Category Archives: SOWER Projects 2013

SOWER projects worked in 2013

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2013

Bits and pieces

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Sometimes, when I’m thinking about a blog post, I have trouble figuring out just what might have happened over the last couple of days that would be interesting for you. So tonight I thought I’d just scroll through my phone and see what I’d been taking pictures of and do a bit of random sharing about them. So let’s see…
Well, there was this guy –
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Yep – a baby opossum. We’d been having some feral kittens getting into our trash and Gary was determined to catch them and deliver them to the local SPCA. He borrowed a have-a-heart trap and picked up some sardines. And he did catch one. But it was over the weekend, so he gave it a reprieve and let it loose. And then he set the trap again on a weeknight. And then – along came a baby opossum. Pretty sure the SPCA wasn’t an option for opossums, so we let it go. And then we caught it again. And then we let it go again, and then we put away the sardines and the trap. Surprisingly, the kitties haven’t returned either!
Remember the lovely banquet we went to last week?
FABA2013-1 Well, beautiful table settings like that generate a bit of laundry. Like 400 chair covers and 400 napkins and 40 table runners/toppers.
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And laundry is something we are very qualified to do!
And if you had gone to that banquet last week, you might have come home with a coupon for some free dipped fruit from Edible Arrangements and then you could have had this for breakfast one morning.
It's ok to have chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast, right?
Mmmmmmmm……
Next up –
Check this out –
Life is (still) good here in the valley!
Now don’t you wish YOU were here in The Valley? 🙂

And finally –
Remember this shot from less than two weeks ago?
Let the building begin!
Well, here is where the building is as of Friday –
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A beautiful sight indeed!

So there you have it – some bits and pieces of our life. Thanks for coming along!

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Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, SOWER Projects 2013, The Adventure

A good start

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I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that November has always been a favorite month – possibly even The Favorite Month. It’s chock full of birthdays – 3 in my immediate family and another 4 in my extended family (Happy Birthday (yesterday), Fitz!).  I’ve begun to give Christmas sewing and gifts some serious thought, but there isn’t quite the panic that comes once December hits. And there at the end of the month is Thanksgiving. It’s been wonderful to see how November has become a month of Gratitude with many of my friends posting daily “thankful updates” on Facebook and other blogs. I had every intention of doing a “thankful” blog post every day in November, but here it is, already the 5th and it’s been pretty quiet here!  Oh, trust me, it’s not that I’m not thankful – there is just so much to be thankful for in this life we’ve been graced with that I was somewhat stumped about where to start.  So let’s start just a couple small things. Like…….
I definitely think this qualifies for a great way to start a month of thankfulness. Gotta love South Texas.
the price of gas here in the RGV! Gotta be thankful for that right?
And then there was this that just happened today –
Let the building begin!
Yes, it’s a loonnnng way from needing Gary’s A/C expertise, but hey, it’s a (long overdue) start! And my goodness, we’re thankful for that!
How about the wonder of technology and FaceTime? So very thankful for that!
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Next time I’ll try to get him to stay still for a minute! 🙂 (Please disregard that crazy looking woman in the corner!)
Our November has had a great start! So much to be thankful for, so little time!

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Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2013, The Adventure

I’m not a big fan.

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Of Halloween, that is. Goblins and ghouls and gravestones……………ugh.  But there are some parts of this season that I am a fan of – and one of them is  little kids in costumes!
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Tonight we joined our winter Church Family at their Harvest Party. Games, great food, lots of little kids and lots of fun!
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And then there was this little guy –
Please don't think that holding this sweet baby boy was as wonderful as holding little Reis would have been, by I must say that it did this Gramma's heart good. #instacollage
He’s just a couple of days older that our Reis(who will be a whopping one month old on Thursday!), and while it wasn’t quite as wonderful as holding Reis would have been, it was pretty fine. And it did this Gramma’s heart good!
So tonight was definitely something to be a fan of. 🙂
But what I’m  a Really Big Fan of is MY grandkiddos in costumes –

imageThe Super Hero Fabulous Five
and
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Eeyore
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Of these things, I will always be a fan!

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RV Life, SOWER Projects 2013, The Adventure

An ordinary week

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The last couple of days I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about the past week in an interesting way.  Let’s face it, some day are just plain ordinary. Regular. Simple.  And trust me, I know that’s not a bad thing.  Simple is good. Regular is comforting. Ordinary is a blessing. But, it does make it hard to blog about. 🙂

I wasn’t sure if you wanted to know how Gary and I spent last Saturday doing some long overdue chores. Like how we spend the morning scrubbing our sunshades
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so that we could get them on the rig to help keep the blazing South Texas sun from beating in through those great front windows!
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(The beauty of those shades is that they give some wonderful privacy as well. And though they do obstruct our view a bit, we still feel like we can see out!)
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Or if you would find it interesting that we made some good progress on removing the failed Diamond Shield from the front of the RV.
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Yuck. This has been one of those little-bit-at-a-time projects. The dirt you see is actually underneath the plastic sealant, which once you scrape off still leaves behind a very stubborn adhesive. Some of our tools of the morning –
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and we still haven’t found the definitive solvent. But yet we persevere. That blazing South Texas sun was actually helpful in getting the layer of plastic off (and I have the sunburned shoulders to prove it),
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but I eventually moved to a smaller area to get a sense of accomplishment.
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Let’s hear it for small victories!

