North Central Ohio Work and Witness Trip to Alaska 2013: Wet But Productive Friday

Becca and Derek, Happy 15th anniversary!

I write this Friday post as the workday from 8AM to 6PM nears an end. We have had light rain all day, but that hasn't stopped the progress. But before we talk about work we had a celebration yesterday. Derek and Becca celebrated 15 years of marriage yesterday!

The gazebo you can see in yesterday's post went up so fast that Chuck is planning on having Lester, Charlie and Derek build an even bigger one next week. Just fifty yards down the shoreline there is a fire pit, used by campers to make s'mores and have evening gatherings. Today it is ablaze with scrap wood, old skids, boxes and who knows what all from all the projects going on all at once. Just 30 yards farther along the shore line is the amphitheater you can see the pictures from the last post. Thanks to Don, Ed and Tim it is now level and stable. And now when the next winter freeze hits and the permafrost shoves it out of level, the newly designed undercarriage will make re-leveling much easier. Denny and Kenny worked on installing a second larger window in the game room today and should have both windows trimmed on the inside and out soon. Since it was raining all day Lester, Charlie and Derek moved inside to do projects like replacing two outside door on a couple of the cabins. Connie and Jan worked on three delicious meals yet again today. Becca and Nancy worked on finishing the painting of the beds this morning. I worked on several camp computers this morning, getting two out of three to talk to the main office printer by lunch time. After lunch Becca, Nancy and I worked on dismantling and boxing two large fans that need stored now until next summer. Mary spent the day doing all our laundry and cleaning around the lodge where we all are living on the campground.

Debbie and Connie demonstrated some amazing photo safari skills getting pictures of a mother moose and her babies this morning and Debbie captured some more pictures of the unique indigenous birds but I don't think she will rest until she gets a picture of a bald eagle. Our new friends from Oregon have been power washing all the cedar siding around the campground in preparation for staining next week. Chuck and Joanne have done a great job getting us all involved and keeping projects moving forward. Terry and Rebecca Livengood the camp directors have been gracious hosts and have bent over backwards to make us feel at home.

Thursday evening many of the men went fishing with Chuck on the Little Soiux River to practice for a fishing excursion tomorrow (Saturday) They will be on their way at 4AM in the morning. I wish them well, because I love fresh salmon but have no desire to get up at 4 to go get it:-). The rest of us will spend Saturday shopping in Anchorage.

Sunday we will leave early in the morning to catch a motor coach to a ship for a one day cruise to see some beautiful nature including a glacier and hopefully some whales. Then we will take a train ride back. It will be a nice break before getting back to work next Monday.

Please pray for dry weather next week. The forecast says we should see sunshine Tuesday through Friday, and we will need a good dry week in order to get all the painting, staining and construction done next week.