Tag Archives: Pavilion

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2024, The Adventure, The Cabin

Wrapping up Shoshanah

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Once again, we’ve come to the end of our time here at Shoshanah Camp. And once again, it was a good and profitable month! We were the only SOWER couple here this month, and after a busy winter and spring, it worked very well for us to be on our own.  When we work alone, we often end up working together – and that was certainly the case this month.  Our primary focus (as mentioned before) was getting the screening done on their new pavilion.
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They plan to use this pavilion heavily this summer (staff and students start arriving next week!), and with the mosquito and black fly population an ever present guest, screening was imperative! Gary spent the first week preparing the areas for screening while I worked on sealing the doors. And then we moved to the actual screening. And I’m happy to report that despite some crazy weather, malfunctioning saws, and some material shortages, the screens are up, the doors have been hung and the final bits of trim have been installed!
Voila – a fully screened pavillion!
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Ready for guests!!
There were a few challenges this month, though. The lack of any cell service has been a bit frustrating. Although – it does eliminate those annoying ads between solitaire games. So I guess that’s a good thing, right? Although there is good strong internet (and using the wifi there to make calls worked well) at the nearby dining hall, not having a signal here has also been hard. But every now and again (like tonight while I’m writing this) a little bit of that dining hall signal seems to sneak through the woods. And then I make a mad dash to do all of my internet stuff (including this blog!) before it vanishes once again. (To be honest, I’m disappointed in myself that this “limited connectivity” has bothered me as much as it has.) But on the plus side, we were able to get to the Cabin for a lovely, low-impact weekend!
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And that certainly doesn’t happen during a SOWER project very often!

As another SOWER month draws to a close, we are once again thankful for the opportunity to be a small part of this ministry as it prepares to challenge and disciple Jesus followers in the weeks ahead.  Even with our “First World Problems”!

We leave on Tuesday for our Pre-Family Reunion preparations at the Cabin. Yep – it’s back to our Happy Place for us!
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(I definitely think we should recreate this picture from 2021 – don’t you?)

Hope you’re having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by,
Steph

Pictures of the Adventure, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2024, The Adventure

Halfway and a Day

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As  so often happens, our time here at Shoshanah Camp is rushing by! Their summer classes begin in July and while we are very disappointed to be missing the opportunity to sit in on some of those courses, we are very pleased to be able to help get the camp ready for the students, families, and instructors who will be arriving by the end of the month.  The campus here is over 800 acres, including a large pond, and there are many cottages, classrooms and gathering spaces that all need to be “made ready”. Our primary responsibility has been at their new large pavilion, located just above their beach area.

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The SOWERs who were here last summer were a huge help in the construction this pavilion – and our job has been to ‘button it up’.
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Gary got busy preparing the door openings
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while I was busy putting a couple coats of sealer on the doors!
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Once the door openings were ready, then it was time to prepare the other openings for screening!
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And then it was time for the screen!
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We are the only SOWERs here this month, but thankfully there is another couple volunteering here and we used all the help we could get with that screening. Hanging 5ft. wide screen, keeping the tension good, and getting it all stapled, was no joke! After the first couple of sections, we had a system down, but it still took three of us!
But with the exception of the door sections (we’re waiting for narrower screening), we got it done in just two mornings!
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Teamwork makes the dream work, right?
Our job this week so far has been to rip boards into 1/2 inch strips to cover up all those staples!
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It’s really going to look nice once all that finish work is done!
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And even though the view of the pond is somewhat diminished with the screens up, the black flies and mosquitoes are quite legendary up this way, so that screening will be very appreciated! So far I have rescued one robin and a lovely butterfly (a red-spotted Admiral, I believe) who have been caught on the wrong side of the screen. Why can’t they ever find the open spots????
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Hopefully once it’s all enclosed this will not be a problem! The pavilion will be used every weekend for cook-outs and fellowship – and we’ve been honored to be a small part in getting it ready!
The smaller screen will be here next week, so I’m pretty sure we can get it all buttoned-up before we finish our time here. And that will feel very good indeed!

We do have one more day this week, but we’re headed to the Cabin for the weekend! It’s less than three hours away (big ol’ Lake Champlain is the biggest obstacle) and no one else had signed up to use it so we’re headed that way! And – I don’t think Gary has many things on his list!  Whoohoo!

Thanks for stopping by,
Steph