March Project at ABC is complete!

We have completed the March project at Acadian Baptist Center and will soon be heading for Purdy and Camp Barnabas.  Our time here has been a great two months and we thank the people at ABC for their spirit and service.  While we have been here there have been multiple groups every weekend and the staff has worked very hard to make them feel welcome and safe.

The main focus of our last week was to trim all of the trees on the boulevard, the street in front of the staff houses.  We used a saw which was capable of extending our reach, especially when it was in Larry's hands.

I didn't have near the reach but I could reach a lot of the branches and pick up the brush.

 

When we were finished we cleared away all of the brush and cut the burnable branches into fire log pieces and piled them behind the shop.  The pile at the left is from an old pine stump which we also cut down and into pieces.

 

Some of the local wildlife was always around and curious.  This fellow wanted to inspect the jug of roundup we were using.  If brother Pat happens to see this, what is it?

There were still a few more toilet paper dispensers which needed to be changed---

---so my faithful companion (Billie) was the "toolman" for the job.  She really enjoys using tools.

After our last day we all had a nice meal at Rocco's Italian Restaurant in Crowley.  We had a great time going over the month's events and said our farewells.

On Sunday, after church, we visited the Chinese restaurant one more time and Billie just had to pose with a couple of mud bugs, the local delicacy.

All-in-all God is so good to us and we will see you soon in Purdy, MO. if He is willing.

One week left at ABC!

Here we are with only one week left of our project at Acadian Baptist Center.  Sorry I haven't updated the blog sooner but my laptop has crashed and I had to load the image software on Billie's laptop to transfer images.

 

One of the jobs we had to tackle was to erect the rebuilt flag pole.  A fine older gentleman up the road from ABC took the old pole, which had rusted off at the base and fallen, add a counter weight and weld it all together.  Larry wire brushed and painted the pole while I started preparing the new hole to plant it in.

 

We couldn't use the same place as the old pole occupied since there was a four foot deep HARD concrete chunk in the ground so we cut a new hole just down the sidewalk, sawed out the sidewalk, persuading the last pieces with the sledge, then dug a four foot deep hole of our own.

We then set the pole base and finished the concrete around it.

The next day we hung the pole on the base so Larry could touch up the places we scratched on the trip from the shed to erection location.

While the concrete and paint was drying I put a new coat of paint in the fountain which we had repaired.  I say we repaired it but what we really had to do was cut off the pipe in the yard and build a fill site outside the fountain since we determined the leak from the fountain was coming from a broken pipe or joint under the fountain.

When we were all through raising the pole and attaching the flag we had a flag raising.  Wonderful isn't it.  God has truly blessed the United States.

On the weekend we decided to clean up some weeds which were growing around the foundation of the North Eunice Baptist Church which we are attending.

To insure that the cleanup would last a while we added a 6" wide strip of Roundup to the cleanup.

Then we visited the city of Jennings to see an art gallery.  There was nearly as much art on the buildings as there was in the gallery.  It amazes me how someone can draw these enormous murals and do it so well.

Compared to Billie the engine is the size of the real thing.

Of course, Eunice has it's share of murals as well.

This last weekend we made a trip south to the gulf.  Hurricane Rita really devastated this whole area.  Now almost of the houses and businesses are perched on ten to twelve food poles.  Some of then are single wides---

---and some are very large structures.  The drawback would come when we get old enough that we can no longer climb those stairs.

Along the banks of the canal we saw a number of gators sunning themselves.  They were, for the most part, on the other side of the canal.

When we arrived at the Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge we were greeted by this beautiful platform.

 

The refuge is a very large swamp extending from Highway 82 to the gulf.

It is full of all kinds of wildlife.  Coots---

---ibis, ducks and geese.

In order to get to Holly Beach we had to take a ferry across Calcasieu Lake.  Some of the residents of the lake we not really all that impressed with the ferry.

They do a lot of shipbuilding and working with the off shore rigs all along the coast.

When we got to Holly Beach we had to collect a few samples of the shells found there.

From the shore, with an 800mm lens, one can see a number of off shore platforms.

Right on the beach the residents decided that 10 or 12 feet wasn't high enough so they went up 20.

