Welcome home to Dawson, Alabama.  Yes, we have finally made our way back home.  Our wonderful trip around the northwest and central U.S. has come to an end, for now.  We arrived back home on Friday at about 8 PM.  I hope you have had as good a trip with us as we did.  We have worked, traveled, played, prayed, and sometimes even cried together.  But, it has been just great.

I need to close out the trip with a last report on our last project for this year.  As last posting reported we were at the OWL Center in Dubach, Louisiana.  I told you about the facilities and what a wonderful work they do there for the children's home, now I want to tell you, and show you what our project consisted of.

This project, unlike so many of the others, consisted of two major jobs: making salsa and jellies, and building fences.

That's right, making salsa and jellies.  The OWL Center, as one of it's money making ventures, makes the best salsa and jellies that I have gotten anywhere.  Some of the fruit jellies are made from fruit grown at the center, others are bought, or donated, from local orchards.  They also make three pepper jellies that are great with cream cheese and crackers.

We also helped to put up over 1000' of new fencing.  I have always wondered how metal fencing was installed so straight and tight, well now I know.

Let me show you what we did.

The first fencing work we did was to put in about twenty new metal t-post and then put up about 160' of fence.  These post were hand driven into the ground.  Fortunately the ground was not hard, but the driver sure got heavy in a hurry.  The driver looks like a three foot piece of steel pipe with handles attached on two sides, and one end closed up.  The driver is placed on top of the t-post, then used like a pile driver to pound the post into the ground.  The driver is heavy, and gets heavier the more you use it.

The rest of the fencing we installed was done using wooden post.  These post are four inches in diameter, and eight feet long.  We had to place them into holes that were dug at least 30" deep.  We did have an auger on the tractor that dug the holes, but we did have to do some old fashion post hole digger work too.  As we lined up the holes, some would not be exactly in line so we had to dig them a little bigger using the post hole digger.

Here we are unloading the post along the area where we were installing new fence. 

 

In this picture we are marking off eight foot increments where the post will be installed.  I am using the post hole digger to make the mark for the tractor to drill the hole.

Each post was anchored using a bag of quickcrete.  That is a pre-mixed bag of concrete and rock.  We put at least one bag per post.  At 80 pounds per bag, they got very heavy by the end of the day.

To make sure that the poles were installed in a straight line we used a string line along the top and bottom of the poles.  We would install two post around 50 to 100 feet apart as our guide, then connect the string to the top and bottoms of the post.  Worked just great.

Each post was leveled to make sure that it stood up nice a straight.  Here Lee, one of the center's employees, is helping NOMADS Marlene and Pam make sure this post is "plumb".

Making salsa and jelly was also a major under taking.  All of the ingredients for the salsa and jellies had to be prepared by hand, then put into the big cooker below to cook prior to canning.  Here Patrick, the center's marketing director is installing a pump on to the cook pot that will pump the finished product to the jars.  Patrick is certified and licensed by the state to make commercially sold canned products.  He is very particular how the equipment, food, and jars are cleaned and handled throughout the process.

Everybody is anxiously awaiting for the salsa, or jelly, to start flowing from the pump.  Lorrie, the center's kitchen manager, is holding the hose that will supply the mix to the jars.  The rest of the crew will be putting on lids, labels, and boxing the finished product.  When making jellies they will box about 10 boxes of 12 jars each.  When making salsa they would box about 35 boxes of 12 jars each.  That is a lot of jars to be filled, topped, labeled and boxed.

Here Patrick is filling one of the many jars with jelly.  The jars are all washed in a commercial dish washer to sanitize prior to using.  Everybody had to wash their hands prior to handling any of the jars, lids, or labels.  Looked like surgeons getting ready for surgery.

We did get a chance to play a little.  Carl and I spent a little time doing some fishing in the lakes on the farm.  This is a picture of a nice sized catfish we caught.  We had left a pole in the water as we went to clean some other fish we had already caught, and when came back this it what we had on the line.  I say we caught it, because it took both of us to land it.  We didn't have a net, so as Carl kept the catfish below water, that was to keep it from jumping and breaking the line, I used a 35 gallon trash can and put it in the water, then scooped it up.  35 gallons of water is heavy, but we landed it.

