Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Tucson Metropolitan Ministries Family Services

Oct 30, 2019

Temperature 71 degrees

Farewell TMM Family Services

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum – The Museum

First NOMADS Project is finished.  It seems like only yesterday that we were backing in and getting ready for yet another new chapter in our lives.  Its been an intense but rewarding three weeks.  Time has really flown by.  Now we need to move on.  So we shall to yet another NOMADS project.

This is our complete team gathered for a farewell luncheon given in our honor as a way of saying thanks for all the work we accomplished.  In the back the men:  myself, Ken, Scott, Carl.  In the front the ladies:  Hedi, Barbara, Cheryl, Teresa.

Gathered in the conference room for lunch

Sandwiches and Salad.

Time now to clean up and pack up.  Glad I’m not Ken, he’s got a few things to put away.

Before we call it a night, let’s spend a few minutes together at The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum.

Entering the foyer you see this sign.  In reality this is what this Museum is all about, it documents how the railroad changed the city of Tucson.

In the beginning travel in the southwest was by stagecoach.

Wagon roads crisscrossed the Arizona territory.

Then came the railroad.

Now came a new problem, how to move from the train station to the rest of town.

For many years Tucson depended on its cotton crops and the ore from its mines to support its economy.  But when both fell on hard times Tucson turned to something new

Yet, unfortunately all good things sometimes do come to an end.

Additional competition came from new intercity bus lines.

Today is a time of transition for Tucson.

Today questions remain that need to be answered for the future of Tucson.

Let’s finish our tour of Tucson and its railroads by taking a look at the evolution of its railroad station.

That is the story of the railroad and Tucson.  We’re glad we had the opportunity to visit this fascinating museum which gave us the opportunity to learn more about Tucson.  It’s places like this that absolutely delight us because they give us the opportunity to discover and learn more about an area we are in.

That was our day today on The Road of Retirement.  Time now to go pack myself.  Tomorrow is a travel day, a really long travel day – can you believe all of 30 minutes!  Just a stop over before we leave for Phoenix.  We can’t arrive there any earlier than Saturday so we found a place to hang out for two days.

Thanks for coming along with us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Tucson Metropolitan Ministries Family Services

Oct 29, 2019

Temperature 78 degrees

Fifth Project – Studio Apartment, Finished

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum

We did it!  We cleaned the yard of one house and painted a total of five apartments.  We also completed numerous other repairs to each apartment.  In addition we replaced one backboard on the basketball court and did other odds and ends around the TMM campus.  To say the least, it has been an exhausting week.  Yet, in the end it has also been a very fulfilling and rewarding week.  I would like to think that we, indeed, have made a difference in the lives of numerous individuals.

Barbara and I were also able to do some sightseeing during our time here in Tucson.  Tonight I want to share with your our trip to the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum.

Follow me now to the Earp and Holiday Statue.   For some reason I always believed that the shootout occurred in Tombstone.  Truth be known it actually took place here in Tucson.

Moving on we come to

As to how it was moved to this location, take a look

 

Here are the various parts of the locomotive.

See how many of the above you can find.  Do you see the pilot?  It’s also known as a cowcatcher, cattle catcher or cow plow and is the device mounted at the front to deflect objects on the track that might derail the train.

Now about that thing called a cylinder.  The cylinder is the power-producing element of the locomotive.  The cylinder is made pressure-tight with end covers and pistons; a valve distributes the steam to the ends of the cylinder which in turn powers the pistons which in turn drives the wheels.  Now how about that!

Do you see the smoke box?  It’s below the white stack below.  It’s where the steam from the cylinders and the smoke from the firebox come together to escape from the locomotive. through the smoke stack (which is in white in the picture below).

By the way you might be wondering what is a sand dome?  Steam engines used high-grade silica sand for traction on the rails. Sand was stored in a dome (front black dome in the picture below) on top of the engine and, as the train traveled the tracks, the sand would be sprinkled down pipes to land on the tracks in front of the wheels. This would aid the wheels in gripping the tracks, especially when the rails were wet.  Look close and you can see the pipe leading from the sand dome down along the engine to the driving wheels.

As for the steam dome. It is a vessel fitted to the top of the boiler of a steam locomotive. It contains the opening to the main steam pipe and its purpose is to allow this opening to be kept well above the water level in the boiler.  This arrangement acts as a simple steam separator (collector) and minimizes the risk that water will be carried over to the where it might cause a hydraulic lock.

Here is a diagram of how a steam locomotive actually works.

The engineer’s office.

