Merry Christmas

I enjoyed a Christmas with Mom this morning.  She got a new laptop and a Boz Scaggs cd.  I got a couple blankets and some clothes.  Oh yeah, and a sweet surprise from Rob and Elizabeth that will be revealed on the tubing hill (or more likely at the Thunder Express with this lack of snow).  After church it's just a scattering of movies and basketball games for the rest of the day.

That's a box full of supplies from my church under the tree.

My favorite Christmas song is by Relient K.  Here are some selected lines:

*****
Because here is where you're finding me,
in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be.

And the first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my Savior?
And the first breath that left Your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever?

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life.
*****

Reading it doesn't do it any justice (Youtube Link).  I've listening to this song and reflecting on the season and the new year that will be following it.

Merry Christmas!

So it's almost Christmas

With Christmas approaching this was my last week at camp for the year.  We had a lot of work to do, hoping to get the freezer and cooler running in the East Side Dining Hall.  As we finished the glassboard on the walls we had to start up on the doorways.  Unfortunately when we removed the doors the metal got a little beat up.  So Mike and I had to figure out how to bend up some metal casing for the freezer door.

The freezer door with newly bent metal.

Mike doing what he does with that Skillsaw.

Well we finished Thursday afternoon and all the freezer and cooler were working well.  We spent Friday morning cleaning up all the tools and equipment.  Dan Haines shampooed Room H, hopefully cleaning out the smell enough that we can use it.

Outside of work I finished up my present wrapping and it went a lot better as I kept working on it.  It was nice to put some presents under the tree Titus dropped off in the trailer.

Presents stacked up beneath the tree.  Most of them are given out already.

I left Friday afternoon for a trip through the Capital building in Lansing.  I'd never considered checking it out, but it was a lot of fun to see.  So several camp Barakel folks met up there for a tour and a bit of a party afterwards.  That was followed by some Saturday ice skating and the 2011 Barakel Bash.  

The Bash is a great opportunity to catch up with the Summer Staff from over the years.  I enjoyed some basketball and singing.  Not to mention running around with Rob for a while.  Now it's time to take a week off and chill out at home.  Without any snow on the ground I might even play some disc golf.  

The view passing the trailer.

Until next time.

Another Fire

So we've had some excitement here at camp this week.  A wood shed holding a lot of wood for our boilers burned down on Monday night.  We're thankful there were no injuries and nothing was lost that some hard work can't replace over the next months.  I'll go into the details of the fire below, but first I'll go over my week at camp.

Spray on insulation.  Very messy, but very effective.

Believe it or not we actually have more pressing matters to attend to than the fire here with the maintenance crew.  Now that the insulation has been sprayed in, we need to put up glassboard over our freezer and cooler in the East Side Dining Hall.  Once that's done we can fix up one of the hotel style rooms that had some water damage from the leaking.  With holiday weeks approaching and Winter camp following closely behind... we have to get this stuff done.

Benches under the new porch of the ESDH.

In the meantime Terry Shaw has put in some hard work on some new benches and a counter under the new porch on the ESDH.  I'm a big fan of this because it gives a couple more eating options for the campers and staff when weather permits.  I hope to enjoy meals and some relaxing moments on these benches this Spring and Summer.



Beautiful wrapping job.

I haven't wrapped anything in years!  My mom usually does it for me (I think she enjoys wrapping things) which has enabled me to ignore wrapping since I was a kid and would try to help out for fun.  This was my first attempt and it did the job.  I didn't even have to use any of my masking tape for it!  Hopefully no one is offended by poorly wrapped gifts this Christmas.

Now for the fire.  I'll go into the details, my role in it, and I'll try to explain some points of confusion.  First the story of the fire, then how it will affect us over the next months.  This will be a lot of words to read, so unless you're really interested in the fire I might drone on here.



What remains of the woodshed.

