Never a moment's peace around here!

Finally, I get to lie down in my bed! Tonight was a busy one, besides having dinner with the church ladies. Going back to this later afternoon, I had a phone call from Hugh, on the 2nd floor, having just returned from a long weekend away. When I answered I said, "Welcome home!" and he replied, "What a welcome home it is..." I didn't get that but let it go by. He said he figured I would be the one to talk to find out what was going on, and I thought he meant the problem with the A/C on Saturday night. Nope, he had no A/C at this moment. Oh, no! 
                        

I told him that 40 minutes earlier I had been in the maintenance office with Connie where she showed me the switch and panel for the A/C pumps, with all up and running. This information was shared with Hugh, as was the word of how the pumps were down overnight on Saturday. Oh oh, again. He called his repair guy and then called me back to report that he shut off his system, waited a few minutes, and restarted it. Ta da! Cancel the repair guy...chilled air once again! Just like a computer, it needed to reboot!

So, tonight about 10:30, I got an e-mail from Herve on the 5th floor. He reported that once again the elevator was stuck with the door half way open, grinding and screeching in its efforts to move. He had also sent the notice to the BOD president and Hugh, and the maintenance chairman who is off flying. I had called Hugh, since he had not seen the e-mail at that late hour. Since I knew where the switch was, I was going down to the maintenance office with Hugh to check it out. 

As I had thrown my caftan on, I grabbed the trash bag to take down with me, not thinking that the elevator was out. Rats! Justin asked me where I was going with that garbage...oops! He said, "Just leave it until tomorrow..." 

Hugh had a flashlight to light our way, as some of the lights were out, too. Fortunately the lights in the little office worked and I could show him the switch. However, the switch was in the ON position. Hmmm....Hugh pushed a switch in the control box which seemed tripped and the pump for the A/C started up again. He tried flipping another one from OFF to On and sparks flew out. Not good! I think we will need an electrician!

Herve had come down to see what he could do to help. 5 flights up and down, poor guy! Miss Chardonnay, who is on the BOD, was serving in an advisory capacity, and she authorized Hugh to call the repair man. I believe that was the right thing to do, as the screeching and grinding going on would not be good to allow to continue overnight. We'd have to pay overtime, though. 

I climbed back up the stairs, leaving the menfolk and Miss C. to handle the situation. Once back up, I told Justin it was okay to turn the A/C back on again, as we had shut it down when the pumps quit working. Not sure why they are connected...might have been a coincidence. 

I sent out a mass e-mail explaining the elevator was disabled and help was on the way. About 10 minutes later, Herve wrote to say the BOD president forced the door the rest of the way open, and got the elevator running again. Overtime cancelled and sleep for me. One thing after another!!

Still on Cloud Nine

Today we had a 'guest' pastor, Dick S., who is serving as the retirement pastor at Keystone Heights. Between three churches, ours included, the pastors will be serving each others congregations once a month. The day he comes back will be my favorite! 

It is also our anniversary weekend as only one year ago, Pastor S. (Dick) and his wife, Ellen, came to our church for a visit. Coincidentally, Ellen had done the floral arrangements for her friends' wedding at The Club that weekend. I met them at church, became fast friends, and then they came over to my house that afternoon. Today Ellen brought me a beautiful Murano glass bowl which she knew would be perfect for me. I am so touched! But I didn't get her anything....

This bowl weighs about 5 pounds, has a pearlescent look to it. Magnificent and thoughtful!

Joanne and her associate/my friend, Christine, helped them in their house hunt, but they ended up buying in Palm Coast instead of Jax. Proximity to Disney and the beach reigned. Now I have one more reason to visit Palm Coast besides my niece's family and Christ the King Lutheran church!!

As the service began, I knew it was going to be a good one. After I took attendance and walked toward my seat, I stopped to let Cliff know our family of four visitors were WELS folks so they could join us at the Lord's table. They had been with us last week also and said they are members of a church in Fond du Lac. The ushers don't always know who is who and will stop by to ask me, just to make sure. I whispered to Cliff, "I love him!" and Cliff readily agreed. 

The service was themed around Independence Day and keeping God in our lives and in our nation. Wow! The sermon, based in Psalm 106, was quite powerful, evocative, and serves as a great reminder that if we (our nation and as individuals) turn away from God, He might turn away from us. There are so many sinful influences in society affecting  our thinking and actions. 

Pastor S. used the famous description of the frog in the pot of water. Warming it slowly, the frog eventually is boiled to death...but put it in a boiling pot, it jumps out, knowing the risks. We are slowly allowing ourselves to be boiled to death as we get accustomed to the heat. Let us not be boiled frogs! God give us strength and wisdom to know the difference!!

When he said, "Amen", and motioned us to stand, Justin leaned over and whispered, "It's hard not to clap..." At lunch later on, a young man, joining us with his grandma, reported, "I didn't fall asleep during the sermon today..." We had to chuckle because that is quite a statement to make.

