Summer of 2010 at Fishermen's Bend

This was the summer that seemed to go on forever and then was suddenly over. The amount of time it took to do the trip back to SD for our driver's licenses took it's toll on the appearance of the BLM campground we were volunteering at.By the time we returned they had had weeks of rain in Oregon and the grounds were lush and badly in need of cutting and trimming. Lou built a special trailer to tow behind our BLM golf cart. It was perfect for loading lawnmowers, weed whackers and even more perfect for the recycle items and garbage. The things that keep a host busy in a campground is basically making it look like no one has been there. The 2nd weekend of August the head count was around 1,600 campers.Seems funny now but we ran out of toilet paper in the CG and the hosts were scrambling to make what we had on hand stretch until the rush shipment arrived. When the code words, "The Eagle has Landed", came over the camp radios there were host driven golf carts flying to the compound to load 'em up and get those dispensers filled.

Other summer memories include water fights, Big Foot skits and camp fire songs at the amphitheater. On our days off we took short day trips to the ocean and the Cascades.Special friends, the Ferverda's, spent time hiking with us to see water falls in the area. My cousin, Marilyn Renk and her husband, Wes, stopped by to help us celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. Alaskan waffles were the main dish that day.

Our excitement was the night we discovered we had wasps in our furnace blower.We were able to get them contained at nightfall. After we had disposed of the wasps and took the blower apart, we were blown away at the size of the paper wasp nest inside.We have screens in place over all the vent openings now.

We started out the summer in G09, our normal camp host site in the Group Loop section. By August we were considering volunteering through the winter to help tile the walls and floors in several of the showers and rest rooms. Since the water would be shut off in the camp ground we would need to move our motor home to a host site that used to be beside the maintenance compound. The BLM revived the site and Lou put some effort into rewiring and finding the water and sewer line. Now we will be busy getting things buttoned up and tied down for the winter winds. We expect lots of rain and pray that the winds will not bring down too many trees. We will be busy with the tiling here at Fishermen's Bend but will be helping Hard Hats for Christ on small projects in the Salem and Portland area. There is a large project in Rainier, Oregon that we have a heart to help at but it is not quite ready for volunteer work to begin. It's still in the engineer/drawing stage with building permits needing to be applied for. We are only a few weeks away from the dedication for the Potter Valley Bible Church in Potter Valley, California. More on that later when I update the album.

To see more pictures of our summer at Fishermen's Bend CG: http://picasaweb.google.com/louiskathy327/TheSummerOf2010AtFishermenSBend?authkey=Gv1sRgCN2i9peF_O72Zg&feat=directlink