Memorial Day – It’s Not Just a Day Off

Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. If you are off today, I certainly hope you take time to say a prayer for a soldier who died protecting your freedom to enjoy your day off.

If you have never witnessed the Flags In ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, please take a moment to do so now. The Flags In ceremony is performed to commemorate and honor U.S. military personnel ahead of Memorial Day weekend and has been conducted annually since 1948.

This is a photo of my Great Uncle Earnest Pearson. He died December 15, 1918 while serving as Private in Company I, 360th Infantry stationed in France during World War I.

I salute my Great Uncle Earnest Pearson for his ultimate sacrifice protecting my freedom.

While you enjoy your day off, and Memorial Day sales, please take a moment to remember the fallen soldiers.

Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now.

Mayday

No, this is not a call for help. Today’s post is about the end of another month. May has been interesting and has flown by faster than greased lightening.

First big event for us this month was ‘ Smokin on the Lake’ May 17-19. This is an annual event for Mark Twain Landing RV Resort. Just like other BBQ competition. The idea is to BBQ the best chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, beef brisket, or deserts. Top winner can take away $800. Rules are simple and must be followed. There is also a kids competition to encourage a new generation fo ‘Q’ers. All of this is judged by KCBS. Click Mark Twain Landing Facebook page to see photos of this event plus many other. The park was pretty full.

Unfortunate for me, I was unable to get out to mingle with the group very much. Friday evening as I stepped into our motor home, my left knee made this horrible sound.  C R A C K! Think of this as a sound you never want to hear. As I attempted to put weight on my left leg, I felt excruciating pain in my knee. This is not a good thing. I spent the rest of Friday with ice on my knee. Carol was out visiting with the crowd when I did this. By the time she got back, I was already in bed and had taken a healthy dose of Advil.  Saturday morning, I was able to put weight on my knee but did not think it would be a good idea to walk around on it so I asked for a couple of days off to give my knee a chance to recuperate. By Tuesday, I felt better and headed to work.

Following ‘Smokin on the Lake’ we had one week to get the park cleaned up for a full Memorial Day weekend.  I had some small repair chores to take care of plus having to check all outside 110V electrical receptacles to make sure they worked. Over the previous weekend, there were several complaints about outside receptacles not working. Of all these receptacles, I replaced one bad receptacle. I also had time to built a door latch and door pull for the gate on the fence I finished the previous week.

Friday 5/24 we had a steady line of RVer’s checking in. The park was scheduled to be full Memorial Day weekend. Saturday, Splash Landing, the cool water park that is just across the road from the RV park, was scheduled to officially open. Mother Nature had other plans. Rain, kept the park closed until Sunday. We have not had many warm sunny days so the water temperature was a chilly 57 degrees. That did not deter the locals; they were all ready for the water park. The few brave souls who got wet were able to claim the title “First In”. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Just another workday for me. I spent most of the day making a table for the snack bar at Splash Landing. Also worked on repairing a couple of holes in the ceiling at the snack bar that were accidentally put there during by two other workampers who completed a major electrical reroute. That is what carpenters do.

Other than having a couple of campers who did not understand they could not put up tents next to their RV (park rules) and finding a broken CATV cable, the weekend was pretty good. We had several large family groups here. Apparently the three day weekends are filled with large groups. As I took care of some small repairs on Monday, several first time campers commented to me about how much they enjoyed the park.

My last big project for the month was overlaying a metal roof over an old roof that leaked like a colander. My knee got a workout going up and down the ladder, plus crawling around securing the new roof. Glad I got it done yesterday – we had rain today.

Carol is improving in rehab from her Rotator Cuff surgery. She is also working more hours which is helpful. She has been working at the gate checking folks in and out. Last week she worked at the ticket booth at Splash Landing. This weekend she will be running the cash register at the restaurant.

We have experienced more rain during the two months we’ve been here. Plus we’ve sheltered for two tornado warnings. We are working with a good group of workampers and campground managers. There is a good possibility that we will be back here next summer and may have options to work at other Legacy parks around the US. That would be cool.

