Month: April 2018

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Another frosty morning. But not quite as cold as yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day and temperatures went right up and it was a warm 80 degrees by early afternoon.

Since it was such a pretty day and we have been working hard we decided to take a road trip today. First Max served us up another wonderful omelet for breakfast. We had to finish up some tax business and drop some checks by the post office. We also took some donations to the mission store. Then we took a ride up to our cabin at Yellow Creek. We haven’t been there is quite some time. We usually see some wild life on that drive and today was not an exception. Today was turkey day. We checked out everything at the cabin since the river has been in flood stage with all the rain last week. Everything was fine and we enjoyed the beauty of the place. It also made us a little sad. Anne’s dad build the cabin and he and Mama Ruby loved spending time at the creek.

After some time at the creek we headed back to Tuscaloosa by a slightly different route. We received some email by way of RVillage last week when we checked in to Tuscaloosa. It was from someone that works the gate at Deerlick Creek Corps of Engineers park and campground. We decided to go by Deerlick Creek since we haven’t been there in several years. The corp has really improved this park over the years and the campground has some really nice sites. Some will not handle a motor home the size of FRED but there were certainly enough large sites. Many have great views of the water. We are thinking about spending some time there before we go back to Baton Rouge. We will have to see if we can squeeze it in. There are some nice hiking trails and some areas to ride the bikes. For our RV friends, the sites have water and electric with dump station available on site. Since it’s a Corps park, those of us with Senior Pass get half price of 13.00/night. That’s a bargain for the nice large sites with good spacing between sites.

After returning to FRED we had a late lunch, visited with our neighbor for a while and had a nice afternoon walk. Except for some bad news discussed below, we had a good day.

We would ask for prayer for two of our NOMADS friends. Jodi who was on our Baton Rouge team and was still working in Baton Rouge had emergency surgery today on her colon. They removed about 12 inches and she will be in ICU for a couple of days. We wish her a speedy and uneventful recovery. Also please pray for Carol Kuipers on the death of her husband Marty today. Marty had back surgery yesterday and was doing well post surgery with Marty expecting to be returning to projects in 6-8 weeks. He died suddenly today. Our hearts break for Carol and the family.

Monday, April 16, 2018

We had a fairly heavy frost this morning, covering the roof of Mama Ruby’s house and the grass. It was 38 when we first checked the temperature this morning. With the wind still blowing it was cold. We pulled the heavy sweat shirts back out. It’s suppose to be even a little colder tonight with frost again but then a nice warming trend. Maybe this is finally the end of winter.

Today was really not a blog worthy day. We did lots of book work going through a lot of Aunt Jean’s records, working on some of Helen’s hospital bills that didn’t get filed on her insurance, and really boring stuff like that. We have so much more to do on the estates and all the family accounting. Anne also spent some time working in the house. Part of it was harder than expected. There are several bags of clothes, shoes etc ready for the mission store so we may try to take a load there tomorrow. We did get a nice walk done this afternoon. This evening we are enjoying some nice lemon ginger hot tea.

Four years ago yesterday was the first day of our new life. It was our first full day in FRED One on our journey to Alaska. Four years ago today was our first day to just relax and enjoy ourselves after Max’s retirement from his last paying job. We enjoyed going back and looking at our blog from that time period and thought you might like to do the same. (Click here for our Alaska 2014 blog) There are a lot of really nice wildlife pictures later in the blog if you choose to read further. We think everyone should go to Alaska and we are considering going back again next year. Nice to have something to dream about.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

It was still raining this morning. It was still raining when we went to church. It finally stopped raining sometime during Sunday School. And it got cold! The sun actually came out for a time early afternoon but by the time we got back to Tuscaloosa, the clouds were thick again and the wind was howling. As we unloaded the car back into FRED, it was so cold and windy. We immediately turned on the heat pump and fire place. Hope we didn’t leave too many cool weather clothes back to Blount County.

Max had to walk out the drive to check for downed limbs and to see how badly the drive had washed over night, before we got ready for church. We had a lot of rain and the drive will take some work but no large limbs or trees were down and we could still get out in the car so no major problems. It was so good to get to worship at Lester today. Barry’s message was from 1 John 3:1-10. He told us that John is clear, being a Christian is a matter of identity. We are Children of God! We were reminded that we must be careful not to trade our distinctiveness as God’s children for worldly applause. People should see the resemblance of our Father when they see us. We are so blessed to have a pastor who preaches the Word.

After church and Sunday school we had a fund raising dinner for the Philippine mission team.  Taco salad and it was good!  We have a great team going to minister in the Philippines and we will be continuing to pray for them as they prepare to leave next month.  It was then back to the rehab center to visit with Aunt Helen and Aunt Jean. Jean was still sleeping but we visited with Helen until she went to the dining hall for lunch. We then visited with Jean and helped her with her lunch. She is still very weak. We visited with Helen until time for her to go to church this afternoon and then headed home to load the car. We stopped by the assisted living and checked Jean’s mail and visited with some of the staff. They are all so concerned about Jean and really want her to return. The staff and residents sent Jean the sweetest card. Don’t think she realizes how many friends she has there. We had an uneventful drive back to Tuscaloosa and found no storm related problems with FRED or Mama Ruby’s house for which we are thankful. We had a quiet evening, watched a Christmas movie and enjoyed some hot chocolate. Thought we had enjoyed our last of that for this winter a few weeks ago but looks like we will have another night or two where the temperatures will be right for a few more cups. Low tonight in Tuscaloosa predicted to be 39 and 37 at home. Maybe this is blackberry winter. Are the blackberry’s blooming? Oh well, hope you have a good Monday. Stay warm.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The forecasters were on target regarding the rain today. It rained and rained and is still raining. We did go under a tornado warning in Tuscaloosa, but by then we were in Blount County. Early this morning we turtled up FRED (brought in all the slides and awnings) and said goodbye to him, leaving him in Tuscaloosa. We headed for higher ground (Pine Mountain). FRED is courageous and braved the storms where he was. Hopefully he has weathered the storms unscathed. Actually, the tornado warning was brief because about the time it was issued the storms started falling apart and rather than the severe storms we have just gotten all the rain that was predicted.

We spent most of the day watching the weather (in “weather mode” as Anne says); on the road, on Pine Mountain and at the rehab center in Oneonta visiting with Aunt Helen and Aunt Jean. Aunt Helen seems to be doing well although the dementia is definitely advancing. Aunt Jean did not appear to have made much progress in regaining strength this week. We will need to talk to the therapists next week. So now we are back at the sticks and bricks for the night and are looking forward to worshiping with our friends at Lester Memorial UMC tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers as we try to provide the best care for our LOLs.