 

On Sunday evening Carl, and his wife June, treated us all to a fish fry.  Carl is about to cut one of the catfish fillets up into smaller pieces.  As you can see that catfish was a good catch. 

 

Carl is getting ready to bread the fish before dropping it into the fryer.

Catfish ready to eat.

The NOMADS fish fry.  Around the table from left to right:  Pam, Sharon, Carl, June, Marlene, and Pam's husband, and our team leader, Alan.  We had just finished our meal of fried catfish, baked beans, coleslaw, and now ice cream.  Can't beat a good meal like that.

We also had the opportunity to spend an evening out with the staff from the OWL Center.  It is hard to see everybody real well in this picture, but everybody was there.  Again, had another wonderful meal. 

 

 

It has been a wonderful trip with you all.  I hope that I have not bored you too much with my ramblings and many pictures.  Sharon and I had a wonderful time in our adventure.  The Lord has been very good to us in providing us with great fellowship, traveling safety, and above all a chance to work for Christian agencies.  We will be home for most of the winter before we start out again next year for another NOMADS adventure.  Until then you all take care and remember of above all things,

 

 

God Loves You

 

 

Gary

Welcome to the Louisiana United Methodist Children's Home Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center, or better known as the OWL Center.  The above plaque tells you when the property for the Center was donated, and by whom, and what others did to develop it, but let me tell you a more about the mission of the Center and those that work here.

There are three UMC Children's homes in Louisiana.  One is down close to New Orleans, one in central Louisiana, and the one here in Ruston, Louisiana where we are.  The one here in Ruston is the largest with usually around 95 to 100 young people as residence at one time.  The home has both dormitory and house living facilities.  There is also a complete school for middle through high school aged youth.  This home is not an orphanage.  It is a home for young people that come from abusive home situations, and for those that have had a run in with the law.  Sharon and I have been here at the OWL several times and have had the opportunity to tour the home each time we have been here.  It is wonderful to see that there are facilities, and people, that care enough for our troubled youth to provide the living and educational opportunities to them that are here at the home.  The young people will stay at the home until they are able to safely go back home, or until 18 when they are no longer considered a child.  The home does, however, have programs for those that want to go to college, or need help in getting started out on their own.

There are so many stories that I could tell you about the many successes, and sorrows, of the youth that live, and leave the home, but I can't.  But I will tell you a quick one.  On one trip to the home we met some young ladies that lived in a small area of the home away from the rest of those their.  These girls were considered some of the worst of the worst when they were sent to the home either by parents, or courts.  We were just supposed to be visiting the living area, but were surprised to see that some of the girls were there.  Four girls, and their counselor were sitting in a small break room, when they saw us, the counselor invited us in for a visit.  These young ladies were 16 and 17 year olds.  They had all been sent there from the court systems for violent offenses.  From their warm welcome you would not believe what they told us about their backgrounds.  They were more than willing to tell us about their life at the home.  One of the girls told us about some posters that were on the wall.  These posters actually were charts that listed the progress the girls were making changes in their lives.  The charts listed things like making beds on a daily basis, cleaning their rooms, school progress, and other daily responsibilities.  The one young lady that told us about the charts beamed when she pointed to her name at the top of the list for making the best progress for that week.  It was the first time she had achieved that status.  Another girl showed us a list of things that the girls were trying to improve upon for the week.  She pointed out that she wanted to get up each morning early enough to complete her devotion time and to make it to breakfast on time.  I didn't think much about that until I talked with one of the counselors later that day.  He told us that the girls determine these improvement areas and for her to decide to make her devotions and getting to breakfast was a big step for her in her progress.  The things we take for granted, others take as a major change in their lives. 

Now on to the OWL Center.  The OWL Center consist of about 800 acres located about 15 miles north of Ruston, Louisiana.  The property is mostly forested, with the rest pasture.  The center war originally designed to benefit the youth of the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home with therapeutic and recreational programs, but now also serves churches, schools, businesses, community groups, and families.  The facility's conference center is often the site or weddings, school functions , family reunions birthday parties, conferences, retreats, and corporate training events.  Approximately 10,000 people go through the center's gates annually, most are from the Ruston area.  The director of the center says that the center is focused on the community and getting the community involved.  The Center is open to the public for many uses. 

