By Joe Crain
It’s the last day of May and the pre-camp crew has been hard at work for the past week. Pre-camp is hard work but a lot of fun for those who choose to participate. We have several international staff in the crew this year, a group of pre-shakedown-trip wilderness tripping staff, and even a few guys that have made pre-camp a way to stay connected to the place. Even though they can’t stay for the season and must get back to their chosen professions, they take a working vacation that allows them to reconnect with their Nebagamon roots.
May has been a very busy month around camp – we’ve had a number of external work forces doing some big jobs around the property. A big roofing outfit was in last week and tore off the old and put new shingles on camp’s largest roof, the Rec Hall. A small local two-man roofing crew removed and replaced the worn out shingles of Swamper 1 and 2, and Logger 5. An asphalt company came and laid the asphalt for camps new Pickleball courts down at the side of the Herb Hollinger museum, and a local cement crew set the post sleeves in place. One last big job that is being handled by an outside company, the resurfacing of tennis courts 3, 4, and 5 over by the bike shack, and the painting of the new pickle ball court has suffered a bit of a delay due to the cold nights we have still been having. The crew needs the overnight temps to be above 50 degrees for their work to happen. The crew manager has been in consistent contact with us and is confident that the work will be done before the campers arrive on the 18th of June.
I have spent most of my time in May finishing up work on camps newest staff housing unit, the Snuggery. I was tasked with two big projects: replacing the basement exterior door and screen door that had both been neglected for years and suffered from some major rot issues, and reworking the basement south facing wall and installing four new single hung windows to replace old non-openable windows. Both jobs became quite involved due to the excessive rot I discovered in the sill plate and under the siding. The back wall had some bad carpenter ant damage as well that I had to deal with. But I’m happy to report that I was able to put the final touches on the building this morning and the crew is at work furnishing the house that will be the home of ten very happy staff members. This afternoon, I will rejoin the crew around camp making repairs here and there that are left to get the place ready to rock for another season. It’s great to see the place filled with life and activity after the long winter hiatus!
Excited to see the first bus pull up to the gates, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.
