June 8-14 2009

Monday, Tuesday and for most of the week Lynne and I and anyone else we could corral shoveled, raked and spread gravel.


Dale would not let me drive the fork lift, but he did give me a ride.


Kitchen duty included mixing 11-12 pounds of ground moose, buffalo, beef and pork sausage to make 6 huge meat loaves for the freezer.
In addition to cleaning the bath houses, we cut heavy rubber mats for the floors.

Dale enjoyed operating the fork lift. Here he is raising the first trusses to the sill of the new pavillion.

He's a master of all trades. Having fun, Dale?



Dale climbs like a monkey to add the other supports for the roof. He insisted that Lynne and I stay off the roof.

In the last few days the wild roses, iris and fireweed have begun to bloom. The forest floor and open areas have a surprising number of tiny delicate flowers.



Ryan brought the CAT and welded brackets for the new painted signs

I made my specialty, Dutch Oven apple cobbler, in the new fire pit. Ummm.
On Sunday, June 7th, Shawn, a volunteer from North Caroline, arrived at the Fairbanks Airport. He spent the week working with Dale on the pavillion. Haven't they done a great job? He flew home on Sunday. Thanks Shawn!

A group of youth came to camp for fun, food, music and ministry. Here they are playing Frisbee in the rain.

Saturday, Lynne and I braved the 45 degree, drizzle to participate in a crafts fair. I sold several books. We also sold enough baskets to add to the scholorship fund. We met several Alaskans who shared their experiences with us.Today I'll end with a photo of the new entrance gate. This week, I've come to the library twice before being able to get the blog up. Don't give up on me. I'll try to blog at least once a week.


It's starting to rain and the temp as dropped from mid 80's to 65.

Vacation Bible School in Delta

Monday, June 1, the first day of Vacation Bible School was clear and cool (about 45). This view of the Alaska Range is outside the back door of First Baptist Church, Delta. What a way to start the day!

VBS theme is Boomerange Express. Do you like my outfit? Story telling kept the little wigglers reasonable quiet as they waited for others to finish.

The teens tie-dyed T shirts. An old favorite from my hippy days.

We had crafts projects every day for all kids grades Pre-K through 6th grade

Early one morning Lynne and I stopped to transplant wild sweet peas from the road side to our flower garden.

Are you tired of moose stories yet? I'm not. This mama moose is grazing outside the camp gate- the pipe structure in the left back ground. She moseyed into to the forest followed by a yearling. Yesterday we saw a large bull moose with new-growth shovel shaped antlers. He was in a field near the road. Could a new calf be on it's way?

In preparation for the construction of an open pavillion, Levi the youth pastor and two of the teens, Alex and Jay dug four three-foot deep holes for concrete forms. Once past the rock, the soil is loess, glacial silt and humus. They clobbered mosquitoes with the back swing.

VBS was held every day until noon, then we changed hats and became construction workers.

Holes dug, forms in place and time for the cement truck. Dale is assisting and Lynne supervising.

I'm helping Dale set, line up and level the bolts in the cement for the metal posts that will follow.


I reviewed my Boy Scout skills and used a double-bladed ax to cut birch roots from the hole we dug for the new fire pit which will be in the center of the pavillion.

Sunday morning during the service, several of the 50 children who had attended VBS gave us a rousing performance of some of their favorite songs.

And the work goes on. Lynne and I painted the beams that bolt to the cement piers, that went into the holes that the boys dug.

Will the pavillian be raised by next week's blog? Stay tuned.

Memorial Day, Work Days

Memorial Day was memorable. We took the Martin's toad (that's RV lingo for "towed" vehicle) from Delta up into the Alaska Range. On the way we stopped at a crossing of the pipeline. Here Lynne and I attempt to hoist the pipe.Follow the pipe towards the horizon alongside the road and you will see it zig-zag on it's way 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the Artic Ocean to Valdez. The photo on the right is of glaciers in the Alaska Range.

Below is the frozen Delta River. The dark horizontal line is the edge of a solid sheet of ice about two feet thick. Closer to the shore is fast running water and ice chunks.

Summit lake is situated at the crest of the Alaska Range where the Richardson Highway passes on its way from Fairbanks to Glennallen, then on to Valdez. The wind was strong and cold, but the sun was bright and warm out of the wind.


These visitors are checking out a bear proof trash dumpster. Yes, bears are quite numerous and have the right of way.

Tuesday, we made the 200 mile, 4 hour round trip to Fairbanks for supplies and more groceries. On the return trip, after passing North Pole (yes, that's a real town) we stopped at the Knotty Shop for ice cream. The creature I'm "petting" is one of many created from boles, knobby growths on birch trees.
Another day of preparation. I painted signs for Vacation Bible School. The theme is Boomerang Express, "It all comes back to Jesus", thus the Australian, kangaroo.

