Friday, May 28

Well, the rush and confusion of comings and goings is firmly upon us, here at Camp Daniel. The Bury's have been on their honeymoon all week. They'll be back on Saturday. Tony Sr. and Jo went up north for a few days.
We're trying to get as much done as possible. Tony will be gone starting Sunday for four weeks. So he's trying to get everything in order to be gone for that long. Camp stuff, grounds stuff, prep work to speak at Special Touch summer camp and prep and pack for the missions trip to Africa. The Africa trip is also pressing on Tim and Chrissy. They've been preparing this week for a large rummage sale at church that will raise funds for the trip. We had our meeting on Tuesday, then we all pitched in to clean the garage. We donated a trailer full of stuff to the garage sale, and just plain straightened and organized. Chrissy also went thru all of the kitchen totes to get organized for this summer. On Wednesday, Karol and Chrissy went to Omro to the food bank to get stuff for camp. That's pretty much an all day event. Two hours each way, 1.5 to 2 hours there, then after getting back to camp, unloading, inventorying and organizing everything. Chrissy also inventoried the food supplies that will be used at camp. Thursday, Tony, Tim Mandich, Molly, Nick and Brian went to Helen Keller School in Green Bay with the Mega Micro Bus. After several glitches getting the bus to the school, it talked to the kids from every grade. They were there all day spreading the word about Mega. Tim, Karol and Richard spent the day prepping the floor in the dorm to be dyed. They had to be rid of building materials, etc, swept, vacuumed, cleaned with a buffer, mopped and dried. The walls had to be taped off to protect against stray dye. It took most of the day to do this to the dorm room "white birch", it's bathroom, and the central mechanical room. Then Tim dyed birch midnight black and chocolate brown in the dorm room, the bathroom and it's countertops and the mechanical room. He also dyed the counters in the bath of "red oak". (when we dyed the floors, the countertops hadn't yet been built. The below pic was from today. Tim put a coat of finish in the mechanical room and a portion of the bath. It was a water based epoxy with no voc/hap (no smell). It goes on white and dries clear. Here's the dorm floor. The logo hadn't been dyed yet, that's the plain concrete color you see.

Here's the red oak countertop

Today, Chrissy and Karol prepared the food order for the first week of camp. Karol cut the grass. Still lots left to cut. Maybe tomorrow....

Tuesday, May 25

Tony and the guys put the docks in. The water is so low that the ends of the docks are in about 2 or 3 feet of water. You can see how much sand there is in the pic below. The year we first looked at this property, there was no beach at all. It's never been that high since, although it does vary.
Jobs that are included with putting in the docks are putting out all of the tables and benches on the lakefront areas and hooking up the pump that we use the water the grass by the lake. Well, I'm happy to say that God is a plumber, too. (I suppose He'd be a Master Plumber) The day before, someone had donated a barely used well pump, which Tony Sr. accepted, even though we didn't have an immediate use for it. Tony didn't know anything about this. What he did know was that he spent 3 hours trying to get the pump we used last year going, only to find out that the housing was cracked, rendering the pump useless. When Tony told his dad that we'd have to buy a new pump, he learned that God already knew all of this and had already had the replacement pump donated. Tony and the guys worked on the rocks for the craft cabin. In the pic below, you can see Tony's new gadget that I mentioned before that is used to tuck point (grout) the rocks. He was very happy with it. It was much easier on the hands, and a bit faster. Also in the pic below, Karol painted the concrete wall green to finish this area off.

Tim started some of the posts for the stairs and, for lack of a better word, pergola. This north end of the craft cabin will have open trussing over the patio area. It'll be strictly aesthetic, tying in the other porch to this end of the building. Really, it's quite hard to explain, so you'll just have to see it visually, as this job progresses.

The rock around the doorway helps to emphasis the door as a focal point.

Also finished this week was the roof of this building. Karol painted coats one and two of the green trim. Molly is staining tongue and groove that will finish off the deck. Jen and Marceaux are on their honeymoon in Waupaca.

We all enjoyed their wedding on Saturday. The weather was nice and everyone had a good time. There were many people from camp and Able Church in attendance and as a part of the wedding. DJ, Brian, Richard, Nick were ushers. I don't have any pics now, but I'll get some on here for you later.

Tuesday, May 18

We had a work day last Saturday. They were a quality crew from a church in Appleton. All work was done on the exterior of the craft cabin. The main thing was putting up the split cedar shakes. In the pic below, you can see that he's putting up the shakes around a white rectangle. We are going to eventually name this building (going to the highest bidder, if you're interested!! :) ), so this is where a sign will be with the name and logo.

