RV There Yet?

So I haven’t shared too much about what we are actually doing here at Ecclesia College. It’s not because we haven’t been having a good time – we have, but just that the month has gone by pretty fast and we’ve been doing some pretty regular stuff. Jane and I have been working in the “Dome”, I’ve been manning the front desk, answering the phone and working on some spreadsheet/data entry for the upcoming school year (reminds me of my previous life!) and Jane has been doing everything from averaging grades to cleaning spots off the rugs. Gary and Neal have been working on completing some new residence space – mostly working on two matching bathrooms. They started with tiling – floors, walls, even the ceilings! That was pretty crazy! Have you ever heard of ceramic tile on the ceiling???? Well, it’s a done deal here.
So, real quick – here are some shots from the job….
The “Dome” – this is the main building on campus. It houses all of the offices, the library, bookstore, auditorium and I believe several classrooms.

One of the bathrooms in the beginning……….and near the end…..

Gary with Jane and Neil taking our wonderful mid-morning break!

And here’s a classic Gary shot – He just loves diving into a good electrical panel!

So that’s a nutshell of what we’ve been doing. But what I have really been enjoying is where we are parked. First of all we are parked right next to a lovely butterfly bush – and have been delighted with the variety (and abundance) of butterflies that have visited.

And between our rig and the butterfly bush we have hung our hummingbird feeder. And how we have enjoyed those antics! Lots of little hummingbird wars going on out there. And all of them moving too fast for this girl’s camera!

And on a totally un-related note, I thought I’d share this picture of our little blue-eyed Maddie. I’ve been having fun playing with my Photoshop Elements program - and came up with this today. I hope it brings you a smile. It brought one for me!

It’s been a while since we’ve worked traditional “Sower hours”. Ladies normally work from 8-11:30 and the men work from 8-3:30 with an hour off for lunch. And then there is that delightful four day work week. Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve enjoyed those Fridays off. But these days we’ve been enjoying those extra Saturdays!
Friday (or Saturday One) we headed south to Fayetteville, home of (among other things) the Razorbacks and University of Arkansas. But before we took a little tour of the campus, we went a little farther south to the small town of Prairie Grove. Here, in December of 1862 the last battle of the Western frontier of the Civil War was fought. We enjoyed the walking tour of the battlefield and then took the driving tour that went into the town. We always learn things at these parks, but I find them to be so poignant. So many lives were lost. But our day in Prairie Grove was quite nice. It was raining off and on, but we managed our walk nicely and then even tried a couple of geocaches. We weren’t so successful , but we won’t give up the GPS just yet!

There was a geocache in the apple orchard –

But try as we might, it remained hidden. However, it did let me take some fun apple shots….

We drove back up to Fayetteville and enjoyed a drive around town (though the teaming rain hindered some real sight-seeing!), lunch at a place called Hog Haus and the relative quiet of a college campus the Friday before the students arrive back in town! A quick stop at Sam’s Club, a slightly longer stop at Wal-Mart for groceries and supplies and we were back home in plenty of time for a quick nap.
Yeah, ya gotta love those extra Saturdays!

The Battle of Pea Ridge

On March 7 & 8, 1862, 26,000 soldiers fought here to decide the fate of Missouri. The 4,300-acre park honors those who fought for their way of life, North and South.

Before we move into the new weekend, I thought I’d share a little about our tourist day last Friday. We headed north and made a quick stop in Rogers, AR (home of the very first Wal-Mart, which we did not find, but also home to a very nice quilt shop which we did find! ), checked out Bentonville (home of the original Walton’s 5&10, plus world headquarters for Wal-Mart), and spent the better part of our day at Pea Ridge National Military Park. The battle fought here was the most decisive Civil War battle west of the Mississippi. It was a very interesting driving tour, and as usual, the introductory movie was excellent. The area is so lovely, it’s hard to imagine all of the tragic loss of life that took place here.

We did stop at the Original Waltons 5&10 in Bentonville. Bentonville has a lovely little town square, and this little store has been made into a Wal-Mart (and the Walton family) museum. It was interesting and free . I thought it a little funny that the gift shop in the front of the museum didn’t take credit cards. Go figure!

We have found that these Arkansas towns by and large have lovely town squares. Here is Rogers, Arkansas -

See what I mean?

Tomorrow we head south to Fayetteville. Who knows what adventures await us there!

PS - there are a couple more Pea Ridge photos here.

What do you think of when you think of Arkansas? Razorbacks? Ozark Mountains? Walmart? Bill Clinton? Grapes?
Wait a minute – GRAPES? Yep, this weekend was the 110th annual Tontitown Grape Festival. The celebration stems from a mass of Celebration that was held in 1898 following the establishment of a small Italian community outside of Springdale. In the following years, they began to cultivate grapes in addition to the apples, strawberries and truck gardens of all kinds. The grape crop flourished and so did the annual celebration. Soon the annual Grape Festival grew to include entertainment, rides, a homemade spaghetti dinner, and all things carnival! Even though the Welch’s plant closed in the late eighties, grapes continue to be a cash crop for local farmers. Who knew? Grapes.
So, the festival. The line was humongous for spaghetti dinner, so we sadly passed on that. And the grape ice cream…well, we passed on that too. Sorry. But here are some sights of the night –

What festival would be complete without the Ferris Wheel, I ask you?

Or a game where you can win a big stuff animal or

A life-size Spiderman?

Bright colors abounding!
Wild rides..



And then there was the live music –

(I’m not sure the lady with the ear plugs was a huge fan!)

And Gary watching the live music (looking like not such a huge fan either! )….

But he was a good sport, and we stayed until the end –

The next day we headed north to Rogers (home of the first Wal-Mart), and Bentonville (home of the original Walton’s 5&10 and corporate home for Wal-Mart) and Pea Ridge National Historical Park. Details to follow…..

Before I start collecting and sharing pictures and stories from our current project and location, there are just a couple of loose ends to wrap up -
Gary’s Project –
OK, so there is still plenty to do (cleaning, plumbing, LANDSCAPING, furnishing), but this little trailer is definitely on its way to being a pretty nice place to stay.



Nice job, honey!

A Bump in the Road –

Don’t you just love understated road signs?

BUMP?

Have you ever seen this at a Post Office before? I wonder what the story here is?

And I wonder who took the hook!

A Heavy Thank-you
Over the last four years of doing SOWER projects we’ve gotten all kinds of “thank-yous” – mugs, flashlights, T-shirts (LOTS of T-shirts), even a plaque. But this is the first time we’ve gotten a rock!

Looks like an alligator, doesn’t it? Our very own pet rock!

Oh – one more thing!
These pictures are a little hard to post because
1. It’s almost 100 degrees outside and these pictures involve a SWEATER.
2. This cute baby boy is not my grandchild. (But he is my great nephew!)
But cute is cute – and I couldn’t resist posting these pictures of little Stephen Fitzpatrick posing in the sweater and hat that his second-cousin (?) Lara knit for him!


How cute is THAT!

Tomorrow (Monday) we start working at our August project – Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas. I think I’ll be working in the office (yea!!! Air conditioning!), but the guys will be working on some dorm remodeling. We can only hope for A/C for him!

Hope you had a good weekend!