Thursday July 30

The youth group from Our Lady of Hope, a Catholic church in Des Plaines, IL, came Sunday afternoon for a missions work week. Camp Daniel has been blessed by their contributions for the past several years, so even though we're on our between camps week, we are super excited to have them here. Some of the projects from past years include building the nature center, putting cabinetry in the nature center, putting up a split rail fence, and lots of retaining wall. There's about 30 people including the youth and the leaders. They are all staying on the grounds. As you can see from the picture below, some of the quarters are a bit tight. This is the craft cabin, where some of the girls are sleeping. They are also sleeping in a camper, courtesy of the Mandich family. The guys are all sleeping upstairs, and the leaders are in Marceaux's room and in the conference room of the office. They have three projects going this week. The next two pictures are of the nature trail. It starts next to the nature center, goes behind it, and goes to the path near the craft cabin. They dug out the dirt and plants to establish the path. Then they laid pea gravel and the edging bricks. Lastly they laid the crushed limestone and packed it with the vibrator machine.

The group also finished the Bocce Ball court that Tony and the guys started. Again, pea gravel and crushed limestone, compacted. They added treated 6x6s for the bumpers. They also put in a removable piece so that the court will be wheelchair accessible. We still have to find the material for the top layer. Which needs to be very fine and compactable.

The third project they're working on is the walls in two rooms of one dorm. They put up fiberglass insulation, sound absorbing buffalo board and pine tongue and groove. It's exciting to have progress inside the dorms that you can really see. The ceilings will be drywalled and plastered at a later date. The plan is that next year they'll be able to sleep in these two room and have the baths done for them as well.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

This week is flying by as loose ends are being tied up on the grounds. The Hope Youth group from Chicago will be here with 35 people working the week between the camps. Many preparations have to be in place for them to do all the work they plan to. Also camp is starting on Sunday so we are packing,planning, and working hard to get everything in place for it.
Tim finished the concrete countertops. He ground them smooth, cleaned them, and put on two coats of sealer. He touched up the , plaster, paint and grouted. They look fabulous! He also installed the kitchen sink, and remaining light fixtures. He had the guys help him bring the major appliances into the Craft Cabin. They still need to be installed. Tim also spent time fixing the shower in the small bath of the craft cabin, which is the last of the original leaky plumbing. Tim and the guys cleaned up all of the tools that were in the craft cabin, and final cleaning is taking place now. Jen came home and has worked hard at washing down all the construction dust.
Little Tony has had a busy week trying to finish things on the grounds and work on preperations for camp. He's had to return a lot of calls from campers and counselors, and make sure that all will run smooth come Sunday. It's been a lot of work just keeping all of the sod and seed watered. Pastor John got a pump to water the lawn, which Tony spent much time setting up and piping. It has been a dry summer, with very little rain since spring. Little Tony and the guys backfilled against the bocce court walls and installed cultured stone on them. They used the skidsteer as much as they could, until Rick Bub had to come to pick it up. A big thank you to Rick and Carol Bub for the donation of 2 weeks of using the skidsteer, what a blessing!

Tuesday, Little Tony and Karol were in Green Bay for a 14-Hour-Power-Shopping-For-Camp-Day (including a 2 hour mega meeting) While they were gone, Molly was busy getting a lot of paperwork done for camp. Schedules, sign-up sheets, etc. Papa Tony has been getting together all the paperwork and finances for camp and working with Jo to get the merchandise for the store in order and tagged. Jo has also cleaned all of the nursing gear, packed and shopped for all the nursing needs into the nurses trailer.
On Monday, Molly and Karol went thru a bunch of camp supplies and started loading a trailer. More of that was done on Wednesday. Sabrina and Micah Wiedner came to Camp Daniel today to get together craft supplies for the kids program at camp.

Big Anthony DiBiase got lessons from little Tony on the tractor. He filled the hydrolic fluids, coolant and diesel before digging up the topsoil hill that will be spread by the youth group. Anthony also did a little mechanic work today, filling the tractor with hydraulic fluid.

