August 30 - While the Chronicler Tarries

Work Continues -

While the chronicler is away, progress is ongoing at the church building. The bosses use a size large white board to dole out the necessary tasks.

Last week I received pictures but only now am I able to put them to use. Updating the blog cannot be safely done while driving a car. 

Aare stains the door jambs to fit with the walnut trim. 

 It looks to me like he succeeded. At least he made them darker.

Walnut trim boards cut and planed await installation.

Walnut rough boards that were adjudged unacceptable for further processing. We could say they did not make the cut.















Door Jambs Need Doors -

The sanctuary, now with walls and ceiling primed, is deployed as a door chop shop.

Charles and Steve are the official door choppers. All the doors salvaged from a construction site have to be resized to fit the openings at the church. Apparently it is easier to resize the doors than the openings so chop the doors. The doors also need to change color to fit the decor but that process has not yet started.




Pew Stripping - 

Dave is stripping the old finish off the newly acquired pews.


















And not just Dave, but also Tom and Ed.

It is a necessary task and they are proceeding energetically. All the purchased pews were disassembled and are now being exfoliated with strong chemicals and vigorous rubdown with steel blades.

Pew pieces patiently await their turn for resurfacing. As a general rule, wood furniture surfaces are finished with the idea of having durable wear surfaces. Removing old varnish in order to change the color and add a new wear surface is labor intensive and tedious. But when the pews compliment the other wood in the sanctuary all the effort will have been worthwhile.





Outside Work - 

The portico is having a shingled covering installed.

A crew utilizes manual excavators to smooth the ground in preparation for the ...

installation of the "outdoor green organic carpet" as Bob calls it. It sure makes a pretty picture.









Another New Addition -
A congregation member spotted an ad for a piano being sold. The music folks checked it out and decided the condition merited the selling price and behold, we now own a piano. It is now in the flex room which room is already demonstrating its flexibility.

August 22 - Remote Blogging Continues

Starting Over? - 
In my absence, volunteers are sending photos. My job is to figure out what is happening in the photo, then put some intelligible(?) words around it to explain how this operation brings us ever nearer to completing the project.

When I opened the email with this picture I was startled a bit. Does this depict a project reboot?

With the next picture it is clear that the grading is going on around the building, and not a building restart.

Although it may resemble a team of migrant field workers, it is actually congregation members manually smoothing the ground, preparing for sod.

The electronic call went out on the Elk River Groupme chat site, "Laying sod. All qualified bodies come to the church. Qualifications: You must be able to fog a glass."
I am not certain about the message but is was something like that. And out they came. All sizes and ages.
As the work progressed, the call around the yard was echoed: "Remember, green side up."

While on the back corner of the building, Farmer Paul supervised Joe, who appeared to be measuring the building as if to fit it with a skirt and he needed the proper hemline height. Or he may have been measuring something else, I can't be sure.


















Inside the Building - 

Matt, who so diligently taped all those drywall seams now feels the need to cover up his previous efforts. At least now, he is using a higher productivity tool. The roller covers a much greater area than the taping knife.

Bob and Loren busy themselves machining boards. I inquired from the photographer about the ultimate destination of said wood pieces. Door jams, I was told. Like peanut butter and door jam, I asked. No. Spell the word correctly, DOOR JAMBS. Oh well, technical construction terms get me again.

New Pews, (New to Us) -
The pews were purchased from a church in St. Paul and transported to Nowthen as previously reported. Naturally, the first thing that must be done with a churchful of pews is to disassemble them.
The fun part of remote blogging is trying to recognize people I know when I can't see faces. My guess is this is Justin, but I am not certain. I do not recognize the cap.

Workmen of all ages diligently remove screws and set the individual pieces free. Blake (one I recognize - he is my grandson) offers his assistance. I hope the folks know how to re-assemble these pieces after they are refinished.

Sam, closely monitored by design committee members (coincidentally his wife and in-laws) tests stain colors. I think they want to have the color compatible with the walnut trim to be installed in the church. I am confident that Sam will find the right color.

August 13 - The Chronicler Vacates

The Plight of the Chronicler - 
Due to circumstances well out of his control, the chronicler was called to Arizona on a family matter. It seems a daughter made an unscheduled rapid decent from a ladder, breaking a leg at the end of a rather brief flight. Surgery was required so the chronicler and his missus wound up in Arizona to help out. I can happily report that surgery was successful and the patient is recovering, if somewhat painfully at this time.
Nevertheless, Work at the Church Continues -
The blog will go on with pictures supplied by on-site sources.


It looks like preparation is going on to spray the sanctuary ceiling. The floor is protected with plastic and an operator wearing a hazmat suit is getting the sprayer set up.

The as-of-yet unidentified operator is spraying the ceiling. Looks like white paint to me.

One more in process ceiling painting photo.









