Salty Strings Music Ministry – Page 4 – Salty Strings Music Ministry

The Salt Shaker ~ August 2023

August 31, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Praises – Great weather again for outdoor music; safe travels; re-connecting with family and friends; still blessed and content as life happens!

Prayers – Continued healing for John’s knee, medical provider(s) for knee diagnosis; contractors for house renovation and timely completion

“. . turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.” Deuteronomy 30:10b-11 NIV

Hello to our family, friends, and followers:

John’s knee problem kept us guessing throughout the month. August 1 was the beginning; we borrowed some very tall crutches from the camp and our much shorter son gave us a pair he had soon after, definitely needed and used for several weeks. A week later John took his first truck ride, figuring out how to get in and out was a challenge. By August 10-13 he was moving along well with the crutches, getting up a small hill to the dining room for supper and a longer day out attending church. He resumed limited hour volunteer service in the shop on the 15^th and overdid just a bit. By the 24^th he could move about the trailer with a knee brace and without crutches and checked the tire pressure and his usual travel prep duties. Improvement is there but it is very slow and compensating for the knee affects his back as well.

Connie has been a bit stressed; uncertainty does that along with change in routines. Our first Sunday outing she developed swirly tunnel-like vision during breakfast, laid down in the dark for about 10 minutes, then drove to church with only a slight headache. No more vision problems, but a slight headache again in the evening attributed to the heat and going in and out several times. She did have quite a struggle with our “Salt Shaker” July newsletter, getting the ambition and words together (and not meeting ‘her’ timetable).

It has been five years since we have been to this project and the camp is in their second transition in ownership/management. The new camp owners have a large number of employees in various business locations along with full-time chaplains that come weekly to the camp. The second week Connie invited them for a “house-call” to our RV to pray for John and his healing. It was a wonderful experience! The last camp week was the annual “Burn Camp” with a carnival including local fire trucks on parade, helicopter(s), and the huge American Flag over the road. Although not our usual schedule, we were blessed to have 96 hours of service to this wonderful camp.

Connie was assigned to the dining room but the kitchen lost some workers so she was very happy to be helping with some staff that she has worked with before. With John taking the truck she walked: the trail was 0.33 miles going with a hill at the end that was a bit tough, and another 0.33 miles coming back with a big hill at the end leaving her out of breath. She used the alternate route, a bit longer and sunnier, for the days she didn’t want to tackle the hills and gravel trail. The final week was cleaning, starting in the bakery, moving to the basement dry storage, the inside of the left-over cooler, and ending with the tags for the food service lines.

John’s first day of serving was right after the storm that left lots of tree limbs and debris to be cleaned up. He had a helper the first day, and was on his own prepared with a chain saw the second day. Lots of up and down hills, cutting up larger limbs and loading into a truck to haul away. He did a bit of wall sanding and prep for painting the last hour and came home severely limping and in a lot of pain from his right knee. After a week off he was able to help in the shop sorting nuts, bolts, screws, and arranging a new shop area to consolidate all these little necessities. The last week Connie helped a little (some sorting, mostly carrying and arranging) to get it all done before leaving.

John did play some guitar and mandolin outside in the fresh air towards the end of the month. Once able to drive comfortably he helped as we traveled and attended the men’s group at Hardee’s in Carlinville, IL – a favorite activity when we’re in the area.

We were glad to find our parking site in Wisconsin still had lots of wildlife. The first to appear were hummingbirds followed by three large male turkeys strangely enough gathered behind the RV near the hummingbird feeder. The sand hill cranes showed up in pairs within our first week, followed by turkey, and finally the deer-two mamas with babies usually. John saw the first deer (mama and baby) on his first volunteer day. There were some days with up to seven deer including a 6–8-point buck and six cranes; and one lunch time a flock of turkeys of all ages crossed the road in front of our RV.

Connie went to Beloit to spend an afternoon with our son who was able to quickly transfer information from our old computer to our newer one. He pulled the hard drive from the old laptop and made it into an external hard drive for back up then got it recycle ready – goodbye old laptop. Along with that trip was a stop in pouring rain to get our favorite bagels and two grocery stops (it had quit raining by then). With John recovering she picked up the weekly chore of dumping our tanks. There is new appreciation for spouses that we so often take for granted. She also pulled out her sewing machine to mend a few items, and took two older t-shirts and fringed the sleeves so she had more cool options in the heat (not fashion cool, just to allow a bit more breeze and she loves fringe).

We missed attending church our first Sunday in Wisconsin, watching two sermons from TV instead; it’s just not the same! We were able to be with family in Beloit, WI the following Sunday, enjoying an excellent worship band with lights and smoke (a bit different), seeing our granddaughter on stage with VBS kids, and enjoying the sermon as well. Our final Sunday in the area was with our friend at his church with a last whirlwind of visits before leaving Wisconsin.

We were out and about more by the end of the month, enjoying some fellowship and food of course. There was a Friday ‘date night’ with Connie’s high school friend along with a wonderful porch visit to enjoy the great weather. The camp treated us to ice cream in town at an old drive-in and pizza with our neighbor SOWERs. Our week stay in Illinois included a Chinese buffet on our own, a visit to Beaver Dam State Park restaurant with church friends, lunch out with the Pastor planning for Sunday service, lunch at the block party, and a farewell potluck-type supper at the church. Connie certainly didn’t have to cook that week!

Connie convinced John that we could move, at the request of our son, her mother’s collectible plates to Mississippi. Still not sure if that was a good or bad idea, but we managed to get them all into our truck on one of the hottest afternoons. John was using one crutch at the time, so Connie did a lot of lifting and arranging of the ~260-piece cargo. We had supper that evening with Connie’s sister and enjoyed some time outside playing with their dogs. Of course, what goes in has to come out before traveling – more arranging with most of them fitting into our loft. The last few rode in the truck finishing their trip tucked inside for our last travel days.

Hot would be the word for August weather. Hot when we set up in Wisconsin. Hot for our tear down, travel, and set up in Illinois. Heat index was over 100 a few times in Wisconsin. We held our weather travel streak – severe thunder storm, midnight shelter visit, and power outage when we arrived in Wisconsin. We had a hickory tree loaded with nuts at the back of our RV, twice with storms we heard loud thuds as they came down. A mid-month storm tipped over our bikes with a kick stand going through spokes; no damage but really tough to untangle. When we arrived for our week visit near Carlinville, IL another a long night of thunder storms, wind, and power outage. We did have a few cooler nights which we enjoyed and saw the ‘Blue Moon’ not to appear again until 2037.

Salty Strings had one music engagement this month, in Carlinville, IL at another ‘home’ church. We prepared some special music for the morning service and were able to share quite a few folk songs in the afternoon for their “Neighborhood Block Party.” We tuned up all the instruments after church, had a wonderful hot dog and chips lunch, moved everything outside, and enjoyed playing from 1:30-3:15. We moved our shade canopy further away from the bounce house noise from kids (and adults) bouncing about and the air fan, but were still a bit hoarse after singing so much. We are definitely out of shape, but it was a great day for outdoor music with a slight breeze and mostly overcast 76 degrees. Connie even had her face painted!

We had two moves this month, all about 4-5 hours each day, and John was able to help drive. The first was near friends in Carlinville, IL for a week-long stay. It was 83 outside when we left, 99 in the RV on arrival mid-afternoon and still 80 inside at 6 pm. Driving into the sun with some wind we didn’t get very good diesel mileage, but it was a shorter trip with a pull through site making parking easy.

As we left for our two-day trip back to Mississippi, for the first time we had no glitches with the slides going in or securing the lock lever when we hitched up! There were a lot of speed traps along the way to our overnight stay at Lambert’s RV park, Sikeston, MO where we opted to put the jacks down just enough to stabilize the RV so we could put our slides out and have use of the kitchen and TV for a relaxed evening. After a good night sleep John wanted to walk to a restaurant a couple of blocks away with good information online, however on arrival we found no cars, dark building, and a carry-out only sign on the door. We hiked back, iced down the knee, ate breakfast in the trailer, packed our sandwiches for travel, and headed out. We stopped at a beautiful rest area as we entered Tennessee, and arrived at our property around 2 pm. We stopped in the driveway to survey our renovated RV site, parked and set-up then checked the house (very musty with no a/c for over two months). Our driveway still needs some finesse and the back yard is a jungle but we are ‘home’ for a few months with lots to do for the house to be ready to rent before winter.

Devotion Thought: Contentment isn’t having what you want; it is wanting what you have.

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:3-4 NIV

Until next month – thanks for traveling with us!

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
3916 N. Potsdam Ave. #3962
Sioux Falls, SD 57104

Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com

ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our web site

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
** September 1-November 24 – Our property, Jacinto, MS – house repairs/rental
** November 24-February 2024 possibly – SOWER Project, Bonifay, FL

The Salt Shaker ~ July 2023

July 31, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Praises – Always blessed – wonderful showers after hot sweaty travel days; fresh garden produce and sweet corn; hotel bath tubs; fresh flowers (forgot to take a picture); April 2022 medical bill finally cleared up; John’s hand/wrist and back injury better; great weather for outdoor concert, thanks to everyone who prays for us!

Prayers – Safe travel to Illinois, then back to northeast Mississippi; John’s knee, continued healing and wisdom to see doctor or not; finding contractors for house work needed to get it rented

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms . . . If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4:7, 10-11

Hello to our followers, family, and friends:

It has always seemed strange and awkward saying we’re going to work. Even adding volunteer or retired as a disclaimer is weird. Another volunteer pointed us to the verse above – we are servants. We don’t work – we serve, and it doesn’t happen in our strength but with God’s provision. So, as we write this, we are still trying to leave the old behind and embrace the idea of serving.

Our July volunteer service hours were 83 plus another 7 from last month making a total of 90 hours labor to help Little Galilee, our ‘home’ camp. Every place we have served is always so grateful for the help they get from volunteers – we don’t seem to do much, but every hour helps them fulfill their ministry purpose. John has had lots of frustration this year with body aches and injuries. He was down almost a week with his back (just getting out of his chair after breakfast), and wearing a wrist brace before that. Connie helped with shoes and socks a lot, John was quite creative with his silverware technique, and he couldn’t eat rice or ramen with chopsticks either. It is hard to keep going with pain and discomfort, but we all can make a choice to be miserable or be happy – we remain blessed by our loving God.

