Author: rvingwithapurpose

Saturday, October 14, 2017

It was another beautiful foggy morning looking out over the pasture. We didn’t see the turkeys this morning but did see them late this afternoon. We also saw two deer today and we now have 9 horses in the pasture. The are really pretty horses. Oh, and some really cute young calves. As our team members from New Jersey said, “I could just get a couple of dogs and live here”.

Don and Bobbi arrived this morning. It is so good to see them. We haven’t seen them since this time last year at Hinton Rural Life Center. In January, while working a project in Florida, Don required surgery to replace the aortic valve in his heart. At one point they really didn’t think he was going to make it. He had a rough time and was hospitalized for 7 weeks. Thanks to a lot of prayers, great surgeons, and the grace of God, he looks great today! Love to see his and Bobbi’s smiles and hear their laughter.

The six of us went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was good and the conversation even better. After lunch Bobbi and Don worked on getting set up while Max and Ken cut some more limbs. We all piddled around our rigs a little and then had banana splits. Very good! Thanks Joyce and Ken for the suggestion! Of course they didn’t have to suggest it twice. And yes, for us anyway, that was supper. Unfortunately, Cheryl missed the banana splits. She had some motor home problems today and hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully tomorrow. Maybe we will have banana splits again when she arrives.

After some more visiting and catching up with what everyone has been doing, we went for another bike ride. We did even more hills today. Haven’t checked our mileage yet but it was further and several more hills riding. So we have been told, there is only one hilly section on the Silver Comet and it is between Cedartown and Rockmart, where we are riding. We could head toward the Alabama line instead, but after the banana splits we figured we needed to do the hills. A little more relaxing, a little TV, a little football and that was our day. Hope yours was as nice as ours. Remember tomorrow is Sunday and be in prayer for the pastors and the services. Also please continue praying for our cousin Janet. She came thru the surgery yesterday but has had a lot of pain. Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Friday, October 13, 2017

It was really foggy this morning but really nice looking out the front window seeing the fog, cows and 17 turkeys. It’s really quiet here and very peaceful. Nice start to the day. The fog burned off around 9:00 and then we had a cooler day with a high of 81 with intermittent sun and light rain.

Randy, Steve and Glenn were here this morning to complete the fencing and new gate to keep the various live stock out of our camping area. We will now have to open two gates when we go in or out but that’s okay. Once we get all the dried cow paddies cleaned up this time the camp ground will hopefully remain that way. Ken and Joyce arrived today and it is so great to see them again! Ken worked with Max to clean up the area and then trim some low hanging limbs so the rest of the team won’t have to be as careful when they arrive. Currently one section of our beautiful area is for the cows, one for the horses and the other for us. We also have an area and wood for a campfire sometime next week.

 

Anne returned to the mountain this morning to check on the LOLs and prepare Juno’s medications for the next month. We should have done this before we left Wednesday, but after we took care of all of Helen’s medications and issues, we were distracted and just left without taking care of Juno’s. We have had a few caregiver issues as of late so there is never a dull moment. Mama Ruby getting better, more problems on the mountain. At least they weren’t happening at the same time. Anne sat up in bed last night at midnight at said, “We forgot to do Juno’s meds”, with a little panic. There wasn’t a lot of sleep after that. Oh well, the afternoon shower presented a nice opportunity for a nap and as far as we know all the needs on the mountain are met for now.

Tomorrow we will complete our paperwork and preparations for our team meeting Sunday evening. We are looking forward to another wonderful team and project.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

It was very cloudy this morning. Not a bad thing when you are going to be driving. It was a little cooler but still humid. We were again up early and at assisted living to have breakfast with Mama Ruby at 7:00. The new chef is doing a good job. Today we had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and sausage or bacon. Very nice way to start the day. Good breakfast and nice visit. Anne then got her hair cut and then we were on the road again. Yea! We are really enjoying FRED 2.

We arrived in Cedartown, GA without incident, parked, set up and picked up a pizza for a really late lunch. We are so thankful for another uneventful travel day. Several years ago Murphy-Harpst Childrens Center installed six RV sites with the help of NOMADS and volunteers from Due West UMC and maybe others. The campground looks out over some beautiful pastures with the Silver Comet Rail Trail just beyond the pastures. We really enjoy this campground. It’s private, quiet and we usually see deer and turkey, cows and horses most days. We will be here for the next three weeks. Our first team members will arrive mid-day tomorrow and then others on Saturday. This time we will be rebuilding the horse barn along with some other items. The Center has a therapeutic equestrian program for the children. We are sure to learn more about this over the next few days. We are scheduled to meet with Randy, the facilities manager and NOMADS contact, first thing in the morning. We are looking forward to a productive and fun three weeks.

This evening shortly before dark we got our bikes unpacked and road about 4 miles on the Silver Comet. It was a really hilly section so a bit of a challenge but lots of fun. Love riding the paved rail trails and being in the quiet peaceful setting. Hope you are having a good week. Please remember to pray for Max’s cousin Janet as she has surgery tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The clouds finally cleared out. Today was mostly sunny, but still hot and humid. They keep saying it’s going to cool down and dry out but it hasn’t happened yet.

Brief blog today because it has been a long day and it’s already bedtime. We loaded out the rest of the things we thought we would need in Cedartown and headed out. We stopped by to check on and say goodbye to Juno and Helen. It was then on to Trussville to deliver supplies to Aunt Jean and check on her and Noodle (Aunt Jean’s almost 50 year old box turtle). Noodle has been out of worms for a while so he was obviously very glad to see Max and the four worms he was fed. After a stop at the bank it was on to St Vincent’s East to see Max’s cousin Janet. Please add her to your prayer list. She has a GI bleed and will require surgery Friday. We were glad we got to see Donna and Tim while seeing Janet. Please remember the entire Lingo family.

From the hospital it was on to Tuscaloosa to reunite with FRED. We were glad to see that he was in good shape from weathering Nate in Tuscaloosa. Then we went to see Mama Ruby. She has had good reports from all three doctors she has seen this week. The orthopedic surgeon discharged her stating the bones in the ankle are healed. Thanks be to God! The MD did extend the therapy for one more month for which we are very glad. The PCP made no changes and set a return check for December. Finally, the cardiologist noted, “You have ankles today.” Prior to the hospital stay and IV diuretic she had so much swelling you couldn’t see her ankles. Her walking is continuing to improve and the breathing is obviously better. She is getting around well with just a cane inside her apartment. The therapist still won’t let her walk outside the apartment without the walker unless he or staff or family are with her. After visiting and when Mama Ruby went to supper, we ran her errands. We then decided to get some exercise by walking the Tuscaloosa City Walk, Forest Lake portion. It is a really nice, wide, well lit trail that begins not far from Mama Ruby’s house. There are plans to extend the walk in both directions so that eventually it basically follows the course of the 2011 tornado through Tuscaloosa. Wish we had something like this close to our house (of course without the tornado track). A good, but busy, day and we got to see all four of the LOLs again.