Frizbee, my cat alerted me to the red squirrel perched in the cedar only feet away from the RV. Taken through the window and screen, the little fellow is difficult to see.

We've seen numerous snow shoe hares with huge white hind feet and bodies now turned brown for summer. Moose and a couple of porcupine have been added to my wild life list. Fresh bear scat was discovered not far into the forest from camp. I'm not anxious to meet up with a bear.

Camp prep. has included sorting and organizing crafts materials, painting the floor in the pantry, kitchen and dining hall, washing ALL the pots, pans and utensils in the kitchen and cleaning all the cabins.

While cleaning the kitchen and dining hall we discovered evidence of mice, and trapped one. While cleaning out the crafts supplies I found a bag of bird seed that had been scattered and must have fed a whole family of mice. Later, cleaning out a box of yarn that had house critters, Dale discovered this nest of seven baby mice. He released them into the woods.

Two weeks ago when I arrived the forest floor was dry and brown with winter leaves. Now tiny flowers have sprouted in the warming sun and 21 hours of daylight. What a surprise to find Bluebonnets! Actually a cousin, the artic lupine. With the help of friends and a flower book, I've identified lowbush and highbush cranberries, wild strawberries, labrador tea, wild sweet peas in pink, white, and magenta.

Yesterday, Monday, June 1, was our first day of Vacation Bible School. About 50 kids were in attendance. Here one of the teachers is assisting with crafts. We are teaching kids grades pre- K through 6. They are a lively, receptive bunch and a delight to work with. I'm so thankful for all those years of teaching.

VBS will continue all week. We are at the library again to use the internet, so until later. Have a great summer

Alaska at Last

We arrived in Delta Junction, Sat, May 16. This is the mile marker in Delta at the end of the Alaskan Highway where it joined the Richardson Highway from Fairbanks.

The large building is the new dining hall that the volunteers, led by Dale, build last summer. To the left are cabins. The open area in front is a playing field. The camp buildings are surrounded by a thick forest of spruce and birch. When we arrived the forest floor was dead looking. When I walked on the thin grass in front, it was spongy like walking on a water bed. The permafrost is still thawing. Area of forest are boggy.
Sunday morning we attended church at First Baptist, Delta. Then returned for a Vacation Bible School training Clinic. With Lynne's able assistance, I will be teaching crafts. during VBS.

One of our many jobs has been to rake fresh gravel on the entrance road. We've also been cleaning the kitchen and floors in preparation for Dale to paint.

Notice the supervisors. Dale and Dave, the pastor are watching us rake gravel

Learning about a Family Frontier Day on Sat., Lynne and I began to make birch bark baskets to offer for sale with my books. Here Lynne is sewing the bottom onto a basket with sinew.



We offered our baskets and my books at the Fair. I sold several books and we made $50 on baskets for a scholar ship fund to help kids come to camp.

The fair was lots of fun with a hay ride wagon pulled by horses, lumber jack contests. Buffalo burgers and a pig kissing contest.

One of our many jobs was to wash the horribly dirty RVs. Glacier dust and road construction gravel had coated them like cement. My little class C is snuggled up to the Martins Class A.On Tuesday we made a trip to WalMart and Sams. This little excursion took us 100 miles and 2 hours. We drove to Fairbanks, a modern, although small city. Since I was here in 2002, there have been several new shopping centers and "big city" stores added.

Saturday night about 10:30 while it was still daylight, a mama moose strolled past my rig and onto the front playground. I was surprized. Sassie was shocked. Since then we've seen many moose as we've traveld the roads.

Sunday after church we had lunch at Rika's Roadhouse. The building, build in the early 1900's served as a "motel" and restraunt for miners, hunters, explorers and later workers on the Alaskan highway. The Alaskan pipe line crosses the Tanana River near the roadhouse. The area is now a state park with historic buildings housing turn of the century museums and artifacts.




The cabin to the right sports a sod roof that is growing grass and even a small tree near the chimney.

No I haven't gone completely native. This outhouse is no longer functional. However while at the fair we talked to a young mother who is raising 6 kids in a cabin with no indoor plumbing or running water. She heats with propane and hauls water in jugs.

I talked to another mother whose kids attend school every day unless the temp is 50 degrees BELOW zero. Then the busses don't run. She said it's colder at 20 above than 20 below (that is above or below zero, not freezing at 32 degrees). It's because of the wind. At 20 below zero there is no wind. Burrr.

The first morning here the temp was 27. Now it is averaging 35-40 in the morning and the highs have been in the mid 70s.

Sunset today is 11:27 and sun rise is 3:49 (May 27th). The remaining 4 hours is twilight.