Bert's Musings

Today we spent the day cleaning, getting ready for the groups coming in for the weekend. Mark and I mopped the dining hall and I mopped the Fallow meeting area. We also "spruced up" the outside areas. I burned up two tank fulls of gas in the leaf blower, just getting leaves of porches/decks and away from the immediate area of the buildings. Tonight I made a batch of my grandmothers potato soup. I'm still missing something. It just isn't quite as good as when she made it, or my Mom, or Kathy. I think maybe I'm not frying the bacon long enough. Kathy emphasized that you have to get it right on the edge of being burned. I think I am being to cautious about burning it and am not getting it cooked as much as I should. I talked to the RV repair guys about the awning again, now that I have the motor home back at the camp. They will call me Monday to set up a time they can come out and look at it. I've told John that I was pulling out a week from Monday, Dec 10th. I m...

Bryan Freightliner FINALLY finished working on the motor home. I brought it back to the camp this afternoon. Praise The Lord!!! I think they gouged me to the maximum extent possible, but that is another story. Mark and I finished the "floor" in the cabinets today. We also did some trim work on the cabinet. It kept us busy the entire day. We still have some clean-up to do before the groups come in tomorrow. It got down into the high 30's again last night but warmed into the low 70's during the day. It is supposed to hit 80 again one day next week. Well, time to get my mountain of dishes done before Person of Interest. I also need to go over to the camp washer and remove one load of clothes from the dryer; and transfer those in the washer to the dryer. Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Last night it was pretty cool in the Freightliner parking lot. It got down into the high 30's. I got to the camp around 9 this morning. John asked me to put a bottom/floor under some counter/cabinets. The bottom framework was open and and somewhat a catch-all, see the 2x4's on the left of the photo below. We went to the "barn" and found some old barn siding from a 100 year old barn John had torn down some years ago. We brought it back to the camp. I ran the boards through a planer to smooth the roughest areas and started cutting them to fit.  This is the counter/cabinet area where I am working. The counter extends about 4' beyond the wash tub.  Below are two photos of the "carpenter's workshop". In the one below the sliding chop saw in on the first table and in  the background there is a table saw. The steps on the left lead up to the back deck on the dining hall. The other set go to the upstairs of the new building. Below is the portable planer I wa...

Overnight at the Freightliner dealer was okay. I stopped at Denny's for breakfast on my way to the camp. I had checked with the Freightliner service department before I left. They said they would clean up the grease/oil on the carpet and that the tailpipe should be installed by lunch. I went to pick it up around 3 and they had not started on the tailpipe. They did do a decent job of cleaning the carpet. After getting the old tailpipe off they realized that the one they had ordered was the wrong size (ID versus OD). I will be staying at the dealers again tonight. Hopefully they will get things straightened out tomorrow. This is not a big deal. I filled the water tank full, and emptied both waste tanks, before I left the camp Monday morning. The only "problem" is that I have to run the generator a couple of hours a day to keep the batteries charged. Today John and I cleaned. I spent about 4 hours sweeping and vacuuming while he cleaned bathrooms and did misc odd jobs. The n...

Man it gets dark early here. Last night, a little after 6 and I was working in the dark when I moved the motor home over to an area with a straight shot at the entry gate, and where I could hook up the CR-V. I guess it should not have been a surprise since I've been here as long as I have. I made it to the Freightliner place without incident. I checked in, unhooked the CR-V and was back at the camp by 9. I did more insulating and cutting and fitting wood boards to finish the room around the water to heater as much as possible. When Fred did the plumbing it is obvious that he did not think the inside of the room was going to be finished. I also cut some scrap T100(?) siding pieces to finish a wall area behind a future vanity. Doesn't sound like much, but it kept me busy all day. I got back over to the Freightliner place around 4. There were still waiting for a hydraulic filter, the chrome tailpipe, and the hubcap I lost on the way down here. The tailpipe and...

I went to church at Five Points again this morning. BOY DO I LIKE THE PASTOR!! I don't think I would look any further for a church if I were living here, not much danger of that happening. All four of the messages I've heard him deliver have centered around we, as individual Christians, need to do what God call us to do. If each of us does our jobs, as individuals, the "Christian Team" will flourish. We need to focus far less on "the other guy" and more on ourselves. He provided the "special music" today. They played a 26 year old recording of him singing "People Need the Lord". I don't know if he sings any more, he has not during the services I've attended, but man he sure could sing back then. Today's message was titled, "Diagnosis of America". He preached while decked out in surgeon scrubs, he even had a hair net over his shaved head. The basis of his message was taken from Hosea and Amos. The passages came from t...

