Category Archives: SOWER Projects 2021

Cement Time

As our project here at Whispering Pines was wrapping up (it officially ended yesterday)  there was still that walk-in cooler which needed to be moved into place, hooked up, and a hole cut into the wall for access from the kitchen.
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But the bad news was that the concrete wasn’t going to arrive until yesterday, so it didn’t look like things were going to work out as hoped. But at least we were around to help with the concrete! Since there was probably going to be some extra concrete after the walk-n base was poured, the guys also prepped a nearby sidewalk that was also in dire need of some patchin’!
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The truck arrived right on time just before noon on Thursday
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and with a little help from Gary holding up the phone wire with a rake (just can’t keep that guy off the ladder!),
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the driver was able to get the truck right where it needed to be!
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Thankfully, even the driver stepped in to help! Tammy (Barry’s wife) and I helped where we could, but I have to admit that “concrete work” is marked pretty low on MY skill sheet!
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I had to leave before it was totally finished (Zoom call with my sisters – priorities, baby. Priorities), but I went back today to see how it all looked!
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Looks great, doesn’t it?
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The sidewalk still has an “I’ve been patched” look, but at least it’s no longer a trip hazard!
The concrete won’t be totally cured for another week, so we’ll miss the Big Move. Sometimes it’s hard to leave knowing the job isn’t quite done, but we’re thankful we were at least able to get it as ready to go as we (Gary!) could!

We’ll be here through the weekend, getting packed up and organized before we head out for a bit of R&R before our next project.  It’s been a sweet three weeks here – so glad we came!

Have a lovely weekend, friends!
Steph

 

Thankful for Work

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” Eccl. 9:10

We’ve finished up our second week here at Whispering Pines – and as always we’re surprised at how fast it has gone! I’ve been keeping busy helping out with housekeeping and a doing a bit of set-up for weekend guests.
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My co-laborers Beverly and Martha – teamwork makes the dream work, right?
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Gary jumped right in with a bit of remodeling in a small apartment behind the kitchen.
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The room still has a way to go, but at least the cabinet part is done!
They also had some refrigeration that needed some attention – like a walk-in refrigerator that needed to be moved and then hooked-up!
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Once the concrete is poured, they’ll figure out moving the cooler and then he’ll get it hooked up. Oh, and they’ll be making a hole in the wall for access to the cooler.  This kind of work is right up his alley!

Meanwhile – I was sitting in the rig the other afternoon and noticed something happening on the dining room roof.
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Yep, that’s Gary up on the roof inspecting the exhaust system.
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It’s hard to keep a good man down (on the ground, it seems!).

Since I had already had seen him up on the roof, I was a little surprised when the next day he said he was going up a ladder and I might want to come and see. “Would you be higher than on the roof” I asked.
“No, but I think you might want to come.”
And then I saw why.
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Trust me, after I took a quick photo (or 2 – who am I kidding!), I went to hold the other side of the ladder! New LED lights installed safely!

So today we are thankful for the work the LORD has for us – here at Whispering Pines and wherever He sends us in the future!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Although we only have one (1) Saturday this week (since we took Tuesday off), we’re going to make the most of it!  Mobile, here we come!

Landed!

Lots to catch up with here, but I thought I’d better at least touch base and let you know we have arrived safely at our November SOWER project location – Whispering Pines Baptist Camp in Citronelle, AL (which is about an hour North (and a bit west) of Mobile. See the map over at the “Where are we Now” Page). I’ll be honest here – after a whirlwind October – which included, but was not limited to, South Dakota goodness,
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a Galveston Adventure,
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a bit of a  construction project,
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and pirates armed with minions – arrggghhhh –
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– we’re so very thankful to be sitting all by ourselves at a sweet camp, parked with a beautiful magnolia tree in our front yard.
There’s lots to share, but for now….
Sleep well, my friends! I know we’re looking forward to some sweet rest tonight!
Steph

About those lights

There’s a saying that “Teamwork makes the Dream work”. And the last two weeks of our project, was a definite Teamwork effort! There were 91 street lamps that needed to be taken down, cleaned, painted, and reinstalled. It seemed pretty massive – but with all four of us working on it, we did indeed make the ‘dream work’!
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I was working on the clean-up of the fixtures, Tamara was in charge of shining up the globes, Art was painting, and Gary was getting the wiring all ready to go! Once we had a batch ready to be reinstalled, the teams just moved to the outside!
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Never underestimate the value of a trusty hander-upper, tool-getter, ladder-holder, I say!
Just a word or two about the different techniques on getting those lamps back up:
Some were easy-peasy-
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Some were a little more challenging-
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and some had obstacles that needed to be overcome.
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But when Gary started balancing on the railing….
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we knew it was time to pull out the big guns!
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Yes indeed, it was Teamwork
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that made this dream work!
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Helper

This week we continued on with the streetlight refurbish project. Tuesday, as we were starting to install the beautifully refreshed lights
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I noticed that we had an extra helper.
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“Watcha doin’?”
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“Are you sure you want to put it that way?”
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“No….a little more to the right!”
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“If you’re not going to take my advice, I might as well just go on my way!”
It was fun having you along, but guess we’ll just have to muddle along with the two of us!
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