Village improvements May 12 & 13

I had wanted Bob or Jim to write this Thur but it didnt' get done so I will. Their comment was "We wired today". Since Jim is an electrician, he rewired part of the village so we don't keep popping circuit breakers. The 4 men stayed here and did the work with Jim's guidance. They added another panel box for the area where a kitchen will be built. The new stove can't stay in the big white tent and has to be moved. We selected a spot at the end of the pantry to house the stove, refrigerator, some cupboards with counter top space, small window air conditioner, etc. They put another conduit line on the fence with wiring for the dining area.



These pictures show Bob pulling the wire thru the conduit at the new end while Jim was pushing it at the other end. Then Jim combines the 3 colored wires using the non-union spool holders. What a team they were!!!



They ran a line into the dining area and pounded posts (by J R) into the ground to hold the outlets. Here Bob is sitting down on the job as he attached the outlets to the post. Now all the coffee pots can be in one outlet, the freezers have their own outlet, the toaster has an outlet, refrigerator has an outlet. Can you believe there are no extension cords in the dining area!! A miracle!! All you people who have been here in the village know what an improvement that will be as they often popped the breakers and someone would have to trace down the culprit. I was tired of asking people (with some electrical background)to help reset the circuit breakers and the GFI's. We even got rid of some cords by the office and tool tent but my air conditioner in the office is still a problem.

The ladies had gone to a painting job on Thur which they completed. Then on Fri everyone (7) was in the village for clean up. They mowed the tall, tall grass with a new weed/trimmer/mower someone gave me money to buy. Someone used the weed wacker all along the fence, between huts, under the trailers, etc. They moved and reorganized everything along the fence (wonder how long that will stay). Someone went thru all the huts to clean them, replace a couple broken cots, straightened up the tool tents. It all looks so wonderful and many thanks to them for all their hard work. I enjoyed having them here. Bob even got to be the "boss" on Fri as I took Jim to a couple ladies' homes to check an electrical problem.




Their treat Friday evening was a seafood dinner prepared by a lady who has received much assistance from PDA. She was a delight to have with us. The last night in the village is a special time with sharing by everyone, taking pictures as they are realizing they are going home the next day. This was their home for a week so I try to make it a pleasant experience. We ended up with another guest who is a Lutheran pastor from Iowa down here for 2 weeks doing visitation, spiritual counseling. He is staying at Christus Victor Lutheran but sure enjoyed our dinner with us and will be back before he goes home. He even wants a PDA shirt. They have pastors who rotate every 2 weeks for this work.

We had another big thunderstorm Wed night with some close lightning strikes. A couple people considered going to their cars. We only got about 1/2 inch during the night. Thur was really cool and not humid, a great day for working outside. Thur night was right chilly, people were scrambling for extra blankets or covers. High on Thur was 75 but 55 that night. Sure was different from our 83 degree days and 70 at night.

Everyone left this morning so I am alone until Sun afternoon when my next group arrives. It gets a bit lonely after having so many people around all the time.

Blessings to everyone and Happy Mother's Day. I thought my daughter would be here for the weekend but she has an eye infection which is painful and can't wear her contacts, no driving per doctor's orders. So hopefully it will all be well next week.

Phyllis