Just made my morning rounds. Put out cat food at the barn and at the dining hall. Feed the fish in the pond and those in the aquarium. Picked up a couple of bags of trash left by the folks who were staying at Lakeside. Went down and checked on the folks who are staying at Magnolia. On my way down to the barn I chased out a buck with a decent rack. I had to stop the Mule and wait for it to find its way back along the fence. It thought it was cornered and ran into the fence a couple of times. I forgot to post these photos yesterday. Below is a photo of the ball field near Magnolia. No one has used it for years. John doesn't even bother marking the base paths any longer. This is Magnolia. Note the nice patio behind, to the right of the photo. It is a three bedroom house. This is one of the three pipeline right aways on the property. It is about time to leave for church. Good day to all. May God bless you and yours.

Today was odd jobs around the camp. First I went around and checked in with the three groups that are here, to see if they needed anything. They were all fine. Next came feeding time. I put out some cat food by the dining room but since I didn't see the cat anywhere I thought it had gone back down to the barn.  The barn is about a quarter mile from the dining room. It is where the cat normally lives/eats. I went down there and put out some food. On the way back I stopped and fed the fish in the pond. They were waiting to be fed. They get fed at two different locations. There is at least one turtle that comes up to eat at each location. After that it was back to the dining room to feed the goldfish. They go nuts when you get within 5 feet of the aquarium. I worked on the gate again. I thought I had everything OK and tightened up so that the hinges wouldn't slip again. WRONG! By the time I got back from Bryan enough people had went in and ...

I spent a lot of the day cleaning the inside of the motor home. I am SLOW!!! I never realized how much woodwork we have, and how pretty it is, until today when I was dusting/polishing it. I did all the woodwork in the living/kitchen area before I ran out of Pledge, boy was I glad <grin>. I also vacuumed the carpet. I still have to wash/mop the ceramic tile floor areas and clean the woodwork in the bathroom/shower and bedroom areas. I plan on a trip to Bryan tomorrow. I can pick up some more Pledge and maybe get at least part of the rest of the job done. Two more small groups are supposed to come in for a day or two over the holiday weekend. Hopefully I will be able to take care of everything tomorrow (feeding the cat down at the barn, feeding the fish in the pond, feeding the fish in the aquarium, dumping the trash from the buildings where people are staying, etc) so that John can take a day off. I will be surprised if he manages to stay away the entire day. He lives in downt...

Not much happening today. I dumped the waste tanks, did a load of wash in the campground washer and a load in the motor home washer. Did several days worth of dishes in the evening. I need to get the vacuum out and also do some dusting. Manana (don't know how to put the squigle over the n). Morning campground chores consisted of feeding the goldfish, cleaning up some broken window glass (it has been broken for some time, just hasn't been fixed yet) and taped a piece of styrofoam over the window to keep out the bugs (lots of wasps/hornets around right now). I also used the leaf blower to clean off the porches at Lakeside, the Dining Room and Fallow. John's family is supposed to be here over the holiday and he told me that another family had rented one of the buildings for the holiday. Since each building is pretty much self-contained, all have bunk areas, meeting rooms and kitchen and bath facilities, a group can be here almost without even knowing it. I added another post t...

Good news - no leg cramps last night. Bad news - I downloaded a fiction book from the Crossville library yesterday afternoon and got hooked reading it. I kept reading it after I went to bed. When I finished it I looked at my watch and it was 3:05AM. DUMB! Mark and I put up a few pieces of elm trim this morning. We soon ran out of material, again. We have done about all the trim work that can be done up there until the HVAC area is finalized and the bathroom and shower areas are much further along. We went over to the sawmill intending to saw a pretty good sized oak log, we needed a piece 12" wide by 8' long, and and elm log. The oak log had a lot of areas where critters had burrowed into it. We think the trash in the burrows caused us to dull two blades while sawing that log. We didn't have any problems with the elm log. The starter on the Mule was acting up again so Mark removed it. I did some sweeping over in the Lakeside building. We knocked off a l...

The weather is warming back up this week. Last nights low in the high 40's. Todays high was in the low 70's. Highs are supposed to be in the mid 70's for the next week, with lows being in the low 50's. Mark and I worked together today. (Mark is probably in his late 20's. John hires him on a part time basis.) We started out trimming the upstairs. One of the rooms up there is done in oak and the other in elm. We are to use elm for all the trim. We ran out of elm while doing the first window. It was time to fire up the sawmill. I think I am going to pay for all the stair climbing today, with leg cramps tonight. It is 20 steps from the ground, where the table saw and chop saw are located, up to the 2nd floor. I didn't count how many times I climbed the stairs but I'm sure more than 20. My legs aren't sore. I'm not sure why I get the craps in the evening and during the night. I eat a banana most days and had a baked potato last night so I'm pretty sur...

