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10/20/2008: "Summer Camp-out 2008"

Well, I've been way behind on posting any farm news here, so I will try to catch up a bit this week, starting with a recap of our summer camp-out. We broadened it out this year to include people other than just the children's liturgy families, and I think we had a nice event. We had some friends down for just the day, though most people stayed for the campfire and the overnight camping. As you can see above, there were a number of kids in attendance, some of whom wanted to know what happened to the pig (and they got various answers, depending on the age of the person inquiring).



There was a lot morning glory bindweed to play with, as usual! It was a lovely day to sit under the apple trees and just visit and snack.



We set up tents in the north yard again. We had excitement setting up Nancy and Paige's tent again this year: last year one of the poles was broken, this year one of the poles was missing! Somehow we managed to get it erect, and our daughters crashed the kid party in that tent. Early the next morning it was evident that no one got much sleep in the kid tent.

This year we had quite the concert around the campfire in the evening, as Gretchen and Chuck brought their instruments. Chuck was a little disappointed that everyone pooped out at 10pm; he's used to bluegrass jams that go much later, it seems!



There were two very special things (well, special to me, anyway) that happened Sunday morning. First, everyone insisted on pitching in to finish the camper demolition clean-up! We got the remaining bit of garbage into boxes and bags, and I toted a couple of loads of scrap metal out to the end of the driveway.





We also got a group together to carry the still-useful-somebody-else pickup canopy that has been lying beside the barn for a couple of years out to the road for eventual pickup by someone from craigslist.



Nate tells me that later that very day, someone stopped by and took both the scrap metal and the pickup canopy away. One man's junk is another man's treasure, as always.

The other really helpful thing that happened was that Jerry, who in real life is a construction contractor, generously walked around through all the outbuildings with me and pointed out what would need to be done to keep them standing. Obviously, I've been concerned about the barn for a while, and the garage might be a lost cause, but I also learned that the shop really needs some reinforcing lest a heavy snowfall just collapse its roof.