Chrissy has been working hard organizing, preparing and finding volunteers for the kitchen. Also we ask for your prayer as e await word on a grant for new radios that Chrissy wrote.

Pastor John and Jen have been preparing for the chapels, as well as Able Church. Pastor John has been organizing his costumes for the theme nights also.

Saturday July 4 & Sunday July 5

7 am on Saturday the cement mixer was already going and the Camp Daniel workers were hard at it. Little Tony and the guys faced the short retaining wall for the bocce court with rock. Karol worked on camp stuff. At about 3, the Kelly's, Jen, Marceaux, the LeClaires and the Cleereman's all met at camp for a Fourth of July picnic. Below you can see many anxiously awaiting the next batch of funnel cakes that Kitt made. Yum! In the afternoon, all of the kids went tubing. Super thanks to Tim Mandich for letting Camp Daniel use is boat for the summer. Everyone had a lot of fun. Below is DJ at the end of his run.

After dinner, we all watched the fireworks on the lake and set off a few of our own.

Sunday, everyone was busy at Mega.

Friday, July 3

This is a pic of the previously mentioned south exterior landscaping. Today, Tim built this sink cabinet from scratch and poured the concrete countertop.

After doing some camp work in the office this morning, Little Tony and the guys knocked down the old cement block stairwell walls, then begun to lay the block for the new stairwell, which will be turned 90 degrees from the prior.

Yesterday, Little Tony, Tim and the guys laid the cement block wall, which will be part of the bocce court.

Of course, there's lots of water going on to help along the sod and seed.

Jen, Marceaux, Sue and John had Able Fellowship tonight.

Karol did some major shopping for camp today on her way home from Milwaukee.
Molly McMurry came today to be camp intern again this summer!

Wednesday July 1

Today Chrissy and Karol worked on the large garden next to the Craft Cabin. The oak stepping stones were laid on weed block in a path that was dug about 2 in going through the garden. Then they plants the oodles of perennials. Varieties include: day lily, iris, rose campion, ajuga, sedum, blanket flower, tansy, sweet william, spiderwort, black eyed susan, creeping phlox, and a few mystery plants.

Little Tony and Richard did more landscaping. There were areas where the grass just hasn't been growing, so they completely redid the dirt and put down seed. They also finished grading other areas by the lake and around the Craft Cabin. To the south of the cabin, the top soil got its final grading and seed was planted. I think that they're all "raked out" and are ready to move on to other projects. All of the hard work was definitely worth it, as the grounds have never looked so good. And we have to look forward to, the seed sprouting into grass, and hugely improved rain runoff control.

An unexpected issue occupied Little Tony for a better part of the day. The basement of the Craft Cabin kept flooding (started over the weekend). He and Tim found out that a root grew into the septic at a point. So the 3 inches of water was pumped out (again) and we're waiting for the septic guy to come fix the problem.

Tim, with helpers, Big Anthony, Nick and Brian worked in the craft cabin putting up trim and extending the jambs. Of course, Tim had youth group in the evening. We appreciate his faithfulness to it!

Tuesday June 30

Today Little Tony, the guys and Karol laid two more pallets of sod. They extended the previously laid area by the lake. Little Tony had to use the skidsteer to turn the dirt in some areas, then fresh top soil was spread over the areas and smoothed. They also added top soil and smoothed all of the areas behind and on the side of the Craft Cabin. On the edges of all the above mentioned areas dirt was feathered out to blend with the adjoining areas and then grass seed was spread on all of the exposed dirt. It started raining too hard, so the guys had to quit at about 5 o'clock.
Chrissy and Karol spend the entire afternoon preparing the food order for the first week of camp.
At the church picnic last Sunday, a woman (who is quite the gardener) offered Camp Daniel a bunch of plants, as she was rearranging her gardens. Jo went to Sandra Miller's to get the plants. Well, even with the seats down in the van, it still took her two trips! She even got enough sliced log stepping "stones" for the new garden by the Craft Cabin. (In previous pictures, it's covered in mulch) There wasn't enough time to get them in the ground, so Jo watered them all and covered many of them in the mulch to keep them from stressing out.