I have been reluctant to put away the snow shovels, salt buckets, and snowblower. Call me superstitious, but I did not want to be blamed for the last season snowstorm. Who knows? My thinking about it may have been enough to cause the last storm. We seemed to have been spared any significant storm issues this time. With an abundance of caution, I think I will hold off on storing winter things until the planned workday on April 21! I'm thinking, "My God is an awesome God ... ," and surely would not send us snow after that date. Then again, as they say south of the Rio Grande, Texas, and points north, "Quien sabe?"
Regarding April 21, I am coordinating with Scott Carson to come up with a list of achievable tasks suitable for work inside and outside. As Scott mentioned in his recent item in the Sunday bulletin, we would like to get several outside tasks done, so let us all anticipate a nice warm, dry spring day. If that does not come to pass, we will direct our attention inward ... inside, that is.
The Thursday Group has been trying to schedule an outdoor task to install some rain gutters near the main entry. We have rescheduled the work a couple of times so far, and weather continues to be a challenge. The good news is we have not had any recent basement water issues as we try to get this work done. It all seems to come down to how hard it rains and for how long ... more of that "Awesome God" thing!
We have received three contractor quotes for the work to clean and paint our steeple, clean and stain the exterior wood around the sanctuary and main entry, and to pressure wash the vinyl siding around the entire building. I have reviewed the quotes and recommended one of them to council for their consideration and approval. The cost is well within the funds approved at the last congregational meeting. This work could start as early as June and will take about five days to complete. To avoid any cost increases for crane rental for the steeple work, we will need to do our best to give the contractor access to our facility for about five continuous days. If we cause a delay, the added cost could fall on us. I anticipate that they will be flexible and work with us on the scheduled start date which will likely be controlled by the crane availability. I am excited about this work. I love the steeple, but it has gotten shabby and needs a good cleaning and paint job!
Some of you have mentioned the missing lighting on one side and at the top of the stained-glass window. These lights are installed to make our beautiful window visible to passers-by at night. When the sanctuary is in use at night, the normal room lighting makes the window visible outside. The lights installed around the inside of the window make it visible outside when the normal room lighting is not in use. After some trial and error over the years, we were able to find a LED fixture with strong enough lighting to penetrate our stained-glass window, and we installed one on each side of the window. One of these fixtures has failed and we are seeking a replacement. Unfortunately, the bulb in the incandescent fixture at the top of the window has burned out and we have not replaced it because of a safety concern with doing this work from an extension ladder. I believe the best course of action is to wait for the new replacement LED fixture and then, at a future date, replace and relocate the incandescent fixture at the top of the window so all of the window lights can be safely replaced when they fail. Of course, we could bring in a lift to safely change the incandescent bulb, but I do not think this can be justified. In the event we encounter a need for a lift for other more urgent work in the sanctuary, we can consider working on the incandescent at that time. In effect, this is an abandon-in-place option, i.e., just leave it there with a failed bulb until we are in position to remove it.
David Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro-tempore)