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Late September - Fall

9/30/2020

Almost overnight, we went from shorts and T-shirts to coats and sweatshirts as fall arrived early to Virginia. No complaints here. The cooler temperatures made the outdoor work more pleasant, although we did have to choose our power washing days more carefully.

Hands On RVA volunteer painting at Chickahominy

Cabin Work
With the start of school, the number of volunteers working to prep the cabins dwindled quite a bit, but the work kept getting done. In Chickahominy, Park Host Joe finished the peaks on all of the cabins, while we focused on areas closer to the ground. When we did get a few volunteers to help, they finished painting the porch ceilings on all the cabins and the lodge. Working overhead like this is tough, so this was a great contribution. The work on each cabin was being divided into sections. The highest peaks or “A’s”, the shutters or middle, the lower siding, and the front porch. By month-end, we had all of the A’s and lower siding done on all cabins and one front porch in Chickahominy. Over in Weyanock, we managed to power wash the lodge and another cabin. Between rain showers, we managed to stain one more deck as well.

Cathy staining benches at Appamattuck

Although the majority of our work was focused in the 2 cabin groups that will be this year’s Cabin Work Week focus, we had a couple of tasks left in and around Appamattuck, last year’s site. We would be using this lodge to serve lunches during the project. Since indoor dining wouldn’t be allowed, we stained the campfire benches now, so they could be used for outdoor dining later. The shower building, which had received so much work last year, had never been painted. We finished this off, and it makes last year’s efforts seem complete.

Shower building with its fresh coat of paint

With the wood order placed, Dave spent time preparing the order for other supplies for the work and for lunches. Using sign-up genius for the first time, Cathy solicited volunteers to provide lunches and quickly had half the spots filled. With several weeks to go, the remaining slots are sure to be covered. But perhaps the most exciting development was the work by one of last year’s volunteers to raise funds. Within a couple of weeks of her efforts, she had raised almost as much as we were likely to lose with the end of the Garden Club grant this year. This is putting us in great shape, not just for this year, but also way ahead for next year.

Dave installing hinge on windshield

Golf Cart Woes

Our current park transport is a gas-powered golf cart that is intended for use as a park shuttle during concerts. It is aging, and it was no surprise when the upper half of the windshield parted from its flexible gasket and fell off one day. When the temperatures dropped, the increasing wind chill from the missing upper panel was beginning to be a problem. As the park used our golf cart as a shuttle for its first concert in a year, the missing windshield made for some cold rides.

Dave went to work and found a piano hinge and some VHB tape as a likely solution. Careful to position the hinge just right so that it would fold up and down easily, we installed the hinge and we now have both halves in working order – in time for the cold winds to blow.

Parting Shot

We enjoyed some visits from Bonnie and Troy and the kids, as well as Andi and Max on 2 different occasions. However, this guy was not quite so welcome a visitor.

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Early September - Just Volunteers

9/16/2020

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Dave prepping shower for painting

With our stint as August park hosts done, we transitioned our responsibilities to Joe, our replacement for September, along with our golf cart and keys. We didn’t leave Pocahontas, though. Instead we became just “volunteers”, using a number of free weeks we had earned to stay on through September. However, our day to day routine didn’t change much.

Dave and Joe coach the volunteers on the day's work

Cabin Work
With Joe’s arrival, we had some significant help in our work on the Chickahominy cabins. Progress accelerated as Joe took on the high ladder work required to prep and paint the upper peaks (or “A’s” as he calls them). We also continued to host the local youth from Chesterfield up until school started, who made progress painting the lower cabin walls.

Dave power washing the Powhatan Activity Center

Looking ahead to the Cabin Work Week, we continued prepping buildings outside of Chickahominy to ensure the workers could hit the ground running when they arrive. The Powhatan Activity Center sits between the Appamattuck cabin site and the Powhatan Dining Hall. We had been hoping to work on it last year, but time and resources didn’t allow that to happen. So, we were going to try again this year. In preparation, Dave power washed the exterior, so in addition to the roof repairs, we could paint it. Another outlier was a shower house between the nurse’s cabin and the Powhatan Dining Hall. This also needs roof repairs. So, that got power washed as well – inside and out. The cobweb-draped fixtures inside would have made a great setting for a creepy movie, but was not something you wanted to walk into.

