On My Knees Again

We are still working on the remodeling of the bio lab.  The last two days, we have been laying new tile after a road trip to Houston to buy the tiles that matched the old ones.  That same trip, we stopped in at Home Depot to buy more supplies...more cabinets, trim, etc.
It was a fun trip with lunch included.

I got to do the pasting while Jenny pressed the tiles in place. George got into the act in the last half of the floor.  In the photo, we are wiping up excess glue, while Wallace is finishing up the baseboard under a desk area to the left of the picture.

As you may recall, we tore down three walls, opening up the area.

We now have the walls out, have moved some of the cabinets back in place and put up the folding room divider.

This is where we finished the first day of laying the tile. I should have closed the door to get the full effect, darn it.

We will be adding more lighting in the ceiling and putting up more cabinets when we are through with the floor.

It is all coming together nicely and everyone is ready for it to be finished.

The floor is finished and the guys are putting up trim.

Some of the cabinets have now been installed (boy does that get old, shifting them from one place to the next...to the next)!!!  Now where is that hammer?  Tools got moved around too. 

Now home to my favorite steak, New York strip!!!

Put them on the grill, five minutes each side and boy are they great.

Man, am I sore!!!

Until next time...

Renz Barn

This is known as the Renz Barn that is located on the refuge.

You are looking at it from the inside on my new ride!!!

The ground was WET but we went anyway.


We are clearing out almost all the trees in this area...more prairie!!!
Others have bulldozed and cleared...now we are to plow.

This is our brand new tractor...I love it.

I was able to plow right through the boggy ground without getting stuck!!!

Looks pretty snazzy don't you think?



I had the big plow behind me...have to really watch as I drive through the cattle guards on our way out...Wallace was behind me in the other tractor.

This tractor has the training seat in it.
Darrell is certified to train in heavy equipment and now he has a seat of his own!!!

It still has that new smell to it. It has a radio and a/c with all the fancy things you can think of.

AND it is still fairly clean!!! However, now it is a little on the muddy side.

Thought you might like to see what it looks like from inside with all the levers we use.

Now on the steering wheel is a control you have to use to go forward and reverse before it ever moves.

The tractor on the left is the one I used last year. They got rid of the one Wallace used...now he gets that one and I get the new one. 

It didn't take us long to do this little patch, but it will need to be done at least one more time after it dries out a tad.

This is the way it looked when we finished. We went all the way to the treeline. 

Those trees will be coming down and this area will be planted later.

There are two huge live oak trees on either side of the road as you enter.

Above our heads was this beautiful sight. The bees have really been busy here.

Until next time...

Okay, I give UP

I promised this post would be about the benches we helped build.
I wanted to get a picture of the three of us on the bench, but the weather has been rainy, and I am not going to wait for the right photo, so here goes.

Before we paint...the goose is on.

First time using a Dremel...FUN.

All three benches are put together now...then they get sanded down before I use the Dremel.

Sanding is the second step.

The guys hoist up the bench upside down as you can see in the above picture, but it actually made it more comfortable for me.

I do use a dust mask...just not in the above picture.

I trace a pattern on the bench...the white areas are raised giving it a three dimensional look.

We are working in the wood shop. Two of the benches have been painted and we are getting ready to paint the last one.

We paint over the goose with the brown paint.

Now comes the goose. Steady hands.

We "Got our Goose on."  We had to touch up some of the brown paint here.

Jenny lent a helping hand with the brown paint.

The first bench getting placed on the Sycamore Trail...with the help of another volunteer, Butch...Ferris is also helping us out.

This one getting placed under a big live oak tree.  We use concrete to keep them from sinking into the sandy soil.

The third one is placed at Horseshoe Lake Trail. This boardwalk is soon to be replaced with a bigger one.  The view is also looking out on the prairie.

We have been invited to build some benches for another refuge!!!

Have you ever seen clouds like these?  I call them wave clouds!!!

Until next time...

A Little Remodeling

We are in the process of remodeling the Biology lab.

These are the plans.

In the following shots, you will see us knocking out walls, etc.

This is the before shot. There are many small rooms. We are opening this area up.

It is all falling in to place and looks great already.

We have been working on it for two weeks now.

There are many cabinets loaded with a lot of things.

Some of the top cabinets have been removed and this wall is taken out first.

I have the drill and I'm climbing in and out of cabinets that have been screwed into place.  Some of the ceiling tiles have been removed so Darrell, maintenance man can do the wiring.

Screws are out and Jenny and I are moving the cabinets for George to install in the break room.

We take everything out of the cabinets to make them lighter, which makes them easier to move.

Next comes the destruction!!!  

Making sure there are no electric wires before we start tearing down this wall.

Wallace is using the circular saw after a straight edge has been chalked on the wall.

George and Jenny have helped build homes for Habitat for Humanity.  

Aha, we broke through.

Three more to go.

Already it looks more roomy, and with the extra lighting that will be installed, it will be great.

Now I'm off to the dumpster with a load of trash.

The guys follow behind making sure nothing falls off.

And nothing did.



Now I know I said this blog would be about our benches. They are finished!!!  The weather has not been conducive to place them out, so I promise...the next blog will be about the benches.  I will say, everybody is pleased with them!!!

Until next time...

A Routine Year

Last year, 2014, we found ourselves in a routine...from Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR...to Moosehorn NWR...to Southeast Louisiana NWR...back to Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR.  The same places over the last two years.

Here we are once again on the prairie, our third year back.  We are having the same start to 2015 as 2014...cold and rainy.  Last year, we did not get out with the heavy equipment because of the rain!!!

We did have a wonderful year...a tour of the Painted Churches of Texas, the State Capitol in Austin,  the Booming and Blooming Festival here at the refuge, our class reunion, Moosehorn in May, moving into the new office, the Fishing Derby, then Southeast Louisiana NWR "Wild Things" and last but not least, being with our family once again.  We ended the year by buying our 2015 Ford Lariat!!!

We have worked a total of four days, what with the holidays and all.  Our supervisor, Darrell (maintenance), asked if we could build some benches.  I said, "sure, but we need a plan."  I immediately got on the computer and came up with this!!!

From here, with the plans, we went to this.

We all got into the act...I have never seen Darrell so excited over a project...he wanted to get in there too.

They let me chisel out the slots for the legs!!!

This is how they turned out...yes, they, as we built three of them.
AND, we are not through yet.  Wallace started sanding them down when John Magera walks in with another idea.

Let's put a blue goose on the back of the benches.  Guess who gets to do that?

Using a Dremel, I went to work. Having never used one before, I practiced first.

Next I move to the real thing, the actual benches.

We shall see how this turns out in our next blog.  I love a good challenge.

Until next time...

Short Post

Look what we have done!!!  And you can bet it is a FORD.  My daddy always bought fords and we do the same!!!  It is a 2015 F350 Lariat with 20 inch tires and buttons that do EVERYTHING!

We are now at Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge and will be here until the first of April.  This refuge is 60 miles west of Houston, Texas.

This was our first sunset this season.

We spent the week before Christmas with our son and his family in South Texas.  Here we are doing homework with the kids.

We enjoyed our time in the Valley...but it was a busy time.  We caught up with family, bought this truck, closed out our storage room, bought FRUIT, ate at all our favorite restaurants (food we can't find any place else), transferred our old truck to another son, (and you know what time that takes), spent some time in the Corpus Christi area with our other 2 sons...fast and furious.  BUT, we got everything finalized.  Life is Good!!!

Until next time...

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...