2024 Dave and Cathy Dieter Journey

Late February - Transitions

2/28/2025

Dave admires Joe's work on another picnic table

While the campground at Faith often thins out in late February, it emptied out more than usual when Pastor Ricardo retired and moved home. And, at month-end Joe headed out as well. Lots of good accomplishments in the last 2 weeks, and some good times as well.

Building Fences

Joe’s time was getting short, but before he left he wanted to get one more project done. An area close to Wesley Hall had been cleared of bricks earlier by the Nomads, and it was becoming a little too attractive to vehicles on game nights looking for parking spaces. To prevent this, the plan was to build a fence matching that around similar areas by Wesley. However, this one would be longer and would need to navigate a curve in the road.

The finished job

Joe spent several days cutting, shaping, and painting the posts to match those nearby.

Then the real work started.

There would be 10 posts that needed to be planted. With post hole digger and shovels and some help from Dave, he made his way around the fence’s footprint, digging out the holes for the posts, positioning them so that the cross-boards would fit neatly on each post, setting them in concrete and attaching the cross-boards to finish the job. It looks great.

After making one more picnic table out of scrap wood, Joe’s work was done for the season, and he was ready to head out for his next role as a camp host in Georgia. As a going away present to us, he treated us to some of his homemade chili. We reciprocated with some BBQ at Bono’s.

New computer set-up for Trustees

Miscellaneous Church projects

Having made an internet access point available in the Trustees office, it was a logical next step that a computer would need to be installed in that office as well. Dave re-configured the retired office desktop for their use and set it up to use the internet installed earlier.

Dave patiently waiting for Cathy to stop taking his picture while working on photocells

Cathy had discovered the photocell for the lights by the church office and others nearby were no longer working. That meant the lights were either on all the time, or never on. She and Dave installed 3 new photocells, ensuring the lights turned off during the day and on at night as they were supposed to.

The irrigation system stopped running over the summer, when a leak was discovered by the well pump that fed it. However, with some discussions about replacing the pump, an inventory of the sprinkler heads was requested to determine how much volume of water would be required. We spent time activating each of the 8 zones to locate all of the heads, determining how wide an arc of water was needed for each, and how far each would spray.

Fred continued to work on the vehicles at Faith. He was able to get the golf cart running (again), and convinced Pat to install some back rests for the seats. He was also successful getting the tractor running.

Wesley roof before . . .

. . . and after powerwashing

Dave had an occasion to climb up on the Wesley Hall roof and was concerned that the coating applied 5 years ago was not doing so well. A call to the manufacturer suggested it needed powerwashing to get a good assessment. With the local sales rep due to arrive in a few days, Cathy and Pat scrambled to make some headway in cleaning it off. However, a 6000 sf roof takes a lot of powerwashing. By the end of day 2, we had maybe 1/5th of the roof cleaned, and had put the gas pressure-washer out of commission. (Luckily for us, Fred was there to rescue us. We had put some suspicious fuel in it, and it would not run. Fred got it cleaned out and working again.) With our slow progress, it made more sense for this task to be hired out, while Cathy and Pat turned their attention to another task that could use their skills a little better.

Pastor Ricardo Retires

Since 2019, Pastor Ricardo had been our neighbor in the campground, living in the church’s RV while serving the Spanish-speaking congregation. But the time had come for him to retire from the ministry. His last Sunday was a combined service with the English and Spanish congregations where he preached, and we had a church potluck afterward to celebrate his ministry.

Our contribution to the potluck was a smoked pork shoulder picnic. It was our first time smoking this cut of meat, so we had to figure out what to do with the thick skin that was part of the meat. We saw several recipes for “cracklins”, which we tried to follow, but our results were disappointing. However, the meat itself received good reviews.

We were sorry to see Ricardo go, but know he is enjoying his next phase, and more time with his family.

Pat, Dave and Fred on the I95 bridge over the St. Johns River

New Bike Trails

We explored 2 new areas by bike in our weekend excursions. One very urban, and the other much less so.

View of Riverside from the bridge

Faith is only about 3 miles from downtown, and we decided to bike toward the river and over I95 to explore the Riverside section of the Emerald Trail, west of downtown. (We had gone east of 95 on this trail back in January.) We didn’t choose the timing very well. It was a Saturday, with a large festival taking place that made for busy streets and lots of pedestrians. Also, there was a water main break that made the last mile a little tricky. However, we were rewarded by ending up in front of Whit’s Frozen Custard which made the hassle all worth it.