Over at Weyanock, this year’s back up cabin site, we stained the lodge deck and ramp, since this would be the storage location for supplies at this site. Having the deck stained would ensure we didn’t have workers under foot, limiting access to the building’s contents.

When not lifting a brush or wielding a power washer wand, we spent time working with new and returning volunteers to ensure their questions were answered and to confirm their arrival. This led us to review the campsite reservations and discover a disturbing problem on the park’s reservation system. All campsites were marked as “not available” from Nov. 2 to 4. Hmm. . . Was there a park event we weren’t clued in to? When we raised the question, the park management discovered that the December closure had been accidentally posted to November. Once it was moved, we had our sites back. Glad we checked.

It was also time to start ordering supplies. With the lead time required to get rough-cut lumber for the cabins, we worked with Amelia Lumber to place the order for wood, and thereby discovered the dramatic increases in prices for wood since last year. On average, the prices were double, causing us to adjust the order to compensate. Hopefully, by this time next year, prices will have returned to their pre-pandemic level.

So, the work continues, but we are excited at how much is already done in this year’s cabin group compared to this time last year. Oh, and another accomplishment that we can’t take credit for – the road has been fixed! Now the trip to and from the cabins is not like bushwhacking through the woods.

Frames under construction

Jack of All Trades
We are not carpenters, but when the Friends of Pocahontas came to us to see if we could create partitions for the concessions booth at the upcoming concert, we were willing to give it a try. Using spare 2 x 4’s in the wood shop, we created 3 frames to hold a 3/16” thick piece of plexiglass, positioned 6” above the surface. Once we cut the channel to hold the plexiglass in the 3 sides, we assembled them, ensuring the channel lined up once assembled. Since we were getting done ahead of schedule, Dave decided to paint them as well. It’s not skilled craftmanship, but we’re pretty proud of the results.

The finished product was done in time for the concert

The next task was right down Dave’s alley. Since we were no longer park hosts, we had transitioned the electric golf cart to Joe. One afternoon, we passed him stopped in the road a few sites away from his RV. He had stopped briefly, but now the cart would no longer move. Since his site was so close, Dave helped him push the cart back to his site. A quick look at the batteries revealed a broken wire. Luckily, we had the ring terminal connector, heat shrink and tool to repair it. So, a short time later, Joe was back underway.

Broken weld behind our old steps

RV Stuff
The “clunk” noise was loud and not normal. Dave had just bounded down the steps leaving the RV, but something had obviously let loose. It turned out that a brace behind the steps had broken on one end. This was not going to be a simple fix. Or maybe it was. Dave found that our steps are no longer made, but that Lippert sells a replacement model that should fit the exact space. After talking with them, we found the correct model number to order. Dave was able to get a “damaged box” sale that was a good price and arrived much sooner than the alternatives.

New steps installed

But at 50 lbs, could we install these ourselves. Would the bolts on the old steps come off without problems? We waited until we could take some time to struggle with the project on a Saturday afternoon. (We also knew we had some strong relatives not too far away that might save us if things went wrong,) With some repeated application of WD 40 and some reasonable force, the bolts on the old steps yielded and came out. We had had an “incident” several years ago that caused the frame to be skewed a bit. This made installing the new steps a bit more challenging, but we managed to secure the bolts and the new steps work smoothly.

Parting Shots

We had some visits from family over the last couple of weeks. As school starts again, the challenges of virtual learning (and teaching) were mostly the topic of conversation. Bonnie worked with Troy and the kids to create a teaching space in her attic, while the kids each have their own “classroom” inside each of their bedrooms. Jayden is probably learning over the largest distance, as he logs on in Virginia to his classes in upstate NY. And Droz’ year continues to be anti-climatic as he begins his college life on the computer in his room. But, in person, we enjoyed the company, even venturing into a new take-out food – Chinese.

Also, the minibots were a big hit.

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