Thursday September 24

Tim and the guys have been working on the pump house (which is connected to the Koch's home). They took out the cabinets from the interior, took out the window, and cut out the existing block to make way for the new door. The old door is on the side of the building, but the new one will be in the front. As you can see in this pic, the walls are framed up for the new entry addition.
Karol, Jen, Molly and Chrissy all worked together putting two yards on mulch on some of the gardens on the Camp Daniel grounds. Afterwards they built a 2x4 shelving unit that will store outdoor items underneath the back deck of the Hartley House.

north exterior of craft cabin

Someone recommended that we show one area from beginning to end of a transformation. So here's the first one. This is the north side of the craft cabin. The first pic was from May 28, 2009 and the last from July 1, 2009. If it were only as simple at these pics make it appear!

Monday Sept 21, Tuesday Sept 22

Monday
Little Tony did a lot of talking on Monday. He had a long meeting with Pastor John. Then Pastor Jerry and Steve Hays came to Camp Daniel to give Steve a tour and basic understanding of what Camp Daniel is. This brought him straight into the time to drive to Menominee, MI to speak at the Tri-County Women's club. Cherylee Hamilton invited him and Karol for dinner and a one hour presentation of what Camp Daniel is all about. The dozen women in attendance, were very receptive and interested in all that they heard. We are anxious to see what fruits may come of this, and we, as always, appreciate all that Cherylee Hamilton has done, and continues to do for Camp Daniel.

Tuesday
The Camp Daniel staff family had their weekly meeting for the better part of the morning.
Afterwards, Tim put up shelved in Molly and Jen's place. Marceaux worked on a tractor tune up. Karol did some gardening to prepare for winter. Of course, since it was Tuesday, many were off to Able's family night and Special Olympics bowling practice.

Saturday was another work day at Camp Daniel. We were very appreciative to have 5 people come from the Three Lakes Area. The eight maple trees that were bought the other day were all planted in different locations around the grounds. The nature center was cleaned up and the paint was moved into there because that building will be heated for the winter. As you can see in the pic below, some of the guys were working on drywalling the ceilings in two of the dorm rooms. Soon we'll be able to blow insulation into the ceiling. This is crucial to allow work to continue in the dorms thru the winter.

Friday, September 18

On Friday, work started on the pump house (a concrete block 7x10 foot area attached to the house, holding the water pump). Molly and Karol cleaned out the attic so that later, insulation can be blown into it. Then they were joined by Tim and Little Tony to begin work on the exterior. All of the plants in front were pulled up and replanted elsewhere on the grounds. Then the old sidewalk was taken out and the area formed up for concrete. There will be a doorway where the window is and an entry of sorts will be extended onto the front of the building. The point is that the pipes that are now on the exterior of the building ( you can see them in the pic) will be on the interior, and, therefore, won't freeze. Late Friday afternoon, the guys mixed up concrete with the concrete mixer and poured the slab.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Some days just aren't very glamorous. In the picture above are two buses that were donated earlier this summer for busing ministries at Able and Mega. In the foreground is a box truck that was also donated as a place for storage. Tim and the guys loaded the walking in cooler and freezer wall panels into it. They were also able to fit camp mattresses and a few other miscellaneous items. The remaining work time over these days was filled with moving and organizing tools and materials. If you've been here for a work day, you may get a grasp on the magnitude of such an undertaking. When Tim was in Green Bay for youth group on Wednesday evening, he went to Home Depot for some materials, and while there was happy to see that they'd just received a shipment of maple trees. He bought eight. They were only $20 each and at least 10' tall.

On Tuesday, Little Tony, Karol, Annissa and Anthony went to Green Bay for dentist appointments. They stayed the day, then after Able bible study, Karol, Jen and Little Tony left for Gurnee, where they spent the night at Karol's dad's home. Wednesday, Jen and Little Tony went to a get together of leaders from different disability ministries at O'Hare airport. They had a good time of sharing with others encountering many of the same challenges and blessings that full time disability ministry holds. They all returned to Camp Daniel late Thursday afternoon, which left the Piantine's with time to get a list together of everything that needs to be done before the snow flies, do a few loads of laundry, help the kids with homework and unpack from the days away.

Sunday September 12

Yesterday, we had the Camp Daniel Appreciation Picnic. The day started early finishing the dirt around the new concrete paths. Katie Dace, Betty Miller, Morgan MacIntyre and Steven Cohen all drove from Black River Falls on Friday evening. They were up bright and early on Saturday to help with the finishing details. We really appreciated all of their help.
There were about 130 people in attendance, many of whom went on a detailed tour of the Camp Daniel grounds, which included many stories of miracles that have progressed Camp Daniel to where it is today. In the evening we had a campfire for those who remained.

Today we all went to church, then had our missionary family meeting.

Friday, September 11

This morning, the guys took off the concrete forms. Then, lots of fill and top soil were trucked over from the back of the property to fill all of the new areas around the craft cabin. Karol painted the green on the bocce court. It really finishes it off will the dirt filled in.

Jen, Molly and Sarah Braun (whom will be visiting with Jen thru the weekend) got lots done today. They swept off the walks, cleaned the nature center, cleaned the bathroom and windows in the office, plus other stuff I can't think of now. Chrissy helped with the landscaping this morning, then after lunch she browned all of the #30 of beef needed for the chili tomorrow.

Jen, Sue, John and DJ went to Able Fellowship tonight.

Karol's sister, Janice, drove up from Milwaukee today. She helped Karol clean her messy messy house and did some cleaning in the snack stand.

