By Joe Crain
It was another cool and damp month for us here on the shores of Lake Nebagamon. With weekly rain and little sun to be seen, the autumnal glory of the changing leaf colors was not as spectacular as in years past due to the lack of solar illumination. But on the few days that the sun did shine bright for a few hours, it was as if someone had plugged all of the trees in as they blazed forth in their reds, oranges, and rich browns. With all of the moisture in the ground from last month’s record rain fall and the coolness brought on as the calendar flipped to October, the leaves stayed in the trees longer than is usual. But as always, most had fallen to the ground by the time Halloween made its costumed appearance.
The chilly wet weather did keep us indoors for a few days this month but we were able to get out and work on a big project that has been on the radar for a few seasons now. It is a special place in camp where the assembled camp family comes together each week for a meaningful event that can bring boys to belly aching laughter as well as make grown men break down in tears. It’s that one place in camp that wraps up each week of the season with both skits filled with terrible acting and important lessons. It’s a place at camp where all are asked to reflect on the week’s events and thank those who helped us achieve our goals. And just in case someone of you has not yet guessed where in camp I am referring to, it’s the place in camp that serves as the “Keylog” that connects all of the other parts of camp’s goals and ideals together. Yes, that’s right I’m talking about the Council Fire Ring, more specifically the benches and supporting posts. Those of you who have sat on the benches in recent years know that not only are the rather narrow plank seats quite butt-numbing, the sluffing of the hill’s sands toward the bottom rows have made the seats there impossibly short, leaving many on lookers forced to view the proceedings through their own knees! It was time for a refresh.
It was a big job that Caretaker/Cook Cody Keys got started by pulling off all of the old bench top planks as Caretaker Andy and I wrapped up the jobs we were working on. Some came off with ease and others Cody reported were quite the chore being held in place by 4 inch spikes driven into still solid rail road tie posts. But when we all came together for the post pulling phase, Cody had all of the seats off and sorted into the keep-for-reuse and too-rotted-to-keep piles. Next we used an set of old logger’s tongs fixed to the tractor bucket with heavy logging chain and pulled each of the old posts out of the ground. Some were only 20 inches in the ground and popped out more easily, but most where well anchored in place at about 30 inches in the ground. Once all of the old posts were out of the way we graded the site with the tractor bucket to even and refine the slope as well as filling all the old post holes. Now we were faced with the daunting task of digging about 130 new post holes, setting all of those posts both plumb and level to each other in the current row, as well as giving each row its proper bend to give the needed view of the fire ring for all of those seated. Well, after a lot of hard physical work, a bit of debate, some trial and error, the rental of 2 different types of post hole drilling machines and about 3 ½ weeks on a soggy sandy work site, a much improved Council Fire Ring has been completed, ready to comfortably wrap up each week of the camp’s seasons for decades to come. We’re really happy with the results: wider seats, uniform 16 inch seat heights on every row, and all post anchored at consistent depths.
Thinking positive thoughts about the winter to come, having had our first snow of the season just yesterday October 31st, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.
