Tag Archives: mowing

Mondays are for Memories, SOWER Projects, The Adventure

Mondays are for Memories – A Mowing we will go!

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With all of the mowing that Gary has been doing (he was on the mover over 6 hours today), I was reminded of the time that I was asked to man the mower. It was early in our SOWER life – July 2007 – and at a camp in Tennessee. I tracked down that post –

With 130 campers running around, it’s pretty tough to stay on top of “pool maintenance”. So, I have been moved to Lawn Maintenance. Yes, the girl that somehow managed to never even get on the riding mower when we lived in Jamison, has spent the last four days cutting lawn with a zero-turn lawn mower. Here I am – Mower Steph (with a view of some of my domain!)
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Ten things that I have learned while mowing acres and acres of grass:

1. The “zero turn” thing? Well it’s a little easier said than done.
2. Young campers are prone to enter your mowing area. Stop and find a new patch to mow. There is always somewhere you can mow.
3. Straight line mowing is highly over-rated. I personally think that a nice scallop to the lines adds interest.
4. Sunscreen
5. And if you forgot the sunscreen on the first day, DO NOT forget it on the subsequent days.
6. No matter how carefully you turn, there will be times when you eat grass. Or dirt. Or bugs.
7. Fingers usually stop tingling within 3 hours of turning off the mower.
8. There is nothing quite as lovely as the sound generated after turning off the mower.
9. “Getting close” to trees and bushes takes a lot of practice and is usually best left to those more experienced. (Sorry about that little Bradford Pear =/.)
10. Mowing provides a great opportunity to catch up with your prayer time. After all, who else can hear you? (Just don’t close your eyes and fold your hands!)

Oh – and my tan is really coming along!

This morning was one of those picture-perfect mornings. I carried my camera with me to take some shots – here’s the best one.
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(and yes, I even mowed the island!)

When I have a better internet connection I’ll try to upload some of the others so you can see our home base for July.
No big plans for the weekend – it’s time for some household chores for sure! Watch out dust bunnies!

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If you’d like to see the original post, you can check it out here! 

Have a great week, everyone!
Steph

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2024, The Adventure

A more important update

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So many of you expressed concern about Gary and his trip to the ER earlier this week – thank you! With a clear report from the ER doctor (who did suggest that it might be the beginning of shingles, which we thankfully have NOT seen!), Gary has had a good week – riding that big ol’ mower!
He did develop one more symptom, though –
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Sunburned knees!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2024, The Adventure

Day 1b

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We’ve had a lot of ‘first day on the job’s in the last 20 years. Yesterday was, technically, our first day on the job here at Heartland. But instead, we started our first day here –
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Yep – it was an early morning trip to the local ER. He was having some weird symptoms over the weekend, and it just seemed wise to check things out. As ER visits go, it went pretty smoothly. Our longest wait was for the results of the CT scan (all negative, thank you, Lord), and we were back at the RV before lunch! In fact, Gary went right to work upon our return! Of course, his job this month will mostly involve this –
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He kept his day short, but I think he felt good getting started at least a little bit on time!
My boss told me to take the day off, so I started today. And just like there is lots and lots of grass for Gary to mow, there’s plenty of job security for me too!
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I don’t know if I’ll be in the laundry the entire time, but it is a job I am fully qualified to do!
So while it was bit of a different “first day on the job” for us, all is well! We may never know just what was going on with Gary – but I’m thankful we were able rule out anything serious.
And the project continues…
Steph

Family and Friends, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2021, The Adventure

Spreadsheets to Bed sheets

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And just like that, our May project is over! During the first of our three weeks at a project we’re finding our way, scoping out the new surroundings and getting to know our co-servants. During the second week we’re in our stride.  Our ‘new’ neighbors have become good friends, and we have a pretty good understanding of what we’ve been doing and what we’ll be doing in the days ahead. Then the third week hits. It’s like – WAIT. It’s almost over? But, but….didn’t we just get here? This month was no different! Thursday was our final official work day and already one of our neighbors has returned home.  So I before get too maudlin over these ‘leaving’ days, here’s a bit of a recap of our time here at Heartland Conference Center!

As mentioned before, I started out in the Health Office, helping to organize registrations and health forms that came in daily for summer camp. (YEA for summer camp this year!!!)
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This last week I moved from spreadsheets to bed sheets as I joined the other ladies in housekeeping – transforming this
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into this!
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It was fun to work as a team as we got the rooms ready for the next batch of visitors!
Since I had my sewing machine set up, I also mended about 10 of the spreads that were showing some wear and tear.
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But lest you be too impressed – I was really only stitching a small void in the binding – trying to prevent further ‘unsewing’.
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I truly did enjoy working with these sweet ladies!
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The guys worked on a variety of painting and plumbing projects, but I think the most memorable “guy job” on this project was the mowing on those fun zero-turn mowers!

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They were on those mowers at some point most days that the weather allowed it, ’cause folks, there is a LOT of grass here!
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(and this is only the view from our coach!).

Although it was work, I think it was just a bit like playing on go-carts for them as they’d drive them to break and home for lunch!
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The Mowing Team – spruced up for pictures!
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In the three short weeks we have been here, the trees have filled out,

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and so has our circle of SOWER family (also known as friends!)! We welcomed a brand new SOWER couple (whose last name is Sowers – how crazy is that!), and got to know a couple who reminded me of Gary & I ten years ago (high school sweethearts, three kids, full-timing, etc…)! Today we’re wrapping up loose ends, tonight we watch our beautiful Ellie graduate from high school, tomorrow everyone is coming here for a post-graduation/last day with Grams and Pops picnic, and Monday we pull up stakes (or levelers as it were) and hit the road!

What a stellar month it has been – filled with family and friends and a good bit of Kingdom work!  Thank-you, LORD, for this adventure you have led us on!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2021, The Adventure

Seemed kinda weird….

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…not to do a post yesterday!! So here’s a bit about our first couple of days on our new job!
After 4 months of doing mostly cleaning and painting (with a little gardening and ladder holding thrown-in), the first two days on the job here at Heartland had me sitting at a desk. Working on a computer.
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Yes, this a happy place for me! While I was doing some computer work the other ladies on the team were busy getting all the paperwork (that I was printing) organized.
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It’s wonderful for the retreat center that even with COVID restrictions it appears that summer camp will be happening this summer, and we’re happy to be able to help with some of the preliminary organization. I’m sure we’ll be doing more ‘maintenance’ (read “cleaning”) in the weeks to come, but this has been a great start for us!
Meanwhile, the guys….
Well, Monday was a pretty rainy day, so they started doing some drywall repair and painting in one of the offices.
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I don’t know exactly what Gary is doing up on the ladder, but I’m pretty sure I can see wires hanging down, so it’s electrical in nature. But today the sun broke out for a bit and the guys got to hop on those zero-turn mowers. Oh boy!
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The rain eventually returned and they went back to inside work in the afternoon, but they really had a fun morning on those mowers!
Vrummmmmm…………

As Heartland ramps up for a (somewhat back to normal) camping season, we’re happy to be able to help in anyway we can.   We’re so thankful we get to be a part of this chapter of God’s story here!

May the Fourth be with you!
Steph