By Joe Crain
Old Man Winter’s last (but substantial) blast of winter lined up with the very end of March. It took a couple weeks but things are at last looking spring like again here at camp. It did take most of the first two weeks of April to melt off the 14-inch tantrum left behind, but things have started to green up and several days in the 60s over the past couple weeks have got the spring peepers and wood frogs singing there oh-so-loud spring chorus in the ponds and wet ditches around camp. And, I glimpsed one of my favorite signs that spring is actually determined to stay put and fight off the last throws of winter: the crocus and daffodils have emerged and started to bloom! Nothing gets me in the spring mood better than the bright cheery yellow of daffodil blossoms bobbing in a warm spring breeze. The big snow at the end of March and the bit of rain we received at the end of April have gone a long way to relieving the drought conditions the abnormally dry winter had left us. And looking at the weather pattern for the next week or so, we will be getting more rain and should be close to normal precipitation for this time in the season soon.
We have had plenty of indoor work to get us through the early spring storms of snow and rain. But – not in the caretaker’s shop, as we do most springs; this year we have been spending our early spring days rehabbing a new staff housing acquisition camp has made. It’s a little brown house that sits just to the east of the Little House driveway. The little cabin even has its own name: The Snuggery. The Snuggery sits on a lot that is surrounded by camp land; as a matter of fact the lot that the cabin sits on was once camp land as well. At some point in the late 40s the lot was acquired by a long time staff member, “Big Pete” Peterson, who at the time had worked for camp for about 20 summers, and who’s time with camp would end after 33 years of service to our beloved institution. Here is how Nardie and Sally Stein describe Big Pete in their history of camp, Keep the Fires Burning: “Big Pete Peterson was an iconic figure, bigger than life to the campers whose years he spanned, 1933-1966. He served camp loyally as a cabin councilor, craft shop director, trip staff member, and assistant director in charge of the kitchen ordering and operation. Pete was always willing to help where ever needed. No one who met Pete could forget the size of his hands or the strength of his handshake. Big Pete was a willing worker, a friend to all, a trusted leader, and thoroughly dedicated to camp. He was a can do guy.”
Pete and his family built the little cabin in 1949, the original plan book and some paper work from the time was discovered by caretaker Andy as he was starting to clean out the house. The Snuggery was still occupied by Big Pete’s wife Verna Peterson in 1995 when I joined the camp caretaking crew. Verna was a very sweet and interesting woman who must have been in her mid to late 70s at the time. Verna was a bit of a stuff collector and caretaker Andy spent most of the first few weeks in the house sorting and relocating much of the leftovers in her “collection” to the Goodwill shops and thrift shops in our area. Some of the old furniture will still be usable, but a lot had to be cleaned out of the house. Once Andy got the house cleared of the extra furnishings, he washed all the walls of the mildew accumulated over several years of the house being unoccupied. I got into the Snuggery rehab at the start of the month and set about painting the freshly washed walls of the two main floor bedrooms and living room while Andy set to work painting in the kitchen and dining room. In the middle of the month seasonal Caretaker/Kitchen Manager Cody Keys came back to us from his winter hibernation and was set to work on the basement floor which needed a good clean and a coat of paint. Our only construction plans for the Snuggery are to turn an existing pantry off the dining room into a small powder room with just a commode and sink which will out fit the Snuggery with a second restroom which should let the house accommodate 6-8 staff members comfortably.
Staring at the calendar wondering how it could possibly be the start of May already it is caretaker Joe At Camp.
