Month: March 2018

Saturday, March 31, 2018

And it was another gorgeous day in Baton Rouge. We have been so blessed! It was a cool 49 this morning but perfect day. Now we have a beautiful sunset.

It wasn’t planned but we ended up working around the church this morning helping them spruce things up a little for Easter. Such a sweet congregation. There was weeding, and trimming and sweeping. Oh, I almost forgot. Pastor Dave asked us to take down the Lent sign. The banner portion was a breeze but then there were these 2x4s that seemed to reach to China. The two of us were out by be highway trying to get these four posts up and one of the members of the church across the street came over to helped us. He thought it would be easy with the shovel he brought along. We were all surprised with how much work it took even after digging around the posts. Anyway, with his help and a lot of laughter, we finally got them up. We sure did appreciate our good neighbor.

It had been two days since we were last in Lowe’s so we decided to visit Home Depot today. Decided on a ladder we like but we will wait and pick it up after we get home since we already have two with us on this trip. (Thanks Mark. It will be just like yours.) Also picked up a new tool belt for Anne.

On the way home from Home Depot we stopped at Sweeties, a local ice cream and snow cone shop. The owner gives 20% of his sales plus all tips and contributions towards digging water wells in third world countries. He has signs posted indicating the number of wells he and his customers have supplied since he opened in 2012. Total to date is 14 wells. We like doing business with folks like this. Oh, and the ice cream was good too. Jo and Mark told us about Sweeties last week. Thanks!

After having our dessert first, we then went home and Max tried out our new grill again and grilled us a very nice steak.

We realized we had never logged a geocache in Louisiana so Max looked on the geocaching.com map and discovered the closest one was across the street in the YMCA parking lot. So he walked across and found it. We now have geocache finds in 33 states.

It was a quiet day, with good times spent with church members and team members and team members puppies. We got our puppy fix. It was a good day.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Today was back to a beautiful day. We did have some wind and it was definitely cooler than earlier this week but it was just about perfect. Don’t know about Louisiana but we usually have a cool snap before Easter at home. The low tonight is predicted to be 49, definitely cooler than last week

This morning we said goodbyes to Dave and Rita, around 7:00 and then Jo and Mark around 10:00. We will certainly miss both couples. They have both become dear friends and were certainly hard working members of this team. Safe travels to you both and we hope to see and work with you again soon. If not before then hopefully we will see you in September at annual meeting. In between departures, Max prepared another wonderful breakfast. Love mornings when he has time to relax and prepare a wonderful breakfast.

Later in the morning Anne and Suzanne did a little more painting at the church. They want the doors to look good for Easter. After that we relaxed most of the day, did the laundry and then went to Rice and Roux again for dinner. Anne tried the shrimp fettuccine this time although it was actually penne pasta. It was good but still think the chicken and sausage gumbo and fried fish is the best. We had the red beans for the first time and they were quite good.

That’s about it for today. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend celebrating our risen Savior.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

The forecasts were at least partially correct. It rained today. And rained and rained and rained. Fortunately we had no severe weather and by 5:00 this afternoon we had beautiful blue skies and a gorgeous sunset.

Early this morning we started watching the weather closely. We decided to postpone devotions until 8:00 because the rain was suppose to be really bad about that time and we didn’t want people out driving in the storm. Rita brought us a devotion about Maundy Thursday. Thanks so much Rita for a really good devotion. We decided to not go out to Baker to Richard’s because we have primarily outside work there. The predictions were for thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. We didn’t need to be trying to work outside. There was work to be done at the church. The original plan was to work a few hours at the church, watch the weather and then perhaps we could go to Baker or out to one of the other homes that need inside work after the threat of severe weather had passed. Everyone got started at the church and found their spot they wanted to work. Mark, Barrie, Lee Ann and Jo began working in the tool room to clean it up and organize it. Max also did some work there. Wow. The tool room now looks amazing and we can find what we need. We still have to take some things out to the paint shed but didn’t want to do that in the rain. Dave installed and repaired trim in the church. The trim now looks much better. Stel stained the new trim and helped with some painting. Rita worked on prepping and painting the front door of the church and Suzanne painted trim in the church. Jodi painted the doors on the dormitory. A fresh coat of paint makes everything look better. Anne did some window repairs and tried to keep everyone in the necessary supplies. We all enjoyed the slower pace in a cooler environment and really wanted to make the church look a little better before Easter. It’s our little gift to the people of Francis Asbury. They have been so nice and welcoming to us that it was nice to be able to do something for them.

Shortly after lunch we said goodbye to Avis and Gary. They had been watching the weather and based on forecasts for their destination, decided it was time for them to hit the road. We enjoyed working with them so much. They were a tremendous asset to this team and we will miss them. Prayers for safe travel and that they can get Gary’s knee surgery taken care of quickly so they can get back to work soon.

We decided to just stay at the church for the day and continued the various projects after lunch. We were pleased with what we got done but there is more to do.

Tonight we again decided to have our Thursday night dinner at the church. We had a lot of chicken and veggies left over from the Sunday dinner, along with many desserts. So we ate leftovers. They were just as good as they were Sunday. Jo and Mark will be leaving tomorrow, as will Dave and Rita. We ate, enjoyed dessert and talked and laughed like we have for three weeks. We didn’t say goodbye yet because we plan to see them before they leave tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Today’s weather was iffy. Rain was predicted but we thought we would be able to get in a half day of work at Richard’s house and then we might have to move to inside work. It was very cloudy to start the day but then we started having some occasional sunshine. When the sun was out it was hot and humid! As we were finishing lunch it started raining so we all jumped up and started picking up all the tools to keep them dry and covering all our lumber for the same reason. By the time we got everything covered, it had just about stopped raining. An hour or so later we had another brief shower. So, we are grateful for essentially an entire day of work. Now tomorrow may be a different story.

Today, we really wanted to get the rafters all hung so we had a team of folks working on that project. Mark and Dave were working on the framing, while Jo and Rita ran the saw. Throughout the day others were on the deck and helping with the framing including Stel, Gary, Avis, Barrie, Jodi, Suzanne and Lee Ann. At the end of the day all the rafters were up. YEA. Additionally the south wall was up and the north wall has been laid out. Our siding painters, Lee Anne and Suzanne, are now siding installers. They are doing a great job. Others working on siding included Avis, Jodi, Gary, and probably some others we failed to mention. The siding is going to look very good when we get a second coat of paint on it. Max and Avis worked on the roofing for bedroom one and are close to having that completed. We are still waiting on screws that are on order. Anne put up a little insulation today but primarily tried to keep everyone else with needed supplies and filled in where ever she was needed. A lot was accomplished. We were pleased.

Tomorrow will totally depend on the weather. Sure hope we get to go back to Richard’s.