Memorial Day at CARE

Today is my last day here at CARE, I pull out tomorrow morning at 8am..  The day begins at 0500, getting dressed and ready to first walk Spencer then at 0600 go in and see if the volunteer cooks have shown up to get the lamb and turkey ready and into the ovens.  Today I will help if needed but otherwise just take photos of what is going on..

Trying to light pilot on oven, never got it on. Had to use the small oven for the Lamb

George getting the Lamb and turkey ready to go into ovens.

Our Turkeys

George again working on something.

First thing in the morning we arrived and had problems with one of the two main ovens so had to change game plan and use the small oven to cook the Lamb. Both the Turkey and Lamb made it into the oven at 06:30.

Opened the doors at 07:20 like any other day

My man Todd ( AKA Banana Man ) also a card shark..  LOL..

Breakfast was done as always from 7:20 to 9:30 am. Only difference was a whole lot more volunteers were around. Prep work continued as the residence ate.

Lake And Laddie doing prep work

Barbara doing more prep work

Carol 

Carol again

Volunteers put in a lot of time and effort to insure all went as well as it could. This was something we could do only as a group, and I have to say here and now I would be proud to work with any of them again.

   As soon as breakfast was over at 09:30 we started to change things around to reflect the theme for the day.  It is Memorial day and we wanted to show that we still honer our vets. The following photos try to show as close as I could a step by step change of what was done. I think the red tables show off everything the best.. When the residents started to arrive each table had napkins, utensils, bread, fruit, along with the US flag and a flag of one of the services or POW/MIA flag. Also changed out the every day table cloths for sometime more in line with the day.

L really liked the way things looked at this point.

YES!!!! I was also working in between taken photos..

So now that everything is ready to go in the oven, or on the stove we had time for a short break to shoot the bull...  AND boy can some shoot it good!!!!  LOL....


Now time to check to see how things look... Almost time for people to start showing up...

Lamb ready

Turkey Ready

Mashed Potato ready

Gravy almost ready

Last min. items set to go in oven or on stove.

Time to start carving Lamb

Carving Turkey

Shortly after taken the Lamb and Turkey out of the ovens people started to arrive.

First to arrive was one of my favorite Clyde the seeing eye dog

Sitting down waiting for service, today was not buffet style, We served everyone at the tables..

Each "resident was greeted at the door with a red rose.

Once the first one showed up it was like a dam broke, people came in from three different ways.

This is Pat, she loves me....  LOL... 

Crowed being seated before service can begin

Folks had a good time talking and enjoying themselves 

Only dog allowed into the CARE Cafe...

Not sure what to say about Hal, Gerry, and Sonny

  Now time to serve the food and see if it is as good as it smells.

Three of the men did all the serving to the tables.

Kitchen volunteers plating the food as orders came in.

This was a volunteers plate, he really likes mashed potatoes.

After everyone ate I went around taken photos of some of the residents, a lot more smiles then I have seen in weeks...

Photo following is of the people that take the time and volunteered here at CARE and put on this Lunch.

I do believe a good time was had by all....

My Thoughts about Memorial Day

This Monday we celebrate our military Veterans "past" and Present.  Even through I sometimes feel cheated because of the difference in the way the Korean and Vietnam vets were treated back in the 60's and 70's and how the ones are treated today. I still think every man and woman that has served in our nations military should be thought of on the day set aside for them. This is not just a day to have off from work to take the family out for a picnic or to the beach. It is and should be a day to say thanks to the folks that have defended our rights and privileges. So please if you know someone that served, be it WW1, WW2, Korea, Nam, or the Golf, say thanks. Thats all I have to say, thanks to all that read this.

 

Kitchen Duty

Bonny the day cook Monday-Friday took today off so I was talked into stepping into the kitchen to cook lunch. Menu was Salisbury Steak ( I can not eat ) mashed potatoes ( I can not eat ) corn, green beans, and gravy. Started at 6:30 am by finding everything needed and defrosting the meat needed. Between checking one thing or the other and keeping coffee in the pots it was like I was back in High School working with my Mother at Holy Cross Collage in Worcester Ma. Could hear her telling me I was not doing one thing or the other the right way ( her way )...  I had several helpers one made dessert, one did the potatoes and gravy, I took care of the salisbury steak and veggies.

George the gravy and potato king

Clavin the all around helper, cleaned up my mess, helped me find things I needed

Me just minutes before we started to serve.

