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Published: October 2nd 2010
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There's a very small town
(93 people) north of here, and apparently they only get milk one day of the week? Luckily for us, milk is what we needed. (Bluewater Covenant Bible Camp)
I stand corrected on the men’s projects~~I said they were enclosing rooms in one cabin, and making the rooms larger in the other, but it was quickly explained to me that they opened the rooms in both cabins. The cabins are mainly used for staff, and they wanted a larger area to hold meetings and Bible studies. Ok, now it’s correct!
If you are squeamish about mice, you may want to skip this next paragraph. We have been fighting mice since June, and I’m just plain sick of it. They’re not my favorite thing in the world, but I don’t go screaming-crazy when I see one, however, after four months of catching them and keeping every edible thing (which Bob would describe as “Why don’t we have any food in this house?”) I’m just soooo over the mouse thing. We can’t figure out how they’re getting in the bus, but every time Bob finds a tiny spot in the basement that could be their entrance point, we both rejoice, thinking we’ve finally solved it. And then not. We catch one per night~~two sometimes, if one makes it to the used-to-be snack drawer. But if we
put out several traps, we still only catch one. Every darn night. And then yesterday I came home from work (gone three hours, mind you) and there was another one in the trap. AAArrrg… Please don’t bother writing to tell me how narrow a space they need to get in; I don’t want to understand them, I want to destroy them. At the beginning of the month when it was still kind of a joke (new location; same problem; ha ha) I said I was afraid we’d get kicked out of RVICS, because we’re not allowed to have pets, and someone said if we don’t name them, they’re not really pets! Not funny any more. AND THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, at the beginning of this week a man came out to fix a rock chip in our bus windshield, so the night before we’d removed the fabric screen that covers it, and also the windshield wiper covers. The wiper covers are fabric sleeves about three inches wide; the sleeve is sewed up one side about half way, and the bottom half is Velcro closed. I slipped the cover off one, and when I took the second one off
Bluewater Lake
If you look at the pictures from my first blog here, you'll see this same shot, in greens! And I thought that was beautiful, but not anything like it is now. The lake is 364 acres, and 120' at the deepest. there was a pine needle sticking out of the top, so I tried to shake it off, but it fell into the sleeve. As I was folding the sleeve, a bat came crawling out of the top of it. I screamed and threw it to Bob (who was thrilled to get it!) and he tried to shake it off the sleeve. The bat, who wasn’t excited about being awake in the daylight, was hanging on for dear life. By now I’m in the bus, watching through the windshield, and finally Bob won, and the bat flew away. A bat is a mouse with wings. I AM SO OVER THIS.
On a more interesting note, though, last night we had a campfire, and as it was turning dark we watched a dozen or more bats appear and fly over the surface of the lake, snatching bugs off the water. That was cool; sharing a home with them is not.
I wasn’t going to write about the mice in the bus saga, because it makes me feel like you’ll think my home is dirty, (although it’s probably the most often disinfected home in the state! And I can tell you
everything we have in our cupboards, because I move it nearly every day), but if I’m blogging about the good stuff, I think I have to blog about the not-so good stuff too. So there you have it; I’m not a pig, but we do have mice. And I’ve asked God please could we not take them to Kentucky with us.
I saw a sign several weeks ago that read, “Teachers, stock up for school”; upon closer inspection, the sign was located in front of a liquor store!! It still makes me smile when I think of it!
We’ve seen eagles quite often since we’ve been here, so now you’re going to get a little lesson on them! (Remember in northern Florida when we were told it was an eagle that was nested near our lake, but it turned out to be an osprey? These really are eagles!) Our grandson, Daniel, took a field trip and learned about eagles~~they’re no longer on the endangered species list, and Minnesota has more eagles in the wild than any other state.
I’m fascinated every time I see one. It’s not like we see them every day, but if we’re driving, and
Rust??? Mining rust?
Really they're mining iron. But everything is rust colored, including the water in the puddles. They had tee shirts that are dyed with the rust water from the pit. not in a town, we’ll probably see one.
I think I mentioned that Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids. Did you know that her birth name was Francis Gumm? Her family was in the acting business (vaudeville) and one time they were billed as Glumm, so her agent suggested she change her name, and Judy Garland was there!
We took a tour through the world’s largest open pit mine, where they mine for iron. The mining process reminded me of the open pit coal mines around Wright, where everything is unimaginably big. The first mine we visited had processed the lesser-grade ore from the rock, and then sent it to Pittsburg (via train) to be used. The second mine was still excavating iron.
We’re headed for Kentucky, after one more stop at Megan and Rod’s. It’s been a gift to be this close to them.
I love this lifestyle; I love the purpose; I love the fellowship; I love the work. I love my life!
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Lin Noble
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Noble Greeting
Vicky, your blogs just make my day.. I hear your voice as I read them. Don't know if you heard, but we had an auction sale and sold everything; lots of stress in this 5th wheel. We are renting to a young couple from Sidney (she is the title teacher at Rau). They are guaranteed one year of rental with first option to buy. Jim is having a hard time dealing with the change, but the time felt right to me. It has been insane around here with the move, auction, etc.., and then to make things worse, I have been working for the past 3 weeks at Express Employment hiring workers for beet harvest. In the evenings, I'm working at the scale house for 4 hours, and Jim is driving truck all day. Thursday and Friday I accepted a subbing job... We are both about loony (or loonier). Hope to leave for Arizona about the 3rd week in Oct. Keep the blogs coming. Love, Lin, Jim, and Lilly