So on Monday evening I was over at the Ford's house.  They had treated me to some hamburgers and I was about to go to the first home game for Fairview's boys team.  Right when we were leaving (6:35 pm) Mike Baker came up to the door and told us that there was a fire in the Carpenter Shop area (Side note: This caused some folks to think it WAS the carpenter shop, but Mike was just trying to put us in that area.  We have a lot of wood boxes and wood sheds and he didn't want us going to the wrong place).  It turns out he was going to the West Side for some milk and (like many of us) didn't bring his phone with him.  On the way he couldn't help but see the orange glow.  So that's why he returned to get his phone and tell the closest people what was going on.

While Jon and I hurried over to the Fire Barn to get the fire trucks out Petie Brown was notified and she started calling every staff man at camp.  The trucks all started up great (once I found the choke in mine), which is a blessing because the equipment is old.  Jon left with the Fire Bus (carrying turnout gear and much of the fireman equipment we use), then I followed with the fire truck.  Jeremy Linsley was right on my tail with the water truck.  It was probably one of the fastest responses I've seen us perform. 

Upon entering the Maintenance Yard it was awesome.  Not in the good way, but in the way you kind of look on the fire in awe.  Flames to the treetops.  Wow.  This is when I realized it was the wood shed and it was really quite a relief.  A wood shed doesn't have any people in it.  No valuables.  Just wood.  This means that unless it suddenly spreads, no one would be in harms way for this fire.  It was safe for the moment. 

We also lost a wood box we use to transport wood.  Here's the frame of the new one.

To try and keep it safe we started unraveling hose, preparing to wet down the area and keep the fire from spreading.  The men took turns spraying down the couple trees in the immediate area, the rest of the lumber and the fire itself.  I really think it would have been harder to keep it contained, but the tin roof had collapsed on it, smothering it to some degree while preventing embers from flying all over the place.  While some folks were hosing the fire down, several of us were moving equipment away in case the fire spread.

Honestly, that is pretty much it for our response to the fire.  The Fairview Fire Department showed up and helped us contain it.  I actually left to go to the basketball game with some of the Ford's and we made tip off at about 7:30 pm.  It was decided that we'd let the fire burn itself out rather than attempting to put it out.  This was nice because then the fire pretty much cleans itself up for us.  I returned for my shift watching the fire at 3am.  Titus Brown joined me and we spent the morning pushing back the ashes and isolated chunks of wood.  Just trying to make it all burn down low, while recovering nails, screws and some other miscellaneous pieces of metal from the fire. 

Now for the cause.  We don't know for absolute sure, but in all likely hood it was our own brush fire.  On Monday we had been burning scrappy brush in the morning and stretching up until about 2pm.  When doing this we come and go a lot, keeping an eye on it when we're there.  Well the last guys to take a look at the fire saw it puffing a little bit of smoke at 4pm and 5:15pm. 

The new wood box completed and filled.

People have questioned why the burn pit is so close to our fire wood, and it's a legitimate question.  In my opinion, there are few better spots for the burn pit.  It's about as far away from the thick woods as you can get, and the closest building was the wood shed.  I think of the other buildings we could have lost and I personally prefer the wood shed over any other building of this size.  (Too bad it couldn't just be the Hillbilly Porch!).

Another question I've heard a lot of is how wood did we lose?  How much money in heating?  The answer is arguable a little bit.  My guess is that it was something near 35 cords of wood (it depends on the math).  Whatever the exact number, it was a lot of wood.  About 90% of this wood was used on our boiler that heats the East Side Dining Hall.  Very little was used in regular fireplaces such as the West Side Dining Hall, or chapels.  We won't spend extra on heating though, cause we still have time to cut more wood and keep the boiler stocked. 

What we didn't lose is the hours of service from Engineers.  The high school guys that cut wood.  It's a perfect example of what makes it through a fire and what doesn't.  The work they did is still work done to the glory of God.  And we'll have to do it all over again, but still to His glory.

So now we'll be out cutting a lot of wood.  We've already finished a new box for transporting wood (I scattered pictures above to break up the paragraphs), and camp purchased a wood splitter to help us prepare for the Winter.  Mike Alchin has spent most of the week out in the woods cutting down the dead trees around camp, getting ready to chop it up and burn it.  The last two Winters I spent a lot of time in Crosscut, cleaning when I could.  Now it'll be cutting wood and cleaning most of the time.