Ever wonder what the engineer would see when either looking out the window in front of him, or when leaning out and looking forward?  Sort of like this

Here is the tender that holds the oil and water for the locomotive.

So that is Steam Locomotive 1673.  We have yet to visit the museum, but that’s for tomorrow.  Before we go, however, take a look at the miniature village displayed along the tracks beneath the locomotive.

Our day on The Road of Retirement has come to an end.  We have some chilly nights ahead, down in the 40 degree range.  Nothing we can’t handle.  Just a bit unusual inasmuch as we have been used to nights in the 60 degree range.  Looks as if winter is settling in here in the Southwest.  Time to get some sleep, have a good night.

Thanks again for keeping up with us.  We appreciate your company and your comments.  Have a good night.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Tucson Metropolitan Ministries Family Services

Oct 28, 2019

Temperature 76 degrees

Prayers For Mom and the Family Please

Fourth Project – Apartment 8101, Finished

Please remember Mom and our family in your prayers.  Test results are back and it looks like Mom has just weeks left.  We’re hoping she will rally but its not looking good.  So grateful we had the two weeks with her this past summer.  We had a fantastic time with her and we will always remember those days with love.

We’re wrapping things up here in Tucson and making plans to travel north to my sisters house where my mom will be staying.

Today we finished up Apartment 8101 which leaves us will just one more apartment to paint.

The kitchen and the dining room are finished.

hallway is done

so are the bedrooms and all holes in walls and doors have been patched.  We’re done.

 

We’re now in our last apartment and it is just a studio so we’ll finish it up tomorrow.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Not the kind of day we thought it would be.  Yet, as I sit and write I’m reminded of this poem

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

And before I go a big shout out to my wife.  I couldn’t make it without you sweetheart.  And my kids – I love you one and all and thank you so much for your love and support during this time.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Tucson Metropolitan Ministries Family Services

Oct 27, 2019

Temperature 86 degrees

Mom is Looking Good

Interfaith Pack-A-Thon

First things first, thanks one and all for prayers for my Mom.  She is looking good today and in good spirits.  We are guardedly optimistic about her future.  We’ll know more this week as more test results come back.  So please keep those prayers coming.

Today being Sunday as a team we again went to the St. Johns United Methodist Church for worship. It was an uplifting and positive experience.

The day wasn’t over though.  After church we went to Wendy’s for lunch in preparation for the big event of the day.

Lunch over it was time – time for the big event, time for the Interfaith Pack-a-Thon.  This is a picture of a T-shirt from a couple of years ago.

So you ask what is an interfaith Pack-a-Thon?  The Interfaith part is easy.  The Catalina UMC partnered with the Muslim Community at the Muslim Community Center to pack 50,000 meals for Southern Arizona food needs.

And the Pack-a-Thon part?  You get to pack meals of rice and beans that have a shelf life of two years.

The details of each meal are as follows:

OK, that’s the nuts and bolts of the program.  Let’s take a look at how it all came together today.  The entrance to the community center.

 The check in table

Time to get all cleaned up and don the appropriate attire.

Barbara modeling the latest attire for the trendy Pack-a-thoner

Here’s the whole team ready for action.  From left to right:  Ken, Hedi, Scott, Teresa, Barbara and myself.

Here is what we get to do.  See the yellow funnel in the middle of the table?  One person puts and holds a yellow bag on the bottom of it – Barbara’s job this afternoon.

Then through the funnel and into the bag goes a vitamin bag

A level scoop of beans and vegetables

A level scoop of soy and rice.

The bag is then weighed and adjusted to make sure it has the proper amount in it.

Then it is sealed, labeled and boxed.

Here we are ready for action.

Here we are in action.  Filling the bag.

Weighing the bag.

Sealing the bag prior to putting the label on and boxing the meal.

This is the pile of supplies we started with in the one corner of the center.

This is the same corner two hours later.

Thanks to our team and all these people

Those supplies turned into these boxes of meals – at last count 36,000 meals – that will be used to feed the hungry in the Tucson area.  The meals will go to local food pantries run by different churches as well as the Salvation Army.

That my friends is how our team spent their afternoon.

Of course such a successful day called for a celebration.  We all agreed once it was over the only place to go was Culver’s for ice cream.

That is how we spent our day on The Road of Retirement.  Working together we managed to take a big bite out of hunger in this area.  The biggest plus for me today, though, was seeing that big smile on my mother’s face.  You rock Mom and we’re all looking forward to throwing you your 100th birthday party.

Thanks again for checking in with us.  We  always appreciate your company and your comments. Catch you tomorrow.  Time to get some sleep since its back to work painting an apartment tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!