Everything turned out for the best, no complaints ( at least not to my mug ) several complements.


Me I am just happy I do not cook for a living, could not stand having my Mother in my head all the time...  Time to relax and watch the evening crew cook... LOL...

Learned something new

Early this morning before I had my tantrum 

Well I now know that if exposed to a large amount of smoke I will get a bronchitis attack. How you ask did I learn this? CARE has a large amount of junk wood that we have been burning a little at a time, no problem. However one of the new volunteers that came in said he could burn it all in one control burn. Even after being told not to do it all at one time he did!!!!!!! Caused so much smoke that it came into the camp grounds for both CARE and RV Park. I spent the night awake coughing and hacking sitting in a chair. This morning when I went in I told my boos if the air was not clear by Sat am I was pulling out and never returning.. Amazing how things work... when all I did was complain about having problems breathing people just passed it off. As soon as I said I was leaving the fire was put out and the air cleared in less then one hour. Now the fire bug is pissed because he wanted to keep it burning for the next five to six days..  Part of me wishes he would so I could pack up early and leave.... Taken the afternoon off and going to try and cool down, I am not a happy person at the moment....

Eight more work days

Getting that old itch to hit the road. Only 8 more work days, or 13 days total and it is time to drive to WY.  I can not express how much I am looking forward to driving again. I have started to count down the days the way I did when working on the boat. Just wish I had more time off before going right back to work, but at least this time I will be paid for it... Just hope things work out the way I am hoping and I get time and opportunity to take some outstanding photos. Have never figured out way taking photos gives me joy but it does and it is always my hope that others also enjoy seeing them.. So on that note here are three photos taken today when walking Spencer around the park..  Flowers of the Care Center.....

Putting on The Ritz

The volunteers here at the Escapee Care Center have voted to do a special lunch for the residents on Memorial Day. Somehow I was elected to shotgun it and have now reached the point of assigning jobs. the following is the planed menu ( first draft ) ...


 Turkey or Lamb

Yams

Mash Potato

Gravy

Fresh Veggies

Fresh fruit

pies

How much will this cost us???? not a clue yet, but I am accepting donations to help offset cost .... It is tax deductible you know....  Like to send a check??? any amount would help...


Payable to : Escapees CARE, Inc
                    155 Care Center Drive
                     Livingston Texas 77351

Things have been nice for the last week

 I have been spending my days doing my best to keep up with the grass. I have three fields, 35 resident sites, and 7 volunteer sites to mow and weed eat. Thing is I have been the only one doing it 90% of the time, so never get all of it looking good at the same time.

The rabbits that run around are about all the help I seem to get.. LOL..


Nice thing is nobody hassles me, and I call it a day when I have had enough. Normal day starts at 07:30 for coffee and toast, start mowing at 0800, stop for lunch at 12:00 noon, back mowing at 12:30 until 15:00-15:30... Shower eat at 17:00, watch television to 18:30 then play cards.

Two weeks to go then it is off to Wy...

I Have AC......

YES!!!!  A friend drove me to Lowe's this morning to pick up an AC unit and some hardware to install it in my back window. He really did most of the installing for me, all I did was make a few suggestions and helped. It took less then three hours from the time we left the park to the AC was running. Total cost for unit was $124.50 including wood, hinge, and screws. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself. I have offered to take him and his wife to lunch or dinner when we are not working to say thanks for the work and time, hope he takes me up on it..

Small window unit in back window.

How we have it mounted

How it looks from the back

Seems to be working....

Interesting week

First week back in Maintenance full time and so happy..  Kitchen now has five couples ( ten people ) doing what only four of us had been doing for last five days before they showed up.. All I hear from then is how easy it is, and so nice to have so much time off. Yep time off.... I get both Saturday and Sunday off this week, first time since I arrived..  AND only put in 36 hours this week ( about 8 of it was playing cards :-))))))))  LOL....

Only problem is the heat... it is in the 90,s and I have no AC...  Never needed it before because I stayed away from this type of heat.. So tomorrow I go to Walmart and see about a mini AC for my back window. Only want one because the cat and Spencer are having problems with the heat. I can always go inside if I have problems but not the cat... Spencer is welcome inside because he is so well behaved and several of the residents would love to keep him when I leave.. NOT going to happen...

So this was a good week with no complaints, at least not from me...