It didn’t take long for the humming birds to find our feeder. The last time we were here John was able to stand right underneath and have them fly all around; the beautiful ruby throated birds this year were not as bold even after John hung his hat on the ladder right next to the feeder. The RV area has a wild prairie field across the road so we had pheasants, lots of rabbits, red-wing black birds (and lots of other kinds too), and a few deer sightings. Coming home from church Connie saw a spotted fawn standing on the edge of a road curve intently watching a yellow crop duster plane head towards it, pulling up right before the curve to circle back. The most interesting was watching our deformed baby humming bird grow up a bit. He arrived one late-morning and hung onto the feeder all day, barely drinking, still clinging tightly even as night started. His beak was slightly off center, joined his head at a strange angle, and he appeared to be a bit touched in the head. We expected to find him dead on the ground the next morning, but when Connie checked in the night he was gone. He came back the next day, the other birds ignoring him, and eventually flew off as night approached. As the weeks went along his feathers smoothed out, getting more vibrant in color, more agile (even chasing others away), and was able to get his beak into the feeder easier. We wonder if we’ll see him again on our next visit.

July weather has been varied. The first week Connie took a daily morning walk to avoid the heat; she walked a mile one morning and it was ‘feels like 80’ at 8am. That previous night there was a beautiful large orange moon and vibrant sunrise just starting at 4:30am. We had many windy days, typical of our stays here, along with a few good thunder storms; one from 2-4 am that caused enough of a power fluctuation to trip the gfci breakers on our electric box outside. We had many days with a heat index over 100. Two interesting coincidences – when we arrived in Illinois the end of June the blessing of rain came a few days later AND when we arrived in Wisconsin the end of July the blessing of rain came as well a few days later (both areas were very dry). On June 29 (IL) we headed to the camp tornado shelter with a tornado warning after supper AND on July 29 (WI) we headed to a basement in a staff building with a tornado warning from 11:30 pm-12:30 am. The first trend we don’t mind, hopefully the tornado warning trend will end!

Connie, with all the heat, didn’t do much for serving at the beginning. One morning it promised to be nice so helping John with the bench painting at the fire pit seemed like a good start, until the epoxy paint was mixed – it sets up fairly quickly and doesn’t flow like regular paint. It was a very rushed 3 hours, the last half hour almost like painting with tar, but we finished up by lunch time. After the newsletter was finished, she went to the old office and sorted through photos to make framed collages for “Self-Control,” the dining room hallways. All together 14 photo frames were filled with 2000-2011, 2012-13, and 1974-79 camp pictures. Visitors and previous campers enjoy looking at the photos when they stop by and it was fun seeing all the different camps, themes, clothing, and smiling faces.

Salty Strings Ministry provided worship music twice in July. The first for our home church was the Connie-Connie duo since John couldn’t stand up straight or walk very well from his back going out on Saturday morning. Connie headed in to church with our backup plan of finding the songs somewhere out there with internet searches; however, another Connie that sings on one of the worship teams happened to walk in and agreed to sing with our folk instruments. She practiced in the truck as Connie drove back to camp to get the instruments, then practiced during Sunday School, and the service went well.

Our second worship service was in Bushnell and that went well also, except John had some trouble focusing (the last time we were here was for his brother’s memorial service). We took the scenic route home, driving through the marsh area which was beautiful with no overflow, the first time in many years. July 30, Salty Strings traveled to Portage, WI for an outside tent concert at the Historic Indian Agency House “Enduring Skills” event (www.agencyhouse.org). We spent lots of time researching to find old hymns and music typical of 1830’s frontier days – now we have a few ‘new’ hymns after getting words and chords together. The drive and afternoon were enjoyable (except for the flies), sharing with the attendees, and seeing the exhibits (paper marbling, char cloth, butter making, flintknapping, and more). We had a private tour of the Agency House to see the piano that was brought from the east and used for hymns and gatherings. It was a bit warm but we were in the shade with a slight breeze. Our daughter drove to meet us for an early supper on our way home.

John was anxious to get started and found his service would be preparing benches, tables, and shelters for paint. The fire pit was first – they added recycled bench boards to expand the seating to ~220 for the upcoming weekend use. A volunteer group was to come and paint the tables and shelters so he spent about 2 weeks preparing the very well-built large picnic tables in each of six shelters. Everything was scraped, sanded, flipped, then more scraping and sanding. The second day when he flipped a table, he discovered a seat board that wasn’t fastened tightly; it came loose and landed on the back of his hand and wrist. That slowed things down a bit and all the seats were checked before flipping in the future. All the loose paint of the shelter buildings were also scraped and sanded for touch-up as well. The painting group cancelled so the last week he painted tables and primed the shelters, running out of time so some tables only had the tops and seats painted.

In our free time we made a trip to Champaign to have the action adjusted on John’s Taylor guitar. The drive was after a storm so there were a few areas of flattened crops, tree limbs down, and field porta potties overturned. Our bathroom ceiling fan was still leaking after this storm so John sealed it up then had to wait a few weeks for another rain before putting the trim back, no leaks now! Connie researched computer options and tackled transferring files and programs to our “recording” computer. Our office computer has been slowly dying and getting slower and slower; what a blessing to do our June “Salt Shaker” and publish it from the newer computer with only a few glitches with printers! John took a long bike ride when we arrived, Connie rode her bike getting around the camp on days she was working on photos and eating lunch at the dining hall. It was still a bit warm and muggy most evenings, so our evening walks were few.

We were able to attend our home church, Lane Christian Church, three Sundays this month, getting two “missions” updates and reconnecting with our church family here. The first thing John checked was the sound booth to see if it was finished from our remodel work last summer. It was – the carpet was down, metal step strips were in place, and the shelves were up and working fine. Our other Sunday was with family at Bushnell Christian Church where we shared some songs and attended Sunday School, the topic being worship. Amazing how God orchestrates the lessons so we were able to share various worship formats in churches we’ve attended. Music was by far the hottest topic, from styles to artists, old and new, and finding the best balance for everyone.

July could be categorized as our month of fellowship! John was able to attend a once-a-month “Area Men’s Fellowship” meal and meeting – he said the meal was good but the dessert was fantastic! (He didn’t bring any home to share either.) We visited with Connie’s Peace Meal helper and chatted with four other friends from Weldon, IL (our previous home). We enjoyed a pizza supper meal with a couple we know from Clinton and were treated to a great lunch at Boon Dock Grill with a couple from church. John went to the Coffee Hour at church on Wednesday mornings and we both went our last Wednesday to visit with some friends and say our final good-byes before traveling to Wisconsin the next day. We did an overnight stay with John’s family, had a great visit over a home-cooked supper with his Aunt, a good hotel breakfast, and had six for Sunday lunch at ‘Joe’s’ even seeing Joe again after many years. Our friend from Beloit drove to spend some time with us right as John was getting back to the scraping and sanding, they had some good conversations as they worked together, what a blessing friends are.

We packed up and traveled to East Troy, Wisconsin on July 27 – a short 4-hour trip on familiar roads. The camp here has fairly narrow sites with posts marking the drives and a narrow driveway as well. Their water and electric hookups are way in the back so we parked multiple times to avoid the posts, reach the electric hookup, and avoid the tree with our slide out. It was likely very amusing to watch, but not that funny for us in the sunshine and a high heat index!

A couple of thoughts from devotions this last month:
“When people are crabby, it’s often not about me but about them. When people are nice to me, it’s a special blessing from a loving Lord who put those nice people into the path of my life.”
“Fear is a primal instinct, it is generally negative, but it will move a person toward self-security. Love takes you out of yourself and helps you focus on others, on being of service to them.”

Thanks for traveling with us and being part of our family too!

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
~ July 27-August 24 – SOWER Project, East Troy, WI
~ August 24-31 – Carlinville, IL RV park – visit friends
~ September 1-November 24 – Our property, Jacinto, MS – house repairs/rental
~ November 24-February 2024 possibly – SOWER Project, Bonifay, FL

The Salt Shaker ~ June 2023

June 30, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Praises – Contractor work for house joist/floor leveling; protection from storms; inherited items selling; lightening RV weight for travel and invertor working

Prayers – Safe travel to Wisconsin, seeing family and friends; energy and health for SOWER volunteer work; good weather July 30 for outdoor music

Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets . . you see my thoughts from far away . . you keep watch over my steps and my sleep . . . Where may I go from your Spirit?. . I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders . . in your book all my days were recorded . . Psalm 139:1-3, 7, 14, 16 paraphrased-Basic English Bible

Hello to our family, friends, and followers:

June did not start well for our house renovations. We had an unexpected main water line break on June 1 followed by the heat pump (a/c) not working on June 2. Connie had to make a trip to the laundromat to get some work clothes clean, and we used the ceiling fans to keep the inside temperature workable (at least in the mornings for Connie). John worked with a contractor to get the floors stable and reasonably level, as well as putting in new PEX cold water lines. By mid-month Connie turned on the main line while John and the contractor checked for leaks above and below the floor – no leaks, cold water to toilet and washer, and clean clothes for travel!

There were about 58 hours we logged as working on our rental house. John decided (after a very high quote) to put in new PEX water lines on his own and completed the cold water before we left. Connie slowly tackled the walls in the living room and bedroom (with a little bit of help) getting these rooms ready to paint when we return. There were many nail/screw holes to patch, a wallpaper border that seemed to be super glued, and light sanding for the old paneling/paint.

Our hostas started blooming along with some gladiolas (yellow and a red one later, Connie’s grandma’s favorite), another yellow rose bush, and the apple tree has apples! The plum tree must be decorative with no signs of fruit and nothing on the pear trees. Of concern was finding Japanese beetles shredding the leaves of the pussy willow plant two days before leaving. The leaves were sprayed and hopefully the beetles will leave before too much is destroyed.

