Finishing Touches

On the way up to Camp Freedom this weekend we had an exciting wildlife sighting.  We were driving next to an open field and I was about the warn Ray about the large black dog that looked like it was about to run into the street when Ray shouted, "Bear!"  Sure enough it was a young black bear!  None of us had even seen a bear in the wild before, so this was a real thrill!  This was also the most exciting part of a long weekend filled with work.  We laid the carpet in the large main room, hung some closet doors and a lot of trim.  Georgia had a medical situation that was very stressful.  She had a cyst on her back haunch that became infected and ruptured, just as we were finishing up laying wall-to-wall, light beige carpeting.  The poor girl had blood and fluid running down her back leg and we just had to keep her outside on the porch while we were finishing up.  She had to have surgery on it Monday morning and she is recovering nicely now.  This should have been a really fun weekend because we got to put some great finishing touches on the main living spaces and it would have been nice to sit and enjoy for a minute, but sometimes, that's just not possible.  I think the living room looks really nice.  I got the coffee table out of someone's trash.  Ray helped me make the top wider and add a shelf underneath and then I painted the whole thing.  Take that, Pottery Barn. The boys and I kept busy this weekend with a huge bonfire.  We cleaned up the construction debris and burned a bunch of the wood scraps that have been piling up.  We also threw on the old door from Fort Awesome.  It did not winter well and was totally rotted out.  Luckily, the tent itself has a flap door that works fine.  It did make for quite a fire!

How to Get a Good Night's Sleep

We moved furniture into the master bedroom this weekend.  I am thrilled with the way it turned out. After sleeping in cots every weekend for I don't even know how long, being able to stretch out and really sleep felt amazing.  Georgia was also really delighted with the update!  We haven't forgotten about our guests and spent the weekend finishing up the second bedroom.  We paneled and the walls and installed a suspended ceiling.  We salvaged the ceiling from Craigslist last year sometime.  After installing a ceiling that has spent a year being stored in our damp and musty basement, the room comes complete with weird old cabin smell!  I bought some febreeze and am hoping it will air out a bit now that it's up.  We don't have furniture for that room yet, so guests will be on cots in the meantime, but it's a very cozy room with a great view!  We capped of the weekend by celebrating Father's Day with a steak at the fantastic little supper club we found nearby.  Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there!

A Few Thoughts About Pancakes

Breakfast is a really important meal at Camp Freedom and we frequently start the day with pancakes.  In other contexts, I am not much of a pancake person.  I often find them too sweet first thing in the morning.  This weekend, I tweaked my standard recipe and came up with a real winner.  I cooked a pound of bacon earlier in the weekend for some lunchtime BLT's and I had a few strips of leftover bacon in the fridge when I started making breakfast.  I diced up the bacon into bite-sized pieces and sprinkled them onto the pancake as it cooked.  The result was incredible.  The saltiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the pancake compliment each other perfectly.  We all enjoyed them so much that we decided that those are the new official pancake of Camp Freedom.  From now on, if someone wants a pancake without bacon, they are going to have to ask for a vegetarian pancake.  Here are a few photos of the event.

Another Room Finished

This weekend Ray and I concentrated on finishing the main bedroom.  Here are a few before pictures of the room.

We finished the paneling, installed the ceiling, trimmed the windows, installed the door and closet door and laid the carpeting.  We were completely exhausted by Sunday night, but the upside is that next weekend, we will be able to sleep in a bed, rather than a cot, so it will be well worth it!  Here are a few after pictures.