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2008-2009 HICOP Blog
June 20, 2009
Have I said that I love my job? 
What a great day.
There were only two groups, that we are aware of, in camp this weekend. Gilwell had Confed booked but we didn't see any of them in the HICOP.
13th Hamilton had BP booked and we saw a lot of them. But that was good because we had a lot of fun. They came down in the morning to visit the centre and then some of the youth showed up in the afternoon to look at various things under the microscope and to poke sticks in our fire. 13th Hamilton also invited us to lunch as their guests and we got to eat first. I never get to go first. The meal was a wonderful treat. Thank you very much.
The youth were surprised to hear that they do not need to come to the centre as a group but that they could just come down and drop in so long as their leaders were okay with it. Marty, Linda and I are leaders and we have no problem with well mannered youth just dropping in.
When Marty and Linda checked the bird boxes there were almost full grown chicks in one of the boxes. These birds will not be there for much longer.
We howled with laughter watching a chipmunk find his way to the bird feeder. He kept going up the wrong branch of the tree that the feeder is hanging on. It finally, after an hour or so, found the correct branch and a house wren then started attacking it every time it started out the branch. That poor chipmunk just could not win. Some days are like that.
June 17, 2009
Today was another great day to be at camp. David Wishart brought a bus load of youth to camp. Twenty three of his Hillcrest School "Boys to Men" club members, all grade 6 to 8 students, spent the day at Camp Nemo.
Marty led them on a hike out to the corner stone and back and on our way up Spill Valley they saw a deer. They played hide-and-go-seek while David prepared a lunch of tacos and then they came down to the HICOP. Half of them tried to navigate the short orienteering course in the rain while the other half visited the centre and were treated to Marty's fire lighting demonstration. Half an hour later they switched. When everyone was soaking wet and exhausted we lit a fire and they all gathered under a tarp to eat S'mores.
It was a wet and rainy afternoon but all I saw were big grins as they all climbed on the bus for the trip home. A couple of youth voiced the opinion that they would like very much to come back again and to stay the night. It was a welcome reminder of just how lucky we are to have Camp Nemo as a resource. We so often take it for granted.
Thanks guys and we hope to see you again.
June 15, 2009
I wasn't able to be at camp again this weekend but it sounds like I missed a good one. The weather was fantastic and Marty and Donna were very busy in the HICOP.
Marty said that he had a lot of fun in the centre with the Mohawk Trails Beavers. He said that after their visit they went outside to pick garlic mustard and added eleven and a half pounds to the pile in front of the HICOP. That is fantastic. The camp needs all the help that it can get and it is wonderful to see young and old pitching in.
The 1st Bronte Scouts dropped in to see the centre in the afternoon. Welcome to our camp. We hope that you had a fun and adventure filled weekend.
Does anyone have some good pictures from the weekend?
How did the frog with the broken leg feel?
Very unhoppy.
June 6, 2009
We are now selling the triangular camp crests in the HICOP if anyone is looking to buy some.
It was another fantastic weekend at camp. Friday night Marty took 11 Guides with him to listen for frogs. They didn't hear very many frogs but on the way back up out of the valley they saw what they thought were baby turkeys. As it turned out they were baby screech owls. How cool is that?
The 96th Hamilton Guides showed up again this morning and went with Marty to check all the bird boxes. They managed to get some pictures of baby tree swallows that were so young that their eyes weren't open yet. On route he showed them how to make plaster casts of animal tracks. They got casts of a couple of decent deer tracks.
The Guides came back again after lunch and Marty spent some time helping them with knots. All eleven guides managed to learn to tie a bowline and they were all able to tie it again half an hour later. That is pretty amazing. The leaders didn't fare quite so well but they tried. What a great group. Thank you for your generous donation.
This weekend International Camp was at Nemo so while Marty was busy with the guides my son Alex and I hosted about 8 patrols of Scouts, a Beaver colony and an assortment of leaders that seemed to be lost. It is so much fun when we are busy in the centre and today was one of the best. All youth were very well behaved and they all remembered all the rules so it was a pleasure having them visit. I think that the 75th Hamilton Scouts are getting ready to move in permanently. I see more of them than my own Venturers but they are fun so all is good.
