Hello everybody.  I know that it has been a few days since I posted last, but not a lot going on to tell you about. 

Our team enlarged to seven this week with the arrival of another Gary and his wife Pat, and Mellisa.  That make a good number of workers that helps make the work go a little faster.

We changed gears this week as we were assigned another house by the local controlling agency for the flood recovery, Hope Village.  The picture above is the house that we are now working in.  This house was completely gutted and some repairs started prior to our starting work on it.  As you can see only some house wrap as been added to the outside.  This house will be brought to completion by NOMADS.  There is a lot of work to do, but the NOMADS will be here until the end of August.

The inside of the house looked like this before we started.  The studs apparently were salvageable from the flooding.  All of the electrical and plumbing had been completed, except for the installation of sinks and commode.

Gary and Avis are measuring this wall for a piece of sheet rock.  We are using 12" pieces in this house.  Makes for quick installation, but the sheets are heavy.  You can see we have hung a lot so far.

Here are Avis, Pat, Gary, and Sharon.  Gary is trying to explain the use of a small router that he uses to cut holes in the sheet rock for the electrical plug and switch boxes.

Sharon is repairing a hole in the ceiling.  We are not replacing the ceiling in this house.  The water did not get that high. 

Mellisa and Avis have finished hanging the sheet rock on the wall that Gary and Avis measured for earlier.  Mellisa is remounting the thermostat for the furnace on the wall.

The bathroom uses two different types of sheet rock.  The green board is used around areas that may get more moisture, like around the tub and sink.  The windows are all boarded up since we do not have the windows to install yet.  Hope they come in soon.

Some more work that was done included installation of new stairs treads on the steps down to the basement, enlarging all of the doors into the bedrooms and the bathroom from 32" doors to 36" doors, making one bedroom closet into two, turning an old furnace closet into a storage closet, and patching many holes in the old ceiling.

As I said before, not much going on this week, even though we did a lot of work on our new house.  At the end of each day we all just went back to our RVs and crashed.  It is nice to be tired from working and not just sitting around.

Not much more for now.  I will get back with you all as soon as I can.

Have a great weekend, and remember,

God Loves You

Gary

Our first week and full weekend here in Minot, North Dakota has come to an end.  Our work on our first house is going good.  We have almost completed the sheet rock work.  We still have some finish work to do on the mudding (that's putting the seaming tape and compound on the walls) before that work will be completed.  Sharon and I are learning how to do this.  I didn't realize that to do a good job that you can only do parts at a time.  When putting the compound on the tape you can't do it all at one time.  You do part, then let that dry before putting on any that will overlap what you just did.  That keeps from smearing what you just did.  We finished up what we could at the house we started, then went to another home to help get it to a point where the home owner could get the electrical work done do she could move in.  All that was required there was to finish staining the kitchen cabinets prior to the electrician arriving on Saturday.  The electrician would be wiring in the smoke/carbon dioxide alarms.  Apparently the stain would set off the alarms, so they had to be stained first.  That only took a few hours.  That finished our work week.

Friday morning started out by doing our laundry.  The Lutheran church that we are parking at has a laundry room that they are allowing us to use.  It is equipped with three new washers and dryers.  It was nice to be able to do all of the laundry in just a couple of hours and not have to drive to a commercial laundry mat.

By the time we finished the laundry the sky had started to turn grey again.  We had a beautiful sunny day on Thursday, and Friday started out the same.  But by about 1000 hours, the weather had changed.  We still decided to make a trip downtown to visit the Scandinavian Heritage Center.  The rain held off, but the wind picked up making it very cool outside.  We did get to walk around the outdoor displays, which were very educational.  Sharon even made a couple of new friends.  One of which, I think, tried to make a move on her.

This sign is at the entrance to the Heritage Center.

Sharon made friends with this guy in the information building.  She had a hard time understanding him due to his very nasal accent.  I liked his beard.  Same color as mine.

The above house was built in Scandinavia in 1810.  A few years ago the Heritage Association was able to buy it and have it moved to Minot.  It was taken apart piece by piece, each piece numbered, then shipped to Minot.  It was re-assembled on it's current site.  The painting is on the back of one of the doors.  It basically tells who built the house, where, and the builders name.