If you made it this far then good job!  I've seen 4 fires here at camp, and I've been partially responsible for 3 of them (1- Warming hut: Started the wood stove and the chimney caught on fire. 2- Pine Cabin: I was cleaning and one of the fluorescent light bulbs malfunctioned, catching on fire. 3- Wood Shed: Spent most of the day tending the brush pit).   So hopefully that's it for a while!  Thanks for sticking with me.

The Second Annual Camp Barakel Fun Run

I don't get into as many sports as I like around here, but this weekend was the big fun run.  The few crazy joggers at camp run 6 miles from Fairview to the office.  This year I joined Dave Douglas and Dan Haines on the frosty, rainy run.  I finished at 51 minutes, and I'm not sure what that means.  It was a lot of fun though and I love getting out and being active.  Back to the work week though.

This week the work had a little bit of variation.  The freezer and cooler started out the week pretty well gutted and ended the week with new tile and glassboard around all the walls that we can do so far.  Some of the walls will have to wait for the new insulation to be sprayed in before we can close them off.  Again, the whole goal is to get some air tight insulation that will help to keep moisture out of the walls.

Crisp and clean looking new glassboard.

We're approaching a time crunch because the retreats are coming up at the start of January.  That means we need to try and get everything back together as soon as we can so that the cooks can get their freezer and cooler stocked.  So Dan Haines is plugging away at the tile and I got in on some of that.  We used a pink membrane between the cement board and the tile to help prevent cracking and leaking.  In the midst of the tiling we also had to rip off some of the siding to give the insulation guy access inside the wall.  So now the back side of the dining hall looks a little funny with a large chunk of wall ripped off.

It looks like Dan's throwing up pepto bismol.

New access to the freezer and cooler.

Brad Smith came up on Thursday afternoon and he helped out with some tree cutting and brush cleanup on Friday.  We put some bricks in my truck to help with the slick roads. After that we took the Skytrak out onto the ski trails to push down and clean up a tree that has been hanging over the trail for quite a while.  Then we watched Mike Alchin and his friend work on a tree that was hanging over Arrowhead Lodge.  They had all the gadgets to help keep the tree off of the roof.  So Brad and I helped to clean up the brush as they took down pieces of the tree.

Mike Alchin and his fancy ropes.

Full extension on the Skytrak.

It was a productive week.  All the tile was finished and Dan's working on the grout now.  Now it's just a matter of the insulation guy filling up the walls and coming through to button everything up.  It was a fun weekend with Brad up here and the Fun Run.  We also joined in on the VIP party at the hardware store.  It's the big event of the town and everyone comes out to go from store to store.  Weeks are flying by and we're trying to push through these projects.

Thanksgiving Shenanigans

I'm reading a book called "Team of Rivals" right now.  It's about Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet members.  One of them spent 15 minutes every night reviewing the days activities.  Well that's kind of what I try to do every week.  This was a particularly hard one.

This is probably what I look like while trying to remember things.

So I'm thankful for pictures that remind me of what happened.  On Tuesday of this week I left Battle Creek at 6am so that I could meet the rest of the maintenance crew in Houghton Lake.  We spent the day reviewing Timber Wolf Lake and Springhill Camps.  It was a fun opportunity see how other camps build and maintain their facilities.  

The plane dorm at Springhill.

The inside of the plane dorm.

The whole trip was kind of interesting.  They also had very nice dorms.  These camps have nice things, but they don't have the feel that Camp Barakel has.  From looking at these couple camps I find myself thinking that their facilities are great, but it's not really camping anymore.  It's a conference center.  That didn't stop us from checking out their maintenance department and having some fun during the visit...

Timber Wolf Lake has Go-Karts.  Unbelievable!

This is me before I lap everyone.  Believe that!

So after visiting the camps we headed out to dinner and I hustled home.  It was quite a long day.  The other highlights of the trip included playing volleyball and basketball with some of my friends.  Competitive, organized sports are something I dearly miss at Camp.  Both of them went really well, but my lungs need some stretching out.  

Me and Mom went over to the Ramer's (her friends that live around the corner from us) for Thanksgiving.  There were only 6 people there and I enjoyed that aspect of it.  It's good to have a relatively quiet and calm day to eat and watch the Lions.  