When it got quiet later in the afternoon Alex, Marty and I went for a walk down the creek. We got some great pictures of green frogs on the bank and we saw lots of minnows. We have no idea what the minnows are at this point. They are still very small.
What has more lives than a cat? A frog. He croaks every night.
On the way back we ran into two baby raccoons and Alex got some good pictures of them too. I wonder if they are the ones from the wood shed.
June 5, 2009
I was just e-mailed a link to a wonderful video on YouTube. It is a message from Steve Kent our Chief Commissioner. Check it out here.
June 1, 2009
It was another great weekend in the HICOP. We figured that with it being parade weekend there would be nobody in camp but we had lots of Cubs and Beavers visit us.
There was an open house in Anniversary for Scouting alumni who are no longer involved so we had some long lost friends come down for a visit. It is always good to see friends that we haven't seen in a while.
I didn't get out and about at all so I have no new images to post. It is just wrong to get out to camp and not go for a hike but my hike this weekend was from Victoria Park to Hamilton City Hall. It was wonderful to see our Chief Commissioner, Steve Kent, on the reviewing stand but it is a shame that he couldn't seem to find the time to make it out to camp.
May 28, 2009
We have a new resident who fits swimmingly into the centre.
May 24, 2009
There was lots of youthful laughter in camp this weekend but it was a quiet one in the HICOP. 65th Toronto Sea Scouts came for a vist. They had booked Belfry campsite but couldn't find it with their old map so they ended up in Pod 1. We set them up with newer maps of the camp and had a good chat.
It is just as well that they didn't get to Belfry because there is a lot of poison ivy up there and it is right along the path. We have samples of poison ivy in the nature centre so if you don't know what it looks like come find out.
May 19, 2009
What a fantastic weekend. I was down in the HICOP all weekend so I missed most of the action but from what I saw I would say that Victoria Day weekend was a huge success this year. There were a lot of happy smiling faces.
The garlic mustard pulling activity was a much bigger success than we ever dreamed possible. I do know that 858 pounds (390 Kg) of garlic mustard were pulled and it is now piled in front of the HICOP to compost. The 75th and 81st Hamilton team pulled the most garlic mustard and were a lot of fun to be with but they had a large group so I am not sure who won the event. I would like to thank all those that pulled in earnest to help make the camp a better place. I used to look out of the HICOP to a sea of garlic mustard and now it is almost all gone from the nature centre area of camp. Thank you everyone.
I would like to extend a big thank you to Scouter Rob Pissey for running the activity for the whole weekend. It freed Marty and I up to schmooze with our guests which is much more fun than working with youth. Not!
We had lots of visitors to the centre so we were kept hopping all weekend.
I met up with the snapping turtle again on Friday. I was climbing over a log in the creek and thought that I was stepping onto a rock until it moved. I don't know who was more startled the turtle that almost go stepped on or me when the rock moved.
Thanks to all who helped make the weekend one to remember. I love my job.
One last thing. Be aware that poison ivy is up an can be found on the trails in camp. It can be a low plant or a vine climbing trees. We have examples in the HICOP if you need help in identifying it.
May 11, 2009
It was another fantastic weekend. Twelve wonderful, happy and exuberant youth from the "Scouts About" program visited us in the centre. We had some fun indoors, went on a hike with Marty and finished with a campfire built by my son Alex. Unfortunately we had to cut the hike a bit short because of the rain but everyone still seemed to have a good time. I would like to extend a special thank you to the leaders involved in this very worthwhile program. These kids were great and they will carry these memories for the rest of their lives. Thank you too for the hot dog and mud pie lunch.
The afternoon cleared up for a while and Marty, Alex and I hiked some trails so that I could get a GPS track to be used to accurately plot our trails on our trail map. I got the track but our map appears to be a bit skewed so they won't match up.