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back now.

May Projects

WOW

It has been a month since my last post. What’s with that? Well, not to make any excuse but I’ve been busy working. Resting has been a priority on my days off. So what’s happened in the past month?

Carol had Rotator Cuff Surgery on her right shoulder April 16th. It was time to repair an old injury that needed repair before we get real busy around Mark Twain Landing RV Resort.  She was out of work for two weeks. Now she is in PT twice weekly. The good news is she will get over this and will recuperate. The bad news is that her job duties have changed. Currently she is working the gate on the weekends. This gives her a few hours to add to my hours at the park. Once the park opens officially on Memorial Day weekend, she will be working in a float position at the swim park.

I have worked on a few of big projects during the past month – repaired a hole in a rook of one of the rustic fishing cabins, replaced the sub floor in a bathroom and part of the floor in the kitchen. And replaced 40 feet of fencing that was blown down over the winter.

The Roof

Judging from the looks of the hole in the roof, a tree branch punctured the roof then as it fell off, it pried the roof upward thus creating a strange-looking hole. And of course it rained into the hole. Fortunately the rain was not heavy and the ceiling was 1/4 paneling not dry wall.

The Floor

The maintenance order indicated the commode was loose on the floor. Also the tile needed to be glued down. When I pulled up the loose tile, I discovered a very wet wood sub-floor. That was why the commode was not secure on the floor. After scrapping away the wet sub-floor, I realized I had to cut out about 9 square feet of flooring.

After clearing the sub-floor, I discovered the wetness was also in the kitchen and the vanity drain line was never connected to the main drain. This project grew each day I work on it.

I finally got the new sub-floor down and trimmed and laid new tile. Bathroom looks 100% better than it did.

Remember the wet floor also went into the kitchen? Well, to repair that required removing a small water heater. Removal was no problem. Repairing the floor was no problem. Putting the water heater in, I managed to break the cold water main line feeding into kitchen. One more thing to fix.

The good news is I did get it finished. The cleaning crew did not like that they had to go back and clean the cabin after they had already cleaned it.

The Fence

Forty feet of fencing adjacent to the wave pool blew down over the winter.  The center photo was taken after the first day on this project. I had help on this one. That’s my work truck in the foreground. The right photo was the result of the morning work on day two.

The afternoon of day 2, my work buddy George is trimming the top. The center photos shows the completed fence with a door opening. Tomorrow I finish the door and make sure all panels are secured. I thought I would include a photo of the wave pool This is day two of filling the wave pool which by the way is 8 feet deep. It takes 3-4 days to fill this pool. On a busy summer day, there can be between 500-800 people in the swim park enjoying the pools and slides. The water looked inviting today especially since it was pretty warm this afternoon. The ground water temperature here is a chilly 55 degrees. I think I’ll let nature warm the water a bit.

Well, that’s a wrap for my work. Carol is still recuperating from her surgery and is completely bored with not much to do. We have found a great group of folks to work with and for at Mark Twain Landing. If you get near St. Louis or Hannibal, Missouri we would love to have you stop by for a visit.

Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now. (PS – I will try to update the blog more regularly.)

Memorial Day

If you had the day off today, I certainly hope you took time to say a prayer for a soldier who worked today protecting your freedom to enjoy your day off. If you worked today, I hope you also took time to pray for a soldier who worked today protecting your freedom to work.

If you have never witnessed The Changing of The Guards at Arlington National Cemetery, please take a moment to do so now.

This is a photo of my Great Uncle Earnest Pearson. He died December 15, 1918 while serving as Private in Company I, 360th Infantry stationed in France during World War I.

This is a photo of my dad taken on Feb 28th, 1944. He served in the Headquarters, 42nd Service Group, Army Air Corps.

I was young, newly married and on November 27th, 1967, took the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

As this Memorial Day weekend draws to a close let us give thanks to all veterans.

 Thanks for stopping by.