October 28, 2011

I actually posted this blog last week, but Tony told me it wasn't there.  Turns out I posted it on Annissa and Ruth's blog!  Sorry girls.  Here goes again....
Last Saturday, we had a great work day at Camp Daniel.  A large group from a Reform church in Cedar Grove, WI came for the day, and got a lot of stuff done.  The weather was great, and we had groups of people in many different places on the grounds.  Below you see Crystal and Tony working on cultured stone on the Lumberjack Lodge.  There were about 5 people from the Cedar Grove church on the other side of the building that were doing the same.  Between all of them, they finished applying the stones.

A group worked on the new stairs.  First they repaired some damage that incurred when the tree fell on it, then they installed all of the handrails and part of the green rails.

The guys pictured below were installing cedar shakes on Molly's house.

Another great thing accomplished was the refinishing of the oars by the lakefront.  The oars, although not that old, all had peeling finish on them, so these guys sanded the old finish off and applied two coats of exterior polyeurethane.

More shakes on Molly's

There was also a group raking leaves and taking them to the back of the property.  Another stained the 6 bunk beds that were put together and sanded at the last work day.  Dave Detloff was here last Saturday, as well as many other days.  He's been working in the Trapline Lodge.  Since we don't currently have any tongue and groove for him to install, he's been putting up the cement board in the bathrooms.

Tuesday, October 11

 Last Saturday, October 8, was a work day.  Unlike recent work days, where we've had little to no volunteers, we had a great number of workers on this work day.  We had a group from a church in Sheboygan Falls, WI, a group from Able Church, and few individual families there to help.  A wide variety of projects were worked on.  In the photos above and below, you can see the group that worked on staining the craft cabin.  They did great on such a messy job!

 The 4 signs for the Trapline Lodge were hung.

 Tim and Tony had spent time in the days prior to the work day getting the facade of Molly's house ready for the work day volunteers to hang cedar shakes. 

 This crew put together 6 sets of bunkbeds.  Afterwards they sanded them.  The bunkbeds are now ready to be stained at the next work day.

 The guys from Able Church spread topsoil around the newly paved sidewalks.

 The ladies from The Able Church replanted our butterfly garden, and, as you see below, raked leaves. 

I forgot to put in the last blog about the trees that we planted.  We had about 50 evergreen trees donated and we purchased 200 seedlings.  They were all planted by Tony and the guys.  In the photo above, you can see some of the trees that were planted behind Molly's house.  It's exciting to know that these trees will grow to make beautiful areas on the grounds.  The trees in this photo will eventually block the view of all that roof. 

 While Jen and Marceaux were in Montana visiting Marceaux' family, Tim was put to the task of building cabinetry in their cabin.  Some cabinets were built from scratch, while other, exiting cabinets, needed doors and shelving.  Above is the before of the sink area, and the after picture is below.

 The cupboards added a bunch of storage for them, which the Bury's need in this small area they live in.  Tim painted the cabinets to match the existing ones, which were donated to us.

 Tony, along with help from the guys, added concrete/stone stairs going from the top of the wood stairs up to Jo and Tony's house.  The entire process took multiple days.  They set flat rocks into the wet concrete for a more rustic look.  The split rail fence  completes the look and functionality.

 Much of the past two weeks we've been prepping for a concrete pour.  Tony and the guys did the bulk of the work in all of the prep.  The actual pouring of the concrete is a minute part of the total amount of work involved.  In these pics the forms are set.  On the day of the pour, we leveled the sand and packed it.  Then, since the better part of the sidewalks were up against retaining wall, we had to set the 2x4's that hold the pipe that's used to level the screed.  In short, it makes for alot of prep work and a much more difficult job of pouring  and finishing the concrete.

 Tony was super excited to be able to use the new concrete bucket for the skidsteer.  The concrete truck was not able to pour directly into any of the forms.  This bucket made this job possible.  Without it, all of the concrete would have to have been carried one wheelbarrel at a time. 

12 yards (which took two concrete trucks) was poured.

 Chrissy has spent some time in the garage, organizing all of the kitchen stuff from camp.  Plus she has been working on the upcoming newsletter.  Molly, Jen and Karol have been taking advantage of the nice weather by getting the gardens weeded and cut back for the upcoming winter.  Karol has also spent a number of days painting the large signs for the exterior of the Trapline Lodge.  There are four signs in all.  Tim Mandich has been cutting down dead trees on the property.  After the strong winds last week, two trees fell on the property.

Here, you can see the one tree that fell on Marceaux' dog house.  It just missed the railing and the stairs.  Tim and the guys got both trees cut up and taken out of the way.