We're In Tennesse.

Belle and Lady. Belle is the puppy.
Robin on her nest in Tennessee.

The schnausers were in Alabama, but the robin is in Tennessee. We are at a campground north of Nashville, it is full, so we are parked on the pavement of the driveway overnight. Cool, but not cold. The furnace is running, don't want to freeze.

Sweet Home Alabama!

We are still in Montgomery, Ala. we are watching the weather further north and decided to stay put for a while. The line of thunderstorms with tornado threats yesterday, made us decide to wait it out, now the cold up north is making us stay. We really need to leave tomorrow in order to make it back for appointments.

Hobbes

After riding in the truck part of the day, Hobbes is excited to be out to walk.
Hobbes inspecting the campsite for the night.

We left Biloxi, Mississippi this AM and have stopped in Montgomery, Alabama for the night. We stopped at this campground on the way down last fall and the owner's schnauser had just had a litter of puppies. One was white and she planned on keeping it, so we stopped just to see this dog. She is now about 6 months old and very cute, she needs a haircut, but still really cute. We had a schnauser when we were first married but had to give him away when Nikki developed allergies. Actually I am allergic to dogs ,too, but I still can enjoy them for short periods of time.

We are checking the weather up north and may just take our time getting home and get there at the end of the projected cold spell. We are now used to the warmer weather, hate to have to set up Moose in a snowstorm.

We are going home.

Azeleas in bloom.


Back row H, Rod, Linda, Luke, and Pastor Steve. Front row Joy and Sylvia. H worked with these people from Pa., except for Linda, I worked with her in the clinic.

We are leaving tomorrow for home. Nikki says we missed the window, that the warm weather is over and rain, snow mix is moving in this weekend. If it is too bad we will wait it out in a southern state, but we do have appointments for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in Ohio.

We just can't leave!

Back row:Mark, Bruce, Wade(Chad), Willis. Front row: Jan(works at camp), Cal, H, Sylvia.

This is the group that H worked with last week at Forest Heights. They were from Missouri and Wisconsin. H enjoyed working with them, they were all hard worker and lots of fun.

H decided he wanted to work a few more days and he didn't want to drive on Saturday in the thunderstorm, so we are staying until Thursday. I have said good-bye to everyone at Bethel Free Clinic twice, they probably think I am going to stay forever because I just keep showing up(like a boomerang).

For Cyndi, Hobbes is great, I just haven't had a recent picture of him, today is sunny so I will do that, maybe with the next door neighbor, Bo, a terrier breed who likes cats. Hobbes still isn't particularly fond of dogs.

Dinner Out

H's cousins Dick and Jeannine
MaryJane and Kara(first timer)
Rick and Gene
Carolyn and Al
Holly and Rachel
Caleb(first timer)
H and Jan(a cook at Camp Biloxi)
Look at that plate, do you think he ate it all? You can see H and my boomerangs in the foreground.

We went to dinner last night with the rest of the group from TLC in Willard, Ohio. They were staying at Camp Victor in Oceans Springs, we stayed at Camp Biloxi in Biloxi (we needed a campsite for Moose). We are all Boomerangs (persons who have been down more than one time to assist after Katrina), except for Caleb and Kara. Hopefully they will want to come back also. We went to eat at Cafe New Orleans in Ocean Springs, this is a recently opened sister to one in D'Iberville. The inside was all painted in murals by the owner. It was very creative. Large servings and good food.

The group was leaving at 0400 this AM, except for Carolyn, Al, and Kara, they were taking their time returning, either going over to New Orleans first or driving toward Washington D.C. Wish all a safe journey.

H and I went to the beach this afternoon for a while. It is beautiful today.

End of First Week

Today is Friday, end of our week here in Biloxi. We have decided to stay another week, it is too cold to go home to Ohio anyway. H is going to work part of Saturday with the rest of the group from Willard, in a house in D'Iberville. I will probably clean Moose and do the laundry. Tomorrow night we will all go out to dinner.

Next week H already has an assignment on some houses, I will work at the free clinic again, we will have a doctor everyday, so we will be busy. Too bad that the state of Mississippi is so shortsighted that they have decided that doctors from out of state cannot come to assist in the free clinic anymore. Apparently the local Docs think the free clinic is taking away there business. The people that come to the free clinic, come because they cannot afford to pay for a doctor visit, either because they are homeless, work a minimum wage job, or their insurance has such a high deductible they cannot pay it. Nurses can still come from out of state, but they will only allow a nurse to get a temporary permit one time. There are several local retired Docs that volunteer, but not enough to cover all the days. The clinic will be moving out of Bethel Lutheran to another site when they get there grant to assist them. Pray for that to come thru. People here need all the assist they can get. And for anyone who wonders why we are here and not helping in our home area, we do help there, in fact I volunteer at a clinic back home.

Volunteer, there are people who need help, and they certainly appreciate your help.

Enough preaching. I hope at least one person steps up to make a difference in another's life.