Our second ride was about an hour drive south of Jacksonville, starting in the Goldhead Branch State Park, near the small town of Keystone Heights. We rode south into town, and enjoyed a good meal at Johnny’s. We luckily arrived just before a local soccer game brought everyone in town to eat there as well. The park had a couple of campgrounds that we explored as well for possible future visits.

Shane checks out our roof

RV Stuff

We had some routine maintenance done with the local mobile RV repair service (OneSec Mobile). Shane reviewed our roof to touch up any spots needing sealant and greased the wheels of the trailer.

Chapel at Residing Hope

Parting Shot

We made a field trip to visit Residing Hope (formerly Florida United Methodist Children’s Home) to get a tour and explore options for volunteering there next winter. It is a lovely campus, and the staff does great work with their kids. We hope we will be able to return.

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Early February - Clearing out

2/15/2025

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Dave checks on the pork for the Super Bowl get-together.

We spent the first half of February with a great Nomads team here at Faith. Their project ended, and they pulled out, on Valentine’s Day. We enjoyed a Super Bowl together before they left and then we celebrated Valentine’s with a bike ride with Pat and Fred and some ice cream.

Neil pulls up concrete from the playground.

Clearing Ground

The playground had been neglected for years, and it was time for it to come down. The Nomads began dismantling the wooden structures, removing the plastic features – roofs, slides, etc., and then what remained was the real work. There were many items that were made of heavy metal, embedded in concrete 3 feet deep and a couple of feet across. This was not going to be easy. With the help of sawz-alls, an acetylene torch a tractor and a lot of hard work, the swingsets and jungle jims were dismantled, the concrete dug out of the ground, and the ground smoothed out. After several trips to metal recycling, and a fully-loaded dumpster, the playground was transformed to a cleared field.

DOT working across the creek from our site.

Meanwhile back at our campsite, we were seeing some ground clearing on an even bigger scale. Right across the small creek at the back of our site, the FL DOT was deploying some heavy equipment to bury large pipes in preparation for a new retention pond adjacent to I95. At one point, the earth mover was so close, we could feel the RV shake as it dug and moved the earth very nearby.

Dave, Pat and Fred study a problem in their truck engine.

A Little of This, A Little of That

When not clearing the playground, the Nomads made a difference all over campus -- pruning crepe myrtles (all 17 of them), blowing off the roofs (14 of them), repairing leaks, pressure-washing, and more. On their last night, we joined them and the church members that had fed them for 3 weeks to celebrate their accomplishments and thank them.

Bridge before work began

Joe's new bridge deck looks mahvelous.

Those of us volunteers not on the Nomads project were also doing a little bit of everything. Joe had spent several weeks replacing the boards on a bridge over the creek that separates the church from the soccer field. He finally finished the deck and the bridge is transformed. With the wood left over, he made a couple more picnic tables that could be deployed in the campground, including one that ended up at our site.

Fred (not pictured) supervises Dave and Pat as they test the propane dryer.

Fred was pulled in several directions: work on golf carts, help with a couple of plumbing problems, continued work on fuel polishing for the boiler, and maybe most important, getting our propane dryer working – until it didn’t. The smell of propane gas coming from the area of the dryer was the clue that that something was wrong with the gas line into the dryer. It didn’t take long for Fred and Pat to find the leak near the junction of the flexible line into the dryer. After replacing it, the dryer was back in service for a few days.

And then it stopped heating. What’s wrong now?

It turned out the propane tank that fed the dryer was empty. But a lot had happened since it was last filled. The gym HVAC units that used to rely on it had been replaced last year, and refilling a large tank to support a single appliance no longer made sense.

So, the decision was made to switch to an electric dryer. That meant a new outlet and a new dryer. So, we had to wait a bit longer for the dryer to be back in service. Cathy and Pat went to purchase the dryer. And Fred and Dave, with some help from Pat, worked on the installation. Within a few more days, the dryer was finally working again. And all those of us (mostly ladies) who were doing laundry were very grateful.

Pat put her skills to work in different ways as well --from installing blinds at the parsonage to sewing some drapes and making accent pillows for the newly-decorated narthex – all to great effect.

And what about the two of us? Cathy replaced a couple of door knobs, worked with Dave to install new outside lights replacing some that were no longer working, dismantled 100 chairs with Pat that were to be scrapped, and worked with Dave to run new internet wires to the Trustees’ office. Some days you just don’t know what you’ll be doing.

RV Stuff

Just after we replaced a non-working light in our living room, another one started to flicker. Maybe this was the start of trend. So, we decided to go big and order a set of 6 lights, ensuring we would be ready if any more failed. But after replacing the flickering one, it was obvious that the others were not as healthy as we thought. And since our access to a ladder is much easier here at Faith, we went ahead and replaced all of the ceiling lights. It is amazing how much brighter the room is now.

