A New Halloween Treat?

How is this as an alternative to candy for Halloween Trick or Treating? Our papayas have started to ripen just in time for Halloween! We have 50 ripening away on one tree. They are delicious and we'll probably have them eaten by Thanksgiving. The color matches the orange of Halloween Jack O' Lanterns and Thanksgiving pumpkin pie so why not make them a Florida contribution for both holidays!! Papaya smoothie anyone?

Hurricane Michael Cleanup

About 4 weeks ago Hurricane Michael at hurricane strength 5 hit just southeast of Panama City, Florida in the Florida Panhandle wiping out Mexico Beach and severely damaging nearby towns and cities. The following week was spent tarping roofs and searching for survivors. The last 2 weeks thousands of Mormon Helping Hands (now called Helping Hands of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) from throughout the Southeast have been helping the locals put their lives back together. This weekend Caroly and I joined 25 volunteers aged 12 and older from the Bunnell Ward in Flagler County, 6 hours away, to help out.

On the way there we could see the power of the hurricane that zipped north through the panhandle of Florida, through Georgia, and South and North Carolina. As you can see from these pictures, between Tallahassee and Marianna the beautiful forests have been changed to expanses of broken matchsticks. Click on the pictures for a closer look.

This sight continues all the way south from Marianna to Panama City. This gas station greets you as you enter Panama City.

The command center for the Helping Hands is the Stake Center. Note that the steeple and the flag pole are now on the front lawn.

The inside suffered water damage so the carpets and benches have been removed, Some of the ceiling has been damaged.

Here are some views of the neighborhood  near the church,

The most of the Helping Hands from Central and Southern Florida camped out in a nearby abandoned airport. We stayed at the Kannas Condo in Panama City Beach, 20 miles away to the west where there was much less damage. In fact you could hardly tell that a hurricane had come through. Ron joined our work crew  on Saturday. See if you can find him in any of the pictures.

We were assigned to help out in Lynn Haven, a  very nice suburb about 10 minutes north of the Stake Center. Families who wanted help registered their needs with the Helping Hands command center where we received their requests and with our chain saws and other equipment headed out. In this neighborhood the roofs had already been patched if the building was salvageable so we mostly cut up fallen trees and moved the logs, branches, and broken fences to the front street. The neighborhood no longer has a forest settling.

 Saturday and Sunday we were able to clear 8 yards, mostly for widows and older people. Afterwards we sang them a church song, either "I am a child of God" or "As I have loved you, love one another." One older couple said that someone came by earlier and said he would clear his driveway for $3,000. He burst into tears when we told him that we would do not just the driveway but his entire yard for free. I think there were 8 trees down in his front and back yards.

One family was so thankful that our team from Bunnell had helped them for free the previous week that they insisted that when we came back this week to help their neighbor across the street that they would have hamburgers, hotdogs, and all the trimmings ready for us.  It was delicious. The brownies and ice cream especially hit the spot.

Everywhere we went we were treated royally by the grateful people. The owner of a mobile Hawaiian Ice stand even drove throughout the town giving free snow cones to anyone with a yellow Helping Hands shirt. He said he had given out several thousand that day.

Here is most of our group with one of the families that hosted the hamburger/hot dog feast.

There were several thousand Helping Hands in Panama City and surrounding towns this weekend.  Others will be returning the next three weekends. There is still that much damage to help clean up.

David's Eagle Project Done

This evening in pouring rain from the Mexican Hurricane Willa that was passing north of town, grandson David finished his eagle scout project, a fire pit for the youth of the church. A month earlier volunteer work crews had cleared the circle one evening and constructed the benches a week later, finishing up by the headlights of cars in the parking lot. With delays in the delivery of materials and with dark coming earlier and earlier every week, it was hard to schedule a time in the daylight to finish up.  David decided that come rain or shine, this afternoon at 5 we'd finish up since this weekend most workers would be off to the Florida panhandle to help with Hurricane Michael clean-up and the children in the ward wanted to celebrate Halloween around the campfire.  Of course it poured rain all day although the weatherman said it would be a nice day with just a slight chance of rain. Anyway, in spite of 5 inches of rain the gravel was spread and the pit itself was put together. Everyone was soaked to the bone and went home to a nice warm shower.

Gamecock visit.

Since we are now training gamecocks, we thought we'd visit the University of South Carolina, the home of the fighting Gamecocks,

and the new home of our daughter Kim since she moved from Australia. Her new condo is the bottom floor pictured here.

We heard she was straightening her back by sleeping on the floor and promoting good posture by eating while standing up, so we took her a comfy bed and a table and some chairs to help her relax when she gets home and help her to start furnishing the place so she can entertain guests.