We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Whether you traveled somewhere or stayed home, hopefully your holiday was filled with fun family visits, good food and a bit of downtime. Its crazy to think that the calendar has now turned to December and we're just a few weeks from winter break and the holidays!
As I wrote in
my last Siren entry, Andy and I headed up to camp for a few days towards the end of November. We wanted to check in with our caretaker Tom and see how our off season improvement projects are going. While winter at camp can bring tough conditions, that can't slow Tom down as this is when our maintenance projects have to happen. This year is no different as we have the following projects ongoing:
J-Village Washhouse Renovation
We know that this project will make our campers and staff very happy. Our main washhouse is in the midst of a major renovation. We started by gutting the existing shower area and enlarged it to include the area that housed our hot water heaters. The concrete floors were removed and replaced with a new drainage system. The concrete was a key because it was important that the new concrete was poured and cured before winter set in.
By the time camp starts, the new shower area will see a total of 14 showers. Those showers will be fed by new tankless water heaters which will ensure enough hot water for all of our Junior and Intermediate campers and staff. New dividers, walls and an epoxy floor will make the washhouse look great! We'll also be adding more sinks to the washhouse and freshen up the walls!
Kings Lodge Renovation
Last summer we divided the Kings Lodge cabin into two sides. We were faced with the prospects of
having two really large Pine Manor cabins or three more manageable cabins first session. In order to make sure that the Canadian trip experience was the best possible, we wanted to have group sizes that weren't too big. The result was successful and this year we wanted to configure the two cabins to be as comfortable as possible for campers and counselors
Once camp ended, the building's interior was gutted. Tom, working with his brother-in-law Art, then moved the counselor quarters from the ends of the building to the middle of the building. The finished project will mean that the camper quarters are bigger, with the cabin configured much like the J-4/J-5 cabin is.Tom and Art finished this project while we were at camp and the cabins looked great!
I-1 Renovation
Over the years, our I-Village cabins received lots of TLC, with work done both on the interior and exteriors of the cabins. I-1 was one cabin that didn't receive an overall renovation. I-1 is a log cabin and is a really neat building with lots of character. While the logs will stay and the outside will maintain that character, the inside will receive new, knotty pine walls. This project will have some fun challenges for Tom and Art as they create a flush surface for the new walls.
