.

After work we again rode the Silver Comet but this time we rode toward Cedartown. The trail goes past the old train station and just as we got there a train came by. That was neat. There is a little elevation change on this section of the trail but nothing like riding toward Rockmart. We road about 10 miles today. Another wonderful day!

Monday, October 16, 2017

It rained all night last night. It was still raining when we got up this morning. However, it had finally cleared our area by 8:00 devotion time. It remained very cloudy until about lunch when the sun was out, sky blue, windy, cool and a gorgeous fall day.

We are having morning meetings and breaks in the guest house behind the President’s home which is currently unoccupied. The guest house is a little 2 bedroom 1 bath house. There is a gathering area/den where we can hold our meetings and a kitchen with a nice refrigerator. We are being spoiled. As is our custom we were responsible for devotion on this our first day, and used Philippians 2:14-16. We chose this due to the reference to us shining like stars. Today was our friend Ken’s birthday. Ken is an astronomer so it seemed appropriate to talk about stars. After devotional, we gave the team a brief tour of the campus at Murphy-Harpst and stopped by the administration office to sign everyone in. We then met Randy at the barn and discussed our plans for the day.

Today was demo day.  Always fun, but also hard work. Randy wanted us to remove all the old siding on three sides of the barn. We knew we needed to get the siding off so we could identify and replace any rotten studs. The original plan was then to install OSB and then metal roofing as siding on top of the OSB. Since the hurricanes OSB cost has gone way up and the budget constraints require that we only put OSB where there is not already some type of solid backing. First things first, we started removing the siding. We got all the siding off today, cut new windows in two of the stalls, and replaced one of the studs. Ken and Joyce repaired the two doors to the bathroom of the guest house so they now will latch. We are now waiting on additional supplies for the barn. We surprised Randy with what we accomplished on day one.

After work we hit the Silver Comet Trail again. Nice ride, again on the hills, and going a little further than previously. Then it was time to just sit outside and relax a while.

Thanks for all the prayers for our cousin Janet. She was able to return home today. Thank you God! Today was a good day!