Knowing we would be making a two-day trip north Connie researched and ordered an invertor for the RV (it keeps the refrigerator running from the battery). We had made shorter trips and went without for over a year and it was time with summer heat upon us. John moved things out of the ‘basement’ storage and the old one actually worked at one point (of course) but wouldn’t run the next day so the new one was installed and works great! There was one evening that the bathroom vent was left open and we found a wet floor during the night from a passing thunderstorm. There were still some drips two days later so the trim was taken down to investigate. No apparent problems with the vent or seal, everything was dried out thoroughly and put back together. Note to selves: check the vent before going to bed!

Salty Strings had music for the SALT senior group the first June meeting, and a devotion for the second meeting (the instruments were all tucked away for travel). We provided the instrumentation (guitar and auto harp) for Father’s Day worship music, working with their song leader – that went very well and was a blessing to them and us. We arrived in Illinois 2 days before our annual program for Jolly Seniors, made our song list, learned 2 new songs, and had a wonderful program there. Every year it seems to rain for this program, we thought this year would be an exception but it rained 3 times after we had things unloaded and quit as we loaded the truck back up. We didn’t get wet this year and the crops really needed the rain.

One of the silly things we do to keep each other on our toes is to ‘hide’ our soft plastic, almost slimy, somewhat iridescent salamander throughout the RV. Once in a while we even manage to get more than a smile when he’s found. He was found one morning and rescued before Puff (the instant pot release valve) ate him for breakfast. Connie keeps using her instant pot for a lot of our meals, and a few times a month she makes her own yogurt which keeps for a few weeks in covered jars in the refrigerator.

Connie’s big June adventure was going to camp. She volunteered to help the camp cook (Pastor’s wife) the first two days of high school week, preparing all three meals for about 80 campers and staff each day. That was great fun for her, however the camp was near Tupelo, MS about an hour away so she opted to stay overnight in the girl’s dorm. Quite different from sleeping in the RV; plastic mattress cover, bottom bunk, and 2 minute “lights out” warning that lasted forever, followed by the upper bunk search with a flashlight that kept shining in her face. She had a really good night’s sleep after getting back home!

By mid-June the kitchen and bathroom floors in the house were removed/patched and as level as possible, the bathroom fixtures were out, and John had secured our two RV site water spigots to their posts. He stayed plenty busy the rest of the time cleaning up the property with two trailers for the dump, filling the truck with scrap metal (old water heater, bed springs, aluminum ducts from mobile home), and moving wood/brush out of sight. Our trip to town netted $35 for the scrap metal, yeah! Another praise was getting our inherited eyesore trampoline sold (even though they didn’t come until 9pm) and the dish washer sold as well – all the larger items are gone finally and the property is looking so much better. We both went through our “RV spaces” and thinned out what we wanted to carry in with us since we now have a place to store things. We plan to spend more time off-road so many tools, stained glass materials and tools, paperwork, and music was put in the wheel barrow for transport and now lines the walls in our section of the house. Once we arrived in Illinois, one of the first things was unpacking the bicycles; after the tires were pumped up John took off for a ride.

Mississippi June weather was hot and muggy with lots of thunderstorms and tornado warnings – nothing that affected our property thankfully. We have three dusk-to-dawn yard lights and one morning the lights didn’t turn off until after 7 am. Typically, Connie is anxious with storms and winds but there was one day that she found the thunderstorms quite enjoyable – there were no heavy downpours or winds, just lots of lightening and long rolling thunder, off and on all day. Illinois weather had been very dry with short corn and cracks in the dirt; not as hot or humid as Mississippi and cooling into the upper 60’s at night for great sleeping weather. Our first two days were hazy with 1.3-mile visibility from the Canada wild fire smoke.

Along with new flowers appearing we had a few new critters as well. The day Connie turned the water back on was very hot and she moved a cement block into the shade to sit on while controlling the main valve. There was a faded out, slimy pinkish thing, she thought might have been a snake (which we haven’t seen on the property, yet). After watching and research, and seeing another one while cleaning up the scrap metal and wood pile, they were three-striped salamanders. We also had a hawk land on a tree branch outside our RV window and after a huge downpour there was a (box?) turtle making his way across our driveway headed to the woods. The hummingbird feeder was put up after arriving in Illinois and found less than 5 hours later. We’ll see if they remember John from last year and allow him to hang around in their feeder space again.

There have been a few health-related issues causing minor discomfort and discouragement this month. Connie found out, the hard way, that some wonderful vine-type ground cover last month was in fact poison ivy, oak, or sumac and had to deal with the side effects most of the month. She also woke one morning with a sore throat and couldn’t talk for about 3 days, which perhaps was a good thing?! John’s ankle was bothering the beginning of the month, his knee was swollen mid-month, and a picnic table seat board whacked his hand/wrist at the end of the month. Add in a few ticks and lots of crawling around under the house and up and down ladders – it is a good time for a change of scenery!

The last part of the month was saying our ‘goodbyes’ to our Mississippi friends before heading north. We had our last date night with Iuka church friends at the Aqua Harbor Yacht Grille. June 25-26 we were on the road traveling to Little Galilee Christian Camp in Clinton, IL and our home church in Lane, IL. The trip was slightly longer than we wanted for one day so we attended Sunday School and church service, took some sandwiches with us, and got hooked up. We had concerns about the slides working and getting the wheels out of the dirt sink holes, but all went smoothly for our 4 hours to Sikeston, Missouri.

We planned overnight lodging at Lambert’s Café (home of the throwed rolls) and we were thankful for electric hookup overnight. It was 98 degrees, very windy and muggy so we parked, turned on the air conditioners, found a TV station, and relaxed a bit before supper. It wasn’t long before there was water coming from the a/c and soaking the end of the bed! Towels were applied, the vents were removed, water was sopped up from the unit, and it was turned off. We went to supper, returned to our now 80-degree home where John climbed onto the roof. Everything looked good and we turned it back on (low this time) with no further issues through the night. Once it cooled off, we slept fine not leaving until 10am for another 4-5 hours to our destination.

Once we arrived in Illinois John found his volunteer niche this year would be scraping and sanding pavilions, benches, and picnic tables. He started on a Thursday in the morning, and continued Friday with 7 hours total. There was a time-out on day one, waiting for a tornado warning and thunderstorms to pass through and the power to be restored. A slow start but camp is in session, campers are here, and we are ready for God to use us mightily.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV

Until next month – thanks for traveling with us and being part of our family ~

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

June 26-July 27 – Little Galilee, Clinton, IL
July 27-August 24 – SOWER Project, East Troy, WI
July 31 – Portage, WI Music for Enduring Skills Historic Festival, 1-2 pm
August 24-31 – Carlinville, IL RV park – visit friends
September 1-November 24 – Our property, Jacinto, MS – house repairs/rental
November 24-February 2024 possibly – SOWER Project, Bonifay, FL

The Salt Shaker ~ April/May 2023

May 31, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Finally, brothers and sisters, be joyful! Work to make things right with one another. Help one another and agree with one another. Live in peace. And the God who gives love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 New International Readers Version

Praises – Renters moving in June 5; trailer a/c unit repaired, duct work redone; refrigerator found and in place; beautiful RV place to “live” when off-road

Prayers – Travel and music June-August; wisdom, patience, prioritizing rental house repairs; relax and enjoy more, worry less; RV a/c to keep working

Hello to our friends, family, and followers:

April 1, we took the cats (Mama and 5 kittens) to the shelter, they are all still there and, unknown to us, Mama was pregnant again when we took her in. Once settled in we put up the hummingbird feeder – it was found less than 24 hours later with these little guys being not as aggressive with each other and scared of the noises and us in the trailer at first. Then there was Connie’s first lizard siting – April 13 – two little guys sunning themselves on the trailer back entry stairs.

God is watching over us with travel protection and our health. With 211 hours in April and another 180 in May, John’s back is holding up well except for one slip on the outside steps requiring some ice breaks and modified work for a few days. Connie woke with a stomach ache, light headache, and very dizzy one morning – that lasted about 3 days. She stayed home getting caught up on bills and taxes (still had the last-minute crunch) while John was at the property getting the RV electric trenched and hooked up.

Our RV driveway and site were ready so we drove around the driveway on April 22 and found a big ditch across the drive where some electric cable was buried, enough to almost get stuck with the truck. We sent some pictures and the contractor was there first thing Monday morning to pack it down, allowing us to “move in” early afternoon (April 24). Our driveway needs a bit more work: we almost put the trailer wheels into some soft gravel over a culvert, backed up a bit, then inched the truck tires along the outer edge to get to our spot (need to widen the curve!). Now we can take more breaks and even take an afternoon siesta when needed.

Salty Strings has remained active for the twice monthly meetings of SALT (Senior Adults Living Triumphantly) as well as some special music at the two churches we attend. We occasionally attend worship practice at Cross Point Church in Iuka and helped cook after church one Sunday for a motorcycle suicide awareness ride (Savannah TN to Iuka MS). They had a work day where John enjoyed the fellowship and working with Christian men to remove/replace a section of the front wall. April brought a foot washing evening service at Journey Church during Lent, Good Friday (Jesus’ death), and Easter Sunday celebration of His resurrection. We love these two little churches for their wonderful messages, teachings, and people!

We are finding the location for our RV is even better than we imagined; we are sheltered from the wind for our awnings and most window views are of trees. We fixed the chain for our inherited swing and enjoyed an evening fire. Our phone booster was moved, then raised higher, and we have a fairly good signal most of the time for phone service and hotspot. Connie finished a 3-generation granny square small blanket early in April and started another crocheted scrap yarn blanket later in May. We have neglected, or been too tired, to take walks but did find it is a quarter mile if we do the double loop – that means 4 trips around for a mile, which sounds way too tiring! We did have a curious pickup truck driver stop by our RV looking for the RV park he heard about, we didn’t volunteer any information.

There were more storm and tornado watches early in April and lots of rainy days slowing driveway work and causing some washout areas. The rest of April and May brought sunshine, blue sky, and breezy enjoyable days with an occasional thunder storm. Summer is coming though, the last several days being 90’s and humidity rising.

