The team finally had a chance to have a group picture taken this past week.  We are standing in the sanctuary of Faith United Methodist Church where we have all been worshiping on Sunday mornings.  From left to right are me and Sharon, Gary and Avis, Mellisa, and Gary and Pat.  Yeah, it has been fun with the three Gary's.

After church last Sunday Sharon and I decided to take a trip up into Canada and see the International Peace Garden.  I had read about the garden on line, and had heard many good reports on the beauty of the gardens.  Apparently when I read the information about how to get to the gardens, I didn't pay much attention to where it was at.  Everybody told me it was on the border just north of Minot.  Well, I took off on US Hwy 83 that goes due north into Canada from Minot.  When we arrived at the border it was very obvious that we weren't at the right border crossing.  The first thing that gave it away was that it was very small, with only one border patrol officer.  Also, there was construction going on building a new facility for the border patrol officers.  The road was torn up with only dirt on the road.  The border officer came out to the car to ask us the normal questions about where we are from, where we were going, are you bringing any thing into the country, etc.  Well when I told him we were going to the Inter National Peace Gardens he told me we were a long way from there.  Like, about 100 miles west.  He then proceeded to tell us how to get there.  We had a choice of either turning around and going back through North Dakota to the correct border crossing point, or drive through Canada to get there.  The drive through Canada was a little further, but we decided to take that route.  The border officer was very polite as he continued with his questions and then just talked with us awhile.  I believe that he was a little bored.  We talked for about ten minutes and did not see another vehicle come or go during that time.  He then went into his station and brought back a map that he had marked the route on for us to take.  We asked him if there were any places along the route to eat and he named off several.  So, off we went on our first excursion into Manitoba Canada.

After about thirty minutes we came to the little town of Melita.  Melita is known as the "Grasslands Bird Capital of Manitoba."  Melita is also the home of Sunny the Banana and Breezy the Blue Jay.  Sunny and Breezy welcome you to Melita, the "Banana Belt."  We never found out why they call it the Banana Belt, but I am sure they have a good reason for it.  Pictured below are Sunny and Breezy.

Sunny stands 33 feet tall and weighs 6500 pounds.  I guess part of that weight includes Breezy.  It is hard to see the printing on Breezy's t-shirt, but it says IBA, standing for Important Bird Area.  Melita celebrates Banana Days annually.

While in Melita we found a nice little restaurant for lunch.  The "Chicken Chef" was the only place we found open except for a Subway.  We elected to eat at the Chicken Chef to try the local flare.  The food was very good, and the restaurant thought so too.  When traveling in the outbacks of Canada be prepared to pay premium prices for just about everything.  After lunch we continued on to the Peace Gardens.

We were still about an hour from out destination as we headed east.  There were several small towns along the way, and we drove through each one of them.  They were all nice little country towns, having stores, gas stations, places to eat, schools, and churches.

We finally got to the Peace Gardens I was surprised at the small number of people that were there.  We did not have to wait in a line to enter.  We found out after we started walking the gardens why there weren't more people there, not many flowers in bloom yet.  With all of the rain and cool weather, the flowers and plants had not really started to bloom or turn green yet.  There were a few things in bloom as you can see in the following pictures.  Let me now show you the International Peace Garden in pictures.  I almost forgot to tell you that the Peace Garden is located on the Canadian and U.S. border with half in Canada and half in the U.S.

Sharon is standing in the Canadian side of the park.  The pond and fountain in the background looked as if the park was getting it ready for the summer.

Some of the many daffodils that were in bloom.

Some more early blooming flowers.  This area, like many others, will be very pretty later when the roses, and many other plants are in bloom,

The building in the background is the Interpretive Center and Conservatory.  It is located on the U.S. side of the park.  I took this picture from the Canadian side.

This bench is located just outside of a pavilion on the U.S. side of the park.

This view of a pavilion is in Canada taken from the U.S. side of the park.

This bench is located in the pavilion pictured above.

This is a picture of a photograph of the 14 foot floral clock.  The real clock did not have flowers planted in it yer.  When flowers are planted it takes over 4000 plants to fill it.  The clock does keep time.

This marker is the marks the boundary between Canada on the right, and the U.S. on the left.  You can see the cut between the trees in the background that separates the two countries.

This is the 120 foot concrete Peace Tower, half in Canada, half in the U.S.

This is the bell tower, located on the Canadian side of the park.  It's 14 bell chime echoes faintly as you walk through the gardens.

This plaque is placed at the entrance to the 9/11 Memorial.  Note the date is one year after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.

This is the 9/11 Memorial.  The steel beams are from the destroyed Twin Towers.  It is a very moving experience.

This is the view as we left the Gardens.  The stone pillar in the middle is built on the border.  It was constructed by a father and son team from Rugby, ND.

The rest of the week the team worked on the same house that we started on last week.  It takes a long time to put on the joint compound onto the sheet rock.  Several coats have to be put on to make sure that it is smooth and fills all of the joints sufficiently.  Some of the team worked on making sure that the plywood sub-floor war screwed down tight.  It needs to be fastened good prior to putting down the final floor covering.  We also removed the house wrap that had been put up by prior workers.  It had been torn by the wind, and had gotten loose from the wall.  It is hard to tell from the pictures, but we did put in a lot of work this week.

Accidents do happen, but not on the job.  We think that Pat sprained her ankle so she could get out of work for a few days.  Actually, she slipped going down the steps in the church while doing her laundry.  Just a minor sprain, she was back to work on Wednesday.

Here I am taking a break.  I am not the only one on break, we all break together around 10 am and 2 pm.

Gary is doing some finish work on the stair well going down to the basement.  There had been a scaffolding on the steps that allowed us to get to the ceiling and walls. 

Some of our supplies.  The buckets contained the joint compound.  It is very thick and required thinning by adding a little water and by using the drill with a large mixing attachment, made the mud easier to work with.  The tape on the floor would be applied to all of the joints in the sheet rock.  Mud is applied to the joints, then the tape is applied over the joint.  Once it dries, a top coat is applied to the tape.  This is done until a smooth finish is accomplished.  Next time you look at your painted walls, just think about how it was made smooth prior to the paint.

Our light fixture.  It is hanging from the ceiling in the living room.  Fortunately we never had to light it.

On Wednesday we were joined by our new team leaders.  Avis, on the left, and Gary on the right, have been here for four weeks, and left today headed for Minnesota where they will work on a Habitat for Humanity project.  Liz and Jim will be here for four weeks as the next team leaders.  We will get to work with them for the next week before we leave.

This is the outside of the house as we left it this week.  We will finish putting up the house wrap and hopefully have the windows to install and siding next week.

Not much more for now, so you all have a great weekend.  I will get back to you with another update later, while you wait, remember

God Loves You

Gary