This guy was sitting at the table in the house.  When Sharon sat down to talk to the troll, he tried to make a move on her.  She was quite surprised.  The troll didn't seem upset about it, he just sat there and winked.

The picture above is a replica of a Scandinavian church.  The church was built using original plans and building techniques.  There are no nails, screws, or bolts in the construction.  All of the boards, and post, are held together with tongue and groove boards and wooden pegs.  All of the carvings are done by hand.

The pulpit area of the church is all hand built.  The whole building is made from Northern pine.

The large horse in this picture is about thirty feet tall.  Note the picnic table to the left to compare the size.  The horse is a national symbol used in Scandinavian countries.  Apparently they are painted many different colors and decorations.

This is a statue of Leif Erickson.  It is believed that he discovered the Americas before Columbus.

This is Hans Christian Andersen.  Hans wrote over 200 children's stories including the Ugly Duckling and the Littlest Mermaid.

A Scandinavian windmill with all of the Scandinavian countries flags on display.  The building in the background is the welcome center for the Heritage Center.

Our team has been enlarged by three more members since yesterday.  There are now seven of us, that allows us to do more than one home during the week.  The work that is being done by all of the volunteer organizations here is much needed.  Not only in helping to repair damaged houses, but to help families get back to a normal life.  Many of the displaced families are living in small FEMA supplied trailers, or with other family members.  We met a lady at the Scandinavian Heritage Center that really wanted to talk to us.  Once she found out that we were volunteers here to help rebuild houses, she really wanted to talk.  She was very glad to meet us and to tell us her story.  She was not flooded out like so many others, but she had helped others after the flood.  She said that at one point she had as many as eight people living in her home.  She was concerned that she had lost some of the compassion she had had for those that were victims of the flood.  She was not sure if she could do anymore.  After talking with her for about an hour, Sharon and I were able to get her to understand that sometimes all people need is someone to listen.  I think that our listening to her is what she needed.  I wonder how many others here feel the same way.

This morning we all went to church at Faith United Methodist Church together.  Another fine sermon, and a memorial service dedicated to service members, and church members that have died during the past year.

Tonight the team will meet and the leaders will go over what we will probably be doing this next week.  Bet it will be a lot of sheet rock work.

You all have a great week, I'll get back to you with more later in the week.

Remember,

God Loves You.

Gary

We have been on the job here in Minot now for three days.  We have been working in the home of a family that was flooded out by the Souris River two years ago.  There are still a lot of homes that were flooded in need of repair.  Most homeowners along the Souris River did not have flood insurance.  Apparently the river had never been a threat to flood until two years ago.  The rains were very heavy and lasted for a long time.  What I have been told is that a dam in Canada was about to break due to the rains.  Canadian officials notified the United Stated that they were going to have to release water to take the pressure off of the dam, thus causing the Souris River to rise rapidly.  The people in Minot were given about a six hour notice to evacuate.  That was enough time to allow those along the river to evacuate and prevented any loss of life.

Jeff, and his family, have been working to repair their home since 6 weeks after the flood.  Due to some financial set backs, they had to delay a lot of the work.  FEMA provided them with a small mobile home to live in until their home was ready to move back into.  Jeff had been able to buy the building materials, but lacked the ability to hire a contractor to do the work.  Four different church denominations, the Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist, joined together to offer some financial assistance and labor.  The labor is provided by volunteers, like the organization that we belong to, the NOMADS, a mission of the United Methodist Church.  That is why we are here.  To help families like Jeff's.

Sharon and I have been doing something we have never done before, we are putting up sheet rock, or as some people call it, dry wall.  It requires that the wall board be put up, then taped and the seams and screw heads plastered over.  The plaster is referred to as mud, so we are mudding the wall.  It's fun learning a new skill, and I am so proud of my bride for how hard she has been working and learning the sheet rock skills.

The framing had been completed and the wiring run prior to our arriving to do our work.  Jeff had been working by portable lights, but while we were putting up the sheet rock he installed some temporary overhead lights.  That provided a much better working light for us.

