TOUR AMERICA, 2019: TUCSON, ARIZONA – THE GRAND CANYON STATE

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

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

Oct 14, 2019

Temperature 92 degrees

First Project – Day One

Let the work begin!  Up early, can you say 6 am, a quick breakfast, then off to the activity hall for devotions.

This is a really neat quilt

and a fascinating picture that hang in the hall.

It’s 8 am and our team is gathered for devotions.  We take turns offering devotions, our day will be this Thursday.

Some thirty minutes later, devotions finished its back to the homestead to pick up our gear for our first project.  Yup, that’s Barbara way out in front of me.

Ken’s truck is loaded for bear and ready to go.  Our first project is off-site, about 4 miles away so we’ll caravan there today.

We’ve arrived.  Hedi is in the background at the door.  Ken has the straw hat on.  In front of him is Cheryl.  In the blue to the left is Teresa.

The ladies will have yard cleanup and the guys will demo the current kitchen cabinets.  One of the first duties for the ladies is to apply insect repellent.

This is the thorn tree that has overtaken the one side of the yard.  This is one wicked tree

with thorns 1 to 2 inches long.

Hedi took it upon herself to trim this tree back.  At the end of the day you could clearly see that she paid the price.  She was cut on legs and arms as the tree fought back.

This is what the rest of the yard looked liked when we got there.  Cheryl is busy attacking the overgrown grass.

Barbara had weed wacker duty.

Barbara and Cheryl hard at work.

Ken and I had the task of ripping out the current kitchen cabinets.  After we are done a contractor will come in and demo the rest of the kitchen and then completely rebuild it.

A few hours later and we had the top cabinets ripped out.

It was break time, as I said earlier we have 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon.

Break time over it was time to load the work truck with the first load for the dumpster.

A short time later we broke for lunch.  An hour later we were back at it.  By the end of the day we had accomplished a lot.  Look at the yard now.  Wow, what the ladies did was absolutely fantastic.

 

As for the kitchen cabinets, all gone!  We left the current sink so that the home owner could at least still do dishes until the contractor comes to finish the kitchen.

Day one is now over.  We still have some yard work to finish up and a few other odds and ends in the kitchen.  Barbara hung in there until she simply couldn’t take any more.  She is now working in the office with Teresa who also cried Uncle.

As for me?  I’m definitely feeling my age tonight.  I don’t think there is a muscle in my body that is not screaming for relief.  Yes, I’m definitely out of shape.  But I’ll get there.  I’m not about to throw in the towel anytime soon.

Truthfully, it’s a great feeling knowing that what you’ve done has helped someone less fortunate than yourself.  It’s really good to finally have a chance to begin giving back for all that I’ve received.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was exhausting but fun.  Yes, fun.  I’m feeling good about what I was able to accomplish.  We both are.  Believe me my sweetie really did her share today.  She was out in the hot sun holding her own for the longest time.  I give her a lota, lota credit for all that she did.  She is a true trooper.

Thanks for checking in 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!