Capitol of Texas Park - A Walk through the Birth of Texas

I stopped by West Columbia, Texas yesterday to check out the progress on that cities latest contribution to the conservation of Texas History. The citizens of West Columbia, the First Capital of the Republic of Texas, will be dedicating a new historical park at 2:00 PM next Saturday. (April 17th, 2009).

While I was there workers were putting the finishing touches on the landscaping and the stonemasons were installing the finishing touches on the 19 markers that take any visitor through a complete short course in the history of the early days of the Republic of Texas.

Have you ever wondered what the first congress of the Republic of Texas actually accomplished in the early days of the republic? There is a marker in the park that tells you. This is what it said:

• Ratified the constitution
• Appointed committees
• Provided for protection from the Indians
• Provided for the army and the navy
• Created the judicial branch
• Created the post office
• Established a financial system
• Adopted an office flag and seal
• Defined the boundaries of the republic

(I wish our government today was this efficient.)

What part did the steam boat “Yellowstone” take in Texas History? There is a marker in the park that tells you the answer to that question and many more.

For more information about the dedication service and more go to this website:
Capitol of Texas Park - A Walk through the Birth of Texas

Of course there are many other things to see and do in West Columbia. While I was there I visited the Varner–Hogg Mansion and I also stopped by the Stephen F. Austin death site. There is also a replica of the first capitol building of the Republic of Texas.

...and there is more. While I was there I noticed that West Columbia has a history museum and I’ve never been there. That will have to be another day.
TexasBob

Mission Galveston - My last day

My part of Mission Galveston is over. We got a lot done in the 4 houses that we worked in however they are not complete. Others coming in after us will do what they can do. There are still hundreds of homes that look fine on the outside but have no sheet rock on the walls. There are many sponsoring groups working in the Texas Gulf coast almost continuously since hurricane Rita. The group that we worked with was “Nehemiah’s Vision”. This group was started in Vidor, Texas to help rebuild New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast after hurricane Katrina (2005). Just a few weeks later hurricane Rita ripped through Southeast Texas including Vidor and Western Louisiana. Then there was Gustav and Ike (2008) their work has never stopped.

As for me I’m very sore. I used a lot of muscles I don’t normally use. I met and got to know a lot of people on my team. We worked all day, car pooled to the work sites and the entire team at our evening meal together. With distances and logistics our days started at 6:00 am and ended about 8:30 pm everyday so even blogging as been a challenge.

If you ever get the opportunity to do something like this, just do it.

Mission Galveston - Day Two - A day for all Ages

Today was little different, we started the day with our partner church for Sunday morning services, had a great lunch and then it was on to our work places. As for my shower project we managed to install the shower surround and I learned an important lesson, liquid nails adhesive does not come off the skin without some pain.

One group I forgot to mention yesterday is what I call our “Shock Troops” Four young men and four young women ages 14 -18 work on “Special” projects. The four young men spent the first day moving lumber and supplies from a warehouse to the project houses all over Galveston County. The young women sorted and size the hundreds of pieces of donated clothing for redistribution. Today there was a blind woman whose FEMA benefits ran out on this very day. The Shock Troops moved all her furniture to another house.

And then there are the children. They have fun no matter what. But if you need 2000 hotel size bottles of shampoo, bars of soap and a couple 100 tooth brushes sorted by type and size, bring in the kids. It becomes a game and it gets done.

Many times when you go on a trip like this you learn new skills and this trip has been no different. Today I learned a new skill. How to operate the hotel waffle machine.

Mission Galveston - Day One

I guess I was naïve. I thought just about everybody was back to normal six months after Hurricane Ike. I thought that there would be a few small houses with some problems. What I found was whole subdivisions with an RV in the drive way to live in front of a house and a house that a few short months ago have several feet of water in them. Almost every house was in some stage of construction.

Today our group was divided into four groups.

Group one loaded a large U-Haul truck to capacity with food stuff and clothing. All of which was donated by the folks at Tallowood Church as part of our Worship in Action. After it was all loaded it was delivered to the Galveston /Texas City Ministries. It was then unloaded and sorted by the same group that loaded the truck. There was a lot of stuff and they did not finish but will continue to work on it tomorrow.

Group two was tasked to sheet rock a 1500 square foot house. This work will continue throughout the week. It is a very good crew but it will be hard to complete the sheetrock and tape and bed the joints in the time we have allotted to us.

Group three has two houses adjacent to each other and there is a variety of projects. We are painting, putting down baseboards, cleaning windows, etc. You have probably heard of a house with 2 ½ baths. Well this house has a ½ bath. What I am working on is installing a shower stall in the completely non functioning bath room.

Group four feed all 40+ members of the other teams. They deliver lunch to each of the worksites and prepare and serve an evening meal at our partner church North Baptist Church – Texas City, Texas.

I’m sure I will be sore tomorrow

Mission Galveston

Six months ago the Texas Gulf Coast was hit Hurricane Ike. Galveston County which consists of the city of Galveston on Galveston Island, Port Bolivar peninsula and many small towns on the mainland were devastated. My own home, 50 miles inland received only minor damage and the inconvenience no power for a day.
Galveston County has had major losses of infrastructure, schools, hospitals and jobs. Galveston was totally destroyed in 1900 and recovered. I believe they will recover again. While the government agency discuss and argue the fate of Galveston County its funding and rebuilding many are still without livable shelter
I, my wife and 40 other members of Tallowood Baptist Church are spending our Spring Break working on three houses in Seabrook, Texas. But it’s more than that. We are part of 1400 other volunteers “flooding” Galveston County this week as part of the Nehemiah Project to do whatever needs to be done to rebuild Galveston.
During the coming days, if I’m physically able, I will blog about the activities of our group. Many of you know I primarily blog when I travel to faraway lands, or about Texas High School Football. This week I’m going to blog about 40 people praying, painting and hanging sheetrock.

Join us.

Surprise in my Soup

I went from Pusan, Korea to Yantai, Provence China and our host worked very hard to impress us with good food. I was careful not to offend the extremely polite citizens of Korea and China during the time I was in their countries, but I had to draw the line at the multi legged creature I found in my soup. My colleague seated at my right was a vegetarian (I wanted to convert on the spot.) my colleague seated on my left ate his surprise whole, pretty brave for a Missourian who didn’t have to say “Show Me” because it was there staring at him.

As I weighed the possible offence to my guest before I made my decision, I decided that not eating the little marine animal would be less offensive than if he reappeared with the rest of my meal on the way back up.

After 26 hours of travel I’m back in Texas. Today at lunch I went out and had a Whataburger, with cheese and jalapeños. Texas is a very nice place to live.

The Korean People

I had hoped to take more pictures while in Korea but I've mostly been in Ship Yards during the day and doing paper work at night. The ship yards build everything from container ships to submarines. No pictures are allowed.

It is exciting to travel to different parts of the world but for me it is also part of my job. Not much site seeing.

I can tell you that the Korean People are the most gracious people I’ve ever met. This is a picture of the elevator attendant at the Lotte Hotel in Pusan. She is dressed in a traditional Korean dress. Tradition and structure is a mainstay in the Korean culture. They take a lot of pride in their work. For example our first social gaff in Korea was our attempt to tip the bell man for bring up our bag. That was a bad idea and embarrassed him terribly. The house keeping staff at the Samsung Hotel had their "motto" on their badge. It said, "Our Tip is our Pride in our work". They are paid for what they do and their pay is not dependant on tips. I like it. I wish it were like that in the US.

Tomorrow we leave for China and our last ship yard. I'm ready to come home to Texas