During that hike we saw all sorts of wonderful things. There is a very large snapping turtle in one of the seasonal ponds. Three of the robin's four eggs have hatched producing three fuzzy little chicks and back at the campfire Alex found an Eastern (Red Spotted) Newt. This cute little guy is the only newt found in Ontario.
May 5, 2009
Marty and I were at camp this evening with a ladder and sledge hammer to move some of the post mounted bird boxes from the woodlands into the meadow where they will be used by swallows and bluebirds.
Marty showed me the tree cavity where the red bellied woodpecker is nesting and the gravel bed where the creek chub are spawning in Nemo Creek.
The robin now has four eggs in her nest and the trilliums are blooming. I love this time of year because the camp is so alive.
The only thing that I don't like of course is the black flies and mosquitoes which are now out.
May 2, 2009
It was another wonderful Saturday in the HICOP. We had 31 youth visitors who came bearing gifts and questions. For some it was their third time visiting us.
Some young campers have discovered that it is fun to bring stuff found in camp to view under the dissecting microscope. You can actually see the pollen hanging on a bee's legs or if you want to know how clean your hands are put a finger under the microscope. Yuck!
Many of our feathered friends are starting to nest so the upper meadow is a very busy place right now. We have traces of nests in some of our boxes and many pairs of birds flitting about. A pair of tree swallows seemed to have a box staked out but when we got closer we discovered that the box had no front on it so we swiped one from and unused box to repair it.
3rd Aldershot brought us a box of goodies which included a wonderful bald faced hornet nest. They had cut out a slice of the outer shell to show the inside. It is very cool.
A very small butterfly flew in the door and landed on one of the windows. Does anyone know what kind it is? As can be seen in the image it is very small.
Cam cut down some more trees for us to open up the view to fleur de lis hill but we still need to open it up a bit more. We don't like cutting trees but the hill now looks so good that it absolutely needs to be seen in all its glory.
April 28, 2009
Spring is in the air. We have Bloodroot, Coltsfoot and Trout Lily blooming in camp. The Trilliums may be open by now because some were very close on Saturday.
We can add two new snakes to our list. We found a Red Bellied snake and a DeKay's Snake (Brown Snake). Our wildlife list is growing in leaps and bounds (and slithers).
We stood in our new meadow and listened to Spring Peepers and Chorus Frogs while we watched a Tree Swallow in one of our nest boxes. We pulled some of the nest boxes out of the ground to move them into the new meadow and we still haven't got them hammered into the ground because our ladder went missing. We have to get that job done quickly.
A Robin's nest with two nice blue eggs was pointed out to us and yes the egg went back into the nest and yes Mom came back.
We had about 45 youth visit the centre. One of them put some Gypsy moth eggs and caterpillars under the dissecting microscope. Did they ever look cool. Not nearly as cool as the jaws of the centipede looked though.
The storm held off all day and hit just as we were getting ready to leave. Thank you to everyone who helped make it another fun and educational day in camp.
April 22, 2009
The culvert survived all the rain that we had. Great job guys.
April 21, 2009
When the Camp Cleanup work was done the 63rd Hamilton Beavers came to the HICOP for a visit. Having an excited group of youth in the centre was the perfect finish to a long day. Thanks for making us smile and reminding us of why we were at camp.
April 18, 2009
I am exhausted but oh what a day. I am not sure how the building cleaning went but the outdoor work was a huge success. I hope that I got the groups correct. If they aren't or for those that I have missed please send me the information and I will credit you.
The crushed bridge was ingeniously replaced with the tree that crushed it. It is brilliant. Thank you 31st Venturers.
A team was working hard to replace the culvert by Pod 2 and I suspect that they managed to complete that job.
Most if not all of the trails have been cleared of deadfalls. That was a huge job that proved how many hands make light the work. Thank you 4th Ancaster Scouts and 5th Ancaster Venturers so much for getting that done.
The damaged chapel benches have all been replaced.