The closing hymn was "God Bless Our Native Land" and Pastor invited us to sit. I whispered to Justin that we should stand for this hymn. As we began singing, all around us people were standing back up, so we did too. From where I could see, most were standing by the end of the hymn, and wow, such singing out there was! "...God save the state."

In the sermon, Pastor had mentioned the erection of a cross on the shores at Jamestown where the settlers knelt to pray in thanksgiving for their safe arrival. He also mentioned the movements to remove "In God We Trust" from the currency and "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. After the service, one of our members, Bill, presented Pastor and Ellen with their own handcrafted cross to plant in their yard, with "In God We Trust" stenciled on it. 

Outside, folks were going up to Ellen and reporting what a marvelous service it was, also telling Pastor this as he greeted them at the door. My friend, Carol, had tears in her eyes as she spoke with Ellen. It was a wonderful service start to finish. Kept me filled up all day, and will hopefully take this message to heart for the rest of my days!

It's a scorcher!

Today's temperature is expected to soar to 100 above zero. Whew! I am heading to Palm Coast to enjoy some time with family there. Thankfully they have a pool in which I intended to spend the bulk of my time. My two little nieces, Maya and Rayna, so cute, are reportedly looking forward to "Awntie Kim" coming down for a visit. Years ago, when Maya was learning to talk, she called me "Auntie Em" which I thought was so precious. 

                                   

Every time we got together I had presents with me but this time, only a bag of assorted salty snacks to enjoy with our fry out at lunch time. Justin and I bought it at Wal-Mart for use when the VBS kids are here next week. Snack size bags, perfect for little kids, and big ones, too!

Justin was gone last night but came home to sleep rather than staying at his friend's home. He is yet asleep so I will slip out as quietly as I can and not disturb him. When he does get up, he will be greeted by a nice list of things to accomplish before the VBS kids arrive midweek. Let's hope some of the list is tackled before he leaves again this afternoon.

Overhead I hear the racket of movers and moving, as Misty is in the process of leaving The Palace. When they moved in, her two teen-aged daughters and she, it took a couple weeks to complete the process. This time, by hiring movers, it was a more streamlined process. At least, it appears as such. They should be all wrapped up at the end of the day. 

I sure hope we don't have rain before new tenants move in, to catch the leaks, in case that happens! I have every confidence the repairs being made on the 5th floor will rectify the situation once and for all. Or for a couple years, at least, like last time it was fixed!

Watching the fallout and cleaning it up

Talk about multi-tasking, something women excel at, it is said. Linda J. and I spent part of the day 'watching' our shared radio program together from our homes, and chatting at the same time. Once in a while, I lost my train of thought and we had to back it up. Gotta love the technology! The previous day we were on-line for several hours, watching-listening-chatting until it was time for me to leave for dinner with Judy C. We are good at this!

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Judy and I had coupons for Steak 'n Shake to use on Thursday night, before BIC. We are so close to being done and yet, Amber was absent. Now she has a couple lessons to catch up on, as these last two are rather 'difficult' to grasp, even for long time Lutherans. 

The subject of fellowship can be delicate and not readily understood, especially for someone with no church background. There just has to be a better way of covering this. Next week we have no class because of VBS canvassing, nor do we have it the following week. Some might meet this coming Tuesday to help get caught up, but I have a different BIC that night to attend. 

From last year's pyrotechnic display on the river

Justin is busily, sort of, working on getting his overflow items organized and placed into bins to make room for our four house guests coming next week. He will be bunking with me while the teen boy uses Justin's room. The three girls will be in the guest room so we need every inch of available space for them. 

The first plan was to store his extra items in my friend, Ellen's, home but she wanted to place them in her dining room,  part of her living space. Since she is entertaining at this condo for the 4th of July fireworks, I decided we would keep his stuff here. He has the bins neatly stacked in the foyer and I will learn to be fine with that. I did the bathroom cleaning already---yes, I did it myself! 

Justin is also removing collected cardboard boxes from purchases to the dumpster which frees up some space.The two of us have boxes from my bedroom TV, his new computer monitor, and such to be rid of. He will consolidate the remaining items stored in this room to make ample space.

One set of boxes is from last week when I took delivery of a table top grille for use in the house. Justin tried it out on Tuesday. Though I was stressing from the leaking, I managed to eat half a burger, some of his new recipe for baked beans, and some cole slaw. To keep the food from spitting, one puts water in an aluminum tray beneath the grille portion and no mess. The heat is thermostatically controlled so the food doesn't get away from you. It works! That means we keep the grille, and the boxes it came in can go to the trash!

Justin had long work days the last two, trying to catch up for the rain days. Thursday, they could not get to their truck on 'the farm' where they park it. Machinery was borrowed from his boss's cousin and they worked with that. 

See the cow peeking out around Justin's car?

