MMAP French Camp Week 3

The last week was busy, finishing up the projects. At the Munger house,
insulation was installed in the kitchen and living room, then sheetrock was nailed up.


Paul worked on the large window, plus two other windows at Moriah dorm, that needed to have casings, jams and molding added after they were installed. They needed building up first since they were not the same size as the openings. Then I caulked and painted. When the boys came home from school they asked if we had painted the wall as well!!


When I was checking out the windows to make sure we had finished them all, I found one more not finished....

When the pastor's wife heard about the other masonry work on campus, she asked Paul to reset bricks in a couple of places at the church.

During spring break, the tennis courts were resealed, and students were on them as soon as they were back!

It was still not quite warm enough to use the pool, but wanted to show how inviting it is!


A project at French Camp Academy would not be complete without a visit to the Purvice home! Each project, this great couple open their home and have the MMAP team over for food (lots) and entertainment!! This time, it was warm enough to have the party on the front porch!!



On our last night,prior to leaving, our group met up with the MMAP group from Sweet Canaan for a last get together, attending a great, small town theater play, "Dearly Beloved". Lots of laughs!!

Prior to leaving, we were able to see many trees and bushes in full color, with Spring in full bloom!



It is good to be home, and fortunately, we are far enough north that Spring is in full bloom here and we have not missed out on seeing the first of our trees and bushes in bloom!! We also see lots of work, because the weeds are all coming up as well!

MMAP French Camp Week 2

Paul and Ashley had too much fun this past week with replacing windows! They thought they were finished, but the head of the maintenance came by just as they were packing up and asked about doing one more window. This window originally was going to be a sliding glass door and part of the next phase of the repairs to the house. So they spent one more day getting it out and the new one in. I tried to catch the glass coming out on camera, but this was the best shot of Paul breaking the window with the sledge hammer from inside!




The Munger House, the original project, is continuing to change each time we peek in. The main wall between the kitchen and living room is now down and they have finished rewiring to include 17 can lights in the ceiling, and will start putting in insulation and hanging sheet rock.



Normally, we work on Thursday, but the opportunity to tour the 3.5 million square foot Nissan plant in Canton, MS, on Thursday came up. It was HUGE! They produce the Quest, Titan, Armada, Altima and Infinity QX56 (the only Infinity produce in the U.S.). We met up with the MMAP group from Sweet Canaan again, and took the tour (no inside pictures were allowed).
It was really interesting. The most impressive area for both of us was the size of the presses they have that stamps the steel into shaped body panels and body parts!! The 600,000-ton stamping presses are the largest of their kind in the world!

Then we traveled about 20 miles to eat at the Cock of the Walk Restaurant! It was right on the water and it was a great meal! We had a delightful time visiting.



Friday was the last day we could check out Mississippi State University Mitchell Library. Located on the third floor is the John Grisham Room, exhibiting scripts, correspondence, posters and books.

Then the special events coordinator (who opened up the room for us) asked if we would be interested in seeing the Templeton Music Museum and Collection on the fourth floor, so we were treated to that very impressive room as well. This was one-of-a-kind collection of music machines, memorabilia, illustrated sheet music from the late 19th and early 20th century. The collection (not all on display) is home to more than 20,000 pieces of sheet music, 200 musical instruments and extensive memorabilia from the 1880-1930's. It was really interesting to see it as well.





Also on campus is an agricultural department that has produced cheese since World War II. We stopped at the cheese store and stocked up on cheese and just had to try the new peach ice cream!
After we returned we had visitors from home!! Bruce and Charles were on motorcycles, cruisin' the trace on their way south, so they stopped in to check out our work! We gave them the grand tour, enjoyed their fellowship, and caught up on home news before they continued on their journey from Tennessee to Florida!! They came, they saw, they left!


Saturday became a makeup day for us.... Paul did brickwork at the administration building,



After Paul or Ashley did the mortar work around the windows, I followed them around in the dorm section with my caulking and paint brush!! I kept catching myself being tense, so my shoulders were really sore this weekend! I continued to paint around the windows in the boys rooms and hallway, completing four today, 15 all together! Two more to go to complete the dorm hall! Then on to the caulking in the bathrooms and dorm parent residence (More pictures of the completed painting next week).

My goal was accomplished; to complete the boy's room windows before they came home from spring break. It would have been nice to have finished in the hallway as well, but I am pleased with what is done.

This past week it has been quiet with the school being on spring break, but now we have seen some staff returning. The campus should really be buzzing with people tomorrow, and church will be full again!

French Camp on the weekend!

This weekend, we worked, but we also played!
The Taylors are leaving early and Ashley was making up some time, and Paul wanted to help out, so they worked on the unfinished windows at the Moriah house on Friday. Friday also started spring break for the academy, so it is really quiet.

In Tennessee, there is an abundance of "meat and three" restaurants; in Mississippi, we have found there is an abundance of "seafood buffets". We joined Milt and Paula for dinner at the Home Plate, a local seafood buffet. It was really good (we liked it better than Guy's) and even had fried green tomatoes. It was built and is owned by the Astro's pitcher, Roy Oswalt.

Maintenance staff remembered Paul and his masonry skill from January and three guys tracked him down! There were some other needs on campus that required resetting brick. Paul did not feel right taking his time away from the primary project, so he worked outside the project on Saturday to help them out. And since I am his helpmate, that meant me too. It is fun to work with Paul, he is so enthusiastic about everything he does, and makes it fun...... just like Huckleberry Finn, or was it Tom Sawyer?!!!!


Then Saturday night, we helped Dave celebrate his birthday, with all of us going to Frenchie's, a barbecue place in Kosciusko,
then had hummingbird cake back at the camp.


On Sunday, after church and the subsequent potluck, Paul followed the dirt road at the end of the blacktop at the Camp of the Rising Son. It took us around the lake, where we saw a beaver dam near the end,

took pictures of some beautiful plants,





and got a great picture of the camp from the other side. The pictures I got in January did not show the size or beauty of the camp, so I was glad for the opportunity to get some better ones.

So we got to explore a bit, have fun, get muddy, and now, Paul is washing the jeep (for the second time today!!).

MMAP French Camp Week 1

It felt like coming home when we drove into French Camp last weekend! Just the whole atmosphere here is loving and welcoming!

Bruce had a great smile for us when we got back and hitched a ride in the back of the jeep.

The work on the Munger house is continuing, and we were pleasantly surprised at the progress made. The sheetrock got finished, sanded and painted.

Milt working on tiling the bathroom floors,

Ken working on trimming,

and Dave demolishing the kitchen.

Sometime last month the decision was made to open up the wall and redo the kitchen, dining area and living room area. The first phase that MMAP was asked to do is almost finished. With the fixtures being replaced in the bathroom after the tiling, it will be complete.

Phase two of the construction is now started. A beam was delivered and placed in the attic for the additional support with the wall being removed.

But noone had a camera to get a picture of the forklift!!

In the meantime, Ashley and Paul were asked to work on the Moriah House, a boy's dorm, replacing windows. The job of replacing 17 windows was started last month.

Two of the windows were about a half an inch to long, so some of the brick needed to be removed.

And I followed them around, caulking around some of the windows and removing the sticky stuff where the stickers had been. Some took a LOT of elbow grease, Goo Gone (I love that stuff) and window cleaner, while others, very little.

I also took time to "play", continuing my tatting lesson with Regina, who also had us quilting!

We also learned to cut onions, greenpeppers, carrots (I need a new kitchen tool!) and pickles (into a fan!) from Carolyn!

On Thursday night, we ended the work week at Guy's, meeting up with the MMAPers working at Lexington (Sweet Canaan)