Guess what’s happening in this picture?
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It’s a chip repair on the windshield. A little preventative measure to keep it from becoming a crack.
I guess that’s a little out of the ordinary.

The work front has been a bit on the ordinary side too. We’re here at Macedonian Christian Academy to help install the air conditioning in their new school building. However, as so very often happens, there have been some delays in getting said new building up –
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It’s THERE – it’s just not up!
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So we’re waiting on the Lord’s timing on this one. Gary is keeping busy with lots of jobs over at the existing school and I’m helping out a bit here and there. So it’s been a quiet week for me. Mostly hanging around the campground
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enjoying the ordinary things.

Yet, just as I sat here writing about The Ordinary, this happened.
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My. Oh. My. There was no way to capture this, but hundreds and hundreds of butterflies were passing by the RV, on their way to Mexico, no doubt.
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Looks like things aren’t so ordinary after all!

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Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2013, The Adventure

Canyon Lake

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Oooo-la-la!

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What a beautiful couple of days we had at Canyon Lake. It’s just outside (north) of San Antonio and in the beautiful Hill Country area of Texas. Our good friends Jo and Roy had raved in the past about the beautiful Corp. of Engr. parks on the lake, so we thought it would be a great stopping over place before we completed our final leg of our journey to the Rio Grande Valley. And the fact that Jo and Roy were actually going to be there = well, we couldn’t not stop!
Unfortunately, due to the partial shutdown of our dear Federal government, the COE campgrounds were closed, but J&R found nearby private campground (still on the lake) and soon we were settled in nicely!
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And look, nice quiet neighbors!
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Our buddies had some in-town errands to run on Thursday, so we were left to our own devices. It seemed like a good morning to check out Canyon Lake.
The morning walk at Canyon Lake. All good!.
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It’s always a treasure to find tiny pockets of color appearing in the pot marked surface along the water’s edge.

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Given the heat (it was in the 90’s) and the fact that we were on our own, I confess that we spent the rest of the day in the cool (relatively) of the RV. (I had a couple of deadlines to meet, so it was really a good thing!) But Friday was a play day for sure!
With Jo and Roy as our guides we set out to Gruene, TX (pronounced Green). It’s a quaint Texas town located along the Guadalupe River, just outside of New Braunfels.
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Along with interesting architecture and touristy shops and places to eat, it is also home to Gruene Hall – one of the oldest (if not THE oldest, depending on who you ask 🙂 )dance halls in Texas.
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Apparently, on this very stage, George Strait got his start!
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Oh, the historical significance of it all! But Country & Western legacy beside, it really was a fun little town!

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It’s all about tourism these days in Gruene, but they do it pretty well and Jo and I even found a bargain or two! After a lovely late lunch in Gruene (check out the Gristmill River Restaurant for great riverside dining if you ever get to town), we took a little drive to nearby New Braunfels but found we were too late to get into some of the historic buildings there. Besides, we had one more important stop to make –
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As you can see, Mrs. Bush also sells Texas sized cookies!
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But that Key Lime Pie – My.Oh.My.
Mrs. Bush's Key Lime pie. Oh yeah, baby!
We showed great restraint in not eating the whole thing!
So it was a wonderful couple of days. We shared meals when we could, got in a couple of games, and just hung around and caught up with each other. We love that we have such dear SOWER friends that we can go for years between visits, and still pick up right where we left off.
But – like many good things, it came to a prayerful end on Saturday morning. We hugged and prayed and promised to keep in touch (thank-you, Facebook, for making that easier than it used to be!).
And then we hit the road!
Final leg of our fall journey. The long road to the Rio Grande Valley!
300 miles later, we were parked and getting settled in the Flame of Truth Campground in Alamo, Texas.
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And here we will be for the next little while. Gary’s been asked to head up the A/C installation at the new school building for Macedonia Christian School. There is one small glitch, though. The actual building isn’t up yet. Soooo….we’ll see what the weeks ahead will bring. Right now we’re thankful for our safe arrival and are looking forward for tomorrow’s cold front. Right now, it’s 93 and the A/C is a humming away, trying to catch up from the hot drive. And I think it might just be time for a nap…….
…………….and I might just be dreaming about that pie……………..

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