It's That Time Again

Our last week here at SELA NWR, and we are trying to finish up a few projects that we took on...we think we did it!!!

But first to catch up...Thanksgiving was spent with our family here at the refuge...our fellow volunteers.

Then, Kevin had a birthday.  He asked for his favorite cake and Cheryl obliged. She is a great cook and is working on putting together a cookbook.










Next, we all six joined in to strip a mobile home of its old carpet. Then we all spent some time on the floor fine tuning it. We saved the refuge some money with this project...and prepped it for Home Depot to come install new carpet. We were all groaning the next morning!!!

This is just one of many boards we repaired. 

On the right side, you can see the finished product. We installed a runner (bottom right), one board on the floor, and several boards on the top rail.

We also put in a supporting brace on one side...sometimes you have to work in tough to get to places. I was there until I got some debris in my eye and Wallace had to get in there to finish the job. It ain't always easy!!!

We are now through with this area until next year. We are thinking all the floor boards need to be replaced by then.

Bogue Chitto looks really nice now, we mowed the grounds, helped finish a new extending trail, and made repairs to several of these fishing piers.

Today, we helped install a car counter. Wallace wanted to learn how to do this just in case he can help do this in the future at other refuges.

After that installation, we worked on the boardwalk here (Bayou Sauvage) to finish up what we had started.

Today, we were treated to a rib cook off. Several of the guys smoked ribs and a vote was taken to see who fixed the best ones.

Several of us are leaving and this was our send off.

Everything was delicious.

Last Friday, we were treated to a tour of New Orleans.

Here we are seated at Cafe DuMonde waiting for beignets and coffee.

David and his wife April, put this tour together and treated us to a wonderful time in the Big Easy. A BIG thank you to them.

The camellias have been blooming for some time now...this is by far, my favorite one.

They were not blooming while we were here last year.

This is inside the St. Louis Cathedral-Basilica which is the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the United States.  It can be seen at Jackson Square...it is absolutely beautiful.  This was visited during our tour of New Orleans.

Tomorrow, we finish up after we do our last brochure run...a full day.  We will be driving through Houston on Sunday, a good day for it. We will drop off our rig, then drive south to spend time with family before we start at Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR.

Until next time...