Now I'm preparing to drive back up to camp tonight.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Mousing Strategy

Mice are a problem in the trailer.  They don't have to be, but the door doesn't close very easily and people have issues double checking this kind of thing.  So over the summer I begged the folks staying in the trailer to keep it all the way closed, but every time I went by it wasn't closed.  So now I have the mice.  Last year they were terrible, pooping all over.  This year I might have figured them out.

Look at all that cereal!  That's only about half of it.

So between the fridge and those drawers there is a crack.  I have come to believe this is a main artery in the mouse traveling network.  I believe this because I've snagged about 5 of them there in 10 days.  I also haven't seen any poop anywhere all Fall.  So either the YAPS (summer college kids) potty trained them, or they aren't gallivanting around my trailer freely.  I blame my trap placement.

Other than that we're digging up some major stuff in the East Side Dining Hall.  Everywhere we pull down the walls we find more moisture, so we've chased it right into the walls.  So now we have a skeleton of a freezer left over.  In the basement I took out the drop ceiling and all the insulation under there.  After that I posted a couple fans to dry out the wood.

The ceiling in the basement.

Big fans.  I'd like to make a quadrocoptor out of 4 of these.

Right now it's Dan Haines, Mike Baker and myself working on this, but when the time starts getting crunched down I think we'll drag Mike Alchin in.  All of this stuff has to be back together by the 2nd of January.  That's about 3 full work weeks (full meaning 2 out of 3 of us will be there while the others use up their last vacation days).  Breaking the tile was a grueling part of the process that we tried to make fun.  I tried duel wielding hammers and it became a tiring mess of dust and flying tile chunks.  Making the best of it.

Now for the weekend.  I packed things in, so I'll just rip through them here.  I left camp Friday afternoon and headed for Rochester.  There I went to the joint birthday parties of Karen Morgan and Aaron Jerome.  It was a blast that kept me up til about 3am.  Then I headed out for Battle Creek at 6am.  (It's not a Cody road trip if I don't do some major driving on 3 hours of sleep).

In BC I went to the State Volleyball Finals where I watched St Phil win their 6th Class D title.  I stuck around for a couple other matches.  The Class A was notable because those girls just pound the tar out of the ball.  After that I went to the annual Holiday Parade where I saw the Linsley's (from Camp) and the Riegel's (from home).

Today (Sunday) I enjoyed a morning at church, some good food at a Fundraiser at Pizza Sam's, and then volleyball at the Y Center.  I really miss competitive sports by being at camp, so I was thankful the Penrod's needed some people for their volleyball team.  It felt good to get out there and crush some volleyballs.

As you can see I'm traveling.  So pictures become scarce and stories become crazy and staggered.  I'm having a good time though.  God is good.  Pray I keep my car in between the ditches and that I use my time home for the Kingdom (not just for me!).

Going Inside

November is treating us well.  The temperatures are cold in the morning, then nice weather most afternoons.  Except for about 2 days of hard rain.  That pushed us inside for a lot of this week, so me and Mike Baker worked on new trash can lids.  While camp is replacing the trash cans over the next years, we need lids for the old ones in the meantime.  After several designs we settled in and made 20 new lids to cover all the West side trash cans.  Mike Alchin seemed to enjoy spending some time in the carpenter shop too.  He was working on some plumbing for the West Side Bath House.

Mike Baker gets excited when we stop planning, and start cutting up wood.

Mike Alchin has a nice little work station.

A new project is starting to take shape in the East Side Dining Hall.  We're taking apart the walls around the freezer to try to shore up some moisture issues.  It turns out there is some condensation that has been soaking into the insulation.  So while most of the maintenance crew is taking some time off for the Fall Break (for Fairview schools) I'm plugging away on some of these walls trying to get some fresh air in there. Now it's a race to get everything back in working order for the retreats in January.

It looks really odd without the drywall.

