Gorgeous fall day in Sebewaing! No working in the rain today. It was great. We of course started the day with devotion which today was led by Suzanne who used John 2:1-11. She talked about the extraordinary things Jesus did and then reminded us that each of us is extraordinary. The love of Jesus makes each one of us extraordinary.
After devotion we talked about all that has been accomplished thus far and what we want to try to get done this week and then headed back to work. Max, with Tom and Mike went back to work on hanging the drywall. At the end of the day they have 2 sheets remaining. They had to wait for the electrical to be completed before hanging the last pieces. The plumbing rough-in is complete, tested and there were NO leaks. Don’t know if we are doing the final plumbing. Anne and Jenny went to work on doing the second coat of mudding on the bedroom and got that completed. Jackie and Hillary were also working on mudding in the living room and kitchen until Hillary started priming the loft area. Anne and Jenny joined Jackie and we think at the end of the day we had all but one outside corner with either one or two coats of mud. We are making good progress. The camp is very pleased. They were afraid we would not have time to get the drywall completed and none of them were looking forward to mudding and taping and sanding. Continuing to pray that we remain safe and accomplish what God wants us to do.
Bruce and Suzanne had to build a special drip rail for the back wall since the new foundation was a little larger than the cabin.
The drip rail completed
Back of the cabin at the end of third Monday. (We didn’t work on the other two sides today.)
First let us ask for prayers again for our friend Carol. She has her first chemo tomorrow.
So what did we do this weekend? Thursday night was another noisy night with train traffic and we got a slow start to our day on Friday as a result. It was cold and blustery, cloudy and scattered rain. We decided to stay home and do laundry and catch up on some business. In between showers we walked back downtown to the post office with mail and since the rain ended for a while we walked back to the marina and some other areas of town we had not visited before. The camp had Fall Family Fun Days beginning at 3:00 Friday afternoon and we were surprised at the number of RV’s and even tent campers that arrived in spite of the cold temperatures expected. There was a large crowd with lots of children and youth. All the events were free including zip line, mini-golf, laser/arrow tag, archery, hayrides, pumpkin painting, camp fires, donuts, roasted marshmallows and s’mores. Even the food was free. This is a weekend to introduce kids and their families to the camp in hopes of getting the kids back for summer camp. It was a very good weekend for the camp.
The camp filled up for the weekend
“Hot now” donuts for the family campers
Saturday the weather improved and by mid-morning we were seeing some sunshine. We went to Bay City State Park and Tobico Marsh Nature Trail to hike. There was a well done museum at the visitor’s center and the ranger who greeted us was very knowledgeable about the area and the trails. There was a box turtle in a terrarium at the desk so we of course included Aunt Jean’s box turtle Newdul in our conversations. We hiked about 6 miles on the nature trail and the loop around the lagoon. We also walked down to the beach before heading back to Sebewaing. The trees are finally beginning the show some nice colors and with the sun and calmer winds, it was a wonderful day to be out in the woods.
Hiking the Tobico Marsh Nature Trail
The only geocache we hunted today
We were told that this is the same species as our gray squirrels, but with a “color morph” to this darker color
Fall colors along the trail
There is a really optimistic beaver in the Tobico Marsh
Great Egret
We thought these Mute Swans were beautiful…
… until we read this sign.
Today we went to the early service at Trinity UMC, which is their more contemporary service. We were again warmly welcomed by the pastor and congregation. We have enjoyed our time of worship with this small group of believers. After worship, most of the team returned to the Lamplighter for brunch before returning to the camp. We had a pot luck tonight so some time was spent preparing our contribution to dinner. This afternoon, Bruce and Jackie set up a portable pickleball court for us in the youth center. They were the only ones who had played before. They were great teachers and soon we were all having a great time and getting some great cardio exercise even if we were just beginners at the game. Hopefully we will get some additional playing time in the afternoons this week. Thanks, Bruce and Jackie! It was a great weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend too. We have four more days to accomplish as much as possible for the camp. It will be a busy week.
Beautiful flowers we saw at a local greenhouse on the road to Bay City
Trains and rain overnight last night. What is usually a single train was multiples last night with what sounded like multiple track switches. We usually aren’t really bothered by the trains but last night they were going back and forth for way too long. It was the first topic of conversation at morning devotion. The second was the continuing rain. The forecast indicates today was our last rainy day and we will be glad to see some sun. Tonight we are getting lots of wind.
