CAMPING FILLMORES

 Last time we posted, we were just getting ready to move from the little cabin into the Caretakers house, and there was still lots of snow on the ground.  Here are some icicles that were on the Dining Hall. The biggest one got knocked off.

But spring finally came after we experienced some flooding and a lot of rain.

As the snows melted, Bear Creek overflowed its banks and carried logs, silt and debris over our main bridge.

                                                            Bridge after clean up >

 

Our house really had a dramatic transformation.  We traveled to a town called Dunkirk with three trucks and two trailers, where a church building was no longer in use and is waiting to be sold.  We had permission to take anything we might need for the house or camp, so we came back with a couch, corner table, lamps, Relief Society chairs, folding chairs and rack, pictures from the walls, copy machines,  vacuums, cleaning supplies, and even the electronic piano/organ for use in our dining hall....and much more.  

The balloons were from two birthdays that we celebrated, and we have hung two quilts on the walls that feature old girls camp t-shirts that I have collected over the past 53 years.  Yes, I have been to over 50 weeks of girls camp in my career, but no, I do not have  t-shirts for every week I spent at camp.

 One amazing and much needed addition to our home was a pantry that Bruce built in our kitchen wall where a stove pipe used to be.

Besides being a contortionist, this guy can fix or make ANYTHING!

I love this picture

Finished Pantry>

We have had three of our children visit us with some of their kids, which has been a lot of fun.  Jason Brown's crew even brought Ginny, the neighbor's dog that they were dog-sitting over Spring Break.  

Of course, each time a family crew would stop in, we put them all to work.

We do see some wildlife out here including deer, wild turkeys, fish, mice, birds and worms for fishing.

    Woodpecker Condo>

<Dead mouse....it died of natural causes, of course

Tick found on Bruce with flesh attached

       

Cozy mouse nest found in drawer in the Nurses Station

                                          

Don't show this to the kiddies....they might FREAK OUT!  Remember that this camp has not been maintained for 30 years! You can only guess what they once were.

We have been working hard but have found two things to be self-evident: Murphey's Law applies to most projects, so you have to think outside the box and improvise at times, and every job takes longer than you planned on.

No, Bruce is not fishing, he is collecting water samples from the lake to be tested by the state health department.

    

            The greatest mode of transportation after your                                      legs get tired.

Besides fixing raingutters, pond testing, and burning brush piles, we have also done some plumbing repairs, floor tile repairs, electrical repairs and running new electrical lines,  replaced most of the lights with LED bulbs, and painted.  

Currently Bruce and the other missionary and a friend have started replacing the old windows in the 4 cabins with brand new donated windows.  Four are installed with only 20 left to go!

As for me, I have become the Latrine Queen.  I have learned more about latrines than I ever wanted to know!  On a couple of "Royal Thrones" I discovered that the black seats are actually white seats waiting to be unearthed with soapy water and disinfectants! Bruce is making some cute little shelves for each of the 8 latrines to hold hand sanitizer and a hanging garbage bag.

This is a 4-room Nurses Station, which actually has a flushing toilet, sink, shower, and kitchen.  

The Lodge, or Dining Hall also has a flushing toilet, as well as a stone fireplace and a moderate sized kitchen area.

This was the trading post when the Boy Scouts owned it, so there is a room behind the pavilion for storage.  We will be using this for a craft pavilion, so we currently have craft supplies stored inside as well as targets for the archery and rifle ranges.

                                                    Thanks for sharing this adventure with us!

CAMPING FILLMORES

 For you who missed the latest news, we are off on our last mission....wait, didn't we say that last time? We are currently in Indiana, serving at an old Boy Scout Camp that the Church recently purchased, trying to get it into shape as a Girl's Camp before the summer hits.  We not only get to help get the camp in shape, but we get to stay the summer and act as Camp Hosts, which promises to be a lot of fun!

We have been here a month now, and have been mainly working on the Caretakers House....which is where we are currently residing.  But wait, let's back-track a bit.  We lived in a little cabin the first three weeks, which was quite an adventure.

We moved in as a snowstorm was brewing.

