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.
Merry Christmas! Hope every one had a great day. It was a very nice day in the Florida Keys. We were able to sleep in this morning which was nice. And for those family members that sometimes doubt Max’s Christmas spirit – he did help decorate FRED this year.
Lights in the windshield and decorations on the wall
Our nativity set in the window
Sitting by the fires on Christmas morning. Notice the carefully hung stockings by the fire place. (Yeah, we know they’re socks.)
The team planned a pot luck for 1:00 so we all spent our morning preparing food. It was a fun gathering. We invited Dennis, one of our homeowners who had no plans for today, and he really seemed to have fun and joined in the laughter. We had turkey and dressing and all the trimmings along with pecan and key lime pie. It seemed a good time was had by all and we definitely did not go back to our RVs hungry.
We needed and enjoyed a long walk after lunch and then drove around exploring the island. We stopped at a little nature trail at Blue Hole. It was a very short walk to the overlook and the “pond” really wasn’t very impressive until we looked straight down and saw two alligators directly under where were were standing on the overlook. One of those gators was really big. We did not look at them for long with only one of the reasons being the mosquitoes.
Click picture to read about Blue Hole
Blue Hole
Residents of Blue Hole
We also drove to a joining key uniquely named “No Name Key.” After driving to the end of the road we think there may be a reason it doesn’t have a name.
End of the road on No Name Key
It was a good day. We celebrate Jesus’ birth and thank God for sending Him to save us.
The team spent all of Christmas Eve 2019 at Big Pine UMC. We decided early on in the project that we would spend some time working at the church to thank them for being such welcoming hosts. The church was flooded during Hurricane Irma but is mostly rebuild. There are still a few things that need to be completed. The sound booth needs flooring and a door to cover the HVAC unit. And there is always painting to be done.
Sound booth before
Larry and Steve used two doors in making a custom sized door for the sound booth to cover the HVAC system
Steve and Larry assembling the door
Kathy and Anne spent the day putting the flooring down in the sound booth.
Sound booth with some of the new flooring installed
Elaine and Glenita doing some touch up painting
Then tonight was the traditional Christmas Eve service with carols and the reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.
Of course the program included a candle lighting service.
Last night was along night for the team. During our team meeting we learned that our county was placed under a tornado watch. We told the team what to do if we went under a warning and after our work was done we all headed back to our rigs. Max was in storm mode as there was a water spout headed straight toward Key West. Anne went to sleep – for about 15 minutes when we were suddenly placed under a tornado warning. All our team received their phone alerts and all gathered back inside the church as we had requested. Max didn’t think the worst of the storm was going to pass our way and thankfully it did not. When we experience severe weather when we are traveling, we learn how blessed we are with the TV and NWS coverage we have in our area. Since Key West is 150 miles from Miami, the stations there – the closest TV stations – don’t really cover the lower keys. The tornado warning wasn’t canceled until 11:00 but most of the team was so wide awake by then that there was little sleep to be had. Key West received 5.5 inches of rain from the storm and the streets were flooded. We had a lot of rain but no wind damage. This afternoon some of the side streets in Big Pine Key were still under water.
Rainbow on the way to Sugarloaf Key
Today Max took Glenita and Steve to Sugarloaf Key to continue work on Bob’s house. Today they hung 2 sets of closet doors, repaired a hole in the ceiling drywall, touched up some paint. The rest of the team – Larry, Kathy, Elaine and Anne returned to Dennis’ house. Larry installed the four new kitchen ceiling lights while the rest of us did the final sanding/prep on the walls in the kitchen and living room. He also did some work on the hall and bedroom drywall. After lunch the ladies, with the help of Dennis, began the priming of the walls. By the end of the day one short section of wall was all that was unprimed. We were very pleased with the appearance of the walls with the primer in place.
Closet doors installed at Bob’s
Dennis and Larry installing kitchen lights
Today was Elaine’s birthday and the 10 year old daughter of our homeowner Bob was scheduled to sing at Boondocks, a local restaurant, so the team decided to head to Boondocks after work. Unfortunately the young lady was ill and unable to appear but we all still had fun celebrating Elaine’s day. Since we are all so tired, we made an early night of it and headed home with everyone planning an early bedtime. Hope everyone is ready for Christmas.