May 18-20, we travelled north to a hotel in Macomb, IL for John’s brother’s memorial/celebration of life service. Two of our children were there, staying in the same hotel and we enjoyed hotel breakfast with them. The service was wonderful, we did some walking around the ‘square’ and took a nap in the afternoon before joining more family in the evening. We ate at a wonderful café, 7 total, with haystack onion rings and huge pork tenderloin sandwiches (would fit on 6 large buns easily). A hotel bagel with leftover tenderloin and John’s leftover BLT became our lunch as we drove back to Mississippi. It was a quick trip but we saw lots of family while we were there.

Work continued on the trailer to be ready for “open house” mid-May. Painting, entry floor, trim, doors, carpets shampooed, and more surprises! With warmer weather the repaired air conditioning was not keeping up; after removing several handfuls of insulation from the ducts we hired a contractor to replace all the duct work (we planned on doing this in the fall). Also, the front door started scraping again; John’s new repairs along with changing the entry to vinyl has fixed the problem permanently (we believe). All around the outside John picked up limbs, washed the outside walls with bleach, and cleaned the windows – no more green moss. We met the prospective tenant the last day of May and now have a 1-year lease!

April marked our 39^th wedding anniversary and we got a new (scratch and dent sale) washer/dryer combo, hooked it up, and have clean laundry as we need it. We have continued joining others for the Friday date nights as our energy and finances permit, even did one alone at the end of a very tired Friday. Mother’s Day in May we enjoyed a light breakfast at church and Connie received some homemade cards from the kids along with a rose. John made a dolly and some ramps to get the hitch back in the truck so we could move the RV. Connie has figured out Marketplace where we have listed and sold a few things, finally getting our inherited 14’ trampoline out of the yard. We also found a larger refrigerator for the rental trailer, helped fix a moving trailer to haul it from Tupelo, and eventually switched it out, moving the smaller one into the house. A treat at Baskin Robbins was payment for all involved.

We started working on the rental house with shampooing the carpets before returning the cleaner. John proceeded to work on modifying the kitchen cabinets for the refrigerator, planning for new PEX plumbing, and lots of cleanup inside and out. Connie has the electric panel labeled, door locks changed, and two rooms almost ready to paint. A contractor has started work on the foundation and floor joists to get the floors more level and replace the rotten plywood. Lots of sorting junk and Goodwill (with a few trips already) to clear the clutter; and a borrowed trailer has been filled and junk hauled to the dump – the yard looks better already!

Many improvements have been made to the property as well. The flowering apple and plum trees were trimmed just a little so the branches don’t scrape vehicles, a pussy willow tree/bush from our Wisconsin daughter was planted, 6 tulips (a door prize from a SALT meeting) found homes, and our curbside trash container was finally re-bagged and a pallet put inside so us short people can reach the bags on the bottom. We spent a day digging up 30+ pine tree seedlings, grasses, and wild flowers and relocated them throughout the front, most ending up on our berm that covers half of our storm shelter. That brings us to the soil around here – hard, clay, sand, red dirt – mostly chopping rather than digging and a real mess (wet and dry) on the work clothes. We have many beautiful surprises growing in the yard; flowers, roses, hostas, and many others hidden during winter. May we be patient in all things, God knows when and where we will “bloom” next!

Do not be surprised when you encounter seemingly overwhelming situations . . . God puts you right in the middle of real messes! But He puts you there with a purpose . . . stand in faith asking God to intervene in the struggles you see . . . you are called and equipped to bring healing on Earth in the name of Jesus Christ. paraphrased from The Presidential Prayer Team Devotions, “The Purpose” April 11, 2023 (https://www.presidentialprayerteam.org)

Please keep us in your prayers . . . and THANKS for traveling with us!

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

June 26-July 27 – Little Galilee, Clinton, IL
June 28 – Music for Jolly Seniors, Lincoln, IL
July 27-August 24 – SOWER Project, East Troy, WI
July 31 – Portage, WI Music for Enduring Skills Historic Festival
August 24-31 – Carlinville, IL RV park – visit friends
September 1-November 24 – Our property, Jacinto, MS – house repairs/rental
November 24-February 2024 possibly – SOWER Project, Bonifay, FL

The Salt Shaker ~ March 2023

March 31, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Praises – Springtime, safety from storms, church family, driveway and RV sites progress

Prayers – Renters; HVAC a/c repairs; tornado damages in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Mississippi; cheap appliances

[Then] you will call to the Lord, and he will answer you. You will cry out to him, and he will say, “Here I am.” . . . The Lord will always lead you and satisfy your needs in dry lands. He will give strength to your bones. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring that never goes dry. Isaiah 58:9, 11 Easy-to-Read Version (ESR)

Hello to our family, friends, and followers:

With lots of hours (275) of property work this month, the majority were spent with paint brushes and rollers. We finally reached the point of buying paint – Kilz and Bulls Eye for priming lots of paneling, spackling, and ceiling spots; ceiling and trim paint; and finally ending with wall paint! Lots of exercise as well from crawling on the floor to climbing the ladder – artist brush for corner blocks and skinny door frames to trim brushes and rollers and extended roller handles to reach the ceiling. Many trips back and forth and lots of lunches packed, including some creative sandwich containers.

Our house tenants (former owners) were officially moved out by mid-month. We arrived one morning to find their water meter locked off (surprise!) and a few days later we had confirmation that whatever they left was ours to dispose of. Now, when we need a break, we can stroll over there and start sorting Goodwill from junk, pulling nails from the walls, and remodel planning. Exciting and depressing at the same time!

Connie tried to stay one step ahead researching paint products, water heaters, appliances (needed soon) along with getting the ceiling lights hanging down (and finding some broken bulbs to remove) and the walls and trim prepped for painting. The window blinds are back up as well as the ceiling fan blades. She also found a local locksmith for master keying our locks and found out what to do with various large junk items.

We work well together as a team and were finally able to figure out how to get the old furniture out of the trailer to the curb where it disappeared over the weekend; there is so much space now! We were able to move the chop saw into the dining room of the house, the broken water heater off the porch and the old window air conditioners to the carport along with miscellaneous deck boards and stacked wood from the yard. The lattice is back up on one side of the porch, outlets are being cleaned up, the bathroom linoleum is cut and fit, and a few boxes of things from the house have made it to Goodwill. It felt good to be outdoors one afternoon moving leaves and debris (raking and digging) to open up a culvert.

John still had other jobs as well including: caulking trim and gaps, removing the toilet to repair the floor, patching the sewer line under the trailer, repairing the entry threshold (sill is nice and firm now), patching trailer skirting behind the air conditioner unit, adding a hasp and padlock to the storage shed, adding brackets to the kitchen counter, removing yard junk, rebuilding the tub wall for access to plumbing, and repairing leaks to the shower. He also crawled under the house (a much smaller space with old pipes, cables, and hanging wires) to locate the water line for our RV site.

It was another crazy month for weather – dripping faucets and cabinet doors open two nights for freezing temperatures to the opposite extreme finding out our new air conditioning doesn’t work in the trailer (up to 88 degrees a few afternoons with humidity)! There were several beautiful days sitting on the house back porch looking beyond the trash to see the beauty of woodland trails someday, playing with kittens, and John able to practice guitar and mandolin under our RV awning. We also had days of gusty winds, thunderstorms with long ground-shaking thunder, a few short power outages, and getting through three tornado watches (one with sirens, another that kept getting extended until morning). We are so thankful for no damage directly around us.

Spring has arrived to northeast Mississippi! Our first tree (pear?) blossomed out in the front followed by an old plum tree in the back slated for removal for driveway space – it was so beautiful that we changed the layout a bit to allow it to remain. There were a few flowers blooming and rose bushes starting to leaf out. Other trees are getting leaves in various stages, an unknown tree in the front circle had white flowers, and the really old apple tree in the back blossomed out in pink and white the end of the month. How wonderful to see God’s beauty unfold revealing things we didn’t even know we have (physically and in our spiritual lives).

The left-behind animal situations are resolved after lots of prayers from many people. We found a collar and leash for the little dog, moved his pen under the carport for shelter, and located a rescue group in Georgia that could pick him up about an hour away in Alabama. John was able to fix up a door to a left behind pet carrier to use for his transport. We love animals so it was a hard day but a relief to not worry about him. Our local animal shelter has been full, but Connie found they had room for the mama cat and kittens at the end of the month. The kittens have been a fun part of the days as we watched them grow, climb through the lattice gate, follow their mama to the trailer porch, and get bolder and more playful. We rigged up a cat box with some old litter, fashioned a litter scoop (plastic commode pan with drilled holes), and mixed special treats (left behind cheese and sardines) with their food. They had their last sardine enhanced meal Friday the 31^st and went to the shelter Saturday; we miss their playfulness. (The shelter is no-kill, so it wasn’t really their “last meal”.)

With complete access now we have started cleaning things up. John cleared out the leaves and empty milk cartons from the still in good shape trampoline; a few screws stabilized the old wheel barrow (until the tire went flat again); a metal frame swing gained a screw and is now waiting research to get the chains hanging right; a skate board scooter was repurposed for a 4×8 panel board catcher; and larger pieces were removed and several bags were hauled to the street from the burn pile (the remains were buried by the heavy equipment).

All work and no down time leads to a very frustrating life so we managed to eat out a few times, including two Friday night triple dates. We joined two other couples from Cross Point Church for great evenings of food and fellowship, one was at Kokomo’s across the border in Tennessee, a small café full of 50’s memorabilia and juke box music. There is always laundry to do so we travel into Iuka to the laundromat with good internet for research (but no workspace). There are some interesting people (we’re included) and this “Mississippi Redneck” was probably a nice man but a bit scary. Connie was also able to get away one evening for a Ladies Group meeting at church.

