We had another very successful Fall Service Weekend September 15-17,2006. Nine of the attendees were on Staff this past summer. Of the 39 folks who attend throughout the weekend, 6 had never attended a previous Service Weekend. The weather was beautiful and if the Boys’ T-house roof was not in the shade, it would have been quite warm. September 2001 and May 2002 were the only Service Weekends when we had fewer volunteers in attendance. But we still got a bunch accomplished.
NCF paid $994 for supplies, which included $498 for materials to reroof the oy’s T-house. There was food left over after the regular sessions of Camp. We used what we could of that, and Chuck can tell you what NCF spent for the rest of the groceries for the weekend. I don’t have those numbers.
I had a 2-page list of 97 tasks. We discovered so much rotten wood on the 2 main projects (the Infirmary floor, and the Boys’ T-house roof), that our progress was slowed considerably. We got 13 tasks finished and another 7 started.
Our intention was to remove and replace the linoleum floor of the sick room of the Infirmary. The plywood underlayment that was nailed down before the linoleum floor was glued down had rotted in several places, so we decided to remove all that plywood down to the earlier floor. Apparently, there was once a bathtub and sink in what is now the sick room. We found rotten wood below where this sink and tub were once located. We replaced the rotten subfloor, and in May will replace the plywood underlayment and glue down a new linoleum floor.
The Boys’ T-house had tar paper, then shingles, then another layer of tar paper and another layer of shingles. We removed all that down to the wood sheathing. Charlie had lined up a dumptruck for us to toss the old shingles from the roof into the dumptruck. The last time the shingles were added, the vent boots were not replaced. A vent boot is a sort of waterproof gasket that goes around a vent pipe that sticks up through a roof and keeps rain water from running down the outside of the pipe and wetting the wood sheathing. They cost about $3. Instead of using new vent boots, caulk was used. This was not a good idea. It leaked and in the two worst cases on this roof, all the wood below the vent pipes was rotten and needed to be replaced. Because these two vent pipes were so close to the outside of the building, some of the siding, fascia, soffit, and the rake boards had also rotted. Because we discovered this, and repaired it, we were unable to finish getting all the shingles on the roof. We got all the new tar paper and valley weatherguard down and the shingles on the front side of the roof. Charlie has generously agreed to finish putting down the remaining shingles
and cap the roof.
Eileen and Katie were the heroes of the weekend. They made a Ranger A run (Adopt-A-Highway) along 608 above and below Camp on their own, dug down to find the long-lost outdoor water cutoff valve for the GTH, and Eileen dressed up in the Humpty-Dumpty tyvek coveralls and hood to paint carbolineum above her head from an extension ladder on the back porch of the Infirmary and other areas around Camp. We had Eileen so covered in protective gear she came out with no mess, but as the ground person, Katie got messy. Carbolineum is a nasty job, and I appreciate them taking on the task.
We treated some powder-post beetles in the GBH. We put waterbased polyurethane on some baseboards and a shelf unit, and painted a shelf in the pantry. We started on a picnic table to replace one that is too rotten to save. We secured a wobbly bench between the road and the playfield. We got started rewiring the bird identification boxes in the Museum. And we fixed some shutters.
Thanks so much to Chuck for getting the food to Camp and for running the Kitchen for the weekend. He had great help from Jen, Alia, Amy, Shirley, and lots of other folks. We had baked ziti, green salad, two kinds of chocolate cookies and lemon cake, bacon, eggs, cheese grits, pancakes, biscotti, tacos, baked ziti, pizza, and baked ziti. We sang in the LS on Friday and Saturday evenings, and there was a campfire Saturday night. Thanks very much to Alia, Amy, Amy, Anna, Annie, Beth, Beth, Brian, Charlie, Chuck, Dave, Dottie, Ed, Eileen, Flip, Ginger, Henry, Henry, Jason, Jeff, Jen, Kate, Katie, Ken, Larry, Le, Lori, Molly, Peggy, Peter, Reid, Robert, Rosie, Ryan, Shirley, Tucker, Walter, and Wilson for making this a very successful Service Weekend. It was loads of fun.
If you have any digital photos of the Service Weekend, please email them or put them on a CD and send them to Michaux {webmaster@naturecampfoundation.org}.
— Jim Brooks, Service Committee Chair
All materials © 2008 Nature Camp Foundation, Inc