Habitat for Humanity (11-30-11)



Paul works on the caulking



    One of the goals we’ve had since we went on the road full time was to work with Habitat for Humanity on a house build.  We finally realized that goal here in Livingston, and now that we have gotten our feet wet, so to speak, I hope we continue to seek out opportunities to work with other chapters as we travel around the country. It works well for our lifestyle that no commitment is needed, and if we can only work for a day or two, that’s fine.. Habitat has built or rehabbed over 500,000 homes all over the world, since it began in the 1970s.  Pretty impressive. I’ve always thought it was a great program because people can donate their time and effort instead of money, and have the satisfaction of seeing the progress on a house that will go to someone in need.  The new owners are also required to volunteer a certain amount of hours before they can move into the house.  Recently, in the Livingston area,  a woman whose house was finished couldn’t move in for a month, because she hadn’t put in enough hours volunteering.

I had contacted the local chapter before we arrived in town to find out what, if anything, they were building and it turns out they are working on a house in a nearby town, but are mostly just working on the weekends.  The Saturday after we arrived in Livingston, we headed out to help.  I spent most of the day painting the outside of the house, while Paul helped with the caulking and a variety of other projects. (The man in the bright yellow shirt is the man who will be the new home owner. )   



Mike works on the interior



Kathi stains the kitchen cabinets



There was a great sense of camaraderie and cooperation among the workers, and at about 10 am, a separate crew arrived from a local church, and began putting lunch together for everyone.  There were about 20 people there that Saturday, but the project leader, who happens to be a fellow Escapee living in Livingston, mentioned to me that they hadn’t had much of a turnout lately and really wanted to step up the pace if they could.  Its the nature of the beast that they are never sure how many people will show up on any given day.  Since they weren’t planning on working the week of Thanksgiving, Paul and I decided to stay a few days beyond that to give them a hand.  This past Monday we went back to the house, and this time brought our friend Mike with us.  His wife was still in Omaha visiting their new granddaughter.  Mike worked at caulking the interior of the house, while Paul installed most of the light fixtures, and I spent the day staining the kitchen cabinets.  Before leaving for the day I had committed to coming back on Tuesday to help two other women polyurethane the cabinets so that they won’t have to be done on the weekend when there are more people around.  The whole experience was a really great one, and one I hope we can repeat with some degree of regularity!

Happy Thanksgiving!

   “Home is where you park it” is one of the mottos of the Escapees RV Club that we belong to.  I love that motto because it so aptly describes our lifestyle.  We usually feel like we are home wherever we happen to be, because we come home to the same trailer, same kitchen, same bedroom, same cat, etc., every night.  There are times however, that for me,  home is where my family is.  Thanksgiving is one of those days.  I miss my family and my kids.  Of course, our daughter is in Michigan and our son is in Massachusetts, and Paul’s mom is in West Texas, so its not as though we would all be together for the holiday anyway.  I think it’s partly a nostalgia thing.  I remember all the great holidays we had with the kids when they were younger. There was even one Thanksgiving  that we voted and all decided we didn’t want the traditional turkey dinner, so instead we made turkey enchiladas (with a side dish of potato puff and cranberry sauce).
    This year was completely different for us.  Not in a bad way, just different.  We had Thanksgiving with “100 of our closest friends”.
     We are parked in Livingston, Texas, at an Escapees RV Park. It is their national headquarters and in fact, its the RV Park that we call “home”.  Both of our drivers licenses now have this address listed on them.  It has been so odd to be able to walk over to the office every day and see if we have any mail.  Usually getting mail requires more effort and forethought. We’ve actually been here about  a week, and let me tell you, I have no idea where the days have gone.  Paul ordered a weather station, and a Wilson Cell Phone antenna, both of which have already arrived.  We also received a new TV antenna because ours stopped working, and he already has the new one installed. I have a new cell phone, although I hate it so I’ll probably send it back. He’s spent the last few days installing his new toys and rearranging some wiring in the trailer.  I have just been researching different things, doing laundry, and chatting with neighbors.
    We have had our friends Julie and Mike parked next to us since we got here, which is making this a fun place to be.  We went out for Mexican food one night and cooked Jambalaya another night.  Julie left a few days ago to fly  to Omaha to visit their new granddaughter, so Mike has spent the last few days washing and waxing their 5th wheel, and of course, hanging out with us. 
          So, the way they do Thanksgiving dinner here is like this.  There are sign-up sheets in the activities room for anyone who wants to attend the dinner. There are about 15 tables that can each hold 10 people. You sign up for whatever table you want to sit at, and one person at each table is the Host or Hostess (me, in this case) and that person organizes the food etc. The turkey and gravy are cooked in the commercial ovens and everyone pays $2 for that.  Then each person at the table brings a dish to share, just with the tablemates.  Since I was the hostess, it was my job to make sure we had a variety of dishes and not 5 different kinds of stuffing.  It turned out great, and we had an awesome variety of delicious food at our table, including homemade rolls. I had a great time but I had also taken the time to meet and chat with everyone who was going to be at our table, so I already knew them a little bit.  In fact, one couple is from Massachusetts, and one is from New Hampshire, so we had a lot in common.
      Now the day is almost over and we are trying to get over that “completely stuffed” feeling that comes with Thanksgiving every year. 

Run Off by Spiders (Jasper TX 11/13/11)

If yesterday had been a football game it would have been Spiders: 6, Us:0. I had done some research and found a nearby trail- I had even downloaded trail info onto my GPS. After packing up our lunch and backpacks, we headed out on a beautiful day, with temps in the high 70s, and drove 15 miles to get to the trailhead. After about 30 seconds on the trail, Paul commented that he had run into a really strong spider web. I replied that that's why I let him lead(not kidding). Another 30 seconds passed and he ran into another web, but this one had a big juicy spider hanging around in it. We started looking to the sides of the trail and could see quite a few spiders in the bushes along the side. At this point I was trying to think of a good way to let Paul know that I, for one, would be turning around. Before I could form a coherent thought in my head, he had run into yet another spider web, complete with spider resident. By this time we had discovered a secondary use for our hiking sticks, and were waving them in front of our heads while we walked. That was enough for Paul, and we turned around and headed Back the way we came.
For the last few days we've been staying at a campground on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Jasper, TX. The reservoir is down 14 feet from the level it should be at, which makes most of boat ramps high and dry, completely unusable. I have a picture, but I am posting from my Ipad and I haven't figured out how to post pictures from it.
When we got back from the abandoned hike there were some kind of flying ants all over the trailer, trying to get inside with us every time we opened the door. Eeeew. This morning, we decided to wash the trailer, since most RV parks have rules against that, but this one does not. About halfway through I started feeling something biting my ankle. Turns out I stepped on an anthill full of red ants. I am ready to leave here!
Tomorrow we head to Houston. We've been having unusual tire wear, so Lippert, the manufacturer of the axles, is sending new ones to put on. Its very frustrating, all the issues we've had with the trailer. We're hoping once we get it finally totally fixed that we won't have further issues, but at this point I am getting a little discouraged.