Good news – our RV driveway contractor finally arrived and had dry weather the last three days of the month. Several times a day John walked around ‘overseeing’ their progress – we have an almost finished driveway, defined RV pads, driveway culverts in place, and double wide entrances/exits to the highway. It was fun watching ‘experts’ maneuver heavy equipment shaping and compacting dirt and gravel. Two trees came down quickly and were very precisely laid out for us to cut up. Low overhanging branches were ground off and chipped up with a hydraulic carbide loggers’ cutter. With a few weeks of dry weather, we should be ‘moving’ to our RV site by mid-April.

John was blessed one Sunday morning at Sunday School – the topic was being generous in our giving, especially to God’s family. The leader was sharing about a malfunctioning chain saw that he replaced and John said he could use a chain saw, intending to possibly purchase it. Next thing we know we are the owners of an 18” easy start Stihl chain saw, tuned up and free of charge! John fired it up and started cutting up tree branches; the second time was to cut up the trunk so the roots could be taken into the woods clearing the way for access to the RV water line.

We had more music opportunities this month including a Sunday night concert. We continued playing with Cross Point Church worship on Sunday mornings, sharing twice with special music songs, and provided music for two SALT (Journey Church senior ministry) meetings. The Journey Church invited us to do a concert for their evening 4^th Sunday singing service. Two couples from Cross Point came as well as our RV park owner and his wife to join with the church family. We had a wonderful time of praise and sharing some of our songs and testimony. The fellowship meal after (various soups, fixings, and desserts) was wonderful; we left full, encouraged, and very blessed.

For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies; for the love which from our birth over and around us lies. For the beauty of each hour, of the day and of the night; hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light. For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child; friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild. Lord of all to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the Beauty of the Earth, Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1835-1917

Tune in again next month for our progress and ministry update!

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

April to Mid-June – Our property Hwy 367 east of Jacinto, MS property work
May 19 – 3-day travels to Bushnell IL Memorial/Celebration of Life Service
June – north central Illinois (Carlinville, Clinton) family and volunteer work
July – Illinois/Wisconsin (Clinton, IL – Portage, WI) family, volunteer, music
August – unknown
September to November – likely back to property

The Salt Shaker ~ February 2023

February 28, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Praises – All we have accomplished with help from new friends, warmer weather (Connie without socks), music opportunities

Prayers – Completion of trailer repairs and the right renter, dry weather for the driveway/RV site contractor to get started and finished, John’s family as they grieve

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. You are the God who works wonders; you have made known Your might among the peoples. Psalm 77:11-12, 14 English Standard Version

Hello to our followers, friends, and family:

We are adapting to the ever-changing weather in northeast Mississippi. February has been from freezing to balmy upper 60’s, cloudy, windy, rainy, and many flood advisories and tornado watches. We drained the water lines, added a bit more insulation to the main line coming into the trailer, and had no trouble with a couple of below freezing nights. High winds rocked the RV a bit, but we are backed with a large hill that has helped. One evening there were tornado sirens with monsoon rain so we prayed and stayed in the trailer; we had no damage at the RV park.

We traveled to Bushnell, IL and back to be with John’s brother as he passed away. It was a great comfort to be able to talk with him a bit and help our niece care for him in his final days. There were lots of church provided meals and family visits, dishes to be cleaned, and long nights, but we know that he is no longer in pain and with his heavenly family.

Connie kept busy this month cleaning and shortening the wide-slat plastic window blinds, boiling water on the stove to use for hot soapy water. She removed a broken light bulb from the microwave, replaced it, and we now have light over the stove. The sanding and spackling of the walls is finished as well. Other cleaning included lots of vacuuming; washing the ceiling, walls, baseboard and cornice molding; outlet covers; microwave, stove, and refrigerator; and inside windows.

We had around 130 hours in three weeks this month making forward progress. John had lots of crawling in and out with rebuilding – window sill and wall under window, floor bracing under bath tub, patch and trim around new furnace, kitchen sink cabinet frame, and patch around the old dryer vent and stove fan. He also cut some new baseboard trim and fixed the bathroom heat duct. He really likes his new saw!

Together we moved the chain link dog cage a few times, got the old water heater to the porch, and helped the electrician (who is also a new friend and pastor of the Crosspoint Church in Iuka) get a light pole ready for new electric service for our RV sites.

February is a month of celebrations for us. Valentine’s Day we labeled as DQ day this year, finding ourselves enjoying blizzards after some shopping stops. Shortly after is John’s birthday and Connie took him out for breakfast at a local Christian restaurant, Cream and Sugar, downtown Iuka. There were other meals out with church friends as well as take out Chinese lunch that lasts for 2-3 meals. We still collapse in front of the TV after those long-days and have watched many YouTube wood turning projects, cat/dog videos, and a documentary style online video about Galilee wedding traditions relating to the rapture and second coming. Also, we have our regular ‘hour’ shows – In the Heat of the Night, Perry Mason, Rizzoli and Isles, Hawaii Five-0, and Law and Order.

An elder of the Journey Church (south of our property) started a new seniors ministry this month and we are providing the music (entertainment?) portion. SALT (Senior Adults Living Triumphantly) had their first meeting on the 15^th and we were there. We joined the worship group at Cross Point Church in Iuka near our RV site and enjoy the practice times and adding the sounds of autoharp and bouzouki to their guitars, mandolin, keyboard, and violin to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

Throughout the month of February our critter family at the property have changed. The black stray cat had 5 kittens (black as well, perhaps with a few tiger stripes). The mean dog broke his lead and is gone, and they did find a home for the always barking back deck dog while we were gone. They finally took their outside cat. Although our county has a no-kill animal shelter, it services 5 counties and they are full; so, we now buy dog and cat food for the dog still left and the mama cat, and worry about the days we are not there to feed them.

We enjoy having our booster and phone/wifi coverage at the trailer as we work. It is so handy to ‘google’ our wants and needs – mobile home window glaze, water heaters, and paint (very expensive) were the top three this month, with some decisions and purchases still pending. It was also a blessing to be able to ‘publish’ our newsletter update from the trailer. That takes a few hours to get the formatting and photos to the right spots in the technology world and it was much faster than our spotty wifi and phone service at the RV park. Of course, as you research you also buy, leading to many shopping trips. We splurged and purchased a small ham which made excellent stock for split pea soup and a cabbage, carrot, potato concoction plus extra ham in the freezer. Our 40-mile round trip commute to ‘work’ also means diesel purchases and our local fuel pumps have been very slow (1 gallon/minute, no kidding!) so many partial fills.

Other encouragement and progress: there are orange and blue lines by the road (still waiting for the RV driveway contractor to start) and the owners started moving out. In our minds we have made several plans for the house renovations and repairs. We are consulting with a church member/former construction company manager who thinks several of our changes are possible, but now comes reality. What we have envisioned in our minds is not compatible with the wall construction – the electric panel is in the middle of our planned ‘community laundry area’ stairs and opening. Oops! On our first visit inside after the moving truck left, the washer lines had been leaking for a week; they were plugged the next day, leaving a soggy floor and wall studs. More planning and thinking, but based on measurements and reality this time, and of course lots of prayer.

But this is precisely what is written: “God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 Common English Bible

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

March/April/Mid-May – Work at our property Hwy 367 east of Jacinto, MS
May 19 – Bushnell IL Memorial/Celebration of Life Service
June – north central Illinois (Carlinville, Clinton) family and volunteer work
July – Illinois/Wisconsin (Clinton, IL – Portage, WI) family, volunteer, music

The Salt Shaker ~ January 2023

January 31, 2023September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

Everyone will live in peace among their own vineyards and fig trees, and no one will make them afraid. The Lord Almighty has promised this. Micah 4:4 Good News Translation

Praises – The work that is completed, new church friends, driveway and RV sites coming soon

Prayers – Bodies to hold up for contortion work still needed, being a blessing to those we hire and work with

Hello to our friends, family, and followers:

To finish off December, we had to have back steps in place and ‘railing’ around the front deck for insurance coverage. The old fiberglass steps were pulled to the back with the tread strengthened and new, wider steps were built for the front entry. All the old deck boards were removed, a joist and several stabilizer boards were added, and a combination of new and old boards were screwed back on. We took a few days off with some sore backs but the finished deck doesn’t wobble, sway, or bounce when walking across it. During this process the front door quit shutting, the screen door handle broke, and Connie didn’t like the roof drips during/after the rain so we also added a 10’ gutter over the door (twice, needed repositioning to catch more water). One of the dogs here is an escape artist so we had Bailey’s help on the days he was free.

January 5 we officially had heat after finding a mobile home HVAC company! John found the furnace wasn’t sealed underneath with lots of heat escaping so they came back for that and to fix the bathroom vent (which still isn’t right). We have been cleaning out the vents and trying to seal them up but most have small holes in several spots.

In general our projects seemed to progress very slowly, just when things were getting accomplished there would be even more to do! New Year’s Day Connie finished clearing the mobile home, enough for two truckloads to Goodwill and many trash bags. After finding the water PVC pipe shattered after our 5-day freeze, John proceeded to remove the remnants of insulation, cutting down the spider web threads, and pulling the old pipes – many days and hours in the red clay under the ‘trailer’ as we refer to this part of the property. We contacted several plumbers with no results then found a plumber lives a few trailers down. After getting a material list and quote it took two weeks to pull together the parts and we had running water the 28^th! We then decided after a few days of water heater unexplained leaking that we will need to replace it.

John spent most of the month rebuilding and bracing floors and walls. Starting with the tilting water heater he replaced the floor section and fastened the drywall to the back wall that had been damaged at the bottom. He moved to the master bedroom adding support around the floor vent, and then rebuilt the wall and floor under the living room window that had the air conditioner unit. Moving on to the bathroom, he added support under the bath tub and rebuilt around the floor vent.

Along with the major rebuilds John cleaned carpet spots to salvage the bedroom carpets, worked on a closet door and front door frame, scraped the old linoleum and sanded the bathroom floor, rebuilt the pantry lower walls, and took down the blades from 3 ceiling fans for cleaning and reversal. We came in one morning and found the shop vac wouldn’t turn on, he brought it home, got to the switch, cleaned the connections, and it works again! He also talked with our neighbor up the road, who happens to own the property to the south of us, and got a good idea of the lot lines. Eventually he walked through the woods finding all the markers.

