No storms today – about time. It was a little warmer than we would like but it was a beautiful day.
We had time for a little longer walk this morning. We again saw a beautiful deer while on our walk. She was right beside the road in the ditch that was full of tall grass. We almost walked by her without seeing her. She was not at all bothered by our presence. Cool.
Max and Anne led devotion today. We used Proverbs 18:21, Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit – you choose, and Proverbs 15:21. We challenged the team to speak nothing but life and encouragement. We all need to pray that God helps us to be a carrier of peace and hope amidst the chaos of our world.
Harry, Max and Anne returned to Teresa’s house after our morning team meeting. Today Max and Harry completed the installation of the drywall and Anne started the work on the taping and finishing of the drywall. Anne and Harry got all the tape up and everything with a first coat of mud. Max completed the trap door into the crawl space. It was a busy but productive day. The other part of our team worked installing siding on a small storage building. We all had dinner with some of the members of Winding River church. Such a sweet congregation. Hope you are having a great week. We are.
The first work day of our DR project in New Lisbon, WI. Firsts are always exciting. Before work we walked for about 20 minutes. Not quite as long as we would like but all we had time for this morning. The country road in front of the church has very little traffic so we are combining walking on the church property and the road. Certainly not as nice a walking area as some projects but it’s working.
Then it was time for our morning meeting. Barb lead our devotion time today and had us all read a part. We were all various tools in the carpenter’s shop. Today Anne was the screw and Max was the plane. The point being we are all tools in the work of Jesus here on earth. We all have a purpose and we all contribute God’s plan if we allow him to use us. Good reminder as we start working in Wisconsin.
After devotion we talked about the various houses needing work and what Lanette our project liaison considered our priorities for today. Max and Anne, joined by Harry, began work in Teresa’s house located about twenty minutes from the church outside of the town of Mauston, WI. Jack came with us to introduce us to Teresa, explain the scope of our work and get us started. He then left and went to another job site where the team worked last week. We first took down part of a wall and then framed in a new wall. We usually feel the first day is a really slow start but today went well. Harry is a new NOMAD. This is his first project but he really jumps in and gets to work. He is very knowledgeable and with the three of us talking through our work plan, we were able to get a lot done. We rebuilt the wall and installed most of the drywall. The remaining portion may go a little slower but we were pleased with what was done today. Out at the other job, Jack, Barb, Calvin, Marsha and Norm completed their tasks. However, as of this afternoon, other tasks have been added to that job site and after a contractor completes some of his work, NOMADS will probably be back to work there.
Beginning of Monday
Harry cutting studs
Max installing studs
Anne installing drywall
End of Monday
Today was another beautiful day but tonight we are again experiencing nasty thunderstorms. We have been under a severe thunderstorm watch since before lunch that continues until 10:00pm. The parking lot is full of water and the winds have had FRED rocking tonight. We had a little hail but fortunately nothing of any size. We are surprised at the weather. Thunderstorms three nights in a row. We could stay in Alabama for that. The prediction is more of the same tomorrow but then we get a significant drop in temperatures and some nicer weather. Hope they are right.
It was a beautiful morning in New Lisbon, WI. It was 62 degrees when we did our walking before church. It warmed on up this afternoon to the mid 80s and then we had more afternoon rain and cooler temps. Nice.
We worshiped with the congregation at Winding Rivers UMC and were made to feel very welcomed. The pastor is on vacation and will be back Thursday so a lay speaker from another church brought the message from James 2:15-17. We sometimes say “I believe in God But…..I want to be independent or I want to be happy at all costs, or ….. whatever it is for us. Is our faith dead? Good message from Pastor Carla. She is also an UMCOR trained case manager for the flood rebuilding efforts. We were impressed with the small congregation. They are very active in their community with all types of outreach activities including, of course, the flood assistance. Tonight the church fed the team a wonderful meal before our team meeting. We got to spend some time getting to know the church members better and then time getting to know our team members. Our leaders Barb and Jack gave us general information about the project and area and we will lean more about our particular assignments tomorrow. There are about 150 homes in need of repairs which is why we already have NOMADS teams scheduled for next year. It was a good day and we feel like we will enjoy working here.
