Early morning in the campground at Faith It used to just be us old folks who had trouble remembering what day it was. Now it seems the problem is spreading to everyone. However, even for us the days are blurring together a bit more. That is, except for Sunday. Sunday is pretty easy to remember.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Just when we thought we were getting the hang of broadcasting the church service to Youtube and Facebook, the ground shifted again. The church switched back to Drive-in services, which the congregation welcomed as an opportunity to see each other in person, if at a distance. It meant a few changes for us, though.
Just when we thought we were getting the hang of broadcasting the church service to Youtube and Facebook, the ground shifted again. The church switched back to Drive-in services, which the congregation welcomed as an opportunity to see each other in person, if at a distance. It meant a few changes for us, though.
For one thing, we needed to put a couple of our phone cameras outside. Back in March, we were having some problems with the camera image freezing, which we believed to be related to them being too far from the nearest access point. To fix this, Cathy made up another longer ethernet cable, which allowed the access point to move outside. Dave tested it midweek, and it worked like a charm.
Dave running ethernet cable into sanctuary We were also concerned about how to ensure the internet was present and working on Sunday morning. Earlier in the year, we had run a redundant ethernet cable to several of the buildings on campus, but not the sanctuary. To give us an option to fail over if there were problems, we ran a redundant cable to the sanctuary, as well. If one route failed because of a bad device, we could quickly switch to the other and continue on. Bases covered. Right?
Not so fast. On the Sunday that the Drive-in services returned, we put the cameras in place, but they were showing jerky movements – a problem we hadn’t had in weeks. Dave rebooted the phones, switched devices and cables. Shortly before the service started, we thought we were reasonably good. Until we weren’t.
We didn’t have any internet.
Dave switched over to the other line. Still no internet. Eventually working his way back to the office, we finally concluded that the internet to the campus had gone down. So much for our redundancy.
This would have been no problem if Cathy had been recording the service on the PC. We would just upload the service after the fact. Except, in all the confusion, Cathy had forgotten to record the service. And, by the way, she forgot to go live on Facebook. Sigh. We ended up spending the rest of the day cobbling together the pieces we had, re-recording part of it, and then uploading the results to Youtube and Facebook. Dave created a checklist that should help us keep all the pieces in place, so even if we lose the internet, we’ll have a way to upload the service after it is done. Good thing they don’t pay us for this.
So, what next?
Not so fast. On the Sunday that the Drive-in services returned, we put the cameras in place, but they were showing jerky movements – a problem we hadn’t had in weeks. Dave rebooted the phones, switched devices and cables. Shortly before the service started, we thought we were reasonably good. Until we weren’t.
We didn’t have any internet.
Dave switched over to the other line. Still no internet. Eventually working his way back to the office, we finally concluded that the internet to the campus had gone down. So much for our redundancy.
This would have been no problem if Cathy had been recording the service on the PC. We would just upload the service after the fact. Except, in all the confusion, Cathy had forgotten to record the service. And, by the way, she forgot to go live on Facebook. Sigh. We ended up spending the rest of the day cobbling together the pieces we had, re-recording part of it, and then uploading the results to Youtube and Facebook. Dave created a checklist that should help us keep all the pieces in place, so even if we lose the internet, we’ll have a way to upload the service after it is done. Good thing they don’t pay us for this.
So, what next?
More Church Stuff
When not fixing internet issues or changing locks, or working on Sunday’s service, we find a few small things to work on. Cathy cleaned the directional sign in front of the church. We hung some drywall to finish off the bathroom in one of the mission rooms. Dave installed a new router in the office. He helped Pastor Alex determine a problem with his internet on Sunday morning, during the Spanish Zoom Sunday service. And so on.
When not fixing internet issues or changing locks, or working on Sunday’s service, we find a few small things to work on. Cathy cleaned the directional sign in front of the church. We hung some drywall to finish off the bathroom in one of the mission rooms. Dave installed a new router in the office. He helped Pastor Alex determine a problem with his internet on Sunday morning, during the Spanish Zoom Sunday service. And so on.
And we help with some of the tasks to prepare for return to church with social distancing. To space out the congregation during Sunday services, the plan is to close off every other pew and the middle 6 feet of the remaining pews. Dave purchased a spool of rope to accomplish this. We spent an afternoon cutting it into lengths that we could place around the pews and run down the middle. Since it is cotton rope, we couldn’t use our boating technique of burning the cut ends. Instead we knotted each end and Cathy spent time making the resulting tassels look “pretty”. It does give a different look to the sanctuary, though.
RV Stuff
The small strip of plastic had started to split quite a long time ago. It covered a metal channel containing the screws at the leading edge of the RV’s front panel on both sides. The cover was only cosmetic, but even so, Dave had purchased a replacement roll over a year ago. We just hadn’t quite made it around to putting it in. But now that we had more time on our hands, and some cool weather, we dug out the replacement and got to work. It inserted easily, but since we didn’t have enough to do the entire run, we had to overlap a section on the passenger side. Dave re-applied roof sealant to cover the seam at the top of the channel on both sides. It looks much better now. Why didn’t we do that sooner?
The small strip of plastic had started to split quite a long time ago. It covered a metal channel containing the screws at the leading edge of the RV’s front panel on both sides. The cover was only cosmetic, but even so, Dave had purchased a replacement roll over a year ago. We just hadn’t quite made it around to putting it in. But now that we had more time on our hands, and some cool weather, we dug out the replacement and got to work. It inserted easily, but since we didn’t have enough to do the entire run, we had to overlap a section on the passenger side. Dave re-applied roof sealant to cover the seam at the top of the channel on both sides. It looks much better now. Why didn’t we do that sooner?
More Masks?
We had a need to make some more masks, both for ourselves and others. Dave had read that 3 layers of cloth was preferable to 2, so Cathy did some research on the evolution of mask making since we’d made the first batch. She discovered the benefit of using non-woven material (like that in some reusable grocery bags) as a liner on both the front and back fabric. It gave the resulting masks more shape and that made it more comfortable on the face (and easier to sew). Although we’ve ordered some of this fabric, we didn’t want to wait to get started. So, we cut up some of our grocery bags and they worked great.
We had a need to make some more masks, both for ourselves and others. Dave had read that 3 layers of cloth was preferable to 2, so Cathy did some research on the evolution of mask making since we’d made the first batch. She discovered the benefit of using non-woven material (like that in some reusable grocery bags) as a liner on both the front and back fabric. It gave the resulting masks more shape and that made it more comfortable on the face (and easier to sew). Although we’ve ordered some of this fabric, we didn’t want to wait to get started. So, we cut up some of our grocery bags and they worked great.
Parting Shot
In honor of local health care workers, the Navy’s Blue Angels flew over Jacksonville. We got to see them pass over twice before they returned to base. It was an amazingly blue sky, and my photo was only one of some amazing shots taken by others who got to watch it.
In honor of local health care workers, the Navy’s Blue Angels flew over Jacksonville. We got to see them pass over twice before they returned to base. It was an amazingly blue sky, and my photo was only one of some amazing shots taken by others who got to watch it.