Cathy took advantage of access to a ladder to clean and UV protect our new slide toppers. And to clean the AC vents in the living room ceiling. And with the warmer weather, it was a good time to refresh our sign which was looking pretty ragged, but not any more.

Where did we go this time?

At Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island

Our bike riding was tempered a bit, as Pat’s battery needed to be replaced, so we wanted to pace ourselves. We chose a trail along Amelia Island north of Jacksonville, which was pretty, but not the best choice, since it had more hills than we expected. The view of the beach at our midway point was spectacular though.

On the Jacksonville - Baldwin Trail.

Before our next bike ride, it was Cathy’s turn to have a bike issue. Her front tire had sprung a small leak that had flattened the tire. We replaced the tube in time to take it out for a much flatter trip on the Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail.

Parting Shot
There was a single small flower on the bush, but it was enough to draw this butterfly to spend a little time before moving on.

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Late January - The work continues

1/31/2025

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Nomads building new picnic tables

Work continues here at Faith, with the Nomads busy transforming spaces around the campus. We provide support to them and work on our own projects. The cold temperatures that took hold in early January finally eased up, and we were enjoying much more seasonable temperatures as the month ended and we celebrated Dave’s birthday.

Office attic with new insulation

Keeping Warm

Usually, getting up into an attic in Florida is something you want to avoid. But when the high temperature for the day is only 47, the excessive heat is no longer an issue.

So, on a cold Monday, Pat and Cathy donned some protective jumpsuits and crawled up into the office attic to lay out some more insulation. The HVAC contractor had assessed the quality of the installed A/C unit, which was struggling to keep up with the summer heat. His verdict: The unit was fine, but the building needed more insulation. Some areas of the attic had none at all.

The trusses, wires, pipes, and ducts made the insulation project a challenging one.

The plan was to lay batts of insulation out in the attic, but the job was complicated by a few factors. First, there were pipes, ductwork and wires everywhere. Second, the roof was supported by trusses that blocked access to the channels needing insulation, complicating the job tremendously. And lastly, the side rooms of the office had very low clearances. To reach them required crawling along narrow channels deep into the attic. This might have been a great place to blow in insulation, but there was one big problem with that approach. The same attic cavity stretched down dozens of feet deep across 4 classrooms behind the office.

We chose a holiday to do the work, so we could clean up the mess before the office was being used the next day. As we climbed up into the attic, Pat drew the short straw and became the one moving into the farther recesses to lay out the batts. Cathy was closer to the access door relaying instructions to the ground crew and passing supplies back to Pat. While Cathy was able to insulate the channels around her, Pat was moving slowly along the beams to get to the most remote areas. At one point, Cathy couldn’t see her at all.

By late afternoon, all of the office ceiling was done, with Vicky’s help as ground crew. The office was already feeling warmer, but the most effective test would be how cool it felt months later as the summer heat arrived.

Fuel polishing system for the sanctuary boiler

Another challenge in the cold weather had been keeping the sanctuary heat running. After the repairs were completed in early January, Fred and Dave turned their attention to the fuel. The tank had been stirred up by a large fuel delivery and the “gunk” in the bottom was making its way into the system. So, they designed a fuel polishing system to pump the fuel from the tank through a 10 micron filter and return it to the tank. This would save the on-system fuel filter and hopefully reduce the likelihood of more blockages.

New picnic tables

The Nomads were equally motivated to escape the cold with some indoor work. After disassembling the existing, but badly deteriorating picnic tables outside, they moved their new picnic table assembly task to an indoor location. They developed a very effective process that involved “kitting” the support pieces and assembling them with some templates. This allowed some of the team to turn out assembled table supports from cut pieces that another part of the team would finish into completed tables. By the end of the next week, the next Nomad team had assembled 10 picnic tables. Kim’s Open Door was especially happy, since her kids use the courtyard regularly.

Pat feeds the fire with some of the remaining yard waste

Odds and Ends

A typical day at Faith while the Nomads teams are on campus has Dave moving between their tasks, coordinating with Bud to ensure the workers have what they need in supplies, tools and answers to questions. Cathy’s time is spent as a “pinch-hitter”, managing purchases and addressing tasks that come up suddenly or that are outside the scope of the Nomads. When there were 40 bags of leveling sand left over from the brick patio, she made arrangements for it to be picked up, which unfortunately meant a pre-dawn call by the driver asking for the gate to be unlocked. When a call came asking for assistance in clearing the backyard debris at the parsonage, Pat and Cathy spent 2 days burning the remains of yard waste that were cut down back in December. This included a lot of green bamboo, which we discovered makes a loud sound like a gun shot as it burns.