Let me show you what we have done so far.

Sharon, on the left, is putting screws into sheet rock that has been put in place on the ceiling.  The red contraption next to her is a lift to lift the sheet rock into place.  We would have to place a sheet on the upper cross bars, then crank it up to the ceiling.  Once the sheet rock is lifted into place, the lift system is locked into position, therefore holding it in place while the screws are installed.  The ceilings are only 7 feet high, so Sharon is able to stand on a stool to reach the ceiling.  Jeff, on the right, is connecting the temporary ceiling lights.  He had worked for and electrical contractor several years ago, so he knows what he is doing.

This is Gary, no not me, he is our team leader.  Gary, and his wife Avis, are from South Dakota, and have lived in Minnesota.  They are our interpreters while we are here.  The people here talk a little different that we do.  Gary is double checking the screws to make sure that they are put in deep enough to allow the mud to cover them.

Gary and Avis have done a lot of sheet rock work, so they have accumulated and good collection of tools for the job.  One of them is the one Sharon is using in this picture.  Prior to screwing the sheet rock up all the way we needed to mark where electrical plugs and switches would go.  The yellow item in Sharon's hand is half of a magnet that will locate the electrical boxes behind the wall.  The other half is placed in the box, the sheet rock is then put up, then the part that Sharon has is run along the wall until the magnets connect.  Then all you have to do is draw around the magnet, then cut along the lines.  It works great.  Keeps from having to make measurements, and hope that they are right.

Here Sharon is installing some screws in the wall.  A screw is put about every eight to twelve inches, depending where the sheet rock is being installed.

This is what one of the rooms looks like after three days of work.  Seams have been taped and mudded, and screw heads have been mudded over.  We will finish this up tomorrow by putting more mud along the tape to smooth out the edges.  It will then be ready for painting.

Again, Sharon and I have never done this type of work before, but with the great instructions from Gary and Avis, we are learning.   That is another thing we like about the NOMADS,  there are many different opportunities to learn new skills.

We are looking forward to our first weekend here in Minot.  We have never been in this part of the country before.  Hope to do some sight-seeing and check out the area.

I'll be back with you all later.  Have a great weekend and take the time to remember our fallen military on Monday, Memorial Day.

Above all remember that,

God Loves You

Gary

Good morning from Minot, North Dakota.  Yes, we did make it.  Our trip to Minot was very relaxing and educational.  The driving of about 1100 miles from Eva, TN, was easier than I expected.  Except for the traffic driving through Duluth, Minnesota, there seemed to be very little traffic at all.  I would go for miles without seeing other vehicles.  We learned a lot about the states we drove through.  Wisconsin, as all know, is famous for it's dairy industry.  We saw dairy farms every where we went.  I believe that I saw a billboard that said that 90% of the farms in Wisconsin are family owned.  Did get some good cheese at a creamery where they make their own cheese.  Very good.  Minnesota is all water.  You did not drive many miles, without seeing water.  Land of 10,000 lakes sounds crazy, but I think they under estimated the number.  Now in North Dakota.  I will tell you more about North Dakota as we learn and see more here.

We crossed over the bridge over the Red River of the North into North Dakota about 1400 hours on Thursday afternoon.

We decided that we would try to stay at the FamCamp on the base at Grand Forks Air Force Base.  We had called ahead to see if there were any sites available and were assured that there were plenty of sites.  You cannot make reservations at most military camping facilities, so we just took the chance that a site would be available when we got there.  There were plenty available, as we were told.  The FamCamp has bout 20 sites with full hook-ups.  There were only three other RVs there when we arrived, only three there when we left.  The facilities were very nice.  The bath house even had a laundry room.  We were able to do our laundry without going into town to find a laundry mat.

Grand Forks AFB has changed it's mission over the last several years.  The following are pictures are of two of the reasons we won the cold war.  The mighty B-52 bomber, and the Minute Man missile. 

We did do some sightseeing in Grand Forks, what little there was to see.  We drove around the city just enjoying the different types of architecture that is the norm to this part of the country.  I noticed that most of the homes have very steep roofs.  Guess that is to allow the snow to run off easier.