The Center includes a pond, equine center, maze, pavilion, bunkhouse that sleeps 40, cabins, conference center with full commercial kitchen, greenhouse, and a playing field.  OWL activities include high-and-low-ropes courses, equine assisted learning, horsemanship classes, swimming, boating fishing hiking, biking, and just sitting quietly in the serene setting.  There are also summer camps for youngsters, outdoor education programs that are correlated to local school grade-level equivalent requirements, and a horticulture program.

All programs at the OWL center are designed to encourage teamwork, family bonds, character development, education, and fun.  Staff-lead activities allow participants to think through how to successfully communicate with and work with one another to accomplish a task.


NOMADS are invited here twice a year to help with many projects.  The times that Sharon and I have been here we have worked on many different projects.  We have helped in the green house where the Center raises ferns that are sold for fund raising for the Center.  We have helped clear stumps and brush from under the zip lines on the confidence course.  We have helped replace fencing that was old, and installed new fencing around pasture land.  We have helped make salsa and jellies, another money making project for the Center.  Both the salsa and jellies are some of the best I have ever had.  We always leave here with cases of salsa.  Painting is always an ongoing need, both inside and outside.  This project period we are installing a lot of new fencing and helping the staff get ready for the dedication of a new horse arena.  The new horse arena was donated by a large corporation, one of the many benefactors to the Center.  As Betty, a "snowbird" NOMAD volunteer from Michigan, has been coming to the OWL center for several years, says about the center: "I believe in the center's mission.  You've got to set goals and move toward them together or you're not going to make it in this world.  helping people develop the skills to "make it" is the heart of the OWL adventure.

As you can tell we also love the experience here at the OWL center.  We have been here on four different projects and are signed up for another next spring. 

Let me take you on a tour of the OWL Center.

The first thing you see when you enter the Center is the green house.  This is where the staff grow ferns from small cuttings to large hanging baskets overflowing with ferns.  Other plants are also started in the green house for planting in the spring, such as tomatoes.

The next facility is the Pavilion.  The Pavilion is located next to the ball/activity field.  The Pavilion has a complete indoor kitchen, and several outdoor grills.  A great place for large group picnics, and sometimes for family reunions.

The NOMADS parking area for our RVs is just across the road from the Pavilion.

Another facility is the large conference center.  The conference center can seat up to three hundred people for a meeting, or seat 200 at tables for a luncheon.  A large commercial kitchen with walk in freezer, commercial dish washer, gas stove and oven, and all the pots and pans any good cook would want.

The view from the front porch of the conference center overlooks two very nice lakes.  Did a little fishing in these this past week.  More on the fishing later.

There are many different animals at the Center.  Sharon is showing the calf how to put out it's tongue so she can feed it some vegetable leaves. 

As I mentioned earlier, part of the confidence building is through learning how to care for horses and other animals.  There is a complete tack room and class room next to the stables.

This is a view from the back of the tack room.  These two horses are used in some of the initial contact that youth from the home will encounter.  They are old and very tame.

And they really love attention.

 

I was going to tell and show you what we have been doing for the past week and a half, but this turned out to be a rather lengthy posting.  I will wait and tell more about what we have, and are going to be doing here at the OWL Center.  I will tell you we have been working hard.

 

So until the next posting, you all take care, and remember,

 

God Does Love You, yes You.

 

Gary 

 

Our time at Camp Jo-Ota has come to a close.  We actually left the camp Thursday morning heading for Dubach, Louisiana and the Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center (OWL Center).  I will tell you more about the OWL Center in my next posting.

We had a wonderful time while at Camp Jo-Ota.  We worked hard and completed a lot of projects that the camp had for us to accomplish while there.  We did all the work that they had planned for us, plus some more.  But as the saying goes, all work and no play makes an old NOMAD tired, so we did a little playing.

The team made a trip to a community called Heartland on our first Friday off.  Heartland is a Christian rehab facility unlike any I have ever seen.  It is actually a complete little town with it's own school, church, store, restaurant, vegetable and fruit farm, and a complete dairy with cows and goats.  The dairy has over 9000 milk cows and about 2000 goats.  All produce milk that is sold to many processing facilities.  They make cheese from both the cow and goat milk, both very good.  Part of the rehab program is to train those going through the rehab program in different job fields so they can reenter society with a good skill.  Many of the people work on the farm, most learning the dairy business, from feeding the animals, cleaning the barns, to running the milking machines.

