Mar 23rd - 7:30 AM

I got up early to meet with one of my "bosses" but it appears that the person (the Camp Director) who told me that Roper, the Operations Manager, was going to be at the cafeteria at 7 AM was in error. I can hear people are working in the kitchen but no one else is here. This is OK because I was to tired to come down here last night, so that I could access the Internet and post to the blog. I went to be early. Kathy came down after I went to bed partly to get on the Internet and partly to see what "treats" might be available in the "Staff Room." Matt, the chef/cook, had made chocolate eclairs for treats last night. For lunch yesterday he made cream puffs. There are still a few choclolate chip cookies left over from Wednesday. I had one of them, it was good!

Yesterday's activities:

Today (Thursday) was partly sunny with a high of 62. Last nights (Wednesday night) low was 48. We haven’t turned on our propane furnace since we have been here. It was right brisk in here this morning during breakfast. In the extended forecast there is either a chance of rain, or rain, in the forecast every day. Most of the rain here falls in the winter months. Basically it is the rainy season. Sebastopol's average annual rainfall is 41", the same as that in Indianapolis. 25" of that comes in Dec, Jan & Feb. Mar brings another nearly 6". The TOTAL average rainfall June-September is 0.72".

The camp will fill one propane bottle a week for volunteers who have RV’s that use propane bottles for free, a nice perk. I’m not sure what they might be willing to do for us, since our tank is inside the RV. We filled our propane tank before arriving at Drew's and it still reads full. The stove top burners are the only things that have used any propane while there. We ran the electric element in the water heater and used the heat pumps for heat in the mornings.

Kathy worked stripping beds, laundering sheets and making beds again today. It is after 5 PM and she is over changing loads right now. There are washers and dryers about 100’ from our door.

I worked on the bathroom in the trailer again today. I finished ripping out the underlayment and removed a 30”x48” damaged section of the subfloor. I want the “bosses” to look at it now and tell me if they want me to remove even more.

I measured a damaged 2x4 in a fence and cut a replacement piece. It was to late to paint it today. I also measured for some trim pieces around a door and scrounged up some redwood for the trim. I will need some assistance planing it tomorrow and then ripping it into the proper width strips for trim.

I had a nice visit this afternoon with another volunteer. He is one of the regular, local “Tuesday” volunteers, but he came on Thursday this week. He is now a local retiree but he and his wife lived in Hawaii for 30 years.

All the redwoods around here are “new growth” trees. The area was logged after the big 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Most of the redwoods I’ve seen here have started from the stumps of the ones that were logged after the fire. Many are 100’ tall. The largest diameter I’ve seen here at the camp is around 42”.  It is close to an old stump that is approximately 60” in diameter. These are all babies. I haven't read it all yet but there is some interesting information on the size of trees at http://www.cathedralgrove.eu/text/05-Pictures-Politics-4.htm

Below are three photos of the camp. One is looking down at the Administration trailer. It is the little beige spot off in the distance. Another is look at some one of the groups of cabins for girls. I think there are 17 cabins in this cluster. The third is the gateway to Recreation Canyon. I’ve not been up there yet. There is a zip line, climbing wall and a BMX track up in the trees somewhere. What you see is the skate park. The ramps are covered with blue tarps right now.

Today - Friday:
It got down well into the 30's last night. Kathy likes it "cool" at night and it was COOL last night. When I got up it was 50 in the bedroom and 45 out in the front of the RV. She complains about the noise from the furnace and asked me to leave it off since I was just going to get dressed and head down to the dining hall to see Roper.

Time to go back to the RV, turn the heat on, and fix me some breakfast.

Hope you all have a great day and may God bless you and yours.