All the bark chips that washed down the tractor path have been dragged back up and raked out. Thank you 74th Scouts.
And my favourite. The fleur-de-lis is back to its full glory. Thank you 31st Scouts. We are opening up a line of sight to it from the bridge crossing Nemo Creek by the HICOP. We started clearing some small trees but we pooped out and have a few more to remove.
Thanks again to all those that worked so hard to spruce up our camp. You are a remarkably hard working group of people.
See more images here.
I am off to bed.
April 17, 2009
What a glorious spring day. I sat outside the HICOP for a couple of hours this afternoon watching the birds and working on SCENES documentation.
There was a camp committee meeting to discuss our SCENES application and Doc Dr. Hague Vaughan brought a couple of wonderful gifts for the centre. We now have another new resident.
April 14, 2009
It was a cold blustery day today. Not a great day for wandering around camp but it didn't faze Sylvie at all. She was eager to get started on her study and after only two hours of work she had recorded eleven different types of lichen.
April 13, 2009
It was another great day at camp. Not warm but we walked the whole camp in the sun. We are in need of a Woodlot Management Plan and Sylvie Charett an Eco-systems management student at Sir Sandford Fleming College has graciously offered to produce one for us. We gave her the grand tour so that she could get oriented.
We scoped out a potential new trail out to Bronte Creek and a perfect fishing spot. It is too bad we weren't casting tracks today as there were lots of perfect specimens of raccoon, skunk, deer, coyote and turkey tracks.
April 5, 2009
The camp was full but only three groups visited the HICOP. I understand that there was some debate over whether or not we were open. We pin a sign on the main parking lot map when we are.
Marty was there all day and had two great groups come through. Thank you very much to 14th Waterloo Venturers for your kind support.
I didn't make it to camp until mid afternoon but I was greeted by a very excited Marty. He had the spotting scope focused on a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I have never seen one other than in pictures and Marty said that he had only ever seen one once. They make those rows of holes that we see in tree trunks in camp.
5th Stoney Creek Cubs came in for a visit and they are probably the best young map readers that I have met. They also know the camp very well because the map board light kept coming on and they weren't just guessing.
All the Gypsy Moth eggs that were collected started hatching in the zip lock bags. They produced thousands of tiny wriggly little caterpillars that will never see a tree. Too bad for them but great news for our forest.
March 28, 2009
It was another great day in camp. We only had two groups visit us but the camp was almost full and the weather was perfect. It was sunny and our weather station said that it got up to 16.4 degrees. Awesome!
We had some male Cubs who were very excited by the fact that the chickadees on the feeder were so close to them and some girls who just couldn't stop patting the Little Brown Bat. Have I mentioned that I love my job.
With some (okay a lot of) guidance from Marty I managed to light a fire with a piece of chert and a piece of iron. What a neat feeling to know that you can light a fire without matches. Marty got a lot of smoke with his fire bow but couldn't quite get an ember to catch. He was very close and that isn't easy.
Marty went walkabout and saw a pair of Bluebirds which we haven't seen in ages and an American Woodcock. I later went with him and we saw a pair of Mallards in the pond and all kinds of deer signs in the newly created meadow. We saw our first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year in the same meadow.
I also received my first mosquito bite of the year but I guess we have to take the good with the bad.
March 27, 2009
I was out at camp to install the new sign today. What a great day weather wise and tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Spring is here.
It seems someone has borrowed our ladder and hasn't returned it. Hopefully it will show up again soon because we want to start scraping and painting the exterior of the building.
I had to add the picture of two of my granddaughters. They love visiting the nature centre.
March 23, 2009
Marty had two groups visit the centre this weekend and from the sound of things they both had a great time.
We need to find new ways to market the centre. Other than this site virtually all information published about the camp in general and Hencher in particular is incorrect. The HICOP isn't mentioned in any camp publications. Word is spreading and all feedback so far has been very positive but it is hard to get momentum going when there is still so much misinformation out there.