We did visit a Japanese Garden in town.  The garden was donated to Grand Forks from their sister city Awano Town in Japan.  Here are a few pictures of the garden.

Sharon is standing next to one of the traditional Japanese stone lanterns.  There is another one standing on an island in the middle of a small pond.  Couldn't get a good picture of it.

You can't see it too well in the following picture, but the field is full of prairie dogs.  The small brown spots are prairie dog hills.  We enjoyed watching the dogs play as they chased each other around the field.  I think people thought we were crazy for standing a watching them. 

We left Grand Forks AFB Saturday morning headed for Minot.  It is a good thing that North Dakota puts a curve in their highways, one about every five miles it seems, so you have something to look for while driving.  I really think that I could have set the cruise control and go for miles before I had to move the steering wheel.  There are no Tennessee highway engineers in North Dakota. 

We did make a stop in Rugby, ND, to visit the Pioneer Museum and Village.  Rugby is also the geographical center of North America.  We have been to the center of the Heart of Dixie, and the center of the United States, now the center of North America.

We were pleasantly surprised at the museum.  It was much larger than we expected, and had some of the best displays of historical items I have ever seen.  The village is made up of 30 different buildings that were moved there from different parts of the state.  All of them have been restored to an original like condition.  I took over 90 pictures of the village and displays, but I won't bore you with all of them.  Here are a few.

Sharon is standing inside the railway station.  The station contains the waiting room, dispatchers office, freight office, and loading area.

This old caboose is parked just outside the entrance to the station.

Sharon can always find a place to take a nap.  This spot is inside the caboose.

There are two homes and the village church in this picture.  The house on the left probably belonged to farmer or small business man.  The house in the middle is much bigger.  It belonged to the first owner of an automobile dealership in Rugby.  The owner became very prominent in the area.

The church is very beautiful.  The congregation was Lutheran, and made up primarily of immigrants from the Scandinavian area of Europe.

Inside of the church.  The curator of the museum told us that the church has not been used for several years.  Sharon thought that it would make a beautiful place for a wedding.

This is inside the blacksmith shop.  Hey Mel, what do you think of this storage wall for tools.  They are all different types of wrenches.

Sharon couldn't help herself.  Yes it is a real old fashion out house.  Looks pretty good compared to ones that I remember.

As all small villages, this one contained the local establishment for those that could not maintain themselves with in the law.

The sheriff thought that I looked like someone on one of his wanted posters.  Sharon thought that I should stay, glad she changed her mind and the sheriff realized that the wanted poster was over 100 years old.

An early TV.  The screen is only about 10 inches and no remote control.  Remember when you had to get off of the couch and walk across the room to change channels and adjust the volume.  Most of the time you also had to adjust the antenna as you changed stations.

Sharon was trying to call John Boy.  Okay, so you don't remember John Boy from the Waltons.  At least you didn't have to worry about, "can you hear me now".  You either had phone lines to where you wanted to call, or not.

Early MP3 players.

I liked the painless dentist sign, until

I saw the inside of the dentist office.  I can actually remember going to the dentist when this was a modern office.

This is the bath house inside the local barbershop.  Two type of tubs are shown, and and old in door commode.

Liked this sign on the wall prior to entering the bath house in the barber shop.

We finally got to Minot about 1600 hours on Saturday afternoon.  We got the RV set up for the long stay and met the rest of the team.  We are parked in the parking lot of one of the local Lutheran churches.  Hook ups for RVs were installed just for relief workers.  The NOMADS were the first to start organizing to do work here in Minot, so got the first choice of places to stay.  Good choice. 

We arrived in time to also attend a cook out and praise service at the Faith United Methodist Church that is the host for the NOMADS.  Had some good cheddar brats and hamburgers.  After dinner we participated in a praise singing service.  After a scripture reading by the pastor on Pentecost, which is today, a praise band led us in songs.  It was very uplifting and fun.  The church does this every third Saturday night of the month.

Now it is about time to go to Sunday morning services.  We are going back to Faith UMC this morning. 

