Tuesday, February 25 'The Build-Day 2'

Today was another beautiful day for working on the habitat house. It was sunny and nearly 70. We were able to put up the rest of the interior walls and all but a small entry way wall for the exterior. The gals spent the day drilling the holes for the hurricane anchors and also started hanging the sheeting boards. The latter was physically demanding and I for one was a pretty tired puppy when 3:30 rolled around. We then spend about 40minutes picking up tools and extension cords and putting them in the tool trailer.

Buckeye Builders plus Tom from Pa.

We usually get back to the Seton Center around 5. This evening, after supper, some of us drove downtown to watch one of the 5 parades that will be held this week. I am so glad we did as it was so much fun.  The floats were quite extravagant and the people on them practically pelted us with everything from Moon Pies to Mardi Gras beads. The most unusual was a packet of ramen noodles but there were also stuffed animals, light up necklaces and peanuts. There were also lots of horses and marching bands.
I had a little time to take some pictures around the Seton Center so you can see what it looks like. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and our backup plan will be to work in the Re Store, a store that furnishes re purposed items and supports Habitat.

Displaying our parade loot!

The Seton Center on Old Shell Rd.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

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Monday, February 24 "The Build"

Today was the day! We were up and down in the kitchen by 6:30 am. I think the smell of the bacon that Grant was frying brought most of us downstairs. Beth made scrambled eggs and we had juice, toast and cereal to go with them. It took us about 35 minutes to get to the work site. There was a cement slab and all of the lumber stacked beside it. After a prayer by Jim and a silent one by me not to nail my foot to the floor. We finished up around 4 and came back for showers and dinner. I'm going to load some pictures of our progress and head down to see whats on the menu.

At 6 the church next door must have mass as the bells were ringing. On the hour though, the carillon chimes play and remind me of our bell choir. Today at 6 it played How Great Though Art. Below you can see the bell tower as I see it from my room. So glad I am here.

Sunday, February 23 -Mobile, Alabama

We left Athens, Alabama at 7:30 this morning and after driving through some heavy rains we arrived in Mobile around 2 o'clock. We drove to see the USS Alabama on the Mobile Bay. The park also had many different aircraft and a submarine, the USS Drum. I really enjoyed our visit, especially talking to a veteran who was signing copies of a book he had written about his time in a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the rains made it very foggy and the visibility was quite poor but I managed a few good photos.

USS Alabama

 

We ate at a very popular BBQ restaurant called Dreamland BBQ. Very good!  The Seton Center where we are staying is a former convent and although it is quite old, we are very comfortable. Tomorrow we build!

Saturday, February 22-Habitat Trip-

Today I left for my Habitat for Humanity mission trip. Sharon and I met with the rest of the team and left from the Hilliard United Methodist Church at 8:30 am. We had lunch near Louisville, Ky at the Kingfish. The food was great and we were entertained by a rowdy woman cheering for the Louisville basketball team as they were playing Cincinnati. After lunch we stopped to see Churchill Downs.

It was pretty late when we finally arrived at the Super8 just inside the state line of Alabama. We will be up early to make the final leg to Mobile tomorrow.

Saturday, February 15 ~Valentine Visit~

Despite the snow from last night that had several counties under a level 1 snow emergency, I decided to make the trip to Cincinnati to deliver Evelyn's Valentine gift. The roads weren't too bad until I got off the interstate. We went to the Krohns Conservatory where we enjoyed the beautiful plants, fountains and warm temperatures. The Conservatory was in a very pretty part of Cincinnati which was even prettier in the snow.

I liked this photo in the desert room looking out into the snow

glass chimes floating in the water

For lunch we had a Hawaiian pizza and harvest salad at Dewey's Pizza followed by ice cream at Aglamesis. By this time we were all stuffed and ready for a nap, except for Evie!!

Mamaw and Evie love their ice cream!

Evie scratching her head and thinking, "how is Mamaw ever going to build a real house??"

Andy and I celebrated our Valentines day yesterday with lunch at York Steak House topped off with Jay's cherries jubilee.

Wednesday, February 5 ~Wintry Snow~

Last night, starting at around 8 pm, we got a total of about 7 inches of snow.  South of us, Sara and Matt had more rain and ice than snow.  It was a very heavy snow and a lot harder to push with our UTV.  I did as much as I could and Mr. B finished the job with his Kuboto tractor.  At least it isn't as cold as it has been for the last few weeks.

 And, for once this winter, the bad weather didn't come on a Tuesday morning.  I had planned to work a region after I finished preparing the bird diets in the bear kitchen yesterday and I did stay for an hour, but when no visitors had appeared by 11 am, I decided I would go to the grocery and then head home.  I did pass 3 hardy souls on my way out.  Two young girls were visiting from North Dakota and the other, a stroller-mom with her little bundle securely wrapped and strapped into the stroller.

The longer winter hangs on the more ready I am to head to Mobile, Ala for our Habitat for Humanity trip.  Sharon and I have been finalizing our itinerary for our supposed unplanned trip.  (We decided that neither of us is very good at traveling by the "seat of our pants"!) We still need to practice setting up our new tent that I purchased with my PNC points.  It is a 16 x 7 Coleman Montana 8 and should be the "cats meow" if we can get it set up.  We are hoping for a 15-20 minute set up time and no doubt with practice and our competitive spirit we will set a new world's record.  If there were an Olympic medal involved, we would be going for GOLD!!  Stay warm and keep safe on the roads.