In between other projects, Cathy, Sandy, and Pat made their way around the buildings replacing light bulbs that were out and installing replacement lenses for several that were missing.

New RV door inside latch plate

RV Stuff

Cathy lifted the latch on the RV door to head outside and felt something from the latch fall to the ground. Luckily, she successfully opened the door, because the broken piece was the lever that pulled the latch in to allow the door to open. It was also lucky that she was inside the RV heading out so the door was not stuck in the closed position. Another stroke of luck was that we had a spare door lock in our inventory. Otherwise, we might have had to keep the door unlocked for several days while we waited for a replacement. However, with the spare in hand, it took only a few minutes to replace the inner plate and have the door working again.

We continue to take the bikes out each weekend, but the cover that protected them on the road was becoming a nuisance to put on and take off repeatedly while they sit at our site. We had seen a “bike tent” that Pat and Fred were using that had appeal in that it was easy to stow the bikes, and it kept them off the ground as well, keeping them dryer. So, after buying one for ourselves, we were dismayed to see water pooled in the bottom after a heavy rain. The solution turned out to be an obvious one from tent camping days. Seam sealer. After an application on the tent’s seams, the inside stayed dry.

Cathy at the western (Baldwin) end of the rail to trail that runs 14 miles west of Jacksonville

Parting Shots

We took bike rides to the western end of the Jacksonville – Baldwin trail, which we had never quite managed to achieve before, and along a section of the Palatka to St. Augustine trail.

Birthday donuts

The latter ride was on Dave’s birthday.
To celebrate we started the day with some Duck Donuts and ended it with some good seafood by the St. John’s River at Corky Bell’s in Palatka.

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Early January - Back to Work

1/18/2025

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Supplies arriving for Nomads projects

Back at Faith, the volunteers began arriving shortly after the new year, ready to get to work on projects around the church. We helped ensure they had an understanding of the work ahead and that their supplies were staged and ready to go. And we had a few projects of our own as well. And we took time out to visit with Cathy's sister Carolyn one weekend. When it wasn't too cold, we did some bike riding on nearby trails.

Sanctuary boiler

Baby, It’s Cold Inside

It was becoming an unwelcome routine at Faith. Sunday morning dawns with chilly temperatures. Someone flips the switch to turn on the heat in the sanctuary. And nothing happens. The oil-fired boiler won’t light and the congregation has to bundle up to stay warm. Even after the repair crew was called. Still no heat.
With Fred’s arrival in January, the work on the boiler stepped up a notch. He analyzed the problem and worked with the repair company to identify, order and install a new fuel pump. With the repair, the boiler was working fine, so the plan was to leave it running until Sunday. However, on Saturday morning, he checked and someone had flipped the emergency switch and turned it off. Fred wasn’t happy. After restarting it, signs were placed on the switches, and fingers crossed for the next morning.
But come Sunday morning, Dave gets a text from Fred that the boiler is off again. And it wasn’t a switch this time. Just as all of his options seemed exhausted, Dave arrived to see him kick the boiler. Pastor Michael arrives shortly after, having been praying for a solution on the drive. And, miraculously, the boiler starts up. Was it answered prayer? Dave’s timely arrival? Or just a well-placed kick?
More visits from the repair company cleaned out blockages that were limiting fuel flow, improving the reliability, but not eliminating unexpected outages. A recent large fuel delivery at the beginning of the winter season is suspected to have stirred up sludge in the fuel tank. So, that will likely be the next target of investigation.

The failing rear projector had to be replaced

What does that say?

The screen had been hard to read for months, but one Sunday the rear projector just wouldn’t work at all. While the main projector was fine for the congregation, the choir was all of a sudden fumbling for the words to the hymns. So, the tipping point had arrived and it was time to install a new projector.

While there are complexities to finding the right technology, ensuring both projectors will work with the computer without hiccups, this was not the only challenge. The projector sits 2 stories high, suspended from a pole in the even higher ceiling. So, while Dave identified a projector and got it on order, we turned to Joe to climb the 16ft step ladder to swap out the device.

Dave secures wires for new projector before the install.

The change was made a little more complex, because it was decided that it made the most sense to install the new projector to serve the congregation up front, and move the existing front projector to replace the failing one in the rear. That meant repositioning a 16ft step ladder a number of times. So, we started by having Joe make the swap from the front to the rear. However, when the swap was complete, the projector would turn on, but wouldn’t communicate with the computer.
With difficulty, we ruled out faulty power cords (although one was loose), problems with the remote receiver for the HDMI signals, bad cables, etc. Until we discovered a switch that turned off the power to the projector that someone had flipped probably before Sunday’s problems. With the switch on, the projector worked fine and was a vast improvement over its predecessor.

