With only rare exceptions, we’ve stayed within the confines of the Faith UMC campus over the last 2 weeks. Social Distancing. Safer at Home. We are faithful practitioners. That being said, we are as busy as ever within the confines of our “home”.
Dave says goodbye to Pat and Fred as they pull out. Transitions
The day after we returned from NC, we were saying goodbye to Ron and Pat, who had spent much of the winter at Faith. Their handiwork was evident in almost every building on campus, and we would miss their presence. (Of course, they missed us a lot as well when they arrived back in Iowa to blowing snow and cold temperatures. ) Pat and Fred stayed another week, and we scrambled to get as much done in Peeler before their departure. Cathy joined Pat under the floor to put the last plumbing joint in place before closing up. (You can see a video of the finished work in 2 parts (part 1 / part 2). It’s not that exciting, but you probably have a lot of time on your hands these days. )
The day after we returned from NC, we were saying goodbye to Ron and Pat, who had spent much of the winter at Faith. Their handiwork was evident in almost every building on campus, and we would miss their presence. (Of course, they missed us a lot as well when they arrived back in Iowa to blowing snow and cold temperatures. ) Pat and Fred stayed another week, and we scrambled to get as much done in Peeler before their departure. Cathy joined Pat under the floor to put the last plumbing joint in place before closing up. (You can see a video of the finished work in 2 parts (part 1 / part 2). It’s not that exciting, but you probably have a lot of time on your hands these days. )
Dave, Pat and Fred work on the Alaska Suite Upstairs, Fred and Dave were getting more of the bathrooms and “suites” finished, joined by Cathy and Pat as they came up for air. The tub surround went in. The vent pipe was plumbed. After insulating the walls for soundproofing, they were finished with shiplap wood siding. Bobbi began painting the walls that were ready. Although not finished, the rooms have a manageable list of tasks to be done before they can be occupied, thanks to all the incredible efforts to transform this space into 2 new rooms.
However, it was time for Pat and Fred to head home, so we said goodbye on Monday morning the 23rd. A couple of days later, they were back in NH, colder but ready to shelter in place there. We miss them. But the good news is it will be easier to keep our social distance.
Pastor Barry says goodbye after the first drive-in service. Drive-In Service
Before we left NC, Dave and Pastor Barry were already talking about the new approach to Sunday services without the ability to meet in the sanctuary. The church had decided to do a drive-in service, with members that could do so sitting in their cars in the parking lot. They also wanted to broadcast the service over the internet. Dave started learning how to create a livestream via Youtube.
Before we left NC, Dave and Pastor Barry were already talking about the new approach to Sunday services without the ability to meet in the sanctuary. The church had decided to do a drive-in service, with members that could do so sitting in their cars in the parking lot. They also wanted to broadcast the service over the internet. Dave started learning how to create a livestream via Youtube.
Dave works on the livestream of the morning service. The solution that evolved that would limit costs and use the technology we had involved a few different elements. We would use our phones as cameras. However, since we had no subscribers on Youtube, we needed some software to make this happen. On the phone, we installed the IP Webcam app. On the computer, we installed the OBS software. Then we had to make all of the pieces talk together. There was a lot to learn, and the first Sunday was “rough” (and that’s being kind). We had 3 minutes of the camera on Dave, before we had the right shot of the service, but no sound for 10 minutes. We couldn’t get the microphone input to play through the computer, so we had to just let the computer pick up the sound from the sanctuary speakers. Then when the service ended, Dave couldn’t find the way to end the broadcast on Youtube. As it ran on for another 30 minutes. We finally ended it, and did some serious editing to put a recording on the church’s website. The good news is that it could probably only get better.
The next Sunday was much better. The video and microphone sound were coming through to Youtube as we broadcast. Also, we had added another component. We were broadcasting the sound through an FM transmitter to the parking lot attendees. Not to say we weren’t learning more, but the finished product didn’t suffer too much from our learning curve this time.
Beyond90's plexiglass barrier Making a Difference
The demand for Beyond90’s services has understandably increased as jobs are eliminated and offices closed. This was especially in evidence for the clients of Beyond90, who have the added challenge of language barriers. To be able to continue to serve them, Lori Chelf came up with an idea to place plexiglass as a barrier between her 2 rooms. Since the panel wasn’t tall enough, we cut another panel to fill the gap and then taped it in place. With a baby monitor to allow sound to pass through, the solution worked well. So well, that we were back a couple of days later installing another panel, so she could have another worker helping out.
