October 2 - Meetings, Grading and Pews

Another Status Meeting in the Church -
A week ago Sunday the second status update meeting was held at the church. While there were some assembled pews, they were all in the sanctuary, and not in the dining hall where the meeting convened. So, everyone that wanted to sit had to bring their own chair. In the picture, Bob is standing but not because he failed to bring a chair. He wanted attention so he stood up in the front to give his status update.

After Sam reported on the finances discussion ensued about whether or not to increase our self imposed debt ceiling. While the church could be 'completed' without the increase, some desired items like an epoxy sealed kitchen floor would have to be deferred. The congregation agreed to up the debt limit. Sam stated that the bank is fine with the new debt ceiling. Sam also said the projection stand in the picture is only temporary.

With the current projected spending, we will still not have a completed kitchen so the eagle-eyed shoppers are still on the lookout for deals on appliances and other kitchen stuff. One additional thought about finishing the kitchen - if anyone visiting our new church would like hot coffee after the service, they might consider using the 'DONATE' button at the top of this page to help us acquire a coffee urn. Your contribution is greatly appreciated!.

Janelle gave an update from the design committee. Now that some of the trim is in place it is easier to visualize the implications of the design works. No one registered complaints about the work of the committee or its decisions and no one campaigned to join the committee, so it looks like the congregation approves of their efforts.






The Media Committee - 
Work at the church makes finding a time for a committee meeting scarce. Adrian, Eric, Joe and Loren sandwiched in a meeting while working on Wednesday evening.













The Outside Gets Prettier by the Day (and Night) -

Now that the sidewalks are in, the lawn can be completed. Jackson, Loren, Charles and Bob use shovels and rakes to smooth the dirt preparatory to applying the sod blanket.

Loren and Suzanne do the fine tuning with the rakes under Grant's watchful eye.
















Just when they think they have shoveled and raked enough, Farmer Paul shows up with another size large bucket of dirt. Paul has an endless supply of dirt and seems to enjoy positioning it for the manual excavators to have their turn with it.

Next to the building, Ed compacts 

the soil and lays in the paving blocks.

Working on after the sun sets, Merja and Janet adjust the sod so it meets the new sidewalk making the yard look real pretty.















Another Busy Saturday - 

Staining the pews before assembly means that any dings that come during assembly must be touched up before the varnish goes on. Tom and Sam are diligently using markers and crayons to cover bare spots. Nina is dusting the surfaces prior to varnishing.

With the prep work done, Matt and Kevin wheel the pew into the sanctuary turned spray booth.

Then hoist it onto the official pew stands.

When in proper position, Matt turns on the spray gun and attacks.

Matt worked in batches of three. One coat applied to all surfaces of all three pews, wait twenty minutes or so and do it again with a second coat. Five gallon buckets made the other pairs of official pew stands.

 I asked Sam about the material. "Conversion varnish", he replied. "Because it is for church pews?" I queried.

No, that is the really-o, truly-o name of the product. It contains catalysts that help it dry quickly. Able to be re-coated after about twenty minutes and then moved after another twenty or so minutes.

While the varnish does dry fast, this fly was able to test the adhesive characteristics before it dried. The fly stuck around.















This is the first one done, finished on Friday night. I tried it out and found it to be completely satisfactory.

Sloping the Yard - 
The bosses are pretty fussy. Bob says that the yard needs to slope away from the building so that water will drain away from, not towards the building. This makes sense to me. The gap in the sidewalk is where the water is expected to drain. The gap will be covered with a metal grate so old chroniclers and wheeled vehicle users do not trip or stall on the busy sidewalk.

Since dropping the drain canal is impractical, dirt needs to be added to make the slope happen. Bob checks the level at the drain and determines how much dirt is needed  to to attain the proper slope.

 Farmer Paul conveys the dirt and the slope generating team takes it from there. Bob double checks. "Good - it's all downhill from here."