Then, later, Justin told me his boss and he walked in from the dry road through the knee-deep water, about a half mile, to the truck. It apparently has a snorkel which allows it to be driven through standing water (okay....) so William drove the truck out, with Justin walking in front of him, along what he could see was the edge of the road, to dry land. Man, were his legs tired!!!! 

I thought that was a good idea, and Justin said, "I came up with it!" That's my boy, the problem solver. Although, it is not advised to walk through standing water....oh, just go for it! Justin had to solve a problem last week with some duct tape. It seems one of those cows that wanders around the farm where they park knocked his side view mirror lose, on the passenger side. He used duct tape to put it back on. The cow must have had an itchy shoulder or something. I can't help but laugh about that!

"What The (bleep) Just Happened?"

"Before this morning's Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act and calling the individual mandate a "tax", President Obama strenuously insisted it 'absolutely' was not a tax---now that 'tax' takes effect 2012, and the battle over ObamaCare enters a new chapter." FoxNews.com headline

The title of this posting is also the title of a new book out by a commentator I enjoy on the radio. She also appears regularly on various panels on Fox News, often up against her brother-in-law, Alan Colmes (ewww!). Monica Crowley, PhD. can certainly hold her own when it comes to such topics as that opening paragraph in this posting, and am anxious to hear what she has to say about all this. I am glued to the radio and TV the rest of the day to see/hear what all the pundits and reporters have to say. 

Does Costa Rico get hit with hurricanes very often???

Regrouping...

...and a bit ashamed of myself. How can I be so very upset about drips from my ceilings and down my walls when others have no access to their homes or have lost them altogether?? 

My living room is put back together, pans and pots removed, towels folded and put away for pool use only now. I hope. Sadly, the repair made on Tuesday, a temporary fix, did not work so Misty and I continued with the soaking towels and such. Justin and I dried some of her towels, and took them up at Jessica's request to place them appropriately. We brought the soaked ones down to rinse and dry for the next round, but thankfully, we did not need them. Whew!

I feel very badly for the couple who own the penthouse and are having to deal being the 'source' of the leak. It is certainly not their fault and they were desperately trying to find a solution in the midst of the storm. Of course, I give them a break but others in the building are more adamant about getting this solved. I know how badly I felt, and still feel, about leaking on my downstairs neighbors almost two years ago. Not good!

My neighbors are the greatest, offering wet vacs (not needed), dry sleeping if needed, offers to come help dump the pans or dry the towels, etc. "Day or night, just call..." Love that! What we, Justin and I, are borrowing is a dehumidifier from one neighbor which is pulling huge quantities of water from the air. We have dumped probably the equivalent of four gallons thus far, and have gotten the humidity level to 60% already. That is set up in the living room at the moment, and startles me when it turns off and back on again. I am so jumpy!

Justin and I moved the furniture back, he put up the wall hanging again over the loveseat, and plugged the TV back in. I didn't turn it on yet, just letting it do it's thing of drying out. He still has his bedroom fan blowing behind the TV to help dry that faster, as well as Rose's machine for drying the air. Repairs will need to be made, but not until the leak is arrested above me. 

                          

Justin is also in process of moving some of his plastic bins to the foyer, readying them to be relocated to Ellen's unit for safe keeping for when the VBS kids are here. Tomorrow he is taking a bunch of empty cardboard boxes to the dumpster when he gets home from work. He works a long day on Thursday due to catching up from the rain days. In the morning he has to be at the Farm by 6:40 a.m. Yikes!

I hate Debby!

While I might be good at some things, decorating is one thing in which I find joy and pride. THIS, however, is not an example of my abilities. Unless, of course, collecting leaking water from door frames, ceilings and floors is decorating! The kids' towels add much to the decor...TS Debby can just get the heck out of here!!!

 The center one I had to dump twice during the night on Sunday, with over 6" accumulated in the bucket under the blue pendant light. 

The placemats serve the dual role of absorbing the sound of water dripping and reducing the splashing after the water hits the bottom of the receptacle.

This area is behind and above my loveseat. It has not leaked since 2008 with TS Faye and I was not happy to see it return. Justin was roused from his bed to help me move the loveseat out and roll up the carpet. We laid towels behind it and set two collection devices to catch the drips.

Here is the ceiling above my TV. You might recall last fall when this area flooded and shorted out my power strip, singeing the floor. The crown moulding is bubbled up from the water behind it as is the paint along the wall. Very similar to the photos from TS Beryl!

So much water came through this door frame that I could have washed my hair in the flow! Well, this might be an exaggeration....but it did fill those containers nicely.

As if my upstairs neighbor, Misty, didn't have enough trouble keeping up with the water from above her, she came home to smoke. It seems that somehow the electronic dishwasher turned on or at least part of it did, and burned up. The racks and any thing else plastic melted and filled their home with smoke. Another neighbor passing by heard the commotion and came to the rescue, shutting off the power to the appliances. What caused this to happen? No one knows yet but Misty cannot wait to move out this weekend!! I can't say I blame her!