I have spring fever and can't wait to get out on the trails and to start work on the outside of the HICOP. There is a lot of work to be done scraping and power washing the old paint and applying the new. All help here will be greatly appreciated.
It was a very windy winter so the trails need a lot of work too. We hope to get a lot of this cleared up on Camp Cleanup weekend and would love lots of help here too. I know that 5th Ancaster Venturers will be there in full force again this year.
We also need some new bird boxes built. I hope to post plans for proper sized houses on this site in the very near future. Running around camp monitoring bird boxes is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding.
March 22, 2009
I spent March Break skiing Mont Tremblant with 5th Ancaster Venturer Company so I am way behind in the blog, and other things. Last weekend in the centre was fun but pretty quiet since there were only three groups in camp. The birds weren't comming to hands, probably because with the snow gone there is lots of natural food. That plus the fact that we have been busy and they need to be constantly hand fed to remain comfortable around us. I need to get to camp to get a more up to date image of the HICOP so that I can lose the winter image on our home page.
March 7, 2009
It was a great and not so great day. It was wet. Very wet. About half of our potential visitors didn't make it down to the HICOP because they were too busy drying out.
We did have about 40 youth visitors and everyone seemed to have a very good time.
I would like to thank Tom Morrow, our Deputy Area Commissioner, for bringing us some wonderful bone specimens and a special guest (Wile E.) who will be a permanent resident as soon as we get some wrinkles ironed out.
Anne Greenlay from 5th Ancaster brought some fun stuff too. Thanks to her we finally have a weather poster showing cloud formations.
Thanks again to Rick Provo for lugging a two drawer filing cabinet down the hill for us.
I had a fantastic time on Saturday and I hope that all of our visitors did too.
March 6, 2009
I was out of town last weekend but from what I hear Marty and his son James were very busy in the HICOP. Marty hosted 4 groups inside and James took one group on a hike. I was in the HICOP yesterday tidying up a couple of little jobs and I came across two ziplock bags containing Gypsy Moth eggs. That means we will have a lot less caterpillars this year thanks to 1st Binbrook Cubs. Thank you 1st Binbrook for helping protect our camp.
February 22, 2009
Today is Lord Robert Baden-Powells birthday. "Thinking day" to our Guiding friends. It is the perfect time to reflect on why we are in Scouting and what our role is. As a youth Scouting taught me to love the outdoors and to respect the natural world around me. I believe that Robert Baden-Powell and my leaders (Scouter and Akela Harrison), who created for me so many fond memories, would be proud of what we are accomplishing at camp Nemo. We are, with the help of many youth, re-creating and protecting natural habitat for wildlife. We are at the same time developing in youth and adults alike an appreciation of the property and the creatures and critters that call it home.
Visitors to the HICOP were far and few between this weekend and that was to be expected because it was Snow Moot. We did have some Venturers and a group of Rangers visit and they seemed to enjoy hand feeding the chickadees as much as the Cubs and Beavers.
I finally got a chance to hike to the upper field to see the work done by the Scouts and Venturers last weekend. It seems a shame to be cutting so many trees but they have grown to be way overcrowded and they have totally filled in the meadow. All our bird boxes were lost in a sea of spruce. There are very few signs of deer up there any more and we suspect that is because the field is so overgrown that there is no way for them to get into it. There is now room for some of the pines and cedars to flourish and openings to allow deer to get into the field. There is still work to be done but we now have a great start.
I am still looking for old pictures of camp for our history of the camp display. I know that there are lots out there.
February 17,2009
I was unable to be at camp on the weekend but I have heard that it was another very productive weekend. The camp has been over forested and because of that we are losing all of our bluebirds and tree swallows. We had a plan to open up part of one of the upper fields to create a meadow to bring the wildlife back into camp. This was completed Klondike weekend with the help of the senior Scouts. I would like to thank:
20th Cambridge
2nd Dunnville
5th Hamilton
74th Hamilton
88th Hamilton
5th Ancaster
Youth from these groups worked hard and had fun cutting trees and piling the branches to make rabbit piles. These piles are hiding spots where rabbits and other small animals can escape from predators such as coyotes and hawks. I have heard that some of these youth slept on, in and under the piles. I think that should cover the requirement of sleeping in a temporary shelter for them. If anyone has pictures that I can post please send them on to me.