We’ve attended two churches this month. Journey Church (formerly Jones Chapel) is a small free will Baptist church about 8 minutes from our property with friendly people and good messages. After two weeks we started attending Cross Point Church about 5 minutes from where we are ‘living’ rather than make the commute. Cross Point is another small non-denominational congregation with lots of musicians for morning worship, testimony, and good messages as well. We will change up now and then since we love them both and have found good friends in each.

Our second Sunday at Journey Church we were invited out for lunch by one of the elder couples and learned a lot about the area. Our second Sunday at Cross Point was the ‘5th’ Sunday where they combine Sunday School and Service time for a 2-hour time of worship, testimony, and special music followed by a great potluck with to-go boxes. The family of God is wonderful in all its many forms!

By the middle of the month John realized his music callouses were vanishing and started picking up some instruments to get them toughened up again. He was able to practice outside a few sunny afternoons and it was good to hear music again. We joined Cross Point church worship team sharing our autoharp and bouzouki sounds with their violin, mandolin, keyboard, and guitars and shared two of our songs and stories for special music with Connie playing accordion.

Connie light sanded all the walls and spackled the holes, rebuilding some moldings and ceiling holes in preparation for painting. She also replaced 3 outlets with GFCI, labeled the electric panel, tore out the old bathroom carpet, tried to move the refrigerator outlet (2” short on wire so it had to be put back), and replaced the screen door handle. Her other jobs were keeping track of contractor appointments, shopping lists, and trying to sell some unneeded trailer items.

Early in the month our cell phone booster arrived and about a week later we tested it for our RV reception; after several scenarios it didn’t make enough difference to deal with the hassle of it needing to be mobile. We then tried it at the trailer (where we had no indoor reception) and found it works great! We now are blessed to communicate with the outside world throughout our work days and can research our problems as they happen. Our truck also passed 100,000 miles on our way back home, John got to look over Connie’s shoulder and watch as it rolled over.

We have had many walks around the ‘block’ at the RV site and our property and woods. The weather has been good and bad and horrible and great – regardless there have been blue birds, cardinals, wood peckers, perhaps purple martin, some sparrow and dove types, deer tracks, and one squirrel. On one morning commute there was a bald eagle landing in a tree and another day a young deer in the middle of the highway in a sun spot like he owned the road. Following some warmer days, patches have appeared in many yards of yellow daffodils in bloom (with ice and freezing temperatures the next day). Early January we headed to Corinth (MS) for a 9-stop errand day and were met with heavy rain, wind, and tornado sirens (which no one was concerned with) for our morning stops. As in all parts of this world there have been some spectacular sunrises and sunsets too!

Connie has been quite unmotivated for most of the month but managed a day of creative cooking inspired by using up some sour milk. Her pie pan chocolate cake was a bit over cooked (microwave) but one was frosted for the potluck and the other she ate with some milk. One evening she warmed it up, John took it from the microwave to serve his tired wife, and it ended up looking like lots of coffee grounds on the drawers and floor. Immediately forgiven, Connie sighed and recommended cleaning it up in the morning thinking it would dry like coffee grounds – it dried like glue! Then there were the ‘hand’ waffles. While making pancake/waffle batter she had the brilliant idea to cook them on the George Forman grill (a new acquisition from the property) since it had ridges, cooked from both sides, and should crisp up like a waffle. That didn’t work out very well, turned out like pancakes with ridges or shell fans, interesting for sure. That cooking day ended with a great batch of spaghetti, pretty hard to mess that up!

We also have a contractor for the driveway/RV sites. We walked around putting in some flags where we want things to be resulting in a quote (much higher than anticipated). That led to some meetings with MDOT (Mississippi Dept. of Transportation) and TCEPA (local electric service) for a culvert permit to widen our driveways and electric service procedures for the RV areas. With good weather (quite unlikely) we could be living on site by the end of February!

John found this wonderful potato friend for lonely cold days while preparing fried potatoes for breakfast one day. He is just right to move around our kitchen/living room and keep watch over us (this is all natural, just the way he was found). However, all things must come to an end and Mr. Potato Shark was breakfast a few weeks later.

As part of the remodel/repair work needed we planned on purchasing some woodshop equipment for John. Now that the trailer is empty, his early birthday presents can have homes; the 2nd bedroom is shop 2 with saw horses and room to cut paneling and plywood and the master bedroom is shop 1 with his new chop/miter saw and stand. We made a special trip to Muscle Shoals, Alabama so he could visit a music store and we got 20% off on his new ‘shop’ equipment.

It has been a good month, realizing in looking back that we have accomplished a lot in our many trips and 186 hours (including drive time, lunch, breaks, and walks). It has been some hard work, rewarding and frustrating. We have had many conversations throughout to make some major decisions and to encourage each other when it seems this will never be ready to rent. We realized this month that although we are not working for a ministry through SOWERs we believe God has allowed us to be here and has a purpose for us in this place at this time. Our prayer is that as we continue this work here, we will be a blessing to others.

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Galatians 1:10 New Living Translation

Please keep us in your prayers . . . and THANKS for catching up with our adventures!

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

February/March – Huckleberry Hill RV, Iuka, MS – property repairs, rental
March/April/May – French Camp SOWER project (another bread mailing perhaps)
April/May – Our property Hwy 367 east of Jacinto, MS more property work
June – north central Illinois (Carlinville, Clinton) family and volunteer work
July – Illinois/Wisconsin (Clinton, IL – Portage, WI) family, volunteer, music

The Salt Shaker – November/December 2022

December 31, 2022September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

The Lord provides everything we need – please remove falsehood and lies, give us neither poverty or riches, feed us with food that is needful for us (physically, mentally, and spiritually) and help us to be satisfied with everything You supply’ Journal God Lesson, December 2022

Praises – New property for time off between projects; safe travels; lots to do but no time clock

Prayers – Reimbursements settled for truck repairs; repairs and fixes needed to rent property; continued health and energy

Hello to our family, followers, and friends:

Something different for this update – it is two months and we are inserting some of Connie’s journal “God Lessons” throughout. With all that has been going on we just haven’t had the inspiration and focus to collect our thoughts. As a friend pointed out “sometimes it is difficult to write about things when you are not emotionally settled yourself” – how true!
Jesus – He embodied truth, He didn’t embellish the truth

Thanksgiving came and went; we were invited along with a few others to dinner and Connie was grumbling about southern cornbread dressing but to her surprise it was bread dressing almost like Great Grandma’s! A Christmas present arrived from our youngest son, our first in years, with great homemade goodies, what a surprise. We put up our Christmas wreath and lights on a timer and enjoyed them in the evening and again as we got up in the dark mornings. The Academy President had a Christmas Open House with a beautifully decorated home and great food; we arrived with our big truck parking close to the carport and were blocked in by a Daihatsu mini-truck maintenance vehicle! Our last Sunday we attended the Presbyterian Church and were surprised with a potluck Christmas lunch and “free” food to bring home as they cleared the cooler for Christmas break.

John continued to work at the new counseling center with electrical and CAT5 wiring, fixtures, wall and ceiling insulation, some small wall builds, and the last window installed. The guys also finished up the cabinet drawers and doors in a dorm (lots of fussing to get drawers to slide and look straight), assembly of new cabinets, a drop ceiling in a High School classroom, and some demolition work in another building – lots of climbing up and down ladders!

Connie continued staining as weather permitted, serving lunch at the Dining Hall, and helped with the French Camp Christmas bread mailing (the main reason she came). A storm right before mail date brought disruption to computer services and several days of delays and IT work, meaning nothing for the ladies to do. Finally, the day came when 1500+ loaves were “taped” and on their way. More waiting then the second wave came and Connie loaded the USPS bins.

With three days left of our December volunteer work, John came home at lunch to stretch on the floor, not an unusual practice. This time, however, he didn’t get up. He slowly improved over the next week, going from ‘ape-like’ movements leaning on anything nearby to standing straight and able to walk more normal. By the weekend he was slowly able to put his tools away and start preparations to move north to a RV Park in Iuka, MS about 20 minutes from our property.

After our October real estate day of adventure, we received a call from our realtor friend in Corinth with some new land parcels for sale. November 9, we travelled again and did lots of hiking around several parcels and through some rented dwellings; lots of money, repairs with everything, as well as fleas in one mobile home. John found one listing online with a “pending inspection” offer accepted. We toured the 6 acres with a house and mobile home mid-afternoon, and made a full price offer. On the way back we prayed that whatever the outcome, God would be in control. The inspection was not favorable (but nothing we couldn’t handle with our SOWER skills over the years), the other party backed out, we countered at a lower price (the figure we originally wanted) and by the 19^th had a verbal acceptance along with 2 free inspection reports! On December 9^th we became property owners again, took care of all the things that come with purchasing property, stayed overnight at a hotel with each enjoying a long hot soaking bath – our first “bath” in many years!
The Sunday prior to closing the worship included “Waymaker” leading Connie into complete assurance and peace (with lots of tears). That evening we had a text with the preliminary closing statement! Plus, the evening devotion had some names of Jesus (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) to which we added Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, and Light in the Darkness.