This morning I attended church at Five Points Baptist, so did Fred & Gail. This is Five Points main building. The old wood sided little church is still on site and I think is used. I haven't been in it but it appears that the old building has been well maintained. You might just be able to make out the old dog that welcomes people. It is laying down at the entrance area. It's arthritis(?) must have been bad this morning because it just wagged it tail and looked up at people begging for some attention. Once almost everyone had left the service it did manage to get up and walk out into the parking lot, for some additional attention.  Today was "shoe box" day. The church has 205 plastic containers containing crayons, tooth brushes, tooth paste, scissors, etc.; to ship out. When I first heard that this small church had that many I was impressed. When I found out that not only do they have to purchase and assemble they "shoe boxes" they also have to pay $7 p...

When I got up this morning I dumped the waste tanks on the motor home and then started a load of laundry. After washing a couple of days worth of dishes I left for College Station and the Bush (41) presidential library. When I got there I was amazed at all the cars and RV's in the parking lot. Only a few of them show in the photo.  When I bought my ticket for the library a lady asked me if I was going to the game. She was helping me decide what, if anything, I needed to pass up in order to get the the Texas A&M football game on time. RV'ers are allowed to start parking in the library's RV parking area at 6 PM on Friday, and stay the weekend. When leaving the library parking lot I drove by the entry into the RV area. I could see a lot of preparation work had been done to get ready for "tailgating" parties after the game. The library is located on the campus of Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas. This was the first time I've been to a presidential libr...

I am really tired tonight. Not so much from what we did today, it was just a normal day, but I guess from being in such pitiful physical condition. Today was Fred's last day of work at the camp until they return in January. Working beside him has just worn me out! That is embarrassing because he is a 75 year old colon cancer survivor. He is TEN YEARS older than me and I'm worn out <GRIN>. It isn't that either of us tried to outdo one another, we just both have a good work ethic and like to see progress being made. John, the camp director, might kid about us "old guys" not working hard (in fact he does), but he also makes us very aware of how much he appreciates our efforts. I'm sure that if we wanted to work fewer hours/days he would not mind. If we mentioned being tired I don't doubt that he would tell us to take a day, or more, off and rest. This morning started out OK for me (no more coffee all over the countertop and floor), not so much for F...

The start of the day was not all that I was hoping for. I got to bed at a decent hour but had problems sleeping. This morning I hit the snooze button a couple of times and finally had to get up. While still in bed I had planned getting around so that I would still have time to make and eat breakfast. I got coffee started the first thing. While the coffee was making I was getting other things around for bacon, eggs, hash browns & hootch. That was when I noticed coffee and grounds all over the kitchen counter and running down onto the floor. I had forgotten to put the coffee pot into the coffee maker. I had a real mess to clean up. I still managed to get breakfast made and eaten in time to make it to work by 8:30. Fred and I worked on trim in the downstairs today. John and Mark started prepping the “recycled” hardwood flooring to get it ready to install in the new building. The flooring came from the some high school gym floor that was demolished. LOTS of labor to get it out, lots ...

Fred and I worked on the new building today. We finished installing all the interior walls than can be put up at this time. In the afternoon we started the trim work on the lower level. John took us out to dinner tonight. We went to a restaurant in Bryan. I had a rib eye steak that was good. John also gave us thank you cards with personal notes from him and a restaurant gift card. It was a very nice "thank you" for our labor. Not much else to report. Supposed to drop into the high 30's tonight but I think it is going to be colder, hopefully not below freezing since I put my water softener back out and hooked up my water supply hoses again. Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

The thermometers in the motor home both said it only got down to the high 30's last night. Weatherbug claimed that the low was 30. In any case it was the coldest night since I've been here. At 7:30 it is still 52. It is supposed to get to 33 tonight. I noticed during the weather forecasts that the lows in Hearne, about 7 miles northwest of me are typically 10 degrees cooler than in Bryan, about 15 miles southwest of me. John says that is normal, he doesn't know why there is such a big difference. Both towns are in the Brazos valley. By Sunday the highs are supposed to be in the low 70's with lows in the mid 50's. It is raining here right now, just started. I don't think it will last long. More work on the upstairs of the new building today. Nothing to exciting. When I came back from Byan last Sunday I backed the CR-V up near the front of the motor home, to make it easier to unload groceries. I didn't have thay many, just being lazy. Remember last week when I...

