Buildings & Grounds

Status report 18 May 08
submitted by Don Seeterlin

Once again our beloved Parish grounds have benefited from the love and hard work of our team of Buildings and Grounds volunteers. Beginning with careful and thoughtful planning by our new Grounds chairman, George Margroum, all the way through the feeding of the hungry hordes by Lynn Geddy and her stalwart Parish life crew, the most recent grounds work day came off almost with out a hitch. I say almost with out a hitch because to tell the truth there was a hitch or two, at least four that come to mind. Buddy Matthews had his lawn tractor on site with a hitch attached to pull his ample trailer around to aid in the moving of the hardwood mulch. Ben Manning and family brought their pick up truck with hitch attached, and trailer, to move mulch from the pile to help them in caring for our beautiful grove of crape myrtles. Burt Geddy has his new toy, a new four wheel drive John Deere tractor complete with front end loader and yes, a three point hitch on site which he used for a number of projects. These included pulling tree stakes, loading mulch, pulling dead and unwanted bushes and trees, and transporting Steve Snyder around the property. Kathryn Seeterlin, with a little help from her nephew Jamie, and Bill Teale shared the use of a small lawn tractor and trailer as they moved dead azaleas, weeds, sticks and other debris away and brought fresh mulch back to replenish and beautify many small garden areas.

Beginning with the flowerbeds in front of the Wilkinson Center, and working around the building, George Margroum and his dedicated weed pulling, plant moving and mulching crew of Judy Kintner, Bill Small and Buddy Matthews among others, worked tirelessly in refreshing these beds. Mary and Bill Teale have adopted these beds, and spend endless hours in the summer weeding, planting, mulching and watering. This work on Saturday will be a boon to their generously donated time and energy.

If you haven't already noticed, Shelly Smith and Diane Perry have plied their creative gardening skills to the flowerbed around the large sign at the entrance to our Hickory Neck grounds, and have turned it once again into a truly "welcoming" sign. Complete with flowering annuals and perennials, boasting two topiaries, and a fresh bed of hardwood mulch, this sign serves as a wonderful first impression to many first time visitors and numerous motorists who may one day discover our "little country church home". Diane and Shelly work valiantly all summer long striving to keep this bed looking fresh and inviting. If someone has some time during the week to help with the watering, it would be much appreciated, as well as fulfilling.

The flower beds surrounding the new chapel area have become a "weed free zone" thanks in no small part to the concerted efforts of Esther Gay and Pam Stromberg, and the mulch spreading skills of Buddy Matthews and Steve Snyder, aided in the end by Kathryn Seeterlin.

Bill and Mary Teale worked with tireless devotion to the weed pulling and mulching of the flowerbeds around the historic sign and the beds surrounding the historic chapel and along the gravel walk. Though not viewed as frequently by the entire parish now that we are in the new chapel, these beds serve not only as welcoming emissaries to all who come to visit and worship in our beloved Historic Chapel, they also lend a sense of serenity and calm to any who might stop by and visit our beautiful memorial garden. The memorial garden is tended faithfully by our own Dave and Carol Goff, and any comments and compliments would be greatly appreciated by them.

Amidst all of this weeding and mulching, George Margroum worked tirelessly as a virtual pruning machine, along with being the "go to" man for a myriad of questions and concerns.

You've heard of the Phantom, the person who glides around quietly and unnoticed, performing some task? We at Hickory Neck are honored to have our own resident "round-up" phantom, in the person of Bill Forloine. Bill comes in during the day when most people are not around, and quietly wages a war against the invasion to our flower beds by that most dastardly of it's enemies, WEEDS. Once again, during the afternoon of the work day, Bill was spotted, trusty spray nozzle in hand, spraying and protecting our flowerbeds and gravel walkways.

And let's not forget all of the hard work and sweat put into the cleaning out of the clutter in the classrooms and nursery by Aaron and Tony Small and family, DJ and Sara Seeterlin and family, Paula and David Simmons and family, and Stephanie Delk and family. Because of their brave efforts we now have increased our available classroom space and relieved the nursery of some over crowding.

For all of you rising basketball stars, and those of you who may not be rising quite as high anymore, we now have a great new basketball backboard system ready for some one on one or three on three. Mark and Judy Kintner quietly assembled our new backboard and net system on Saturday after most of the volunteers had left. I believe I even saw Judy shoot a hoop or two just to try it out.

So, thanks once again for all of the effort from our outstanding crew of volunteers. We are always excited to have new smiling faces with new stories to tell, so come on out and join us; we'll save some fun for you.

Peace,
Don

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