Pews, the Next Big Thing - 
It happens that a church in St. Paul was selling pews that may be of use to our congregation. A sample was procured and placed on the back porch for members to evaluate. Mrs. Chronicler and I also got a chance to make a seated evaluation of the pew and register our opinion. Then we departed for Arizona. Obviously, the decision was made to abandon making our own pews and buying them already made resulting in a substantial savings of both time and money.

The pictured church is the source of the pews. Unlike our church, this one has trees and the stone exterior.

The pews as they appeared before the moving crew arrived.

The church interior with most of the pews removed.

The pew loading crew at work.

The pews arrive at their new home which in unencumbered by those nasty trees. Unloading begins.

Unloading continues.

The pews arrived and made it into the sanctuary where they are thoroughly tested by the lunching moving crew. It is hard to tell how long this test lasted but I am guessing it was shorter than the average sermon.

A more comprehensive test was in order and the pews started filling up. No word was sent who preached and what text was used. Being that there is no pulpit in place yet, I suspect there was no sermon. But it is evident that we have seating available when the pulpit is completed and the services begin.

Eric and Brent supplied photos for this post.

August 5 - Progress Everywhere

It Is Getting Exciting - 
No matter where you look you can see the finished product taking shape. Inside and out, in big open areas and in back corners, one step at a time, inch by inch that which started out as an empty grassy field is looking more and more like a church. Our church. Outside walls are being painted. The building committee uses the porch on a lovely evening to plot the next steps.

The plotting is no longer about putting foam blocks together or raising trusses. Now it is about finishing colors for interior surfaces. Janelle displays the samples for review by the committee.

On the opposite end of the building, Peter the painter daubs the final color on the trim pieces.
A view of the nearly finished east wall. Pete noted that it is important to get the peaks on the gable ends done before Steve Redman, the lift owner needs it for his own business.

Inside, Aaron polishes the floor up close to the walls so the trim pieces can be installed. When done in this order the big floor polishing gear will not need to get close to the new trim. Save some nicks, maybe.

While near the ceiling Bill seems to have lost his head while hanging support wires for the ceiling grid work.





















The Humboldt Window - 
Through a rather circuitous route, we acquired a window from the original Minneapolis church on Humboldt Avenue. The design folks figured it would add a nice touch to our new church to establish a physical link to our ancestral church building. Almost like discovering the original acorn from which the family tree grew. Bill recovered his head and is touching up the trim work for the window housing.

Phil, the taping wizard, adds mud and tape to the window framework.
























Action in the Dining Hall - 

Ed uses both hands and both tools to give Wayne driving directions to some location unknown to me, but hopefully known to Ed.

Mark demonstrates proper serving technique in handing Brian a ceiling panel.















Speaking of Brian - 
I saw lights and heard noises coming from the hole in the ceiling that leads to the up-ladder mechanical room. My curiosity was aroused but not enough to entice me to risk a ladder climb. I figured if I waited long enough someone would come down and educate me on the high level activity.

Brian was measuring for gas piping to be installed to fuel the upstairs furnaces. It seems that copper water pipe joints can be soldered, but gas lines must be brazed. Of course I acted like I knew what he was talking about.

Brazing is like, high temperature stuff. Heat the pipe to about 1,200 degrees or so and then rub on the sil-phos brazing rod. Brian pre-warms the rod under his arm while the torch raises the copper pipe temperature. Sil-phos is a compression of silver and phosphate mashed together in the manufacture of the brazing rod.

 Here we see the joint brazing process as the rod is melted and the liquid form then seeps between the copper pieces. Apparently the liquid wants to go where it is really hot as it seeks the heat while it seeps.

 I am very impressed with the final product. I hope he measured correctly both upstairs and down below where the assembly was done. Well, if it doesn't fit, it may be a nice decorative sculpture. Perhaps a rather modernistic piece to contrast with the antique Humboldt window.

Out Front, The Portico -
The portico plan is taped on the window in the front entrance door. It is black and white and red all over, just like a wounded zebra. Sam seems to be able to decipher the red, hand written markings on the paper and convert them into wood and steel structures. I admire his gift.

The plan calls for 7 bolts to be run through the rafters on either side of the beam with nuts firmly affixed on the threaded end. Sam was not sure if all the bolts were needed to keep the roof from coming down or rising up. He decided they are to keep the roof halves from splaying like a hockey goalie doing the splits to make a save.

Sam and Justin (I think I have the name right) add the pre-cut, pre-drilled posts to the portico assembly.

Earlier, Sam found this task a bit boring.

Friday evening found Sam out moon lighting.

As the end draws nearer, the regular, all volunteer army of workers is looking a tad weary. The months of part-time, labor has a way of eroding even the stoutest hearts and minds. Yet God has given the strength endure to this point and we pray that He will continue to bless this project to its completion.