Unfortunately, the lack of access between rooms now created another problem. The lock on the middle room door wasn’t keyed to any key that Lori had. To fix that, we removed the lockset on all 3 rooms and keyed them to a new key that was unique to Beyond 90. While we were at it, we finished the work that we had begun for the preschool, re-keying the locks on the school’s bathrooms so that they could keep them private for their charges. Since it had been several weeks since our last locksmithing exercise, it only took about 5 attempts to create the first of the locksets, but we did eventually get smooth at it.
The demand for Beyond90’s services has understandably increased as jobs are eliminated and offices closed. This was especially in evidence for the clients of Beyond90, who have the added challenge of language barriers. To be able to continue to serve them, Lori Chelf came up with an idea to place plexiglass as a barrier between her 2 rooms. Since the panel wasn’t tall enough, we cut another panel to fill the gap and then taped it in place. With a baby monitor to allow sound to pass through, the solution worked well. So well, that we were back a couple of days later installing another panel, so she could have another worker helping out.
Unfortunately, the lack of access between rooms now created another problem. The lock on the middle room door wasn’t keyed to any key that Lori had. To fix that, we removed the lockset on all 3 rooms and keyed them to a new key that was unique to Beyond 90. While we were at it, we finished the work that we had begun for the preschool, re-keying the locks on the school’s bathrooms so that they could keep them private for their charges. Since it had been several weeks since our last locksmithing exercise, it only took about 5 attempts to create the first of the locksets, but we did eventually get smooth at it.
Six feet away? Let me check . . . Social Distancing
In an effort to avoid any unnecessary contact with people, we started ordering supplies using delivery or pickup services. Our first attempt was using Instacart for Aldi, and we were very pleased. We could watch while the items were placed in the cart. We got prompts to approve suggested replacements or suggest other alternatives, and we could watch her progress on the way to us. Our Wal-mart order was a little rockier. Only Walmart grocery orders are brought to your car for pickup. We had placed a Walmart.com order as well, but the instructions said to go into the store to get it. After several phone calls, we managed to get the inside order brought out to us, but we know better how to handle it.
One casualty of the new restrictions was the cancellation of the procedure to remove Cathy’s port that had been installed for her chemotherapy. It’s unclear when that will be able to be done now.
We were pleased to have a brief visit from Miami and Shelly, who were on their way to the Keys. We got to spend some time catching up without getting too close. Miami even spent some time completing a repair in a trailer during his brief stay. They were here for the Sunday drive-in service as well before heading out. It was a treat to get to see them, and they made it to their spot in the Keys a couple of days later.
In an effort to avoid any unnecessary contact with people, we started ordering supplies using delivery or pickup services. Our first attempt was using Instacart for Aldi, and we were very pleased. We could watch while the items were placed in the cart. We got prompts to approve suggested replacements or suggest other alternatives, and we could watch her progress on the way to us. Our Wal-mart order was a little rockier. Only Walmart grocery orders are brought to your car for pickup. We had placed a Walmart.com order as well, but the instructions said to go into the store to get it. After several phone calls, we managed to get the inside order brought out to us, but we know better how to handle it.
One casualty of the new restrictions was the cancellation of the procedure to remove Cathy’s port that had been installed for her chemotherapy. It’s unclear when that will be able to be done now.
We were pleased to have a brief visit from Miami and Shelly, who were on their way to the Keys. We got to spend some time catching up without getting too close. Miami even spent some time completing a repair in a trailer during his brief stay. They were here for the Sunday drive-in service as well before heading out. It was a treat to get to see them, and they made it to their spot in the Keys a couple of days later.
Cathy in her Mickey Mouse mask In discussions with our son who works in a pharmacy, we became concerned about his access to masks. Cathy pulled out the sewing machine, and got to work making masks. Dave found a pattern that made a good covering over the face and allowed for the insertion of a filter material. (We order some Hepa vacuum filters.) She started with some material we had left over (Mickey Mouse, and Star Wars) before the solid colors we ordered arrived. Practice makes perfect, and she will be getting a lot of practice.