Bruce and Jackie led devotion this morning with Bruce talking to us about patience and his lack of patience. He shared several scriptures on the subject and the group discussed how we don’t want to pray for patience because God just might let us learn some patience in a not so fun way. Bruce and Jackie also gave each of us a really nice cross necklace that Bruce made. The nails that make the cross are race horse horseshoe nails. The black represents sin, the red the blood of Jesus and the white, salvation. Thanks, Bruce and Jackie.
Back to work, Anne went back to taping and mudding drywall. Max and Tom and Mike completed installing all the drywall they can do until the bathroom plumbing is completed. Reid continued to work on that plumbing today. Bruce, Hillary, Jackie and Jenny all began the day working in the cold mist installing the siding. They made great progress – finishing all but the top row on the south side and starting the two remaining sides. The drywall in the bedroom was not dry today. It’s just been too humid, so Dave, the maintenance manager, brought a fan and then later a couple of heaters for the cottage. That seemed to help and by this afternoon at least a portion of the bedroom could be sanded by Suzanne. Jackie also worked on finishing drywall this afternoon. We have all worked very hard this week and are looking forward to getting some rest this weekend.
Bruce, Jenny and Hilary working on siding
Reid still working on plumbing
Kitchen at end of week 2
Front of the cabin at the end of week 2
Back of the cabin at the end of week 2
Tonight, Tom and Jenny walked into town with us. It is “Moonlight Madness” in downtown Sebewaing. They closed some of the streets and had various activities. There were inflatables for the kids. Music in the park. Several food vendors and craft vendors. There were also specials/sales at the downtown businesses. The Rotary gave away bean soup which was very good. There was popcorn and apple cider at the library. We all, of course, had ice cream from the antique store. Tried the root beer float tonight and it very good. We also ran into Hillary, Mike, Jackie and Bruce while strolling downtown. We were interested in seeing the fires on the river and waited until they lit the floating fire rings before we called it a night. As we were leaving we had a really nice sunset and stopped on the board walk to get some pictures before returning home . It was another good day.
Moonlight Madness in Downtown Sebewaing
Classic car display
Fire on the River is one of the highlights of Moonlight Madness. This is the crew lighting the fires.
It rained all night and it continued to rain today. We remain under a lakeshore flood advisory and the water in the bay was visibly rising toward the back road of the camp. It was strange to see water rising in such a huge body of water. Along with the rain and all the run off into the rivers which drain into the bay, the wind was blowing across the bay and pushing the water toward shore and “plugging” the water at the mouth of the rivers. Winds which are still quite high have now changed to northerly and the water is receding. Totally different weather than we have in Alabama – and its 93 in Alabama and 53 here. Definitely seems summer is over in upper Michigan.
Reid led devotion time today. It was of course back inside due to rain. He talked using Galatians 5:13-14 as his basis to discuss servanthood and love for others, reminding us God calls us to put others first, not “me first”.
We then all headed back to the cottage to work. Since the weather was bad, most of us were working inside most of the day. It was a little crowded. The cottage is roughly 550 sq ft and when all ten of us are in there working it gets pretty crowded. Today Hillary and Jackie, our insulation queens, completed the very last of the insulation and joined Anne and Jenny with finishing the drywall. Jackie also worked outside part of the day, with Bruce, who spent almost all day working out in the rain. He made great progress on the side of the cottage. It’s looking good. First coat of mud was completed in the bedroom. Max, Tom, and Mike hung drywall in the living room so all that is left is the kitchen area and bathroom. The blue board was delivered for the bathroom today. Reid continued to work on plumbing. It’s really beginning to look like a house.
Anne and Jenny taping and mudding the bedroom ceiling
Tom cutting out window opening in drywall
Jackie and Bruce working on siding
Reid working on the plumbing in the crawl space
Bedroom with drywall taped and mudded
Living room with drywall installed
Front of the cabin at the end of second Wednesday
No playing ping pong today. There are a group of quilters using the building that houses the table so we walked today. Suspect we will have to run the heat pumps tonight. Hope Alabama gets a break from the heat soon.
RVing With a Purpose 