Joe makes the final adjustments to align the image with the screen.

Installing the new projector had another challenge. It connected to the computer and worked without problem, but we discovered that the mount removed from the old projector would not work on the new one. So, short of setting it on the 16ft ladder, we had no way to use it on Sunday. With only a few days to get this right, we needed to find the right adaptor the first time. After a couple of phone calls, we had the correct part on the way. It was just a lot more expensive than we had anticipated.
By Sunday, everyone was pleased with the brighter screen in front and back. And the 16ft ladder was put away for a while. We hope.

Nomad Projects

Walkway before . . .

. . . and after

The Nomads put the supplies we had purchased to good use. After clearing an area near Wesley Hall of bricks that were being displaced by tree roots, they removed a rotting walkway by Asbury Hall and installed a beautiful brick walkway and ramp to make the side exit usable again. They assembled new furniture for the remodeled narthex in the sanctuary, and they removed the plexiglass panels on all the stained glass windows to remove years of mud dauber activity.

RV Stuff

That angry red face on our Power Watchdog became a recurring problem after an initial outage one afternoon. Initially, it detected a momentary low voltage error and then restarted, which we attributed to the recent arrivals of a number of rigs and some cold weather. However, the low voltage readings started happening more often. And since our electric heat would go off and not come back on automatically, this was becoming a problem.

With a neighbor’s help, Dave tested the pedestal with a multimeter and a SurgeGuard device – both of which confirmed the power in the pedestal to be fine. We reported it to the manufacturer of our watchdog, which caused them to send us a replacement under warranty. While we waited, we bypassed the Watchdog, until we came home to evidence of another outage.

We decided to try a different solution. We put the Watchdog back in service, but plugged the RV into a different pedestal. And waited for the power to go out. After many days with no outage, the replacement unit arrived. Feeling guilty, we called the company and explained what had happened. They understood, and said we should keep the replacement and just send back the old unit, which we did. And the power has stayed on since.

Dave installs our new fresh water pump

When you open the faucet, you just expect the water to flow. So, when it doesn’t, it gives you pause to say the least. Dave experienced it first on overnight trip to the bathroom, but by morning he took a shower with no problem. However, the next evening it suddenly stopped working again. Only this time, it didn’t start again. It was pretty clear that our fresh water pump had failed, but replacing it required us to empty the compartments under the RV. Given the cold temperatures, we decided to wait until the following afternoon to tackle it. Luckily, we already had a spare pump on board.

The new pump was identical to its predecessor, so the installation was quick, and water started flowing again soon after. We were grateful that we only had to do without running water for less than a day.

So, they say trouble comes in threes. And our next problem to address was a living room light that had gone out. Dave took the opportunity when buying a replacement to upgrade another light in the process. Cathy wanted a switch on the light nearest the bedroom. So, we swapped that one for the one in the living room and put the switched light in the hall. Another easy installation and we have light where we want it.

Degreasing bike chain

Grease off / Wax On
Never one to let things be, Dave started watching videos about the best way to grease your bike chain. He came to the conclusion that the solution was to not grease the chain, but to remove the grease and put wax on it. Wax is not nearly as dirty to start with and doesn’t pick up as much dirt along the way. So, we used a full bottle of spray-on degreaser to remove all of the grease on the chains and gears on our bikes. Then applied the wax in a few coats to the same parts. After a couple of days, we took our first bike ride with the our waxed chains, and they worked great. The wax is easy to re-apply, and stays clean, so no black marks on socks or jeans.

Dave on Big Talbot Island

So, we took the bikes on some familiar trails and some new ones. We made a trip covering the eastern half of the Jacksonville-Baldwin rail trail. On another trip we made our way further east to ride along the coast on Little Talbot Island and Big Talbot Island just south of Fernandina. This was a quiet ride and could have taken us many more miles north to Fernandina Beach, but we decided to turn around before crossing over to Amelia Island. Maybe another time. Our last trail was less peaceful. The Black Creek Trail ran along US 17 on Fleming Island, and the road noise was a little overwhelming when trying to communicate with one another. The side street crossings were hectic at times as well. This trail wasn’t one we were likely to repeat. But the bikes are letting us explore different places and helping us to stay fit. And that’s what we were hoping for when we bought them.

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Late February - Transitions

Early February - Clearing out

Late January - The work continues

Early January - Back to Work

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