Back to work!

Time for sitting around and watching is over.  The time at SBA was great and the surgery went well.  The PT ladies were so gentle but before we left they gave me some self torture equipment. 

This is one of them.  If I am going to get back to work I am going to have to be able to reach over my head again.  But first there is flexibility required.  Ouch!

To help us get going there were a group of people from our old Life Group who drove all the way to SBA to help us get things ready to hit the road.

Then the whole bunch of went to the local resturant and had a great time visiting and eating of course.

Of course we had to show the team the campus, including the Gazebo.  As you can see by the dress it was time to get out of SD.

All of those little things that have to be done when breaking camp.  Clean the carpets...

...clean and stow the tire covers.

We then headed south.  First stop was the farm in Kansas to exchange the Tracker for the Ranger pickup.  After a couple of modifications we headed for Denver to see the kids and grandkids.

We had a very lovely spot at the Cherry Creek RV camp.  Look at those trees!  Also, there is the long awaited Ranger which we must give a big THANK YOU to brother Pat as he made the trip to Council Bluffs to get the work done to make it towable.

We got to keep Mahlia over night one night.

Otherwise we saw Jake ...

...and T in their normal enviornment.

The scenery from the campground was wonderful (Go God Go!).

We also had the opportunity to host the Beaches (the wonderful couple who let us buy their motorhome) for supper one evening.

Then we hit the road again.  We saw a lot of this...

...and this!!!!!!

This was a rest stop as we entered New Mexico.

Doesn't look all that different than what we saw leaving Colorado.

Right now we are parked in the Rose Valley RV Ranch in Silver City, NM where we will get to spend a few days with our oldest daughter and her husband.  More later.

Wrap-up at SBA for 2011

Besides PT and a few odd jobs around the school, we decided that we should make a visit to the capital city, Pierre, SD. 

Just up river from Pierre is Lake Oahe, one of several dams on the Missouri River.  This view is of the intakes for the power plant.

This is a view of the power plant with it's surge silos and seven turbines.

Later we visited the Capital building.  It is a very beautiful building built in the early 1900's.

This placque sits in front of the Capital as a testament to the Founding Fathers of our nation.

As the building was restored they left the signs of an earlier version of potty.

Notice anything?  It took the members of the early government nearly 25 years of see the one upside down ballister.  When asked why he did it the mason said that it was to remind every one that man's work is always flawed and only God's work is perfect.  Notice also that the flaw was put in the third position to remind us of the Trinity.

A view across the rotunda.  The marble and paintings are wonderful.

This is a view of the house chambers.

And, of course I had to try out the desk in the entry of the governers office.

These are the Supreme court chambers.  Again there is beautiful and meaningful art and the beauty of the wood was retained remarkeably well, even through the upgrade to add computer screens for the Judges.  A little cute sidelight.  When they remodeled to add the computer screens to the panel in front of the judges, inside the panel were several whisky bottles which had been slid down into the panel with the cork down.  They were still partially full.

Outside of the Capital is a lovely lake which is fed buy a 92 degree F mineral spring.  Because of the heated spring, the lake never freezes.

Back at school, there was just one little job that the construction company had requested.  They want to move their construction trailer to a location behind the old gym.  Problem!  No electricity.

Problem solved.  I installed a 50 Amp sub panel from one of the unused breakers on the second floor.

And the construction crew all got a raise today as they started putting the roof on the gymnasium.

Yesterday they studded the front wall of the gym.

The next several pictures are of next years project.  This house was moved in here  recently and will become another staff house.  The house is 60 years old and needs a lot of work as you will be able to see in the next several pictures.  A new furnace has been installed to keep the house minimally heated this winter.  The house will require a lot of sheetrock work, new wiring, new plunbing, a new kitchen and upgraded baths.  That should be enough to keep us busy in 2012.

Homecoming week!!

WOW!  This has been a busy week.  This has been homecoming week and they really get into it here. 

To begin with, SBA expected to serve over 600 meals on Friday, sooo they needed lots of cutlery.  We wrapped nearly 1,000 forks, spoons and knives in preperation.

Then one of the cooks needed a break so guess who got to dispense the dessert? (Far left).

Each day there was a theme for the day and boy did the students get into that!  The next several photos are some of the costumes on Duck tape day.  We should all have stock in Duck tape this day.

Really cool don't you think!

And this beautiful young lady is only an 8th grader.

Then on Thursday night after the pep rally we held the burning of the "S"?  (You have to be here.)

After the fire we turned and were reminded of why we were all here.

Everyone took part in the pep rally.

Some of the king and queen candidates.  The theme for the day was Hillbilly-Redneck day.  I asked the young man with the catapillar on his lip if he let it go to become a Monarch butterfly!

Then came the cheering squads....

..and the staff with their "I'm glad that I'm a teacher, but if I wasn't a teacher a (something) I would be.  We had everything from a hunter to a ballerina dancer to a sailor.

The boys played hard but were not able to prevail in the football game but a wonderful banquet followed.  Besides the normal annual banquet, this was the 60th anniversary of SBA.  There were presentations from the 50's, 60's, 70's. 80's,90's and 2000's along with very moving testimonies from the reigning King and Queen for 2011.  We heard from a 61 member choir and they were wonderful.  Then the evening closed with 500 people lifing their praise to God for His provisions at SBA.