So we keep working in the off season at camp.  This weekend I joined the Bakers family vacation at Avalanche Bay.  It's a water park that's part of the Boyne Mountain resort area.  I'm feeling like a wreck after a day of climbing the stairs up to the different slides.  Me and Matthew Baker hit one of them about 10 times in a row during a slow spell in the afternoon.  Lydia provided fantastic food for lunch.  It was a full day.  About 16 hours all told.

I feel like it's about half way through December.  That and the time change has kind of messed with my head.  But I'm cruising through work, enjoying this settled down November.  Now if we can just get wiped out under the snow next month.... we'll be all set for January.

Driving Again

It's my big driving season coming up.  A lot happened, so I'll try to get through it here kind of quickly.  On Tuesday I went down to Spring Arbor University to talk to people about Camp Barakel.  After that we had a small gathering at the Parlour in Jackson.  That was followed by Camp's annual business meeting in Okemos.  Kind of a full day, but it was a lot of fun to see all the different summer staff and board members. 

It took us a while to pick out our treats.

I settled on a Peanut Butter cup sundae. 

At camp we've been working on different small projects, including a fair amount of work on roofs.  Mike Baker and I have been chasing leaks around several of the roofs.  We also spent a while on Arrowhead and Snowshoe to clean off the roofs and kill some of the moss.

After the work week I ran down to a Spiritual Warfare Conference in Perry where Tom Harmon was speaking.  I enjoyed seeing lots of friends at this 2 day affair, then I hustled over to Battle Creek where I was able to see several friends that night.  I played drums in the morning at Garrison Hills and made a run for the east side of the state.  There I joined in on a Mexican themed party at the Houston's house.  We played cornhole, night frisbee and a lot of Taboo.  Thanks to Dave and Tim for throwing the thing together, and then letting me stay the night there. 




Construction!

I left Detroit at 6:15am and now I'm blogging at the McDonalds in Mio just before returning to camp to work.  So you can see how I've been driving around a lot.  I'm sure it'll keep increasing as the Holidays come around.  Oh, and without retreats on the weekends we're back down to working 5 day weeks.  So I'll probably be blogging on Sundays now.  Just for your information.

Thanks for following!

Jack and Jill 2011

Looking for more dead trees.

This week we spent some time cutting down wood.  It may not seem like it, but that was an exciting prospect to me since it's been a while.  On Thursday we spent the entire workday cutting, splitting, and delivering wood.  Four guys with four chainsaws causing some mayhem.  We only cut down trees that were small and dead.  The idea was to get dry wood that would be ready for throwing into the dining hall and chapels.  A lot of this cutting was specifically so we'd have wood ready to move for the work weekend.

The wood cutting convoy.

And a great Jack and Jill it was this year!  We had about 50 people come up to help us prepare for Winter.  I led a crew of sturdy individuals that accomplished a lot of work.  Our job was to spread topsoil and then seed two different lawns, and to landscape one of the lake trails with water bars to prevent erosion. I've done a little bit of grass seeding and the water bars, so I was looking forward to these tasks.  The grass was rough because the ground was very wet, but we spread out the muddy soil and spread out the grass seed.  The water bars are a great project because you have to sweat a little to put them in, but then you can see your work.  Plus you can come and see them for years after the installation.  

One of the water bars behind the bandshell on the East Side.

We completed those two objectives by the early afternoon and then hustled over to the garage to clean up buses.  We managed to clean the inside of all of them as well as the outside of half of them.  Not only that, but anyone that wanted to was able to go for a 50 foot bus ride with me driving.  I (and everyone at camp) am very thankful for all the work that was done.  Some people sat all day and filled tubes with air for the tubing hill.  Others mowed for most of the day.  I was very thankful for all the people that came out this weekend.

One other side note is that the temps are still dropping.  I'm using extra layers in the morning because it's been below 30 on many of them.  We even saw a flash of sleet while we were cutting wood.  With the cold weather comes frosted windshields.  Some people don't like cleaning off those frosted windows.  Here's what can happen as a result:

Why we scrape our windshields.

See the stump right between the tire and bumper.

It's worth mentioning that I was not responsible for this truck getting stuck, but I did assist with it's removal from the stump.  Most of the burden was carried by the skytrak which simply lifted up the truck.  So yeah, don't try to drive with your head out the window on these frosty mornings!

