The snow delayed work for a week or so, but this week heavy equipment, trucks and construction workers have resumed rumbling in and out of the grounds. The next job is to dig the trenches so that the footings can be poured. keith prepared the site by bulldozing the snow off so they could get in there and work.
You can see the big snow berms that encircle the work site.
Here are the trenches into which the footings will be poured.
Pretty exciting stuff!!!
Last week Camp Maranatha received more than a foot of snow in roughly a 24 hour period.
I love the snow. Isn't it beautiful. What a creative God we worship! Isn't he amazing?
After the long dry summer the stream is flowing again.
Of course, for Keith and I lots of snow means lots of work, but we don't mind because our guests love it so much. Plus the novelty of a big snow storm makes it fun. 
The snow made for some great sledding.
Our guests from Mi Joo peace church loved the sledding hill down in the gully.
This morning we had our weekly staff meeting. During the meeting, Paula Shirley mentioned how the skeleton of the old tabernacle, which is resting out at the end of the ballfield looks "really small," and everybody nodded their heads in agreement. It was something we had all been thinking as we drove in or out of the grounds, but I was glad to learn that somebody else had the same thought. It isn't significant or deep. It's just kind of strange. In my mind the building was so huge, imposing and heavy. It's odd seeing it reduced to a few piles of metal, which do look "really small."
He was able to pull out all three of the original footings intact. If you missed the earlier post- I explained that prior to the old tabernacle, the earliest camp meetings at Camp Maranatha were held in a large circus tent, and these footings were what the tent's poles' rested on. When they laid the foundation for the old tabernacle they just left these footings in place and poured the cement around them. I thought it would be a neat way to tie the old into the new if we could preserve them and use them in a walkway or something. I'm just really thrilled that they made it out intact!
It has been a few days since my last update. During the interim, the work site has continued to be a beehive of activity. Most of the work has consisted of moving dirt, digging dirt, hauling dirt, filling holes with dirt, compacting dirt, smoothing dirt, and so on. All of it dirt related. Oh yeah, and rocks too! That big rock above is the very same one that used to sit at the southwestern corner of the old tabernacle. We were wondering how we were going to move it until...
...Keith ate a can of spinach and WHAMMO! he slid it 15-20 feet of the way!!! He didn't even break a sweat!!!
Alright, I must confess, that wasn't entirely truthful. I was no less impressed though to learn that a bulldozer was able to shove it over. That's a lot of granite right there! I had become resigned to the idea that we were going to have to break it up and cart it away, but thanks to Keith...er...um...I mean, the bulldozer we able to preserve it as a nice climbing/sitting place next to the New Worship Center.
For the past several days they have been working on compacting and processing the soil upon which the foundation of the new building will eventually be laid. It has to be good and packed down before they can move on to the next step. In the photo above Walt Shirley, our most tireless and devoted volunteer, is wetting down the soil to aid in the process while the dozer shoves dirt around.
I don't have much to comment on a lot of these pictures, but I wanted to include them so you can get some idea of what has been going on up at the work site.
It's kind of a crummy picture above, but the aforementioned rocks look really nice arranged under the shady arbor of the cedar trees. It has always been a nice spot, and a favorite with the campers, but it has only been improved by the addition of the rocks. I can imagine how very nice it will be to eventually have this spot, with rocks, benches, picnic tables and graceful trees right outside the new Worship Center.
They scraped another two feet off the bank on the eastern side of the work site to leave room to seal the back side of the retaining wall that will eventually be built there. I walked along the edge hoping to find an arrowhead or some other artifact sticking out of the newly exposed dirt, but found nothing.
This big brute has been doing most of the earth moving.
One day the engineer on the project came by and instructed the guys to dig down thirty inches, soak everything down and compact it really well before the foundation could be laid. I learned that digging out thirty inches of dirt from an area that size makes some mighty dirt piles. Anybody up for a game of king of the mountain?
I think the dozer would win.
Our little garden house was not putting out enough water to do the job so they brought in this big water truck and a fire hose.
Well, as I type they are busy leveling out the dirt. After digging down thirty inches and compacting all of the soil they have to smoothe everything back out. I suspect that the next time I check back in, it will be to report that they have begun pouring the foundation. Pretty exciting, eh?Here's some more tree-cutting action for you from the other day. Keith took this video, and bravely stood his ground when the top of the tree came WHOOOOSHING down. I had scurried for cover behind a tractor and consequently missed the moment when tree met earth. It is kind of sad to see such a beautiful old tree cut down, but it had developed kind of a scary lean, which meant leaving it in place next to the new worship center would have been too risky. Ah well, enjoy!
This morning I took the scenic route on my way down to the office so I could see what was new at the work site. I found that the concrete slab had been entirely removed and carted off, and a crew was arriving to take down trees that were going to be in the way or might pose a future hazard to the building. The tree that was apparently causing the greatest concern was an immense Ponderosa Pine which had developed a scary lean, but was otherwise healthy.
Trees aren't the only natural objects standing in the way of progress. The rocks which have always stood at the southwest corner of the tabernacle, and which have been climbed and sat upon by generations of campers will have to be moved to make way for the new building.
Sorry for the crummy pictures. They fail to convey just how large these rocks are. Keith is hopeful that they may be able to shove the rocks out of the way so they can continue to be a nice sitting/climbing area for campers, but as a last resort they'll have to be broken up and removed.
Here's the big Ponderosa I mentioned earlier. A very brave man named Eduardo came over and cut it down. Using harnesses and ropes he shimmied up the trunk, limbing the tree as he went. It left a real impression on me.
He was way up there!
While Eduardo was risking life and limb above, the other guys were sawing up lesser trees into firewood and clearing brush down below.
The most exciting part for me was when Eduardo cut off the top 40 feet. He had tied off a rope which two or three guys pulled taut. Then he cut out a wedge, before back cutting the tree. When Eduardo started back-cutting the tree the guys pulled on the rope and CRACK-CRACKLE-CRACK-WHOOOOOOOSH 40 feet (and I don't know how many tons) of Ponderosa came thundering down.
Look out below!!!
After Eduardo made his way down I went up to thank him and I also asked him what was the scariest part of the job (The whole thing looks scary to me). He said "After the top comes down, the whole trunk sways back and forth. That's scary, man." I bet.
Eventually all of it was cut down except for this stump.
Great care was taken to make sure that this cedar didn't mar the beautiful manzanita hedge that will eventually separate the new building from the road. Once again they cut out a wedge, and then using a tractor they pulled it back towards the clearing as another man back-cut the tree. I was worried about the tensile strength of that strap.
It's a very aromatic spot as you can imagine.