UMCOR Sager Brown

May 17-22, we (Bob and Rosie) went to UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) in Baldwin, LA, on a mission trip with friends from Mountainside Methodist in HSV. Here's most of our group at Monday's breakfast. The food far exceeded our expectations - it was very tasty (Southern style cooking) and there was way too much. We had dessert at lunch and dinner (or dinner and supper, if you want to go Southern)!

The various mission teams had "kitchen ministry" which included clean-up after meals. Here's Ted in his clean-up gear.

We had a group picture taken on the bridge behind the kitchen. UMCOR is on the intercostal waterway that connects to the Gulf.

One of the highlights during our week was loading a container truck that would carry health kits to Armenia; actually, 31,000 health kits. Here's the truck and the 47 pallets that we would load into the container truck.

Rosie's team is unloading pallets to make a row in the truck. Two pallets make one row.
Bob's team unloading pallets near the end of the truck. We had 4 teams and each took a turn unloading 2 pallets. Three teams rested while one unloaded. We were so glad there were enough folks for 4 teams. Luckily it wasn't an extremely hot day in southern LA.
After the truck was loaded, the entire team joined hands for the "blessing of the container" and prayed for the materials and those that would receive it. It was a great opportunity to have a part in God's global ministry.

Our Mountainside team (Dennis, Ted, Leila, Barbara, Bob and Rosie) was all smiles after the truck was totally loaded.

Folks on the team had multiple opportunities to work during the week. Leila spent a good portion of her time making school bags. Rosie also helped in the sewing room.
Bob - being a totally unskilled laborer - spent most of his time making health kits. It's simply putting the items listed together into a plastic bag. On Thursday, Bob and Ted worked as part of a 4 man team to build a ramp for a home in the Baldwin community. Here's the frame of the ramp at about noon. We finished the ramp before quitting time!FLOOD BUCKETS. UMCOR also sends flood buckets to areas across the US and the world that need them. They contain supplies for cleaning the floor of a house that has been devastated by a flood. It doesn't do the entire job, but it's a great start. Flood buckets are kept in multiple warehouses across the US ready to be shipped when needed. Here's part of the supply in Baldwin, LA.
Side Trip - Tabasco Sauce. We travelled a short distance from Baldwin to Avery Island, LA, where the global supply of Tabasco Sauce it made. We had a fun tour and got free samples - YUM! We also got to sample jalapeno and sweet & spicy ice cream. Fun to taste, but I wouldn't buy to take home.

THE TREE. There's an interesting tree in Baldwin within walking distance of UMCOR - actually everything in Baldwin is just about within walking distance of UMCOR. It looks like the tree fell over and a limb that touched the ground established another tree trunk. However it happened, it's a neat looking tree.

Before we left, we got a picture of the team beside the UMCOR sign at the entrance. If you can't see the sign it says, "When the earth rocks, UMCOR rolls". A great slogan for an organization dedicated to helping others anywhere in the globe.

Strawberry Picking - Yummy!

On Friday, Karen, Logan, Kayleigh, Rosie and Bob went strawberry picking. This was a great field to pick in. The strawberries were beautiful, easy to pick and very tasty. Logan and Rosie are deciding which berries to pick. The red ones taste a whole lot better!

Logan has the opportunity to try an "on the spot" taste test. He approves and decides that putting strawberries in the bucket is a waste of time. Going directly from plant to mouth cuts out the middleman and is great fun. He did pick off the green leaves which were carefully added to the bucket before eating the berry.

"I can eat this whole row of strawberries? Wow - that's great!"


Here's Rosie showing off the results of our labor. We picked these two buckets full in about 15 minutes. Not bad for amateurs. (She was actually showing off the strawberry "fingerprints" on her jeans.)

We took our strawberries home and washed them. Some were used to make strawberry bread (great stuff!) and a frozen strawberry dessert (yummy!). Some were left out to eat, but most were frozen to be used another day.

Kayleigh Shayne Flachman

On April 14, 2009, Kayleigh Shayne Flachman was born in Dickinson, TX, to Shane and Karen Flachman and big brother, Logan. On 02-May, Rosie flew down to Dickinson to help out while Karen continued to recover from deliver (C-section) and Kayleigh adjusted to being born. Rosie had a great time helping with Kayleigh and playing with Logan. They got to do a lot while she was there (she left on 17-MAY); material for several future blogs. Here are some Kayleigh shots for all her "fans" out there.

