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. 

Friday, September 16

Tony and the guys have continued working hard on the exterior stairs and landscaping around them. The pic above shows the top of the stairs, which will go to Tony Sr. and Jo's house. I love the little garden bed that you can see on the right of the pic.
Tony laid in concrete pavers that will be surrounded by grass, then moving closer to the front of the picture, is a small area with the pavers mortared in. The last stretch will be paved the next time we pour concrete.
The area in front of the dog house turned out very quaint. In the picture below, you can see the metal gate and fencing.
Also since, the last post, Karol, Jen and Molly finished planting all of the plants that we have to put in the ground. We still need more plants for shady spots. We'll do more hostas, bleeding hearts, and hopefully lily of the valley.
After the guys got the concrete and garden out of the front of Molly's, they leveled the dirt and finished the paver area in front of her porch. Tony mortared around the stones that were there, took out a strip of plants and added mortar to it. The front is now ready for the siding, and a seeping problem that we were having in this building is now rectified.
The view in the pic above is similar to a shot in the last post, but here, you can see the rest of the planting. Where there are not yet plants, we still laid the weed barrier down and covered it with mulch.
The above pic shows the second level and a bit of the third. The second tier has pea gravel right behind the house. When the planting is done, you won't be able to see that area. The third level has some plants that are out of the shot, but the rest of the planting will be done in the spring. In the picture below, you can see Tony and the guys working on the top tier. The fencing will keep people on the path and going the correct way down the stairs. They also planted 7 trees around the stairs area.
Other things going on include: Karol and Molly cleaned and reorganized the paint room. They added two shelves and labeled each gallon of paint with the area it was used. Tim Mandich met with those involved in the Shopko grant that he is apply for. They went over our proposal to make sure it's the best it can be before it's submitted. The Able Church's Tuesday night program started up again. The Able Attack has a few players bowling and a team doing volleyball this year. Tim, Molly, Jen and Marceaux have been busy getting all of those programs, and the bible studies going.

September 7, 2011

Tony and the guys have been working long days on the outdoor stairs and the area all around it. The youth group that was here this summer put in the stairs, but there was still lots of retaining walls to be built, ground to be leveled, plants to be planted, etc. In the picture above, you can see them working on a short rock wall to hold the dirt in for the first level of the stair landscaping. The bottom level has rocks for it's wall, and the upper two levels have retaining wall. The rocks were all taken from the garden that was along the front wall of Molly's. They were all dug up and moved to the areas that you see here.
This photo was taken from the top of the stairs. You get a better "big view" idea of what's going on. At the bottom of the stairs, you can see where Tony added an 8' landing. This section allows for a gate that will go towards Marceaux' "dog house" (the kids old playhouse). If you go that way, you will no longer be able to go in front of Molly's bedroom windows. That "sidewalk" is now gone. Also in the picture above, is the beginnings of the plantings. In that section, Karol and Jen planted hostas that were taken from other areas.
In the above pic, you can see that the guys have pulled up the pieces of concrete that made up the old sidewalk.
The guys took those pieces of concrete and put them in front of the "dog house". This area is higher than it was before, plus it was just grass in front of it previously.
In this picture, the guys have the decking on the bottom landing. Plus, you can see the step up from that section to the gate that will go to the "dog house"
Jen finishing the hostas in the bottom level.
The guys took out all of the plants from the garden in front of Molly's today. Jen, Molly, Karol and Chrissy planted all of them around the grounds. Some went behind the snack stand, some by the office, some in front of Jen's and some to this new stairwell area. Molly is planting in front of the "dog house". In all of the areas we planted, weed barrier was put down, then a hole was cut for each plant before the digging and planting part. It's pretty time consuming during the planting process, but it sure does make weeding easier!
Jen is planting the ferns behind and alongside the "dog house"
Here you can see all of the plants and rock border gone. All that's left is the large bush. We had to use the skidsteer to move it; all of 10' to the right!
To the left of the old garden in front of Molly's was old concrete slab that extended past the newer closet/mechanical room addition that was put on before the Koch's moved in here. Tony cut the concrete with the concrete saw....
Then Nick got to town with the sledgehammer. They got all of the broken concrete pieces out. This entire area in front of Molly's is now level with the rest of the yard.

Also today, Chrissy, with some help from Karol browned 30 pounds of ground beef, 8 pounds of onions and 7 bunches of celery. After all were cooked, Chrissy mixed it all up and put them into baggies for our chili dinner this coming Saturday at the Camp Daniel appreciation picnic.

September 1, 2011

Well, we've had some time to recover from camp, so things are really picking up around the Camp Daniel grounds. The Camp Daniel Appreciation picnic is fast approaching. There are many projects that we want to have done so that the grounds are looking their best. Tony and Karol started projects in the Hartley House. In the picture above you can see that the sharpening wheel table is finally done! They rearranged pictures on the walls and did some general touch ups. Also the extra bedroom that Big Anthony DiBiase and Justin Steiner stayed in was cleaned out to make room for some upcoming changes. Karol worked on the backsplash in the kitchen. Stained wood does not, generally speaking, make for a very durable backsplash surface. It was bleached, re-stained and finished with a clear matt poly.
Tony and the guys spend a day plus, working on a bunch of things on the craft cabin. They installed a gutter and downspout. They added treated 2x4's to the bottom of the railing. These pieces beef up the railing visually and structurally. You can also in the above picture that the edge of the grass up against the deck was low, and that they filled it in, raked it out and seeded it. Also, under this porch, Tony finished wiring in two outlets and put the trim on two recessed fixtures.
In the picture above are more small projects that Tony and the guys did. They installed the exterior fixture. They also put and outlet and switch in and painted them green to match the walls of the cubby next to the bathroom
sorry, but these pics are out of order. We're back to the Hartley House. Karol painted the top 12 or so inches in the bathroom and installed a wallpaper border. She also painted the cabinet doors and a shelf under the sink. It's hard to tell in the pic but the color is a very dark mahogany. They also purchased new shower curtains for this bath. Tony and Karol are on the lookout for new mirrors for both bathrooms in the Hartley House. There's still many small projects to be done before the 10th, and with the help of the Camp Daniel missionaries, the grounds will be looking good.
Molly, Jen, Marceaux and Tim Mandich have been busy getting back into the swing of Friday night Able Church and preparing for the upcoming Tuesday bible studies and Special Olympics. Molly has also been preparing her house for Crystal, whom we're hoping will be moving in with her soon. Molly has also been spending time uploading and editing photos from camp. It's a big job and uploading takes a long time, but the pictures are worth it. You should check out her blog to see the most photos. She's also gotten ahead of the game by printing out address labels for the upcoming year for camper birthday cards and Christmas cards.
Marceaux has had some mechanic projects pile up on him over the summer, so he's been busy working on vehicles.
Tim Mandich has been heading up our fund raising campaign. He's working right now with a possible grant from Shopko, that we're all really excited about. He does a great job with that stuff, and has really filled a need on our staff.