On our trip home we passed through Lake Charles and crossed this bridge over Lake Charles.  This one has no flat spot at the top, just up then down.

Our time between projects.

Since we have finished the February project and are going to be here in March as well, we have a week to sight see and enjoy each others company.  So, sight seeing and enjoying we did.

                                 

Our first stop was at a beautiful plantation named for the Houmas Indian tribe.  They were the indigenous tribe in this region and they sold the area to the French in 1774.

                                 

The house has been very well restored and is ready for tours.  The current owner still lives here and has provided all of the beautiful landscaping.

The entry is through a building which once was a part of the sugar extracting that went on at the plantation.  

We were greeted in the garden by what many of the Cajuns call lunch.

The gardens are wonderful, even in the winter.

The owner has a very good eye for adornments to the gardens and pools.

This enormous live oak is over 500 years old and still going strong.   

Some of the shrubs are beginning to bloom and soon the whole garden will be awash in color.

There are also a number of very tasteful decorations in the rooms.  This is one of the "gentlemen" rooms.

We weren't allowed on the third floor as it is the residence of the owner but one can look up all the way to the roof through the circular stairwell.

Billie and our guide are admiring some of the fine things in the house.  We got there early and had the guide all to ourselves.

It was beginning to warm outside and I believe we could have stood on the balcony and observed for a long while.

The guide introduced us to one of the mosquitoes which reside on the plantation. 

In one of the dining halls they had a southern suicide boats, used in the Civil War.  It couldn't quite submerge but it was very low in the water and carried a charge on a ram which was attached on the front of the craft. 

We are now off to the next plantation.  It happens to be on the other side of the Mississippi and this is the way to get there.

Barge traffic is heavy and constant.

The next plantation was Oak Alley.

                                 

This is why.  There are rows of 300 year old oaks from the river in the background to the house.  They served as a channel to funnel the cool breezes from the river into the plantation house.

When you were dining, the above device was the air conditioner.  A young slave would sit in the corner and pull the cord you can see draped through the air and move the fan hanging over the center of the table.

This is one of the bedrooms.  On the bed you can see a roller.  The beds were filled with the Spanish moss and were very comfortable for one night.  However, when you awoke the next morning there was a hollow spot where you had been laying.  It was one of the slave's job to fluff the bed, and it may take several hours to get all the fluffing done, then he would take the roller and roll it out smooth.

Of course mosquito netting was obligatory for everyone.

Our next stop was a Creole plantation and it was very different.  This one happened to be the home of Brair Rabbit.  The story was originally a folk tale from the slaves.  It was transcribed and renamed and later published as a child's story.

On this plantation the plantation "president" was, for several generations, a woman of the family.  The last was Laura who can be seen in this back lit mirror.

The house was built well off of the ground because of the water and the cooling winds.  The center two doors were not used to enter the house as they were the vents to cool the house.  The men entered and occupied the left side of the house while the ladies used the right.

Our young guide, Creole by birth, was fascinating to listen to.  He had a wonderful tale of the goings on of the family and the use of the house. 

In one of the out buildings there was a listing of all the slaves with their value and their definition.

The kitchen for these families was never in the house.  That would cause too much heat and was a constant fire danger.

After we left the plantation we went to Morgan City and spent the night there.  The next morning we made our way to the docks where the major business is, of course, ship and oil rig building and repair.

Traveling up the river there was a major bottle neck caused by this railroad bridge.  It was just wide enough to allow one vessel through at a time.

Our next stop was to see the first oil platform to be built.  It was named Mr. Charlie for the man who put up the money to build it.  It was all built out of surplus Navy parts.

                                  

It was a massive structure in it's time but now is too small and cannot be used in the deeper water.  So they set it in the harbor and use it as a training platform for those who want to get a job on a platform.

On the platform we were guided by a man who had spent some time on platforms and knew a lot about the history of them.

Our next stop was to a museum for aviation and logging.  The planes in the museum were all used in racing during the early years of flight.  This plane was flown by a man in a race then by his wife in another.  They both set speed records.

On the other side of the museum we found information about the early cypress logging industry.  These cones were attached to the top of large logs to make them easier to drag out of the swamp.

All in all it was a great two days together with the God who made it all.