Kayleigh has lots of curly hair. Bob only wishes he had some of her hair. Kayleigh's hair is beginning to turn lighter. If you look closely, the roots are getting lighter. Time for a dye job.

Here she is all dressed up and ready for church. Yes, nukies work wonders!

We have a few more posts coming with the adventures of big brother, Logan, and other happenings in and around Dickinson.

Spring time in HSV

It's Spring time in Hot Springs Village and with all the rain we've received, everything is green - even some things that aren't supposed to be green! In the backyard we have a Kousa Dogwood tree. The regular dogwoods have already bloomed, but the Kousa blooms later. It's interesting that the small blossoms come on green at first, then turn white. This is the first year our dogwood has bloomed; of course we've only had it for 2 years.Rosie also had a good time planting flowers in pots to place in the backyard. We can see the beautiful colors out the back windows while we're eating. Since Rosie's not here - she's playing Gram in Dickinson, TX - the plants will go nameless.
We also have some pansies in the back of the house that have gone crazy. It seems like the more Rosie picks them, the more they grow. We even had armadillos (we think) dig up some of the plants, and we still have a bunch. The colors are really neat.We planted some "double knock-out" roses in the front. They have really done well this Spring in spite of being "trimmed" by the local deer population. Maybe those deer know what they're doing.
Here are a couple of shots of the front from a distance.
We've also planted a small garden in the backyard. You can tell by the size of the tomato cages that we have high expectations for our plants. Rosie also planted two hills of squash. They are out of the ground and beginning to grow. I hope the local deer don't like squash. Finally, here's a picture of helper dog, Sam. He's had his "Summer cut" for a couple of weeks now. He really likes having less hair as the weather gets warmer. We had 3-4" of rain over the weekend and it's raining now. It's supposed to rain basically all week. At least it's great for the local plant life!

Checking the Bluebird Boxes in HSV

To encourage the bluebird population in HSV, the HSV Audubon Society has placed bluebird boxes around the Village - especially on the golf courses. During the spring and summer, the HSV Audubon Society monitors the boxes for bluebird activity. We (Rosie and Bob) are back-up monitors for the first nine holes on the Diamante golf course. Since Ted and Linda (regular monitors) were out of town this week, we got a chance to get a first hand look. We also took some pictures along the way.

We found several nests with bluebird eggs. The eggs are small and blue. This nest contained 5 bluebird eggs.

We also found 2 nests with bluebirds incubating the eggs - i.e. keeping them warm. Interestingly, even though we banged on the box and opened the box to check it, the birds didn't move from the nest. They know what their priorities are!

We hope this is a great year for baby bluebirds. Looks like we're off to a good start. The bluebird box in our backyard has a nest, but no eggs as of late last week. We'll keep you posted!

Mountainside UMC Visit to Rice Depot, Little Rock, AR

On Thursday, 02-APR-09, 14 volunteers from Mountainside Church drove to Little Rock, AR, and worked at the Rice Depot from about 9 AM to 12 PM. Our work for the day consisted of repackaging emergency food kits to make them more "kid friendly." Here are some candid working shots:

This time we got Rosie in the shot.

Tom and Bob are having a good time. Just goes to show you that policemen and firemen can get along - even retired ones!

Rosie's sister, Julie, was visiting and got put to work. Julie is on the left working with Gail. Julie will probably think twice before visiting us again.Here's a photo of the entire gang:

This was the largest group we've had go to Rice Depot. Thanks for the great turnout. See you next month (first Thursday).

A "Walk on the WILD SIDE"

This week Rosie, Bob and Sam went for a walk on the HSV Cedar Creek Trail to view the wild flowers (and birds). We've found that wild flowers are much easier to view than birds - you can get a lot closer without them moving. Here are some of the flowers we saw on the trail.

Since we've had plenty of rain recently, the streams had abundant water flow. The dogwood and redbud trees were pretty and showed up against the brown and green background.We also saw a cardinal on the trail (actually on a part called the cardinal trail). He really stood out in the brown tree. We actually heard a lot more birds than we saw. However, we still don't know the individual songs and calls. Thank goodness flowers don't make noise!

Maybe by next week we'll know the names of some of the flowers since we're to have a botanist talk at the Audubon meeting and then take us on a wildflower walk.