Katie Dace, Betty Miller and Steven Cohen are coming this evening. They'll be spending the night and enjoying the appreciation picnic tomorrow. (Of course, they'll probably get put to work in the morning on some finishing touches.)

Thursday, September 10

Today, Jen and Molly, with the help of Sarah Braun painted the first coat on the bocce court. Why is it red? and why they miss a bunch? The court will match the posts of the bait shop (snack stand) where the finished look is a distressed green with the read peaking thru in small areas. The reason why it's not solid red is because there wasn't enough paint to cover the entire thing, so the distressing will be limited to areas of red, the rest being a solid green.
More concrete. Yea! This pic was taken pre-exhaustion. The crew started building the forms (including laying concrete block) in the morning and were doing finishing touches until the truck pulled in at 3:30 (we were thankful that he was a half hour late)

The concrete crew drafted a new member. Molly. She was in charge of washing all of the tools off as we went along.

9 yards later. There's now a wide sidewalk from the craft cabin porch slab to the greatly extended main walking path.

Wednesday, September 9

Wednesday morning involved getting the finishing touches ready to receive a truck of concrete. When the truck rolled in at 10:00 am, Little Tony, Tim, the guys and Karol were ready. In the pic below, you can just see the short sidewalk that connects the bocce court to the path. There were also two small footings poured on either end of the bocce court. In the foreground, you can see the extension to the main walking path. This picture was taken later on in th day. As you can see, the concrete was extended in front of the craft cabin (don't forget, the porch is coming off and being rebuilt to the size of the concrete). Also in this pic you can see Little Tony and the guys working extending the retaining block in a graceful curve. They have also back filled behind the block wall. All of the water will shed off of this area beautifully, which is always one of the main concerns when we re sculpt the land.

This view shows the worked on areas in relation to the lake. This was taken from behind that new retaining wall. Where the camera is shooting from in this pic, is now as far as one can drive a vehicle. No more backing up to the snack stand for loading/unloading! The main walking path is 8 feet wide, so a vehicle can technically drive on it, but that's only for special circumstances. All I know is that we really need a 4' wide snow blower to tackle all of the impending snow.

Today, Chrissy, Jen and Molly did a bunch of weeding in the gardens to get ready for the appreciation picnic this Saturday. In the late afternoon, Karol went to Green Bay to do all of the grocery shopping for the picnic, and for the Hartley House. Tim and Chrissy had youth group at Living Hope Church. Jen and Molly had a meeting in the evening for Special Olympics.

Today, Little Tony and the guys worked on getting the concrete forms ready for tomorrow. In front of the craft cabin, the patio area will be extended an additional 8 feet. Later the roof of the porch will be redone to extend to the edge. You can also see in the pic below, that the retaining wall was continued further. The road will now curve away from the building, instead of going straight in front of it. (Of course, it's not a road, but an eight foot wide luxury sidewalk) This pic shows where the sidewalk will extend to for this round of concrete. Also, last week Tim and the guys dug holes for the posts that will be needed, and put sonotubes in them. The concrete will be poured into those as well. The posts will be for the decking that will connect the patio in the above pic to the patio that's outside the bathroom doors on the north side of the building.

Jen, Marceaux and Karol spend the entire morning unpacking all of the stuff from family camp. It seemed to have multiplied over the weekend. There was the entire carnival, leftover food, kitchen hardwares, tents, sound equipment, etc, etc.

Tim worked in the craft cabin putting up shelving and closet poles, and getting ready to build the wall cabinets in the kitchen areas. Jen and Molly need all of the storage they can get!

Jen, Molly, Marceaux, John and Sue all went to Able bible study tonight. It was the first one of the season.

Wednesday September 2

Here's a picture of the concrete form that Richard worked on yesterday. On the left is the bocce court with the sidewalk form coming straight out from it to the walkway. The remaining area will be grass. This is what it looked like early today in front of the craft cabin. The line of stakes represent where the future patio/deck area will be. As you can see, it will run more than the full length of the building. This area will add lots of usable square footage for outside lounging and crafting.

Same area, but the stakes and pea gravel are gone. Little Tony is on the bulldozer making the way for the future 8' concrete walking path. (it will join up with the end which is currently in front of the bocce court, poured earlier this summer) The new path curves much further away from the building, then angles back to the old road (to the right of the pine tree)

Molly moved in with Jen today! And Marceaux had a good first day on the job at Northern Automotive.

Tuesday, September 1

Today Little Tony, Richard and the guys prepared concrete forms. The new bocce court needs a sidewalk leading to it. They also got the forms started for the next section of the wide concrete path that currently ends between the bocce court and the craft cabin. Brian moved the pea gravel that was leftover from the youth group this summer to a needed area by the craft cabin.

Chrissy, Tim, Jen, Marceaux, Karol and the guys organized the camp stuff that was in the garage and moved most of it to the storage unit down the road. Chrissy went thru the bins of kitchen items. They also prepared the black trailer for family camp this weekend. The guys switched the upright freezer in it for a refrigerator. Chrissy pulled out of the kitchen stuff much of the paper goods that will be needed for our group of 45 that will be attending Family Camp this weekend in Waupaca with Living Hope Church.

Marceaux, with the help of Tim and Nick brought his mechanics toolbox to his new job in Crivitz. He'll be starting part-time at Northern Automotive tomorrow.

Little Tony and Karol laid out the post locations for the porch that will be running the length of the craft cabin. They settled on 8' apart.

Sue helped prepare for Family Camp by cleaning the camp coolers and freezer/fridge that were used in the black trailer for camps.