Author: rvingwithapurpose

Sunday, December 29, 2019

(Sorry, we thought this published yesterday but just discovered it did not.  Another is on the way shortly.)  Today was another gorgeous day in the Keys. It was a bit warmer with a high of 83 and just plain hot in the sun getting our exercise walking. The team attended church together this morning and the congregation is so welcoming they decided that the NOMADS need to be in their church pictorial directory. They took all our pictures after worship today. After our photography session we joined the congregation for their weekly brunch and enjoyed the conversations and food. They were all very appreciative of the work we did on their church this past week.  This afternoon we worked on NOMADS paperwork and got a nice walk. Seems God just nudged us outside for our walk at just the moment one of the folks came by looking for the AA meeting. We actually thought it was a little too early because the temperature was still 82 but God knew better. We had a good conversation with the young man. He shared his hurricane Irma story and we found that he is actually on the home repair list here at the church. He never gave us his name but just remember him in your prayers please. God knows his name. Hope everyone has had a good weekend and please stay safe over the rest of this holiday season.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

“Excitement in the Keys!” In broadcast and Internet news, that is referred to as a “teaser.” Its purpose is to grab your attention and get you to watch/read the story frequently.  As in broadcast/Internet news this teaser has very little relationship to the actual story.  Today was actually very peaceful and quiet for us. We walked to the flea market with Kathy and Larry. We didn’t stay long because of the heat. Then this afternoon we went to the Big Pine Rooster because we wanted to try their Saturday prime rib special.  We were met there by Glenita and Steve after they completed their afternoon canoeing trip.  The company was much better than the prime rib.

Now if we had titled this “Quiet Day in the Keys”, you probably wouldn’t have read it, right?

Friday, December 27, 2019

Today was another beautiful day on Big Pine Key. We had some rain again overnight but it was clear by the time we were up. Larry, Kathy and Elaine left early this morning to head to Key West in hopes of getting their “Southern Most Point” picture before the line was too long. Last time they were there they gave up without the photo because there were just too many people. They were fifth in line when they arrived today and got the desired photos. The had a good time roaming around town and returned around lunch time. While they were gone Max and Anne went shopping. We picked up some snow crab clusters from Winn Dixie and some stone crab claws from the new little seafood/produce market down the street. Since we had the pot luck on Christmas Day we decided to do our traditional crab dinner today. We really enjoyed! Having never eaten stone crab we weren’t sure if we would really enjoy. We did and we will probably have some more before we leave the area.

After enjoying our “Christmas” lunch Kathy, Larry and Elaine joined us for a bike ride. We rode back down to Blue Hole which we visited earlier. Only one of the gators was making an appearance today, the smaller of the two we saw previously. It was a nice ride. We remember getting spoiled to flat-land riding the last year we spent several weeks in Florida. Hopefully now that we are a little better organized we will have more time for riding. It was a really nice day.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

After enjoying our Christmas off, we were back to work today. We again worked at Big Pine UMC to complete or nearly complete some of the items we began on Tuesday. The final row of vinyl plank flooring was installed by Anne, Kathy and Max. We were so close to complete on Tuesday but just ran out of time. The quarter round trim is partially installed. We have a couple of difficult to install pieces remaining to be done. Steve and Larry completed installing the door to cover the HVAC unit after Glenita painted it. Steve and Larry completed the duct enclosure and Kathy cleaned it all and she and Elaine put on a coat of paint. Max had to make one more trip to Home Depot on Marathon Key for the trim. Elaine and Glenita also did more repainting of the exterior doors of the church. The dark green paint takes a real beating in the hot Florida sun. There was also a good deal of caulking in various spots around the church. We hope the church members enjoy the sprucing up and completion of things begun by others. We enjoyed having the team all together for two days. Next week we plan to get back to working on various homes.