Sometimes the effects of the summer weather seem worse than that of the winter. It might sound harsh, but it has certainly been true around here the past few weeks. The storms we had on Tuesday, August 6th wreaked havoc on us here. While, unlike many in our area, we didn’t lose power, the lightning did blow out our firewall and destroyed our surge protection. This was the second time this summer we had a problem with the firewall hardware, we had replaced it in June. We ended up closing the parish offices due to no internet or phone service – our phone service is with Vonage and is internet based – on Thursday and we were not open again and up and running until Tuesday. We need to build new layers of protection from lightning strikes. The 5:00 p.m. Mass last Saturday was celebrated in the dark due to a blown fuse out on a pole on Bethany Road. Only the church and school buildings were affected. They managed to get the situation fixed by 6:45 p.m. (of course, Mass ended just before that!).
The electrical system – panel boxes in particular – throughout the complex are outdated and, though not dangerous – do inhibit expansion of electrical application. Before we can get to the air conditioning install for the school, we need to upgrade all of the electrical boxes throughout the buildings. This is no inexpensive project. Once again the lack of power at the Mass last weekend was a reminder of the desire to have a generator – or more likely smaller dedicated generators – for the complex.
Of course, we can be grateful that all of the above happened at that point in August when things are slower here, so while closing the offices was disruptive to business, the staff was able to enjoy some beautiful weather, but school or the summer programs here were not impacted by the disruption.
If anyone out there is well-versed in any of the above, please make contact with me. We do need to make some strides forward on these areas.
We will be gearing up for the Carnival really soon. As you know we are slated for the weekend of September 13th-15th. Things will run pretty much the same this year as last. The carnival rides will be in the front parking lot instead of the baseball field this year as the cost to repair the field after the carnival was expensive last year. We have plenty of parking around the property, so this will not be too much of a problem. There will be no school Friday, September 14th to make everything easier for them and for us.
There are some bigger rides this year to satisfy the teenage and adult crowd and the number and variety of food trucks is also increasing. This promises to be a really good weekend. Sign-ups for volunteers are going well, but of course we can always use all of the help we can get.
Have a blessed week – enjoy the waning days of summer!