I am very sorry that I missed all this.
February 11, 2009
There is something heart-warming about the sight of a child and a chickadee so when Mark sent me a picture of Alec and Harold sent me a picture of Sophia I just had to post them.
February 8, 2009
Yesterday was amazing. All those youth brought the centre to life. It is wonderful to see the questions generated by a child's mind when he/she picks up an artifact such as a beaver skull.
One of our two heaters is now installed so the small portable heaters are gone. It is so nice to have that job done. The floor is a disaster. The water from everyone's boots softened the paint and a lot of it scuffed off with all the traffic. We need to get some tile to protect the wood or the floor is going to get very spongy.
Mark Sferrazza has taken over the responsibility for the orienteering course. He is making new markers and he is creating a list of gps co-ordinates for all the markers and many other camp points of interest. Watch for this data on the Activities page.
Elaine Priest has been casting animal tracks at camp for a few years now and graciously made a set of plaster casts for us to use in the HICOP. She has also offered to teach this art to youth in camp.
John Kuzmichuk donated three wonderful display cases. We have turned one of them into a Kim's game with all kinds of fun stuff inside.
Thanks again to Rick Provo. Without all the material that you have managed to get donated and your many hours of labour this would not be possible. Even for a young guy like you sitting on that cold wet floor must have been uncomfortable.
February 7, 2009
What a day. We did manage to open. There is still lots of work to do but we did open and 82 youth and 26 leaders came for a visit. My hat is off to you Marty. You had a vision and today we began to reap the rewards. It was so much fun listening to all the questions from so many very excited youth. I am exhausted and it is late so I will post more and some pictures tomorrow. There are lots of people that need thanking too.
February 6, 2009
We were hoping to be ready to open this weekend but due, apparently, to a lack of effort by my wife and I we are behind schedule and opening will be delayed.
February 4, 2009
Finally someone sent me some of their images. Thank you Mark and Avril for the wonderful chickadee photos. Your patience and time spent coaxing the chickadees to come to you has helped to tame them for all of us.
Does anyone else have good wildlife pictures taken at camp? Especially of birds other than chickadees or of other interesting wildlife.
February 3, 2009
We have a bat in the HICOP. Have you ever seen one up close. You can come and see this one because I don't think that he is going anywhere. Can you tell us what kind of a bat it is.
February 1, 2009
What a fantastic day. Our weather station said that it was 6 degrees C, in the shade, outside the HICOP. I stood in a fleece with no gloves hand feeding the chickadees. It is so sad that the camp empties by noon on a day like this.
Great progress this weekend. Marty stayed yesterday evening and built the high counter. He also started hanging posters so it is starting to look like an interpretive centre.
The bird identification wall is almost complete. I would love to post some images of youth hand feeding the birds but nobody has sent me any yet.
I went in this morning and sanded and Verathaned both counters. The long counter is built Beaver height and does it ever look low to us. Once the curtain is on the front it will look finished.
January 31, 2009
Another awesome day at camp. The camp was alive with youth and laughter. I saw people on snowshoes and on cross country skis. Some sliding down the tractor path and the more daring on Fleur-de-Lis Hill.
The chickadees are becoming quite tame. They will now hand feed from youth even when the feeders are full. Unfortunately I have no pictures because I went to camp without my camera. If you want to try to hand feed the birds and have no seed just check to see if anyone is inside the HICOP. We have lots.
It was a very productive day inside the HICOP too. Linda brought down more wonderful supplies and Marty and I managed to build the counter along the back wall with materials graciously donated by Turkstra Lumber. It still needs to be sanded and Verathaned but it is now in place. Again sorry but no images.
