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Published: April 26th 2012
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Follow the Leader
Dan and Joy led the way. We are crossing the swamps in Louisiana on this long bridge. Jan 1-6--Another new year and plans for more wandering. Dan, Joy and I stayed at RV parks in Louisiana and drove through fog before hitting Florida. We separated then with me headed to Interlachen and they to Lakeland. I arrived in Interlachen on the 2
ndand stayed just a few days to take care of some business with the house before heading out again for another NOMADS project.
Jan 7: I got to Winter Haven and met the team for our project at the St. Johns United Methodist Church there.
Jan. 8: The team attended church together, then later that afternoon took a tour of the church and learned what we will be working in. The church has a pre-K school and we will be painting the hallway and doors of the wing the school occupies. It is only about a football field long and currently sports a color one of the church members called a “urinary yellow”. We will change that color to a clean beige color. It should keep us busy for quite a while!
Jan. 9-26: During this time I worked with the NOMADS at the Winter Haven church. In addition to painting the long hall,
Santa and the Fog
We awoke to a very foggy morning in Louisiana. The blow-up Christmas decoration of Santa in his camper was in front of the office. Santa kept opening and closing his door. I thought it was the perfect decoration for an RV camp. the team also stripped and rewaxed the gym floor, power washed the exterior of the church and its sidewalks. We also painted two offices and three bathrooms. Some of the men helped put a roof on a house, then we painted the house. You can see we got a lot done in three weeks!
There was a small mural in one of the offices that the lady wanted to keep, so I painted a fancy little frame around it so that it didn't get painted over.
For entertainment the team visited Plant City, the strawberry capitol of Florida. The place to go there is Parksdale, which is a produce place plus just outside of Plant City. It is always crowded In addition to produce and beautiful flowering plants, you can get strawberry shortcakes, sundaes, shakes, pies, preserves, etc. You can bet your bippy we got some of that! We also visited a local flea market that is well known in the area. I got a new purse since mine was falling apart.
This was a great team to work with. The church people were also great. They fed us lunches, some breakfasts and some dinners. It seemed
The Steeple
This is the lovely steeple of St. John's Methodist Church in Winter Haven. like we were always eating!
Jan. 27-28 I left Winter Haven and spent two nights in Lakeland with Joy and Dan before heading over to the coast to Rockledge, FL and my next NOMADS project.
Bootsie--I like visiting Dan and Joy. "Uncle" Dan really likes me and comes to visit when we are near-by. He pets me, talks to me and gives me treats. I, of course, reward him with much purring and rubbing against his ankles! Jan. 29-Feb. 9: The NOMADS team here has the primary project to put a new roof on one of the educational buildings of the Rockledge United Methodist Church. When we saw the roof, the project looked daunting. I have never worked on a roof before, so I learned some new things. One was taking old shingles, nails and tar paper off and the other was that I don't want to be a roofer when I grow up!
It was hot most of the time we were in Rockledge, which made the roofing even more miserable. The shingles were rough and hot, the tar paper hot and sticky. The roof wasn't terribly steep, but steep enough that I did
The Long Hall Before
This is the hall we needed to paint. You can see the yellow. The doors were all blue. not want to get too far from the equipment we used to reach the roof. My arms got scratched from leaning and pulling. on the shingles. We used shovel-like tools to literally scrape the shingles off. I spent little time doing this task, as there were others much more capable and willing. I picked the removed shingles off the ground, putting them in wheelbarrows and dumping them in the huge rented dumpster which was there. I also did a lot of landscape cleaning, pulling weeds and kudzu plants from the palm trees, etc. I also washed windows and vacuumed window sashes and sills. The leader of our team and regularly on the roof, by the way, was 73 years old!
Bootsie--I can get very bored when Marty is gone all day. She says she is working, but I don't know what she works at. She says she's working when she's on the computer, too. Anyway, there isn't much for me to do while she is gone except sleep. Of course, that means I don't want to sleep at night when that's what she wants to do! I look out the window and see another cat here and call Um-m Good
Don and Beverly enjoying strawberry treats at Parksdale in Plant City. to it. It just sits and stares at me--never says a word. I keep bugging Marty to let me out. If another cat can be out, why can't I? She finally gave in and took me for a walk. First thing we ran into that other cat. It belongs to one of the couples of the team. We did alot of growling and meowing, but didn't hiss or spit too much. I knew better than to get into a fight. Marty would have carried me right back to the RV! We touched noses a couple of times before going our separate ways. I was sure glad to get out a little bit!
On our days off team members often did separate things. One week-end some of us went to an arts and crafts fair. Some of the women discovered a great quilt shop and we visited that. I am not a quilter, but this store could almost make me want to be. I saw gorgeous material in every color imaginable and a couple of quilt patterns that were very interesting.
Another week-end we visited the historic part of Cocoa. I loved the various specialty shops, displays and murals
My Treat
Yep, I ate it all, too! on the buildings. It is a village worth visiting, very well done.
By the time the Rockledge project was complete, I was pretty tired. I did two projects back to back which means six weeks of NOMADS work. I said last year I would not do that again! I guess I'm crazy! If I do it again, somebody better commit me!! I must say, though, that the finished roof looked good and the church was very pleased. I am proud of the ones who did most that work. It was a tough project for them!
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Beverly Morgan
non-member comment
NOMADS Projects
Nice pictures and write-up of your NOMADS projects. Hope that you have gotten some rest after the second project. It is a lot to do two projects in a row. We have not done that. We DID have a great team! We have a project this Aug./Sept. in Indiana. Bev