Work Day!

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day for a scheduled work day!  It's always rather iffy in February -- snow, sleet, rain, and painfully cold temps have all plagued scheduled days in the past -- but this year we had clear skies and temperatures that were just about perfect.

We opened the day at 8:00 a.m. with prayer and instructions under the pavilion.

We had right at 50 volunteers on hand that morning!  That's really exciting to see.

The work day was scheduled primarily to take care of the downed trees from Disaster Relief's Chainsaw Training in the fall.

That wood was hauled by tractors . . .

. . . to one of two locations and teams split and stacked (and restocked our firewood supply). 

We had one team at the pavilion and one in the main campground.

Other teams cleared brush and hauled it up to the field for burning.

Pavers were laid at the bottom of the deck steps. Don't they look great?!

Limbs were trimmed from the roadways, to make it easier for trucks and RVs to travel through easily.

The flag pole was cleaned up and repainted.

Cornhole boards were painted and sealed.

And a new sign was painted and readied for installing.

Lunch was provided at noon, and workers gathered and fellowshipped over hotdogs and chili.

Soon it was three o'clock and time to wrap things up.

We managed to stock about seven or eight cords of firewood!  We know that the groups who camp up here in the next ten months will *really* appreciate that effort.

We really appreciate all the hard work and time that each volunteer gifted to the camp that day!

Wood-stacking Work Day

It wasn't the coldest day of the month, but it was close!  Thankfully, that didn't stop our volunteers from the Disaster Relief Team at Willowbrook from heading up to the camp to chop some wood!

Due to weather, the past three or four work days have had to be cancelled and the available fire wood had taken a huge hit.  So we got the fire roaring in the warming station, put on a pot of coffee, and got busy.

Volunteers from New Market Baptist Church, Wells and Gordon, manned the tractors, hauling downed trees up to the cutting stations.

These guys were professionals!

As the logs got cut, a couple of the camp's neighbor's, Susan and Amelia, help stack the wood.

The coolest part of the whole operation was watching the log splitter do its job:

No matter how big the log, the splitter had it handled.

And the warming station certainly got its fair share of traffic . . . 

And rightly so!

Chili was on the menu for lunch -- nothing like a hearty, hot meal after a morning of chopping wood.

And the chili was great -- Chris Wilson did a great job with it -- there wasn't a drop left between two crock pots.

We so appreciate all the help and the great stacks of wood we have now. May the name of Jesus be proclaimed many times over around the camp fires at the camp!

Work Day Number One

Wouldn't it figure that we picked the coldest day of the year for the Camp MACOBA workday?  It was last Saturday (February 11) and with the 25-30 mph winds, the temps were down in the single digits.  This would cause most people to just roll back over and say we need to do this another day but not the Disaster Relief guys from Willowbrook Baptist Church! 

Everyone who came out on Saturday was from Willowbrook with the exception of Bill Rotenberry who was from New Market Baptist.  Speaking of Bill, I would like to thank him for the donation of a chainsaw and a gallon of hydraulic oil to the camp. 

Sam Kelly was the first to arrive, which is usually the case for anything he is involved in at the camp and that was shortly after 7:00.  I made coffee and got out the breakfast snacks and then started a fire in the fireplace.  Sam got his tractor ready and started dragging trees over to where the crew would be working.  This was not his first rodeo.  Chris Wilson, Rob Peavy and the others began arriving shortly after 7:30. 00 We all shared conversation around the fireplace and discussed the game plan for the day. 

In all I believe there were about fifteen brave souls who made it out.  There were three different groups cutting, splitting, hauling and stacking wood and I tried to participate in every one of them at least part of the day.

Lunchtime came and we took a break and enjoyed the hot dogs Chris had cooked on the grill.  After lunch most everyone stayed for another couple of hours and by the time everyone had left there was quite a bit of wood that had been stacked up in four different locations. 

As a huge bonus, one of the teams came with me to clear out one of the trails that still had two huge trees blocking the path.  I was very impressed with the way they made quick work of the task.  I don't know the specific dimensions of a cord but I would guess at least 8 cords of wood is stacked and ready to go for all the groups who will be up here in 2012!

Whistle while you work . . .

All the weathermen were calling for the weekend to be a wash-out. I guess that is why they call it a prediction. We had a group come in from Betheleham Baptist last Thursday and did an outstanding job at the camp. Karen from the church called me the week before to reserve the camp for a fishing event on Saturday May 8th. This group of men brought their own mowers and had the grass looking good; especially the upper field as it looked like new carpet had just been put down. It is my understanding that the Pastor suited up in his waders and got in the water to give the upper pond a good trimming back. I have been told this group came up here last year and did the same thing. I did not get to meet any of these guys but hope to in the future. I want to send out a special thanks to the following for such a fine job: Lon Ostrzycki, Alan Ostrzycki, Dean Hamaker, Phillip Eady, Bob Milner, Jack Phillips, Billy Medlock, Dale Finley, Ron Glass, and Greg Culver

Saturday was a great workday and much was accomplished. Not sure if the threat of weather kept anyone away but we had a great group of guys. Andy Dobbs brought a crew from Locust Grove and they spent most of their time working on the equipment shed.

He had heavy equipment going this way and that, and even had a mishap or two, but no one was hurt (beyond a pinched finger) in the ordeal. It appears that the shed is close to half-way finished which is a major accomplishment. One of the guys in Andy's crew (Todd Gipson) really knew his way around a tractor/front-end loader. I guess when you do that for a living it helps.

Gipson's son was overheard saying, "A ninety pound boy carrying an eighty pound chain!" That's about the size of it all right!

Dueling tractors!

Clearing the debris from the site where the new shed is going . . .

Putting the sections together . . .

Watch out for your fingers!

Sam Kelly was all over the place and involved in every project. He was up there with the guys putting the shed together one minute and then down splitting a cord of wood the next. Now I have seen a lot of fires but the one Sam had going was ...remember the movie Towering Inferno?! I don't think there is anything he can't do.

Rob Peavy was there and brought along some help as well. He is another one who is always involved. President Reagan was called "the great communicator" but Rob just might give him a run for his money and Rob's pretty handy with a chainsaw as well. John Prince, the guy that came with Rob, was a great help as he assisted me in loading and unloading three huge piles of brush. I was thinking the whole time he was riding with me.....you sure you ain't kin to Rob?

Chairman of the Camp MACOBA committee Chris Wilson was on the scene and did some mighty fine work on the grill as there was almost no food left over!

Oh yeah and Chris certainly has the heart of a servant as he was cleaning the camp bathrooms earlier in the day.

My lovely wife Denise was such a help with many things, especially serving up lunch and then taking care of the clean-up. Only for about ten minutes out of the whole day did we head for cover because of the weather.

Everyone enjoys a break for lunch!

Let's see many of the guys brought their kids with them as I believe the total was 18. The adults were: Rob Peavy, Sam Kelly, Chris Wilson, Andy Dobbs, John Prince, Todd Gipson, Tom Brink, Dewayne Hall, Jonathan Dobbs and me and my wife.