RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Today started early as most Sunday’s at home do. We had the grits and sausage casserole in the oven then our plans for the day changed with the ring of the phone. The assisted living called and said Aunt Jean needed to be seen by a doctor this morning because of chest congestion and cough. She had a little moist cough Wednesday when we were there visiting but nothing bad. Today she was much worse. So we waited for the casserole to complete the baking, took it to Helen’s and gave it to the angel to have for lunch and headed to the hospital. Fortunately, after her chest x-ray and blood work, the doctor said Jean did not have pneumonia, but did have a nasty case of bronchitis. They gave her a breathing treatment, antibiotic and prescriptions and we were able to take her back to assisted living. Praying she has a speedy recovery.

We missed lunch with the two other ladies but checked in on them a little after they had lunch and they both were doing fine. We did a little work around the house, some laundry and begin getting things ready for next week. Then Barry and Donna contacted us and said that our dear friends Jim and Heather, our former pastor and his wife, were on the mountain for their daughter’s gender reveal party and they invited the four of us to come by. So plans for the day changed again. It was so great to see Jim, Heather, and the rest of their family. We visited and caught up with each other as much as we could. The six of us were quite close when Jim and Heather lived on the mountain. We will always miss them. Oh, Haley and Mason are having a boy.

What is that saying? “We make plans and God laughs.” Not the day we had planned but it was a great day!

Saturday, November 18, 2017

It only went down to 53 last night and high was again in the upper 60s this afternoon. However, it was very cloudy all day. Now at 7:00pm, it is pouring rain with some areas getting 60mph winds. There are trees down in various areas of the county but so far nothing around us. We did pull the slides in on FRED. We are suppose to have a significant drop in temperatures after this front goes through. We shall see.

First thing this morning we headed back out to the star to try to get it ready for the season. Donna and Barry went with us. They have helped us every year for a long time. Things went really smoothly this morning and it only took us about 2.5-3 hours to get the star operational again. Compared to the last time the right of way was cleared this was a breeze. The area around the start was a mess and we had to clear debris from the star but thankfully there was no significant damage. Most of our time was spent in clearing underbrush and vines and replacing bulbs. Thank you so much Barry and Donna. It is so much better to do things like this with you guys. We love you guys.

We took a break this afternoon since we have stayed really busy and on task for our to do list this week. Did a little internet surfing and relaxed. Then we did a little more work around the house. We have been praying for our services tomorrow and hope you have too. Have a great weekend.

Friday, November 17, 2017

It was 39 cool degrees this morning with a high in the low 60s. Another pretty day. We worked on FRED cutting new carpet covers for the entrance steps and the drivers section. We know the light berber carpet will show dirt but we had it and now that we have cut this we have a pattern for when we want to replace with a darker carpet and have it bound. This will do for now and didn’t cost us anything. We like that.

Next on the agenda was a reconnaissance hike out to the star. For those that don’t know, there is a huge 80’ high lighted star on a bluff on the side of our mountain – Pine Mountain. It has been there for over 50 years and began as a project of Max’s Mom and Dad’s Sunday school class. It was the idea of Max’s Aunt Sybil after reading an article in Southern Living about a similar star in another state. We have been working on maintaining and lighting the star with various other people for over 30 years now. We called the power company and had the power turned back on and today hiked out to see how it had fared since last January when we cut it off. Unfortunately, the contractor who clears the right-of-way on the high power lines came through and felled trees and brush onto the star, again. Now we know we need to take a lot of tools and supplies with us when we return tomorrow to try to get the star lit. We always try to be ready to turn it on the weekend after Thanksgiving and it remains lit until after the first of the year. We are told that the airlines flying into Birmingham sometimes point out the star to their passengers. We have decided that we really need to find some younger folks to take over this project. Not sure it’s as good a fit for us at 65 as it was at 30. Any volunteers? Hope everyone has a great weekend.