This congregation lives out what is printed on the sanctuary wall.
Disaster map showing the damaged homes from last year’s floods
Wednesday was another beautiful summer day with some scattered showers but no rain for Pine Mountain. We spent the day finishing up on our packing and closing down the houses. Now that we have to close down Doc’s and our house we sometimes get confused as to what exactly we have done and not done. Wednesday afternoon we headed to Cullman for a retirement party of a dear friend. We were able to visit with a number of friends from Anne’s work days. It was great to spend time with old friends. When we returned home to Fred, just after getting into bed, Max received a notification that the road we use to leave the mountain was going to be closed from 8am -4pm Thursday. We do not usually take Fred off the mountain by any other road because the other roads are so rough and winding. Flexibility. We reset the alarm clock for an early wake up. Fortunately, we were almost ready to roll.
Where we spent Thursday night. That is a very large hemp field across the road.
We pulled out of the driveway at 7:27 and were On The Road Again!! Felt so good. We saw the paving crew at the foot of the mountain setting up for their work day. Thursday we had an uneventful drive through north Alabama, and Tennessee to Crofton, KY where we “moochdocked” with some NOMADS friends. We backed Fred into their driveway and parked along side their RV. They have their house up for sale and are living in their rig in their driveway for now. It was great to see Mary Ann and Gene again. We also got to see Carol and Dave, some other NOMADS friends who also live in the little town of Crofton. Mary Ann and Gene grilled hamburgers and provided a great meal for us all with lots of good time to catch up with each other. We had not seen Carol and Dave for a couple of years when we had stopped by their house on the way to Illinois. Great visit! Thanks so much Gene and Mary Ann. Love you both!!
Wisconsin added to our RVing map
Friday morning we were back on the road about 7:00 to head on north, through Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois and spent the night at the Wisconsin welcome center about a mile into Wisconsin. Overnighting is legal in Wisconsin rest areas. It was our first night in Wisconsin in our RV so we now get to add another state to our list. It was a nice large rest area with lots of room to walk. We walked last night and again this morning. We stopped several times, once for fuel and the others at rest areas changing drivers and walking. We took a longer break for lunch and stopped for the day at about 5:30.
Properly prepared for driving
One of the bridges we crossed on the way
Very nice Wisconsin welcome center for Friday night
A geocache we found at one of the rest areas. Some one had trimmed the limbs that were supposed to be covering it.
After a good nights sleep we had a relaxing breakfast and then talked with a host in the visitors center to get information on Wisconsin, specifically the area around New Lisbon where we will be living and working for the next several weeks. We left the rest area about 9:30 and arrived at Winding Rivers UMC about 12:00. Our leaders, Jack and Barb, helped us get parked and set up. Then, especially for Dave, we went to Culver’s for a late lunch and ice cream. Yum, yum. It was really good, Dave. Later this afternoon we talked with Jack and Barb about the NOMADS work here in New Lisbon. We are looking forward for another great project.
We stopped by a local cheese store on the way to lunch and tried a few samples. Is this what you call “traveling with the mouse”?
Our home for the next few weeks
Currently we are watching the clouds roll in. According to the radar we have a nasty storm headed our way. We can’t see the storms moving like this at home due to our hilly terrain. Wow, it’s cool to watch. Yes, we already have the weather radio programmed to our area (it has not gone off) and our 911 address posted on the refrigerator. The temperature has dropped 10 degrees in the past 15 minutes and it is raining like crazy. We will post again tomorrow since we are back on the road. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
We had time for a little longer walk this morning. We again saw a beautiful deer while on our walk. She was right beside the road in the ditch that was full of tall grass. We almost walked by her without seeing her. She was not at all bothered by our presence. Cool.
