Monday, October 25 2010

Tony spent a good 40+ hours over the past week on the Megarusalem room at church. It was never fully finished last year. Tony finished the mural that was started by a professional muralist, but never completed. With Karol's help two of the days, they also added a bunch of other details. I'll take pictures and blog them at a later date.

Tim, with the help of the guys, hung the cabinets and finished the shelves in the second dorm where the work shop will be. He's also hung shop lights in there, and started organizing all of the tools.

Dave Detloff came two days last week to finish the tongue and groove in the dorm room that he started a few weeks ago. That room is now ready for polyurethane and paint on the ceiling.

Molly's been working on editing pictures that she' taken for people.

Chrissy, with the help of Jen (before she left) printed labels for the 800 newsletters we had printed. They also had to put on the labels and organize all of them by zip code so that they could go out bulk mail.

Karol spent the better part of two days designing wood bunk beds for the dorms. There are two guys who have volunteered to build the beds for us, so it was time to nail down exactly what they should look like. It took online and code book research to get the overall dimension guidelines, then decisions had to be made on built in storage. Then precise plans were drawn up so that they could be built from the plans. Since it ended up being such a complex thing, we decided to have Tim build one prototype to make sure that all of the details are how we want them.

Before the rains set in, Tim and the guys started to reroof Molly's place. Nick and Richard took off some of the old roofing and the metal trim and edging. Then they were able to start putting on the metal roof.

We had a work day on Saturday. Mike Waldrop and Dave Detloff came for the day. They hung drywall on the ceilings in the second dorm.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wow. We had probably the best work day ever last Saturday. We had a huge group, numbering over 35, from Cedar Grove, WI., and a smaller group of about 5 from West Bend. They got a ton of stuff done, and Tim did a great job of organizing so many different jobs and getting all of the tools ready for them. There were always at least 6 different jobs going at a time, so knowing that I'd never remember everything on my own, I took pictures of each.

Below, Marceaux is putting the finishing touches on the lift that he built for the washer and dryer that he and Jen will be using, located in their basement. He used treated lumber to build the platform that will keep the appliances off of the damp floor and any water that may end up there. Jen is excited at the prospect of not carrying her laundry up to the Hartley House every week!

They also started on the exterior of Molly's house. In the plans are a new roof and all new "siding". They started on the pump house, which was changed around last year. In the pic below, you can see a couple of ladies digging out the ground on the backside of the pump house. With the house being in the hill, there's always concern for proper water drainage. After digging out the dirt against the wall of the pump house, they put a plastic barrier against the wall to keep out ground water, then refilled the dirt with the proper pitch so the water will drain away from the building.

When comparing the pic above and below, you can see that the volunteers also firred and sheeted the exterior of the pump house, covering over where the old door had been.

They also firred and sheeted the exterior of the house that will be covered with cedar shakes. The entire exterior will basically be shakes and stone.

These guys spent the day doing masonry work. Richard mixed the mortar for them to apply the cultured stone to two of the porches on the Lumberjack Lodge (women's dorm). There's still one porch to go, then the mortar between the stones (like grout).

This gentleman worked mostly by himself in one of the unfinished bathrooms in the dorm. He drywalled the upper two feet of the room, then got a better part of the durarock (needed for tile) on the lower part of the walls.

The smaller crew from the West Bend church worked on the porch of the craft cabin (temporarily Jen and Marceaux') The did beautiful work on the tongue and groove that they put along the edge of the porch.

Looks good, huh?

Sorry, not the best picture in the world. This crew drywalled the ceilings in the dorm rooms of the Trapline Lodge (men's dorm). The Hartley House guys had already put up the plastic and much of the insulation and with the "lids" on, Tim can soon blow insulation into the ceilings, which is critical if we don't want to go broke heating this building this winter.

Below is our super speedy crew that installed the "buffalo board" (rigid sound insulation, so that future campers won't hear their neighbors snores in the night). On top of this board will be the tongue and groove. If I recall correctly, this crew got 3 1/2 rooms done.

Naturally, a fall work day is going to include raking leaves. And many a leaf did they rake! Molly and Jen headed up this crew, and I know that they were pretty pooped at the end of the day!

Raking this solid carpet of leaves made for a landscape of piles as far as the eye can see. A small crew used the tarp and pick up truck method to move the piles to the burn pile at the back of the property.
This gentleman worked with Dave Detloff, whom came up on a whim, on the tongue and groove in the room that Dave had started a couple of weeks ago. This is the last room in the Lumberjack Lodge that needed the tongue and groove. They didn't quite finish, so Dave came back yesterday and finished the job! Poly time.

A group of women started the day in the third room of the Lakeside Lodge. Karol had applied one coat of Polyurethane the previous week, so that they could start off by sanding the walls lightly, dusting off, and putting the second and final coat of polyurethane on the walls. This room will soon be used as a workout room. The circuit equipment we had donated a few years back has been in the nature center, but since that building isn't heated, it will be set up in this room. (Eventually, the equipment will be in a permanent exercise room in the new garage.)

The ladies also had to move an immense amount of tongue and groove from the dorm bathroom to the porch, then a pick up was pulled around and it was loaded into it to be moved to the other dorm where it will be used for the dorm room walls. The sand near this dorm was very soft, so both trips of wood that they loaded onto the truck weighed it down just enough that the truck, even in 4 wheel, couldn't get out without a tow from the bulldozer. It was worth it though because it was a lot of wood to move by hand.

