Cooler weather was a blessing this week as work continued at Jest Kidding. The women completed the second coat of paint in the old church building entryway. Clean up was done in the whole area we painted. Another one of our jobs was to paint stripes on the backs of the nativity scene cut-outs to coordinate with the newly painted poles. That would make it easy to get the right length pole matched to the right cut-out. We also finished hauling and setting the stones that go all around the berms in the Garden of Gethsemane. A couple of the ladies took turns completing the task of scanning Sheldon’s hundreds of slides so they could be put on his computer.
The men had a goal of completing the deck by Tuesday. They added railings and lattice and had it ready for a ‘deck party’ Tuesday night. They also assisted Dan and Sheldon in getting and unloading two loads of mulch for the Garden of Gethsemane. Some small repair jobs were done by Henry, and Steve did more electrical work.
All of us helped position two big planting urns, two concrete benches and two large rocks in the Garden of Gethsemane. One of the rocks is where the cut-out of Jesus praying will be located. The women dug holes for the concrete slabs the urns and benches would rest on. The guys pounded in the leveling sand and then did the heavy lifting to get the items in place. The women were assigned the task of planting many more flowers and bushes in the garden. After that we added fertilizer and a thick layer of mulch. The garden is really looking nice! The men finished assembling the garden benches and then used a power auger to dig seven holes where metal poles would have to be inserted for standing up the cross and tomb scene cut-outs.
Tuesday night was a special treat. It began with a “deck party” to celebrate the completion of that project. Sheldon’s son grilled some delicious chicken kabobs and, along with several dishes prepared by Vickie, we had a great meal. Following supper, our Bible study was a presentation of gospel magic by Jody, the assistant director of Jest Kidding. He kept all of us, along with Sheldon’s grandkids, enthralled as he presented the gospel message through the use of magic tricks. He interspersed his presentation with a few fantastically played hymns on the harmonica. The evening was topped off with sundaes made from Moo-Ville ice cream.
Our social Wednesday night was a celebration of Kathy’s birthday. We all enjoyed a DQ ice cream cake and several games of Uno.
On Friday we had a rainy, self-guided tour of the Moo-Ville dairy operation. It was quite impressive as all of the milking is done robotically. Cows are free to come to the robot for milking up to five times a day. They want to come because of the great tasting pellets they get fed while being milked. That’s like candy bars in the cow world! There are also robotic feeders, alley scrapers and back scratchers. Moo-Ville cows are happy cows! We finished our tour with lunch at the Moo-Ville store. We had ice cream for dessert, of course!
Saturday was another rainy day. Between rain showers, the two of us went to explore Historic Charlton Park near Hastings. All of the buildings were closed, still due to Covid, but we enjoyed strolling along the wooden sidewalks and looking at the exteriors of the many historic buildings. Afterwards we went into Hastings and made a stop at DQ before heading for Walmart.
We drove to Holland, Michigan on Sunday to meet Jan’s sister and brother-in-law. We had a great time visiting, viewing some of the city and eating a delicious meal at Boatwerks restaurant on the lake shore. We’re relaxing back at the camper now and gearing up for our last two days of work at Jest Kidding.
Time to Travel 