The Pumpkin Potluck

I think Isaac Haines was the best dressed.  Just had to keep people from trying to carve him.

Because of the Holidays in November and December, we had our last staff potluck of 2011 this week.  After we ate, the main activity was pumpkin carving.  So many of the men ran to help with dishes while the young families all grabbed their own pumpkins.  I tried to do dishes as well, but found the dish room too crowded.  Eventually Gretchen Ford convinced me to help out with her pumpkin.  I enjoyed trying to give her a hard time about cutting on the lines, but then she dished it right back when I was having trouble.  I think that it was a lot of fun for everybody.

All the pumpkins.  Gretchen is sitting under our pumpkin in a purple shirt.

In other exciting news, I sent in for a new phone this week and I've already received it.  It's kind of weird purchasing new phones with a contract. It feels like I just spent a ton of money, but in reality I've only made a commitment to continue paying my bills.  So I "purchased" a Microsoft KIN and I also snagged a new phone for my Mom.  The KIN had some shaky reviews online, but when Rob was up here a couple weeks ago I was able to get my hands on his.  It looked like it was exactly what I wanted, so I went for it.  I've been getting photos and music onto it and I even figured out how to use WiFi on it.  The KIN has a been a definite upgrade from my last phone which I actually miss a little bit.

 

In the Maintenance Department we've been finishing up the porch on the East Side Dining Hall and now we're keeping our eyes peeled for dead trees all over camp.  This weekend was the 2nd Men's Retreat and the last retreat of the Fall season.  Every retreat has a special meaning to us and to the folks that come up here, but maybe because I am a man I enjoy them more than most of the others.  There are moments where they are a little too competitive and maybe too demanding, but that is dwarfed by the life changes as the weekend progresses.  I don't always get to see the long term results of listening to Tom Harmon while enjoying filling meals and participating in all the camp activities, but I often see flashes.  Flashes of lives renewed, men that rekindle that fire for God, and many who have been sobered when confronted with the reality that they are not where they wanted to be in their relationship with God.

All that to say... pray for Camp and the folks that have visited.  It's something that I try to remember as time flies by and Winter approaches.  Thanks for following!

Supply Drop

Another week goes by and the weather keeps cooling off.  This week I enjoyed seeing a lot of friends com up for the weekend.  Rob and Calvin (both former roommates) showed up to help as part time staff and my Dad came with several old friends from Battle Creek.  With these friends came quite the supply of breakfast foods and orange juice.  I'm very thankful for the provision of all this food.

Just imagine the 6 bottles of OJ.

The colors around camp have dropped off to different shades of brown mixed with the green of the pine trees.  With one men's retreat done, we only have one more and our retreat season is over.  I'm working on getting involved in town, helping out with the volleyball team for the next couple weeks and then trying to sort out a schedule for running the clock at basketball games this Fall and Winter. 

That's a big clump of mushrooms near the bottom.

It's nice to take a stroll around camp and check out the woods.  It seems like the woods are restless as the wind shakes the trees.  This morning I spent some time at Crosscut to enjoy the view down the hill there.  Turkeys have been running all around the property, in fact I almost hit about six of them on the way back from my bus test in Alpena.  Oh, and speaking of the bus test!  It went very well.  Vawn, the lady that administered the test, seemed very impressed with the condition of our bus and with how well prepared I was.  I really have to thank Mike Alchin and Danny VanOrman for helping me figure out how to test all the different components of the test. 

Wow, I also forgot about my trip to the emergency room.  Dave Proper had a bit of a crossbow accident and tore some major flesh off of his thumb.  So the same day as the test I drove him down to West Branch to get that stitched up properly.  So in one day I drove about 5 hours, took a 2.5 hour test, and sat in a waiting room for about 5 hours.  I also found time to clean for about 2 hours in there and waited in line at the Secretary of State for a while.  That was a lot of sitting but I was able to do a lot of reading in the ER.  Out of it all I was able to drive the bus at the men's retreat this weekend. 

You can see where the leaves are going.

So another exciting week.  I can hardly remember all the events as it seems to have just blurred by.  Thanks for following!