This morning we started out with prayer and the normal Monday morning meeting, to discuss what things needed to be done during the week. Fred and I then went over to Fallow to change some light bulbs. One was in the high ceiling area. Fred had put a toilet plunger on the end of a 6' wooden dowel. He, he is 75 years old, climbed up to almost the top of a 10' step ladder and could just reach the bulb with the plunger on the end of the rod. He managed to get the old one out and screw a new one back in. The new bulb was a slighly different type of bulb and did not work. We don't know whether it is the bulb or the fixture. John will need to decide what he wants done, since we don't have any direct replacement bulbs. Next we put a couple of 4' flourescent bulbs in one of the 4 bulb fixtures in the Fallow shower area. We struck out again. The bulbs would not start. We exchanged them for bulbs that we knew worked and still no light. Apparently a ballast is bad. Another deci...

This morning I met Fred and Gail at Five Points Baptist Church. We went to Bible Study (Sunday School) and church. I really like the Pastor, and the folks in the congregation seem quite friendly. There were about a dozen adults in the Bible Study class and 50-60 people in church. The Pastor regularly uses the Message bible when he quotes Scripture. I had never heard of it. I like what I’ve seen of it. I bought a copy and downloaded in onto my phone a few minutes ago. I will let you know my further impressions. The Pastor bears a striking resemblance to my brother; tanned, shaved head, red van dyke beard, etc. (If I saw them side by side they probably don’t look as much alike as I think.) Fred told me that the Pastor is a window salesman during the week. He is apparently also quite the mechanic. He works on, and rides, motorcycles. Today he told a story about his restoration of a 1946 Taylorcraft airplane, when he was a young man. The story was about the first time he piloted the rest...

I got my two loads of laundry, in the big machines, done. I also did a reasonably good job of cleaning the inside of the motor home. Also did some online shopping for a few miscellaneous items. This evening I walked to the dumpster, it is about 3 tenths of a mile to the dumpsters and back, and around the camp a little. The photos below are of the pond/lake. The first one is looking east, toward the dam.   This one is looking north northwest. The structure going to the island is another project in the construction phase. it is a house trailer frame that will be a bridge to the island some day. Right now it is just the bare steel frame supported by timber piles and beams. Nothing much exciting today. I just took it easy in the afternoon and evening. Have a good evening. May God bless you and yours.

I need to do "housekeeping" today. I haven't run the vacuum while I have been here. I'm also going to use a camp washer and dryer to do a couple of loads of laundry. I've been doing small loads in our "onboard" washer/dryer. Today I want to wash bed sheets, and some tee shirts and socks, in one load, and a pair of bib overalls and some shorts in another load. What would take me four or five loads, and all day, in our washer/dryer shouldn't take nearly that long in one of the camp units. The one I'm planning on using is on the back porch of the dining hall, less than 100' from the motor home. I mentioned that about 5 miles of the road to the camp is gravel. One thing that was a surprise for me was the number of curves in Taylor Road. Jack Rabbit Lane, the first road after you turn off the paved road, is wide and straight, as I expected of roads in Texas. Once you turn off onto Taylor Road this is one of the longest stretches of straight road. ...

Before lunch Fred and I helped John, Caleb (John's son) and Mark (the part time hired man) get a section of the "barn" ready for a floor slab. They were supposed to pour the floor in the afternoon. I haven't been back over to see if they got it done. I did a dumb thing and could have hurt myself this afternoon. When travelling around the camp Fred drives the four wheeler and pulls a trailer. I ride on a tool box on the front of the trailer. The camp is fenced with 8' high fence to keep in the fallow. Going to the saw mill or the barn requires opening and closing gates. Going over to the barn today Fred stopped, I jumped off the trailer and opened the gate. He drove through but before the trailer cleared the gate I stepped back, I was facing away from the road, and stepped right in front of the trailer tire. It bent my leg a little but nothing bad. If I had stepped back another inch or two I think it might have broken my ankle. Just a good reminder to PAY ATTENTION...

Nothing exciting to report today. Just more business as usual. Fred and I continued working on the new building. I think we move upstairs to work tomorrow. I did a another load of laundry this evening and baked biscuits. I can't imagine how many loads of laundry Kathy must have done for the two of us. This washer/dryer is really small. Check out my biscuits Actually they were frozen biscuits. I just stuck them in the convection microwave and backed them. I ate one and it was fine, not as good as Kathy's, but OK. Kathy found a can of Libby's Sausage Gravy at some store and bought it for me to try. In the morning I will have biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. I will comment on the election, but not go into a rant. It was what I expected in our post-Christian nation. Our morals are gone and we have become a nation of entitlement rats who think we are owed a federal teat to suck on. We also think someone else should pay to keep the milk flowing to that teat. My political...