These guys worked on trimming out the bathroom of the Birch cabin (black room in the Lumberjack Lodge)

Wednesday, October 13

Here's what's been happening since our last blog:
Dave Detloff (from Living Hope Church) has been up 3 times to work on trim and tongue and groove in the dorms. He has the trim in one room done and two walls done (with tongue and groove) in another. We really appreciate all the hard work he has put in!

Last week, Tony and Jen spent a lot of time preparing for our trip to a Joni and Friends disability summit in Palos Heights, IL. They taught a class on The Able Church. They both spoke on the philosophy and practical matters of the church. Tony and Jen took video footage at Able and made a 7 minute video showing how Able uses people with disabilities to lead the church. It was pretty powerful and many people got alot out of the class. Some people that work with people with disabilities don't see the leadership potential of people with disabilities, so I'm sure that it was an eye opener for many. Especially when they saw on of our campers, Jesse Towne, preaching. It was awesome!
Regarding the trip, Tony, Karol, Tim, Chrissy, Jen, Marceaux, Molly and Tim Mandich all loaded into the bus after Able last Friday and drove to IL for the conference. We all went to different break out sessions and each gleaned some valuable information from the conference. We got home pretty late on Saturday, but it was well worth the trip. Tony's been spending a lot of time on the bulldozer this past week. The two proceeding pics show some of his handiwork, but like I said before, it's really hard to appreciate all of the earth moving. The area behind the dorm in the first pic below shows the finished grade for that area. The top soil spreading, started during the youth weekend, was finished and seed was planted in the area. Richard's been watering every other day since.

Tim spent a good day filling the dump truck with top soil, driving it to the area between the two dorms, dumping, driving back to the dirt pile, transferring from the dump truck to the excavator (which, although sold, is thankfully still here) and using it to fill the dump truck again. I won't even hazard a guess as to how many times this process took place, all to get the top soil to where Tony could use it to sculpt the earth. After Tony was done with the dozer, then he used an ATV to drag a metal bed frame to smooth out the dirt and bring up the large pieces of rock and debris. The second order of seed was delivered today, so pretty soon this area will be seeded and rolled. Lucky Richard, in having another couple thousand square feet to keep watered!

Jen, Molly and Karol have been taking advantage of the warm weather by cleaning up the flower beds on the grounds. Jen also finished staining the Hartley House deck. There were some parts that they didn't get to on the youth weekend.

Tim and the guys have been working in the Trapline Lodge dorm. They've been insulating the ceilings and getting them ready for drywall. Also, there was a bunch of stuff stored in there, that was moved to the storage unit down the road.

The guys from Ideal Air were here yesterday and today installing the furnaces for the Trapline Lodge.

Chrissy got the newslette off to the printer. She'll be picking it up tomorrow and hopefully addresses will be done by Friday so it can be in your mailbox by Monday. If you don't receive our newsletter, and would like to, please email us at info@campdaniel.org and we'll get you on the list.

Monday, October 4

This past week has been more quiet around here than is usual. It reminds me to be extra thankful for the blessing that being a missionary is. Granted, there are many weeks that we, at Camp Daniel, work double and triple time, but it really is nice to be able to have a week like we did last week. Molly was able to go to her parents' and visit with a family friend, whom is dying of cancer. She was visited with an uncle, whom lives out of town, that she doesn't see much. Jen and Marceaux spent the week in Green Bay. Sunday and Monday nights, Jen spent the night at a hospital in Green Bay to minister to and be supportive of, Judy, Amanda's mom, as Amanda's grandmother was dying. On Monday, Jen helped Amanda and Sarah work on speeches that they were go give at the Down Syndrome Awareness walk last Saturday. Amanda's grandma, Evelyn, did die on Tuesday, and Jen helped with funeral arrangements the rest of the week. Tuesday evening, Jen, Sabrina and Sarah went to Amanda's to visit with her. They made dinner, and watched a movie together. Isn't all that what friendship and ministry are all about?!
Early Wednesday morning, Jen, Marceaux and Tony headed for O'Hare Airport for a day of round table discussion with other disability ministers from around the country. After the meetings, they drove to downtown Chicago, as Marceaux had never been there. He was impressed by the sights. Then they stopped for dinner at Ed Debevic's, a fifties diner style restaurant. Afterwards they headed home. It was a long day, as Tony didn't get home till after midnight. Earlier in the week, Marceaux was working on the Mega Micro Mini Bus. The disability walk went well on Saturday.

Also last Saturday, was the second annual Mega Car Show for Kids. Tony spent the better part of last week preparing for that. The weather last Saturday was better than last year, but not as pleasant as we would have liked. We're already preparing for next year.

Tim Kelly spent the better part of last week with his mom in Green Bay, as she had surgery on Wednesday, went home on Thursday to start recuperation. Again, what a blessing to be able to take the time to take care of family and be a blessing for others. Today, Tim is finished drywalling the ceiling in the dorm and started plastering it. The goal is to have the next work day group paint that ceiling, so that the work room can be moved into that room.

Chrissy has been working on the newsletter this past week or so. It's getting close. We are not writers around here, so the editing is pretty heavy. As a matter of fact, Chrissy just asked me to go over it again.