Fall and Summer



The Iconic Blockhouse



This weekend marked the last Ladies Retreat of 2011.  Hundreds of ladies came to Camp to experience the zipline, thunder express, rifle/archery ranges, Shear Lake, and much more.  I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces at this retreat, and I hope that the Chapel sessions will have an impact on all of the campers from this weekend.  Just by looking around camp we had all the aesthetics of the peak Fall colors, but on top of that we had summer temperatures that combined to make perfect weather for a retreat.  But now we move on to the Men's Retreats for two weeks.  We'll see sports, hearty meals, and very likely a temperature drop.

On the work days the maintenance crew has been whipping the new roof into shape.  We've finished with the skylights and shingled our way up to the peak of the roof in most areas.  Now all we need to do is catch up by the chimney and we'll be nearly finished with this roof. 



The midweek progress.



The roof at the end of the week.

I have been enjoying this weather and the sports that come with the season.  Watching the Tigers in the playoffs has been thrilling, almost too thrilling actually.  Then the Lions have been fun to watch along with most the NFL I try to follow on Sunday afternoons.  This week I played Volleyball with several of the Ford kids for almost three hours.  I've also been watching the leaves fall away from the trees.  There's a distinct smell throughout camp as the trees turn, and it's a reminder that Winter will come.

Oh!  And my bus test.  That's this week at Noon on Thursday.  I've practiced many of the skills, but I'm still trying to tighten up my Pre-Trip Inspection.  I'll also be driving to Gaylord to get some more hours behind the wheel.  I'm hoping it goes well so that I'll be able to help drive bus in the future.

Thanks for Following!

Playing Catch Up

Playing Catch Up

This was quite the busy week.  After Sunday morning (the 25th) breakfast, five of us packed into a Suburban headed for West Virginia.  We spent Monday rafting and then we drove back on Tuesday.  It's only 10 hours of driving, which is not too bad compared to all of my Michigan Tech trips over the years.  The rafting was a lot of fun.  We were all soaked, but the water was comfortable.  It's very exciting to sit about 3 feet above the water trying to paddle air as the raft crashes down into a huge wave.  I'm happy I had the opportunity to make the trip thanks to someone that offered to help me out. 

Nice clouds on the trip down.

The largest arch bridge in our hemisphere.

I took some pictures as we traveled around, but video of the rafting had a lot of extra footage of other rafts.  I'll try to get that posted as soon as we can edit it down to just our raft.  I'm very thankful I could go on the trip, and that our group all made it out safely.

Preparing to tear up the gable on the front of the East Side Dining Hall.

Now the catch up.  We all lost a work day for the trip, so there was plenty to do this week.  I helped work on putting sheeting on the roof of the East Side Dining Hall.  If the weather holds up this coming week we'll be tearing up the gable on the front of the porch and probably ripping off shingles on the last quarter of the roof.  I also took a break from that to help Mike Alchin put in a post for a light on the Crosscut stairway. 

Half the sheeting is on.  Soon we'll be tearing up shingles.

All of that pretty much put off my cleaning, so on Thursday I just cleaned most of the day.  The only break from cleaning was so that Jeremy Linsley could have a refresher on zipline training.  The training is just to make sure we're all checking for the proper gear at the tower, and then he showed me and Dan Haines how to rescue people in the case of a pulley getting stuck in the middle of the line (which we really don't think will ever happen, but we want to be prepared for it).

I've also been training for a bus test that's coming up in a couple weeks.  Thursday the 13th of this month.  I feel like I know the information well and that I have the driving skills down.  It's just a matter of nailing all the details.  It doesn't take much to fail these tests.  So please pray towards that as I practice this week and then test on it next week.  We only have one more weekend of the ladies, then the men start coming up.  Either way I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new folks as I help host three more weekends this Fall.

Thanks for following!

Quick Captions

Just a couple pictures and captions this week.  Then I'm headed off to West Virginia for a couple days.  I'll tell you all about it next time.

This is the underground tank that we replaced on the East Side.

All the decking is done, and almost all of the rafters.

We're looking forward to laying plywood and roofing soon.