TIMMMBBEERRRRRRRR!!!

It's drizzling  rain this morning, so I will take a break from campfire pit cleaning and write this blog.

Yesterday our camphosting site was the major hubbub of activity in the park!  At 8 a.m. volunteer Jeff came with all the gear and his truck to take care of a "widowmaker" on the lot right across the road from us.  See?

We noticed it last week and had to caution tape it off and relocate the folks who had this site reserved.  This big branch was dangling perilously overhead and the whole tree needed to come down.  Jeff is a real go-getter with the Friends of High Cliff group.  If something needs to get done at the park, and it's not in the meager state budget, call on Jeff. He will find a way to get 'er dun!  

Without the help of volunteers like Jeff and the Friends of High Cliff, very little extra stuff could ever be done around the park due to the steep budget cuts on the state end of things.  Instead of the expense of calling in a tree cutting company, we call on Jeff!

I managed to get a shot as the tree came crashing down----

TIIIIMMMBBBEEERRRRRR!!!!

And there it lays, ready to be cut up.

Soon to be many hours of campfire fun for park visitors! 

Now another volunteer came to help Steve and Jeff, this one named Ben.  While he was busy cutting up the rest of the tree into firewood (which the Friends Group sells to park customers to help fund their projects)  none of the firewood sales is state park revenue.  The money derived from the firewood sales by the Friends Group all stays here in the park. This is used for many great improvements like our Butterfly Pond, the restoration of the General Store and other wonderful enhancements we would not otherwise have.

Now, another project was needing attention! 

Steve and Jeff now brought out the "Big Boy Sandbox Toys"!   

Steve hauled out an ancient cement mixer that attaches to the tractor.  It hasn't been used in a long time, but he got it operational. Jeff started preparing the ground in front of the camphost site.

See, this is what was going to happen:  An eagle scout volunteer was making us a new kiosk sign for down by the Lime Kiln display. What a great donation to earn his badges!  Rather than just toss the old kiosk, it was being repurposed to a new location up here at the camphost site.

Originally, the legs of the kiosk were long and supported the sign well in the dirt down at it's original location.  But now up here at the camphost site, the shelf layer of limestone rock is only about 20 inches down in the ground, not enough to hold up the heavy kiosk.   This meant a base of concrete needed to be poured.

Jeff manned the big backhoe device to clear a spot, and then lifted the kiosk up into the air to move it into position.  The dogs were very excited to see this big stuff making noise right alongside of our motorhome.  It made their day!

Steve measured the needed depth on the legs and cut them to size.  Soon they had it leveled and into place, with the cement forms built around it.

The cement mixer operated well, and they got the cement poured into the form.  This is a good thing to know the cement machine works, because some people donated two commemorative park benches that needed to be set into concrete later today.  Now that Steve knows the machine works properly, it will save on park labor to mix the cement correctly instead of trying to use the instant bag post stuff.

  

Do you know how HARD it was for me to resist putting my initials in that fresh cement???  I had to slap my hands numerous times to keep myself away from it.  ARGGGHHH!!!!!

There.... done! 

Well, almost.   A volunteer is now making a row of bins to hold brochures along the bottom edges of the kiosk for information.

Ben finished up the wood cutting and hauling and loading... and soon our campsite was back to normal.  


The sun is starting to poke out now, so I am going out to finish cleaning the campfire pits in the campground today.  Maybe I will even get to the large ones in the group campsites too!