Author: rvingwithapurpose

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Today was a rainy dark day, all day. This area is still short on rainfall and can use the rain but… messy and dreary. The wind has been gusting to 45mph and there have been some pretty good size limbs down across the campus. Fortunately no power outages.

Carol challenged us with her devotion using the Beatitudes from the Message Bible. If you have been reading and hearing the Beatitudes for your whole life, sometimes it’s really neat to read those old familiar verses from a different translation. Makes you consider other possibilities.

Today was another day much like the others this week. Everyone is working very hard to get this remodel completed for Hinton. Dave and Bryant first worked to block off parking in front of our RV’s with saw horses and caution tape. The Emmaus Walk will be this weekend at Hinton and with that many people on campus, parking is a real challenge and from past experience we have learned to try to prevent people from parking right next to the RV’s and to protect our parking spaces. After working on parking they also continued to work on the lighting for the tool shed and completed that task. Oneta put another and final coat of paint on the porch swing. Gene and Carol sanded the kitchen dry wall and did some additional mudding in the living room area. Anne and Max painted the lower stair well. Then Anne and Jackie finally got a coat of paint on the kitchen. YEA!! It will need another coat Monday. Cheryl and Jackie also painted the bookcase in the living room. Sandy and Steve continued to work on the upper stair well which is now about 95% complete. We also tried to clean up really well today since we won’t be back until Monday.

Most of us are pretty tired from working this week but still have a pretty busy weekend planned. Hopefully we will find time to catch some rest one of the days. Tomorrow should be a very interesting and busy day so be sure to check back in tomorrow our you will miss out.

Wednesday, May 03 2017

Today started early with a really pretty look out over the lake just as sun was rising. Located on Lake Chatuge, Hinton is really a pretty place.

Steve and Sandy brought our devotion today. It was based on an “Our Daily Bread” devotional about God is always listening. When we talk to him he always hears. We had some really good singing this morning. Bryant came down early and we had about 20 minutes of just messing around with some music before devotion and then ended our time with How Great Thou Art. Good music! We were surprised and thrilled when Jackie, the CEO of Hinton joined us for devotion. She just wanted to come spend a little time with us. We really appreciated that.

We then reviewed our work plans, marked off the items we completed yesterday and Bill added several more items to our list. The days are growing few and now there is even more to do. Hopefully we are up to the challenge. One of the things the NOMADS always do at the Hinton spring and fall projects is to change all the smoke detector batteries around campus. Cheryl and Jackie tackled that project and changed something like 98 batteries. That’s 98 trips up and down the ladder. They did an awesome job! Carol and Gene continued to work on the mudding and taping of the drywall in the kitchen and gathering area. It is looking really good. They got the second coat on all the kitchen and the first on the other. Oneta painted the retaining wall and it looks really nice. Dave and Bryant worked in the tool shed putting up some badly needed new lighting. Sandy and Steve continue work on the wall in the gathering area and the steps. It too is looking really good. The first of the paint should go on part of that tomorrow. Steve and Sandy are full-time RVers and do NOMADS projects most weeks of the year so they have a lot of experience and great skills. Max and Anne just try to keep everyone with the tools and supplies they need and fill in where we can help. Mostly we just need to stay out of the way and let this team do their thing.

And at the end of the day:

We forgot to show this yesterday. It is a comparison between the Lake House landscaping when we first arrived and this morning after all the great work the team members did yesterday.

We all went to Maria’s Hayesville Family Restaurant for lunch today. They have a nice buffet and the fried chicken was very good. Dessert come with it and Anne had the strawberry cobbler and Max the chocolate cake. It was all really good but by 2:00 we were feeling the need for a nap – which we did NOT get to take.

Then after work Dave and Carol prepared us all root beer floats and we all just sat outside in the beautiful spring afternoon and talked and laughed. Els, the lady in charge of hospitality and her husband came by and joined us for a time. Els’s husband spends several weeks each month in Haiti working with an orphanage. They are both from the Netherlands and always very interesting to talk with. It was another busy day. Only five more work days left and still lots to do.

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Today started as pretty as yesterday was messy. It was gorgeous all day today. The temps are dropping this evening but hey, it’s spring.

After a wonderful devotion given by Cheryl this morning, we went back to some of the tasks we were working on yesterday and started a few new ones. Anne and Carol continued mudding the kitchen walls, Sandy and Steve continued with the stairs/wall and Dave worked on a change order in the wiring for the kitchen. Gene and Bryant completed reinstalling the duct work in the basement ceiling and worked on replacing some of the ceiling tiles. Cheryl and Jackie re-textured the retaining wall that they cleaned last week. Later in the day, Gene jumped in to help on the kitchen walls while Bryant, Jackie, Cheryl and Oneta got to work outside cleaning out the shrubbery and flower beds around the Lake House.

While working on the landscaping, they came in contact with two southern hazards. Bryant stepped on a fire ant bed and then later found a hornets next in one of the bushes they were trimming. He came inside to tell Anne he had a photo op for Max and also a safety hazard for the team. Yes, Max went right outside and took the photo but we also got some spray to take care of the small nest. We also put some poison on the fire ants. So thankful that no one was stung and the fire ants didn’t get past the socks.

It was a very productive day and by the end of the day we had the first coat of mud on the kitchen walls, the kitchen floor repaired, the kitchen wiring roughed in (again), the shrubbery trimmed, the retaining wall re-textured and part of the stairwell walled in. Things are starting to look better around here.

After work we all went to Chevelle’s for dinner since on Tuesday evenings all burgers are on sale. The burgers were good and the onion rings quite tasty too. However, someone forgot to read our “No Accidents” sign before they went and we ended up with two drinks spilled all over the table, one by the server and the other by one of our team. Oh well, the food was good and the company great and a good time was had by all.

Monday, May 1, 2017

It was a rainy and windy day. We were under a wind advisory most of the day. Finally about 4:00 pm the sun came out and it was beautiful, but cool. Blue sky puffy white clouds. We sat outside and visited for a couple of hours.

Today was the start of week 2 of the Hinton project. Only 7 more work days left and so much to do.

We of course started the day with devotion. Jackie and Bryant gave another excellent devotion on how we deal with temptation. Thought provoking. Thanks, guys.

After reviewing our work list and discussing the week with Bill, we resumed the work where we left off Thursday. Steve and Sandy began construction on another wall by the steps. Several of the guys worked on hanging the dry wall. The kitchen drywall is all hung and the taping and mud have begun. Anne and Carol are working on this and it will take another couple of days. The other ladies worked on the painting and completed the second coat on the ceilings and put two coats on the walls. The hall ways were also painted. Anne also repaired the popcorn ceiling in the kitchen and master bath. A lot was done today.

One humorous thing that happened today:  With all the electrical roughed in Bill gave Dave some fireblock foam to spray around where the wires penetrated the floor. When we read the label to find out how to apply it we thought it was funny that fireblock foam was “extremely flammable”.