I'll be back later to let you know about what we will be doing here.  I do know we will be working in people's homes.

Remember, above all things,

God Loves You.

Gary

On Wednesday, our day outing started with a visit to the birthplace of Judy Garland.  Judy Garland, for those of you that don't remember, was the star of many musical movies starting at the age of 13.  Of course, the one that most of us remember most is the Wizard of Oz.  The house that she was born in is located next to a museum dedicated to her life and career.  The house had been moved from it's original site some years ago due to the area going commercial.  As we walked through the museum we were serenaded to the beautiful sounds of Judy Garland singing.  Her voice was so great that it gave goose bumps just listening to her.  We really enjoyed the couple of hours that we spent visiting with Judy Garland and walking through her birth home.

Did you know that the Mississippi River actually starts in Minnesota?  Well, it does.  I didn't know that it started in Minnesota, just that it started up north somewhere.  We decided to go see the headwaters of the Mississippi River on Lake Itasca.  On our drive to Lake Itasca State Park we drove by a lot of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota.  I believe that there is more area covered by water than land around Grand Rapids.  If you remember from the weather news a couple of weeks ago there was a late snow fall here.  The area received up to 16 inches of snow and stayed very cold.  The host at the campground even mentioned that the normal fishing season start was delayed due to the snow and ice still on the lakes.  I imagined the ice being only a few inches think, but no, it was thick enough to drive an ATV on.  As we drove by one of these many lakes we actually saw some ice remaining along the shore line.  It was not just a thin layer, but large hunks of thick ice.  The temperature was about 80 degrees.  That ice had to be thick and cold.

After about an hour of driving we came upon the little town of Walker, MN.  Walker is located on Leech Lake, apparently one of the best fishing lakes in the area.  The downtown shops, bars, and restaurants were all open.  We decided to stop and take a break and walk the main street.  We really enjoyed our stop at an ice cream shop.  Had some very good hand dipped ice cream.  Most of the shops were dedicated to clothing and furniture.  The clothing shops cater primarily to the outdoorsman, hunters, hikers, fisherman, and campers.  The furniture shops mostly had furniture that would look great in a log cabin, which there are plenty of located along the lake shores.

I did not know how far we had traveled until I realized that my little car needed to be refueled.  I was really shocked that it cost me $40.00 to fill up with 10 gallons of gas.  $3.89 a gallon.  I did feel lucky for only paying $3.99 when we got back to Grand Rapids it was selling for $4.19 a gallon.

The Lake Itasca State Park was worth the drive time to get there.  The area around Lake Itasca was one of the earliest settled parts of Minnesota.  Along with the lake to see, there is an old log store and home that belonged to one of the earliest settlers.  We saw Indian mounds that date back as long as 3000 years, and of course the headwaters of the Might Mississippi River. 

Enough of my rambling, let me show you some pictures of the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  Don't pay attention to the date stamp on the pictures, I forgot to reset after putting in new batteries.

There was, and apparently still, a lot of different opinions as to where the real start of the Mississippi River begins.  The headwaters come off of the end of Lake Itasca, which is fed by many small rivers that some believe are the true beginning of the Mississippi. 

Starts at an elevation of only 1475 feet above sea level and winds for 2552 miles.  That is not much of a drop for that long of a distance.

These kids are walking on rocks that are at the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Sharon is standing on the shore next to the headwaters.  That is Lake Itasca in the background.  By the way Itasca is a word combined from the Greek language for "truth" and "head".

  
This is a view of the Mississippi River just a couple of hundred feet from the headwaters.

This sculpture is of the Headwaters Caretaker Woman.  She appears to be watching over a lot of turtles.

It is hard to see in this picture, but the small mounds are a few of the many Indian burial mounds located in this part of the park.

As we left the park we saw this sign indicating the Mississippi River.  Looks like a small creek to me.

We had a great day trip around the area.  We headed back to Grand Rapids for an evening of rest and preparing the RV for travel.

We were on the road by 0900 on Thursday morning.  I'll tell you about our next destination in the next posting.

You all have a great day, and remember

God Loves You,

Gary