Below is a group picture of the team getting ready to start our tour of Heartland.

Here is Sharon trying decide how she can take one of the baby goats home with her.  These are only two weeks old.

Back at Camp Jo-Ota we were greeted by a wonderful sunset.  This is the view from where we had our RV's parked.

A last look at our team.  Front row from left to right is Marylin, Terry, and Sharon.  Back row from left to right is Dave, Scott, George, and me.  This picture was taken inside the Clarence United Methodist Church.

Sharon and I made a trip to Hannibal to visit the home of Mark Twain.  Hannibal was Twain's home for most of his youth.  I know all of you know the books that Twain wrote, with the most famous being The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  All of the characters in that book were fashioned after people Twain knew as a boy.  The home that he lived in is pictured below, along with the fence that he was able to get painted by his friends.

One of the rooms in Twain's childhood home.

A wonderful saying for those of us that are living our second childhood.

Sharon paid Tom Sawyer a piece of chewing gum to have the opportunity to white wash the fence.

This is Becky Thatcher's house.  Becky was Tom's girl friend.  She was based on a true friend of Twain's and really lived in this house.

We decided to try and win the Tom and Becky look alike contest.  I think we will win by a land slide.

A statue of Tom and Huck.

When we left Hannibal we headed for the town where Mark Twain was born.  Twain was born in Florida, Missouri.  We drove into Historic Downtown Florida, all two churches and a couple of other buildings.  We thought we had missed it, so we went back to where we started, drove back into Historic Downtown Florida, tried another turn, ran into a dead end street.  I guess we had seen all of Downtown Historic Florida.  There was a historical marker stating that Florida was the birth place of Samuel Clements, or Mark Twain.

We did go to the Mark Twain State Park and Historic Site where the actual house that Twain was born in has been moved to inside a museum to preserve it.  The house had been moved from Historic Downtown Florida.

We had a great time at Camp Jo-Ota.  As I said earlier, we are now at our next, and last project of this year.  We have been to the OWL Center several times before.  The Center is part of the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home.  I will tell you more about both in my next posting.

Thanks for staying around for the trip, just three weeks more and we will be home.  Take care and remember

God Loves You

Gary

Welcome back to Camp Jo-Ota.  We finished our second week here at Camp Jo-Ota with the 60th anniversary of the camp.  We worked hard all week preparing the camp for the many visitors that were expected for the celebration on Saturday. 

The celebration began on Saturday with a bar-b-que lunch, then speeches by many of those that had attended the camp and some that had worked/lived here over those 60 years.  The highlight of the day was supposed to be tours of the camp to show people the many improvements that had been made over the past years.  But, it rained.  It rained.  And, it rained.  It started raining as soon as the first guest arrived, until the last one left.  The rain did not stop the indoor activities though.  A good time was had by all as the shared past experiences and a good lunch.

As I said before, we spent a lot of time getting the camp ready for the anniversary, let me show you some of what we did.

George and Scott removed and rebuilt the main gate to the pool.  They worked hard to make sure the gate was hung to withstand the continuous opening and closing that the gate will get.

Sharon and Marilyn spent two days painting the fence around the pool.

Dave and I even washed some windows.  Yes, I said we washed some windows.  I washed, Dave rinsed, even getting water on the windows sometimes, and not always on me.

Scott built a box to put a large trash can in.  The box will cover the trash can and will have a door on the back to allow the can to be removed to empty.

Terry is putting on a finish coat of seaming compound on a door frame that we installed where we removed a double door.

Marilyn and Sharon spreading mulch at the Living Cross devotions area, and Scott bringing another load of mulch.

George and me repairing a foot bridge across part of the lake.  We installed some supports to the rails to strengthen them from moving as you cross the bridge.

George and Scott installing a wall between the showers and dressing area in the pool bath house.

Marilyn and Sharon are painting trim in one of the cabins.  Marilyn is painting new trim around the lights that George and Scott put up last week.

Dave and I are building a new door to go on the entrance to an old cabin that is being used to store building materials in.

As you can see we stayed pretty busy this last week, and there was even more done than these pictures show. 

We start our last week here tomorrow with lots of work to finish, so come back next week for another week what we have done here at Camp Jo-Ota, and remember

God Loves You

Gary