The utilitarian overhang got a tongue and groove ceiling and standing seam metal walls (which is the roofing material). Now has an attractive and durable finish.

more shakes! For anyone who's had the pleasure of staining some of these beauties, you can really appreciate how many shakes are needed.

It's really coming together around here!

The weather's warmed quite a bit and we're doing a lot of outside work. Molly's done a ton of weeding, as has Jo. Jo and Tony are putting out all of tables, chairs and benches down by the lake. Karol took advantage of the lack of wind and spray painted a bunch of craft stuff for camp.
Tony and Anthony are up north for the day after opening day of fishing. Jen and Marceaux are quite busy with wedding stuff and today, his family got here from Montana. Tim's been doing a roofing job in Green Bay.

Friday, May 14 2010

Here are the highlights of this week. We were able to pick a non-rainy day to pour concrete. We got one load of 7 yards, which completed the path to the blacktop in front of John and Sue's. It was a monumental occasion. When we started the concrete in front of the Hartley House however many years ago that was, it seemed at the time that it would be forever to get to the blacktop. Our concrete crew was on the ball this time. I think we've hit our stride. The driver even complimented us on our speediness. In the pic below, you can see the concrete touching the blacktop. yea!! We also started a secondary path (3' wide, instead of 8') that will connect to the stairs that will lead to the dorms. The plan is to have the Our Lady Youth Group do that project next summer.

In the shot below, you can see the existing stairs that lead up the hill. The new stairs will be in the general area, but leading to the left as it goes up.

The Craft Cabin, shown below had a lot of exterior work done again this week. The roof was finished on the right, and the wall brought up to it. Soffit and facia work was done. It looks pretty crazy right now, but trust me, it'll all make sense in the end.

the overhang on the right will be utilitarian. There's a faucet and just plain storage area.

this is the backside of the building. since it's set against the hill, the exterior is more durable and less interesting than the other facades.

Well, the countdown is on for the big wedding! Just over a week now. Although the groom and bride are busy, they both seem pretty relaxed (don't ask me how they're doing it!) We're all pretty excited for them.

Monica,I mean Molly is back. We're very proud of her and the help she's been to the Weidner's and the Kocian's, but we're glad to have her back at Camp Daniel. (She was gone so long that Tony forgot her name, and now calls her Monica)

Saturday, May 8

Well we poured concrete again on Thursday morning. The path to the lake (below) is now done. We didn't pour all the way to the blacktop, as that would have been too much. So the picture below was the second section we did. The total for this pour was 6 1/2 yards. We'll pour again next week.

No sooner had we put away the concrete tools, and Tony, Tim and the guys started on the craft cabin. The exterior still needs alot of work done. We're hoping that the upcoming work days will give the workers to finish this building. First, there's a lot that Tim and Tony needed to do to get the building to the point that others can work on it. In the pic below you can see the roof that was added on to the right (or back) of the building. This goes less that half of the length of the building, and covers a utilitarian area. It also visually balances the building. When the overhangs, and other details that I don't even know about are done, then volunteers can come in and put up soffit and cedar shakes. The building looks pretty crazy right now because it's so choppy, but we know that it will come together. As a craft cabin it should be a bit whimsical and eccentric, right? On the other end of the building, Tony put up soffit, trim, and wire mesh for the rocks. They still have one more day of work to get this building ready for volunteers.

Karol spend some time every day this week polyurethaning the walls of the dorm room that will be Silver Birch. Since they now all have two coats, the next step in that room is to dye the floors, and counters. Then it'll be on to tile, which there's lots to do. We have to have these two baths done by the time they leave for Africa, so we'll keep working as fast as possible.

Below is the newest addition to the menagerie that is Camp Daniel. Anthony bought a pet corn snake, which he's named "Fang", which is an appropriate name for a snake even though, he's really named after a dog from Harry Potter!

Other notables of the week:

We got new cereal dispensers donated for camp. They won't even crush the corn flakes!

Tony got a new mortar gun for cost. I cannot express how much this tool will help. Think about all of the rock on the facades of the buildings, well thus far, all of the mortar that's between the rocks, was hand squeezed in with a heavy duty pastry bag. It's very tiring on the hands and quite time consuming.

Molly is back! Micah Weidner is done with school, so she'll be back to full time at Camp Daniel.

Tim Mandich has been learning a lot about the financial workings of Camp Daniel from Tony Sr.

Able has lots of fun things in the works, including a summer picnic, and a fall Oktoberfest.

After much research and phone calls, Karol is close to having the top layer that will finish the bocce ball court. We've narrowed it down to a baseball inflield mix (in Waupaca) and granite fines (Milwaukee area).