The next afternoon the up-and-down game began. We scheduled a driveway contractor to meet us at noon, he was delayed, we ate our lunch in the truck, the rain started, he arrived and John braved the weather to discuss a possible circle drive around the back with RV pad(s). We found the mobile home had not been emptied. The HVAC people were not responding, finally getting an answer that we had to go with “mobile home” service people. With 5 days of below freezing weather coming (very non-typical of Mississippi) we shut off the water, drained lines, and used space heaters inside to keep it above freezing – which worked except one heater didn’t turn back on after a “rolling blackout.” On the “up” side, only 1 dead mouse, we do have most of the tools in the mobile home now, it is almost empty, the electric panel is labeled (one of the things in the inspection report), it was a beautiful day when we insulated the mobile home water pipes, and we really enjoyed hiking the paths and day-dreaming of the days we can spend here between our travels.
It is hard to let go of our expectations – God is saying slow down, in My time

With lots of unplanned days off Connie was able to make phone calls to contractors and clearing up some ongoing frustrations. After 5 months of lengthy conversations, the fraud charges were cleared on one of our credit cards. After 14 months and involvement of the FCC, our “free phones” when we switched carriers have been refunded! Now, all that is left is working with the Chevy dealer for a refund of parts and labor. Connie also had some time to do a few crochet items – another hot pad (now being used as a doily), a back wash cloth (it works very well), a hat for the chilly morning walks (not used, weather warmed up), and preparing to finish up a granny square blanket with squares done by her Mom and Grandma many years ago. So far that’s been research, layout planning, tying in yarn ends, and correcting mistakes.
Don’t be led astray, trust God to give you wisdom, be faithful, be alert and pray – focus on the overall plan: salvation in Christ and His return.

The weather these last two months has been another up-and-down stressor. November brought some nights where Connie was awake waiting for storms to pass through and wind rattling the trailer, including one suppertime trip to the basement level of the high school for a tornado warning. She has found that putting her head at the foot of the bed helps because the slide cover rattling isn’t as loud, this is not very easy to do in the middle of the night so there was another night she slept the whole night that way. December 1 was the first day Connie went without socks again for a while. There were many just below freezing nights and a few days with the A/C on in the afternoon. On those ‘chilled-to-the-bone’ days we always looked forward to a nice hot shower to end the day.

In November we had another truck DEF issue. The ‘Low DEF’ light came on (on our way to a music event), we added about 2 gallons of fluid, surprised that it was full already. Two days later the warning appeared again and it went back to the shop; a “no charge” unknown glitch, ok now fix. In December we managed to lock ourselves out of the truck at our property with no cell service! Thankfully our house tenants were home and graciously let us use their phone and stay warm inside while we waited. We now double check before the last one leaves the truck for keys – it was supposed to be a 15-minute stop to start a second heater in the mobile home.
Never stop waiting on God—no matter our age—with great expectations.

We were able to share some music during November, both were jam sessions with 10-20 people, after a luncheon with fellow SOWERs and after a very special Birthday Party. December brought an opportunity to share after a church ladies’ luncheon (with husbands for Christmas), another small group due to a funeral that day. It was harder this time since we weren’t practiced up and our ‘playing together’ skills haven’t been used for a while. We will definitely have to make this a priority!
God’s Way – a time of waiting is also an opportunity to prepare.

We can thankfully call ourselves seasoned travelers now after making it through the Christmas cold, what they are calling ‘once in a generation’ Mississippi weather. We disconnected our water hose and put the RV pump and tank heaters on; ran the fireplace, gas furnace, and two space heaters; and prayed a lot for the start of 5 days of below freezing weather. The water pump quit early morning of night 1 (4 degrees outside) so we started using our backup plan with water jugs and rationing water use (we could refill them outside after the 2^nd day). Our second night was chilly and we found our outside door was open slightly letting in very cold air in the middle of the night. We also experienced our first ‘rolling power outage’ about 10 minutes after John read about it. With most of our comfort coming from electric sources it was a blessing it only happened once for about 15 minutes; we lost 3 degrees inside temperature during that short time. Christmas Day was spent inside with a high of 32 degrees and a wonderful dinner. We missed a white Christmas by one day – it started snowing the 26^th about 9am and continued until 4pm, perhaps an inch total, reminding us why we started traveling south in the winter.
Would you not open a Christmas gift! God has an unearned, undeserved gift for everyone.

Our water pump resumed working the last day of the deep freeze, we unloaded the RV “basement” and checked for leaks, PRAISE GOD, we had hot running water again and it was great using the sink and hot soapy water for dishes. We waited another day before hooking up the hose and it was wonderful to take nice hot showers! Our property mobile home didn’t freeze inside, even though one of the heaters remained off after a rolling blackout. We are waiting for a warmer, dryer, sunny day to turn the water back on and check for leaks there.

Traveling for so many years now we realize how important community is: our long-distance friends and family for advice and prayer; our real estate friend for many of the unknowns of Mississippi, providing contacts, and dinner conversation; our SOWER neighbor in packing up our microwave when neither of us could lift it along with a free heater turning out to be so much needed; our new property neighbor providing a fair trade for a free survey line (we lost 0.34 acre to accommodate his driveway), and many more. Be thankful for those people you can turn to when life gets hard, and be aware and gracious to those needing our help.
“. . . lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one . . .” – maturity means moving from our independence to our dependence on Him.

May each of you and your families have a blessed and wonderful New Year!

A fool multiplies words. Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him? Ecclesiastes 10:14 NIV ~ Trusting our future to God

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
3916 N. Potsdam Ave. #3962
Sioux Falls, SD 57104

Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com

ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our website

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS – Very Tentative
January/February/March – Huckleberry Hill RV, Iuka, MS – property repairs, rental
March/April/May – French Camp SOWER project (another bread mailing perhaps)
April/May – Our property Hwy 367 east of Jacinto, MS hopeful house renovation/rental
June – north central Illinois (Carlinville, Clinton) family and volunteer work
July – Illinois/Wisconsin (Clinton, IL – Portage, WI) family, volunteer, music

The Salt Shaker – October 2022

October 31, 2022September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

God said, “let there be light,” and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good . . . God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good . . . [Genesis 1:3-4, 31 Basic English Bible] By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the army of heaven by the breath of his mouth . . . For he gave the word, and it was done; by his order it was fixed for ever. [Psalm 33:6, 9 World English Bible]

Praises – Returning strength and energy; beautiful fall days

Prayers – Reimbursements settled for truck repairs, free phones, credit card fraud; exercise, self-control, good sleep so our energy levels continue to improve

Hello to our followers, friends, and family:

The October views in west central Mississippi reminded us of Wisconsin with pine and hardwood variety trees and changing colors. Later in the month there were beautiful swirls of golden leaves falling. The temperatures varied, one day it was 45 in the morning and 85 in the afternoon! We had three nights below 32 where we used our gas furnace and disconnected our water. There was a water puddle one cold morning and we thought the worst; however, we could not find where it came from and it hasn’t happened since. There were some sad days too – Connie had to wear shoes and socks a couple of days in mid-October!

The guy’s ongoing main project was renovation of an older campus brick “house” that has been used for many purposes over the years. It is now being repurposed as a counseling center. There is the Council House, which is the restaurant downtown, and the counsel house where the guys are – a bit confusing at first. John’s skills included sledge hammering cast iron bathtubs so the pieces could be lifted into the dumpster, tearing out wall and ceiling drywall, remove and replacing all the windows, installing ceiling electric boxes, and what he enjoyed most, repairing and making new window trim. One of the dormers of this building settled at one point making the window crooked, so the trim had to be custom made (3/4” at one end and 1.5” at the other). The hope is, once painted, it won’t look as crooked! He also helped with putting custom skirting around the lake area shower building (used for summer camps), and took a bunch of heavy wood shutters (18) down at a dorm building, reinstalling them after they were painted.

Connie stayed busy this month with brush related work. The heavy wood shutters received two coats front and back of a gray-black exterior paint before being put back on the dorm by the guys. In a different dorm there were four bathrooms that received two coats of polyurethane on the frames and eventually the bottom boards of sink cabinets. The cabinet doors will be new and the drawers will receive new fronts. The next step was painting all the walls, including the remodeled lighting areas above the sinks. Connie was just the right height to be able to kneel on the countertop and move around the sinks, still reaching comfortably to get all the trim and surface area. She cleaned all the cover plates, reinstalled them, and did a quick cleaning of the toilets, mirrors, and surfaces for paint and plaster splatters. There were a few days where she served the lunch meal to the students and staff, this is one of her favorite things to do at the volunteer projects we visit.

We attended both churches in town as well as two evening services with missionary speakers. There were many baptisms and decisions, almost like a revival! One speaker started Cross Mountain Mission in Nicaragua where they provide structure, meals, and education to whatever children come to “school” that day, averaging around 75 students each day. The second was a missionary from Ukraine sharing current conditions as well as political history and instability this country has had for many years. There is so much need all around us, local and global, that we should all feel very blessed and thankful.

Connie spent quite a bit of time this month being creative as well as problem solving. She kept crocheting “waffle” patterns, even designing a granny square waffle pattern. There were many calls and follow ups with the truck – the engine light came on 140 miles after DEF modules were replaced. The diagnostic code was the same, and after a week in the shop they found a pinched harness which was replaced as well as the DEF reservoir. We (she) then embarked on a mission to recover some of the cost from the previous dealer, with not much cooperation (as well as a heavy southern accent to decipher). There were also a few calls to get our “free” phones and credit card fraud balance cleared, both ongoing irritants to her.

With such beautiful weather John has been able to sit outside many times and play instruments, sometimes Connie would join and work on some crafty thing. We enjoyed the Harvest Festival, another beautiful fall-like day, and Connie “dressed up” in period clothing. She volunteered for the last shift of the day at the Welcome Center and took a dulcimer to play on the front porch as the thinning crowds were headed to their cars. We could hear the football games and maneuvered around the homecoming floats lining up for the parade as we went to dinner (5 couples) after our final volunteer work day. The “Panthers” lost their homecoming game but won their final game of the season.

Connie volunteered to take her keyboard to our morning devotion gatherings and enjoyed the early morning walks to practice, she is definitely rusty. There were a few mornings we accompanied with autoharp. We joined the jam session towards the end of the month. We took mandolin, autoharp, and mountain dulcimer and enjoyed playing along with others.

Food was the highlight of the month! We enjoyed daily lunches with the kids and an evening church meal prior to evening service, usually with missionary speakers. There were potlucks galore; our SOWER group, an appreciation gathering for us volunteers at the home of a French Camp supporter, the Harvest Festival joint church service, the music jam session, and the last Wednesday evening fellowship in Corinth (where we were in September). Add in the occasional bakery treats for break time and, with the right planning, we didn’t have to cook much in between. All this in 30 days along with around 120 volunteer hours, a busy month.