This morning I grabbed a pair of work pants only to find that I apparently got battery acid on them when I changed the chassis batteries. This was one of my better pairs of work pants <grin>.  This morning Fred and I sawed up another two logs and then used the wood for more interior wall covering. We damaged a blade while sawing the first log so I got to see how to change a blade. Fred also showed me his equipment for sharpening and setting the teeth on blades. It was quite interesting. We load the cut wood on a trailer behind the four wheeler. One of the logs we cut today was over 10' long. I managed to "hook" the long pieces on another log when moving the trailer. I unloaded all the long pieces that I had just loaded. I let Fred drive the load through the gate into the main complex. It was quite funny. Nothing earth shattering in the afternoon, just more work on the new building. Have a good evening. May God bless you and yours.

Today was another nice day. I'm getting used to the warmer temperatures, and it was a little cooler. Today's high was 81 while tonight's low is supposed to be in the mid 40's. It was partly cloudy but there was still plenty of sun. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be only 70. That will be the coldest day we have had since I arrived. Fred and Gail invited me to their motor home for lunch. Gail made chimichanga's, which I really like. They were very good. Fred and I continued our work on the new building. We cut up another log and need to cut up at least two more pine logs. We need the tractor to put the logs on the saw mill. We couldn't use it today because John broke a hydraulic hose on it while using it this weekend. It should be back in service tomorrow. Below are a few photos of the camp.  The snack shop is near the basketball court and pool. It is only staffed if campers want to bring in snacks and sell them. The upper deck is just a nice p...

This morning I attended Five Points Baptist church with Fred and Gail. The congregation is on the smaller side, less than 50 I would guess. It is a nice, friendly, little church. The Pastor had a good message. After church I followed Fred and Gail to Bryan where they bought me lunch at Denny's. After lunch they headed to Walmart and I drove through Bryan and College Station. The route I took through the cities didn't reveal much. I did drive by Texas A&M University. It is a huge complex, but I guess it needs to be huge for 50,000 students. I arrived back home around 2:30 and have been watching football on TV; and writing a post for my political blog. Good evening to all. May God bless you and yours.

This morning I went to Bryan, Texas. It is about 15 miles, and 25 minutes, (5 miles of curvy gravel roads) from here. I had a good breakfast at an IHOP. I searched for a "mom and pop" type restaurant but didn't find one. The place was busy when I got there but there were still a few empty tables. When I left the entry area was packed with people waiting for a seat. After breakfast I went to a Walgreens and picked up a prescription refill and then to a Kroger store for some groceries. I got back home a little before noon. We had a nice shower, maybe even enough to wash the dust off things <grin>, this afternoon. I downloaded a couple of ebooks and read one of them this afternoon. While sitting here reading I looked up at the "control panel" and noted that the inverter was operating. For some reason the camp lost power for around an hour. It didn't impact me since I just operated off battery power during that time. I wasn't...

It was nice, but warm again, today. High was in the mid 80's with humidity's above 60%. Not horrible, but warm enough to switch from jeans to shorts during lunch. Breakfast was bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee this morning. Lunch was lasagna, left over from last night. Supper was roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy. Kathy did a great job of stocking my "larder" with frozen left overs before I left. Fred and I installed more boards on the wall of the new building this morning. We ran out of boards again and after lunch John helped us put another log on the saw mill. Note John's helper riding on the tractor with him. We didn't cut up the log. Fred was talking about some type of saw mill demonstration for some of the campers who are here this weekend. Fred mowed during the afternoon and I did other stuff. Turned the air on in several buildings (finding all the thermostats took some time), put paper towels in several fixtures in rest rooms, ...

Fred and I worked on a wall in the new building today, after he gave me a tour of the facility. Fred and Gail are the full time volunteers. They have been here about 18 months. They have been full time RV'ers since 1998. Fred retired from the military before becoming a painter, and then retired from painting. He is 75 and a real worker. They spent their first several years after retiring just touring the country, but got bored. They joined MMAP'ers (Mobile Missionary Assistance Program and did service projects with them for about 5 years. After that they decided to go out on their own. I think that Gale does a lot of the work with the flowers and lawn. The photo below shows the back entrance to the new building. The tree comes up through the lower deck. The upper deck is fit to the tree and a 3" branch actually goes up through the upper deck. The building is less than 100' from the motor home. I can easily walk to work.  This is part of the wall we did today. Th...