Building for the future...

As I sit here preparing to write this post, I realize it's the first time I've actually stopped to just gather my thoughts and rest my mind in many, many days. Well, probably since my last post! The rate at which Bart and I have been going through our days rivals that of the energizer bunny. We are constantly sweating, moving quickly, talking fast and forgetting to eat! Our warehouse is coming along nicely though! Last week we came across an AWESOME deal at a KMART that was going out of business. We were able to purchase roughly $6,000 worth of pallet racks and shelving for $500! It was EXACTLY the deal we were looking for. The catch? We had to disassemble, move, and reassemble everything. Sounds like no big deal, right? WRONG! My gosh, was it a big undertaking! Thank God Bart used to design similar rack systems so he knew how they worked. It's not so much that they're complicated, they're just comprised of so many different components that all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. I can hardly figure out how to assemble IKEA furniture, so Bart was definitely running the show when it came to the "brains". (He usually does!) But we made a great team in the moving process. He'd show me what needed to be done and I'd do it. I'd unscrew, he'd lift. He'd unscrew, I'd lift. We'd unscrew, we'd lift! The other difficult thing about these units was that every piece is made of steel, and most pieces were large and awkwardly shaped. So it took many trips in and out of the store to load up our UHAUL truck. We had many near misses....eyes nearly poked out, heads nearly smacked, fingers nearly pinched off....it reminded me of the "Final Destination" movies. It was like we kept escaping "death" and 10 minutes later some other giant piece of steel would try and take us out! But when all was said and done, we escaped with only one accident. My legs! In the midst of our mental and physical fatigue, we loaded up 35 steel, grid racks onto a flat rolling cart. Each one of these things weighs probably 12-15 pounds. As Bart was rolling it toward the UHAUL there was a SLIGHT ramp going off the curb into the street. We'd already had a few things slip off the cart going down that decline. So I said, hey, let me stand on the other side and hold the racks in case they start to slip. Yes, that's right. Hold the hundreds of pounds of STEEL in case they start to slip. "Yea that's a good idea", said Bart. (Bart is usually the smarter of the two of us. But that day, we were equally yoked) So there I went.....and there went the racks, as expected. They impaled my shins and ankles with their sharp, pointy grid tips and left my legs a less than pretty sight! We were able to laugh about it once the pain subsided, and we kept on keepin' on! We eventually got everything back to the warehouse after a 2 day ordeal, and we finally finished rebuilding them this week, just in time for the movers to bring all of our stuff today! Originally, Mom and Dad were going to drive our stuff in the trailer all the way here and stay with us for a few days. But as they had their own bout of chaos erupt back home, they were unable to come out :( We were pretty bummed to not get to have them out here. But they were awesome enough to arrange a moving company to truck our stuff over here! There have been a few bumps along the way, but everything arrived this morning! Now, being that we still don't have a house (possible spoiler alert: stay tuned as new and exciting details may emerge SOON!) we had to unload all of our personal belongings into the warehouse! But even so, it's just nice to have our "stuff" here. I have been wearing the same 4 outfits for a month! :)

Now, in the midst of all of this chaos, Bart and I have been trying our hardest to make sure we get out and have some FUN! That is why we came here, right? We periodically take breaks in our long days of cleaning, painting and building, and stop in at our new favorite spot....a little dive bar by the DZ, the Airport Bar. They now know our regular order of a Gin and Tonic and Vodka Tonic. We've had a lot of great talks together at the Airport Bar, regrouping and discussing all the excitement, stress, fun and fears going on in our lives right now. We also went SCUBA diving last week! That was a really nice break for us. Unfortunately, diving in Daytona is less than fantastic. And being that most of the diving that the two of us have done has been nothing short of fantastic, we were a little underwhelmed. Spoiled, aren't we? ;) But nonetheless, we got to check out two cool wrecks. The first was an old tug boat. Not much to see but it was still fun to swim with the fishies. The second was definitely much more exciting. Not only did we see two HUGE Goliath Grouper fish (I failed to get pictures as they were hiding in the shadows), but the history of the wreck made it even more fascinating. I included a little blurb below. The only real bummer about diving in Daytona is the visibility. Bart and I are used to diving in places where the visibility is as far as the eye can see! In Daytona it was about 20 feet. But hey, a dive is a dive, and we still had a blast. Now that we're here, we plan to do a lot more diving. I even bought myself some used gear that I got a killer deal on, and now we're working on getting some for Bart! So stay tuned - many more SCUBA blogs to come! As for the rest of the week, Bart is off to Raeford, North Carolina tomorrow for another swoop competition. I won't be tagging along this time as there's just simply too much to be done here. Looking forward to going to The Farm with him for Nationals in June!

Well, what was supposed to be a quick update turned into another novel. I've never been one to give the "short version" have I? ;) Read below for a blurb about one of our dives and check out some fun pics! (I know that from the pictures it looks like Bart has done all the work. But I have too! I promise! I'm just the only picture taker! ;)

The USS Mindanao, an internal combustion engine repair ship, was converted from the "Liberty" ship Elbert Hubbard while under construction at Baltimore, Maryland. Commissioned in November 1943, she was soon assigned to the South Pacific to support the Navy's wartime operating forces. On 10 November 1944, while at Manus Naval Base, Admiralty Islands, Mindanao was seriously damaged by the explosion of the nearby ammunition ship USS Mount Hood. Following repairs, she continued her support functions in the South and Western Pacific until March 1946, when she sailed for the U.S. USS Mindanao was decommissioned on 17 May 1946, and remained in "mothballs" until she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1962.