For several months John has been keeping an eye out for cheap real estate possibilities for our times off the road in between projects. We took a day trip where we looked at several properties, enjoying a beautiful day and church potluck. The drive north, mostly on the Natchez Trace, was beautiful and relaxing, followed by hikes through some woods and hilly terrain. The drive home after dark was not so pleasant, the last 10 miles being most challenging: there were many deer along the roadside with 2 crossing the road in front of us; a possum, fox, racoon, armadillo, swooping huge owl, and one orange tabby cat! Some close calls, but all critters remained safe to cross the road again.

Our health and strength are still improving. John had two days in a row of waking with energy, what a blessing. Connie still has scattered days of no energy and slightly aching body (of course she is another year older this month). We are finding that cold and damp weather is affecting both of us more.

We could have had plenty of exercise, but motivation is needed for that to happen. John biked up and down the smaller hill to the highway and back, first bike ride in over a month. Connie has more chances to walk, heading out early for our morning devotions. If we make a right turn from our RV area the road goes up a very steep hill that we tried to walk several times a week. It is getting a bit easier, although we are both out of breath as we reach the top.

God is speaking to us this month, helping us work through future scenarios as well as encouraging us to live where our feet are and see the needs around us. It is God’s part to “show” us – and our part is to “go”. We know (but don’t always remember) that God will give us what we need, when we need it, in His perfect timing.

Thanks for traveling with us and supporting us with your thoughts and prayers!

Be glad in the Lord, O doers of righteousness; for praise is beautiful for the upright. Give praise to the Lord on the corded instrument; make melody to him with instruments of music. Make a new song to him; playing expertly with a loud noise. Psalm 33:1-3 Basic English Bible

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

September 30 – December – SOWER Project, French Camp, Mississippi
January/February – unknown winter stay, possibly Texas, Florida, Louisiana ???

The Salt Shaker – September 2022

September 30, 2022September 6, 2025 Salty Strings Music Ministry

With every sun’s rising, surprise us with Your love, satisfy us with Your kindness. Then we will sing with joy and celebrate every day we are alive. Psalm 90:14 The Voice Bible

Praises – The wonderful friendly people in Corinth; Even with all our struggles this month we remain faithful, God still uses us, and we are truly thankful for the blessings we have

Prayers – More truck repairs needed for related or the same problem; lingering illness symptoms to improve (cough, energy, stamina)

Hello to our family, friends, and followers:

Our first week in Corinth we had a guided tour including the Coca Cola Museum (headquarters are still in Corinth) and the downtown buildings that have been restored/remodeled and repurposed. It is a beautiful, friendly community with lots of history. We took a trip with our bicycles to find a place to do some riding and ended up riding on the walking trail (a winding 1 mile path) and around the Sports Complex, probably 3 miles total. John rode once on the county road but found that was too busy, bumpy, and hilly for safe riding. Later in the month we made a date to meet our Tennessee friends for dinner in Grand Junction, TN. Grand Junction was once a nice little crossroads community; now there is one restaurant with some good food and a beautiful small memorial park. It is always interesting to notice the buildings and signage from days past, figuring out family connections and in this case the history of one notable woman of the community.

Our “goals” for the month didn’t happen as we hoped. John was not feeling well on Friday the 2^nd and was really sick on Monday the 5^th. Connie joined him on the 6^th and we both stayed home at least 2 weeks and still had no energy and lingering sinus-type cold symptoms (fondly referred to as “Mississippi crud” around here). We had to cancel a luncheon music program on the 6^th which made us feel even worse. During this time our newsletter update was finally completed (hard to do between naps, staying focused, and a few internet problems). Connie recovered sooner and started updating and cleaning up computer files including transferring some older music files to touch up for our website – quite time consuming but necessary.

Our service technician for the trailer came, replaced our converter, and briefly solved the inverter issue. We tested it again and still had error codes, even after following the manual “test” procedures. He didn’t come back for the other repairs we requested – we will eventually try to find someone in this area to finish up our fixes. We were able to stabilize our pantry shelves however. Connie got in a shopping mood (once we got out and about again) and bought clips and strips to be installed in place of the broken plastic ones (with a bit of help from John) and the shelves remained level as we travelled!

Being inside a lot, Connie got creative and tried some new things with baking. Along with biscuits (baked in the air frier, still working on easy separation for the toaster) she has made a few chocolate cakes (her grandma’s recipe) baked in the microwave. The recipe makes a very moist cake, unless you overcook it in the microwave – the second time she added some peanut butter and chocolate chips, covered with plastic wrap and less cooking time – yummy! There was also a failed instant pot yogurt batch; the electricity was off (while we worked on the inverter) and it didn’t recover like she hoped making it more like yogurt cream.

While John was still recovering Connie was invited to a Ladies Day. She enjoyed the fellowship and getting to know some church ladies better on the trip to and from Memphis as well as the lunch and speaker. They had a craft fair at the end and she spied some crochet hot pads with a unique “waffle” texture – after some research she found patterns for crochet and knit “waffle stitch” as well as a slight crochet variation. Back to the yarn scraps to make 5 hot pads. It felt good to do something during TV time and they were all easy and fun patterns.

The RV Park was on the southern edge of Corinth, a great location for church and shopping trips. They have a laundry area with one washer and a coin dryer ($1) that was very handy. The first use Connie was surprised by a very large salamander possibly (it didn’t look like a lizard) when she opened the door to retrieve our clothes from the dryer. She didn’t scream, it quickly disappeared under the dryer, and she remained very cautious removing the clothes from the dryer. The second time held no surprises but the heavier items didn’t dry completely leading to innovative clothes lines in the trailer. The last time the dryer didn’t even get hot and we had hangers and our “new” $1.99 drying rack everywhere – bedroom, shower, cabinet doors, etc.

We became quite familiar with the figure 8 gravel road and hill to the county road as we walked almost every day. The first 3 weeks were very hot so the walks were shorter, earlier in the morning, and again just before sunset on the days when we had a bit of energy. During our last week John looked out the window, kept watching, and eventually had Connie look as well. There was what appeared to be a mourning dove very still in the loop drive. We prepared for our morning walk and it was still there! It still didn’t move as we headed that way, and we found out why – it was an upright rock with the shape and shadows making it look realistic through our trailer window.

Our last week had cooler temperatures as well as a bit more energy, making the full circuit twice (almost 2 miles) some days. We woke up one morning to a very chilly trailer, not realizing the overnight temperature was in the 50’s and we had failed to turn on the heaters before bed. We had to get out our heat pump instruction manual and refresh our memory to keep the gas furnace from turning on – it smells from not being used much as well making the bedroom too hot for comfortable sleeping. After a few nights we found the right mix of heater settings.

John made contact with Waldron Street Christian Church prior to our arrival and we were scheduled for an evening concert (with homemade ice cream) on the 4^th. Our practice that afternoon was without singing from tickling-throat coughing fits, but the concert went well and the ice cream was great. We even had a container to bring some home with us!

We were feeling well enough by the end of the month to attend Sunday School, Worship, and the evening Bible Study on our last Sunday in Corinth, MS. The evening study was from a video series by Ray Vander Laan that covered the locations and connections with Jewish tradition for what we celebrate as our Palm Sunday and Last Supper. We tagged along afterwards for the Mexican restaurant supper and fellowship.

The last Wednesday of the month is a church potluck fellowship supper. We were blessed to attend in August and took 24 pepperoncini deviled eggs this time (only 6 came home for John). Wonderful fabulous food and fellowship, and a chance for our final good-byes before we leaving this area.

The end of the month found us packing up to head 128 miles southwest to our volunteer project in French Camp, MS. We were running a bit behind but wanted to walk the “city tour” before leaving as well as our final fuel fill and Aldi’s grocery stock up. The check engine light came on Wednesday night after the church potluck so we stopped at the Chevy dealer first, just to be sure it wouldn’t be a problem for travel. It was a major problem needing two DEF modules; thankfully they were able to squeeze us into their full schedule.

Connie was ready for lunch so she emptied a bag of peanuts from the vending machine while John drank coffee and our inquiries eventually produced a ride into town so we could do our walking tour. It started at the visitor center but there was a train on the tracks blocking our way; we waited then walked around a few blocks on the “wrong side of the tracks” before the train left. By this time hunger was controlling our direction so we did the reverse tour for 6-8 blocks to get to the oldest drug store still in the same family in Mississippi, Borroum’s Drug Store, where we had slug-burgers for the second time and split a wonderful chocolate malt in this historic building. The dealer called, sending someone for their road test along with picking us up, but the truck was packed with only 2 seats! Connie stayed behind, enjoying the sunshine and breeze in front of the court house, until John returned to pick her up after 3 pm. We made our stops and headed home to continue packing.

Friday morning Connie was up early to finish the inside packing, we pulled in the slides and hooked up, then she realized the trailer back-up camera that she got to work earlier in the month was still tucked away in a cabinet under the TV. She decided to wriggle through the opening at the end of the counter, past the sink island, to the cabinet, and back to the counter realizing when you slither in on your belly you can’t get out on your back or side! John missed a great video opportunity and Connie’s rib cage was sore for a few days.

As we were ready to leave, we noticed an unusual noise from the engine, nothing we could find, but no engine light, so we headed out. Our travel went well, cool enough to wear a sweatshirt, and we took the shorter mileage route with our last 80 miles on the Natchez Trace. A beautiful drive, perhaps a bit too relaxing with a 50-mph speed limit, mostly wooded, with historic turn-offs barely big enough for us to use our trailer facilities. We arrived and were mostly set up by 1 pm giving us a very leisurely afternoon before meeting our fellow SOWER volunteers (a total of 6 couples this month) after supper.

“For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out . . . so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered . . . I will feed them . . . with good pasture . . . they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed . . . I myself will make them lie down . . . I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak . . .” Ezekiel 34:11-16 paraphrased, English Standard Version

Please keep us in your prayers and THANKS for traveling with us!

John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry

TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS

September 30 – December – SOWER Project, French Camp, Mississippi
December/January/February – unknown winter stay, possibly Texas