This week Tim worked on the tile border in one of the dorm bathrooms. In the pic below, you see the two toilet stalls. The divider wall will be built after the tile is done. In this pic, you can see that Tim has removed the styro forms for the sink holes and cut the circle out of the plywood below as well. This concrete counter still needs to be dyed. We didn't come up with the plan to do concrete counters in the baths until after the red floor was dyed. So we'll dye the counters to match their respective floor. This one will be a little off, as we used up most of the red dye. The remaining counters will all be dyed at the same time as the floor. The tile border continues around the entire bathroom. The border is all that can be tiled until the counter is dyed. (In case you're wondering, the things on the counter are upside down trophies. They're for the winners of the talent show at camp this summer. They come pretty light weight, so we add mortar or adhesive to the base to make the trophy more substantial. Tim had some left over concrete today, so the bases were all filled, then turned over til dry)

Yesterday Tim built the forms for an 8" deep floating shelf for each bathroom. There will be a large mirror above each shelf. It's basically a primping area. There are outlets between the shelf and the mirror for hair dryers, shavers, etc. Notice the nice round edge so that no one (especially one in a wheelchair) can hurt himself on a sharp concrete corner. The concrete was poured today and troweled to a smooth finish. The forms will be taken off tomorrow, and these shelves will be finished with the other concrete.

Tony and the guys have been working this week on building the forms for another concrete pour. This is the last section to be poured, as it will tie into the blacktop that's in front of John and Sue's. We'll be pouring on Thursday.

I don't mention it every week, but the Camp Daniel staff has a meeting every Tuesday morning from 9 am til at least 10:30. With so many people working in so many different areas of ministry, the meetings get everyone up to speed on what's going on. Through all of the communication, lots of decisions are made. After that meeting is done, those directly involved in The Able Church usually meet for about another hour. We often all have lunch together, then off in many different directions. Of course, Able has Family Night on Tuesdays, so Jen, Marceaux and the guys have a short time between the meeting and Able. This week, Chrissy and Karol spent a couple of hours going over new food items that will be added to camp this year. You'd probably be shocked at how much time is involved to just make sure that we have all of the food we need for camp. The calculator always gets a good work out.

This is the grill area behind Tony and Karol's house. This picture was from a few weeks ago when Tony and the guys were still applying rock. Karol, with help from Tony and the guys built this shelf from scrap pieces around the camp. It hides the utilitarian storage area that is under the guys deck. Here you see it in place with the basic paint done.

This pic shows the final distressing/antiquing and some accessories. This shelf makes this area much more of a pleasant place to be.

Monday, May 3

Much work has been done on the Camp Daniel grounds since I last blogged. Below is the new sidewalk and area around the firepit. Tony and the guys worked for a good two days to prep the area. We (Tony, Nick, Richard, Brian, Tim, Karol, Marceaux, and Jen) poured on Thursday. It was a little different than previous pours in that we laid large slabs of slate and some other kind of stone (thanx again to Green Bay Nursery) into the concrete around the firepit. Troweling around the stones was tricky, as was keeping everything pitched properly.

All of the sod that was in the new paved areas was carefully cut out, stacked into wheelbarrows, then relaid by the bocce court. It was quite a puzzle

Tim prepped and poured the countertops in the two dorm baths that need to be done before camp starts. In the first picture you see the plywood base, which stays in place. On the front is a 1x3 board that hold the front edge. That piece gets removed after the concrete is

set up. The circles are two inch pieces of foam. These will be cut out to receive the drop in sinks. The countertops will all be dyed to match the floor in each respective room. Not shown in this picture is some pieces of rebar to give the whole thing strength and reduce cracking. For this project, Tim tried a product made specifically for concrete countertops, made by quickrete.

It was a wet and soupy mixture, and it took a long time for the cream that rose to the top to dry. After that, Tim was able to trowel the tops for a nice smooth finish.

Last Friday, Marceaux and Karol gave the ceiling of bedroom three two coats of paint so that Dave Detloff could come back on Saturday, and work on the tongue and groove. A large percentage of the walls were already done, so we thought it would be good for him to just finish it off. Of course, all of the hard parts were left, so he didn't quite finish.

The second bedroom's walls were sanded by the guys, poly'd by Tim and Karol, and sanded again by the guys.

Marceaux's been putting up the fluorescent fixtures in the baths. Next will be lighting in the mechanical room and the third bedroom.

Also, Tim started to tile the bathroom. I didn't get a picture yet, but I'll be sure to get it on the next blog. He started with the two border tiles that run around the entire room. He can't do more tiling until the countertop gets dyed, and the dying cannot be done until the walls are done. Everything really has to be done in the right order.

Last Tuesday Chrissy and Karol went to the Reinhart Food Show in Green Bay to get new products to add to our camp menu. Of course, many samples were had by both, and they found some yummy new additions for camp!