Welcome to our kitchen

The inside of the fridge was in better shape than the outside

This was the only cupboard in the kitchen so it housed everything that a mouse might want to nibble on. There wasn't even one drawer in the place.  Note how Bruce is dressed for the job...inside the cabin.  No heat wave going on here!

This was my utensil "drawer"

There are nine stakes that will be using the camp, so the word went out that the Caretakers house had no furnishings, and everything on my list was donated.  However, the person who signed up for the dishes and glasses didn't show up for a week, so we were washing the few paper plates we brought as well as our dixie cups.  You can imagine that paper plates can only take so many washings before they fall apart, so one night we had to rip up a pizza box and use it for plates.  The real stuff finally appeared at our door, and we expressed the proper amount of gratitude.

Bathroom sink.  The mirror was so high that I could only see the top of my head.  That was ok with me. 

Toilet and shower.  My knees could almost hit the wall, and Bruce could rest his head on the wall while stationed there.

Yes, we replaced the shower curtain, and Bruce is fixing a leak in the toilet.  He thought it was a good idea at the time, but two weeks later the temperature dropped and the pipes in the cabin froze up.  No more water for the sinks or toilet.  The small leak might have kept the pipes running?

This is the crawlspace under the cabin where Bruce went to check on the frozen pipes.  Nothing was burst open, and a week later the water began running again.  

The access hole into the crawl space from the outside was only 20"x12".  It's a good thing Bruce is a skinny contortionist!

Sleeping quarters.  Can you spot the 3 thick, fluffy mattresses under Bruce's sleeping bag?

This was our closet in the cabin. 

 You might think we were miserable there, but actually it was very quaint and the bedroom and the bathroom were warm enough to make one comfy.

Most of our time has been spent working in the Caretakers House

Some previous tenant had a dog which did it's duty inside and caused quite a scent in the house.  Hence, all the floors, some walls and the most of the duct system had to be removed and replaced.   The bathroom was gutted down to the studs and floor joists due to faulty plumbing and mold.  The other missionary couple and a few of their friends had been working on the house for the previous three months.

This shows part of the bathroom floor ripped up and looking down into the basement

This is where the bathtub used to be

Below is what the house looked like the day we arrived.  The bathroom is getting tile on the walls. The tile was all donated....did we mention that there was not a formal budget allotted for the repairs or furnishings in this house?

Bathroom all done

Here are some more donated items which were stored in one of the bedrooms, which we had to work around while painting walls, the ceilings, and installing flooring.

This is the same room as above and is our designated office.  The carpet for the three bedrooms and living room was donated.  The desk was another donation and it took 4 strong men to get it in place.  We'll show you this room when it is all set up and functioning.

A new sliding door was donated and installed.

Now the carpet is down and the trim has been installed around the sliding door.  Need I mention that the baseboards and trim was also donated. We just had to paint it.

The kitchen has been one of our main work stations.  But now the mess has been moved, the floor is down and I actually made cookies yesterday for the full-time missionaries to pass out to their investigators.

Bruce and I installed all the flooring in the kitchen, hallway and bathroom.

This was our first meal after we moved up into this house.  We are still hunting thrift stores for a suitable kitchen table.

After Bruce got all the electrical repairs in place, we insulated the attic.  First, Bruce built a cat-walk 15 inches higher than the ceiling and he filled up to that level and beyond.  Yes, the insulation was all donated.

 Our donated dressers are now in place and tomorrow we can actually unpack our bags.  We have been living out of our travel bags for the past month so this is pretty exciting!  

Enough about the house. We have been able to visit with our daughter Marcie and her family in Bloomington, Indiana, as well as with our daughter Stephanie and her family in Kentucky since we've been here.  We have already spoken in our Connersville ward as well, so we should be off-the-hook for awhile.

It has been a little chilly (our temperatures have been below freezing for two weeks) and we have had more than our share of snow.  Fortunately my daughter Jill gave me some leggings for Christmas, which have certainly come in handy.  I know that we have made this mission sound like so much fun that you are all wanting to sign up for one just like it!

This was tonight's sunset.  We feel blessed be enjoying good health and to be surrounded by such beautiful scenery and good people;  and we see deer on our property regularly.

Next time we will show you more of the camp itself.