January 24, 2009
It was a good day and it was a not so good day. We didn't get counter tops build because we are still hoping that we can get materials donated and we can't pick them up until next week.
I did manage to hand feed a chickadee. He was the first and the only one of the many in the trees that would come to my hand but they are getting very used to us and all the activity. A few people were amazed at how close they could get to the feeder without scaring the chickadees away. Avril actually held the bottom of the feeder and they still kept coming to it. We also spotted a pair of tree sparrows feeding on the ground under the feeders. That is another new species.
Marty and I walked the section of perimeter trail from The Pines all the way around to the seasonal pond and down to Pod 4. It would have been tough without snowshoes and nobody but us has been back there for at least three weeks. It was a great walk especially when we were in the warm sun.
January 22, 2009
Marty finished painting the floor last Sunday so this Saturday we will be building and installing a 23' counter top with storage underneath and time permitting working on displays. We are not open for business yet but anyone in camp is welcome to stop by and say hello.
January 17, 2009
Another great day at the HICOP. We are still waiting for heaters but we are moving ahead. We have started moving equipment and displays in. The cabinet is already almost full. Marty painted two thirds of the floor today and hopes to do the rest tomorrow.
We also have the wind speed indicator for the weather station hooked up. Marty proved that we can use it with a long bell phone cable so we will be able to put it up on top of the hill in the spring. The weather station transmitter batteries have been working for three weeks now despite all this very cold weather.
We saw a new bird species at the small feeder today. I was excited because I had never seen a Red Bellied Woodpecker before. What a beautiful bird even if it doesn't really have a red belly. I tried to sneak out the door to get a good shot but she was gone as soon as I turned the door knob.
We hope to build a counter along the back wall next weekend but it will require three 4' X 8' X 3/4" sheets of birch plywood for the top and enough 2 by 4s to build a frame.
January 13, 2009
The 5th Ancaster Venturers came through for us again tonight. Advisor Brad, James, Nathan and Ryan met me at camp and they used a toboggan to get the cabinet from my van down to the HICOP. We have our first storage space.
January 11, 2009
What a great weekend. Ryan, Nathan and James (5th Ancaster Venturers) finished sanding and painting the trim so the trim is done.
We saw two new bird species at the bird feeder. A red breasted nut hatch and a pine siskin.
Dave Howard (Akela, 7th Aldershot) has graciously donated a 9 drawer cabinet which will become our first storage space once we figure out the best way to get it from the back of my van down to the HICOP.
It was a good weekend to be at camp. I saw youth testing their skills on snow shoes, tobogganing on the tractor path and cooking hot dogs over the fire down in the valley by pod I. Laughter and giggling could be heard everywhere. There were lots of animal tracks in the fresh snow. The camp was alive as it should be.
January 7, 2009
I would like to send a special thank you to Harold, John and Cam but especially to Michael and Cale for cleaning up the pile of stairs and the remaining construction debris from around the HICOP. It looks much more inviting now.
We are moving along. Linda put the first coat on all the trim. The doors are really starting to bug me but they can't be painted until the spring. The nail holes in the upper trim are filled and Marty put a new threshold strip on the door and has the floor sanded ready for paint.
We don't have the funds for cabinets so we are going to install plywood on a 2" X 4" frame as a temporary counter. My wife, Debbie, has offered up material to make curtains for the front of them. We are also painting the floor to tide us over until we can get decent flooring.
This is getting exciting. Marty has hung the first display poster. An old areal photo of the camp. The weather station is partly installed and the heaters will be going in soon. It is becoming a very warm and inviting room and I am looking forward to working in it.
December 29, 2008
It has been a good news bad news couple of days.
The good news is that Marty and I installed jamb extensions and casings on the new windows. Marty worked late yesterday and today to get all the window casings and the baseboards completed so that they are now ready to have nail holes filled and to be painted. Now we can move on to the counter tops. We are getting very close to being ready to move in.
The bad news is the damage from the wind storm yesterday. Half the new steel roofing on Panabode A got blown off and is in the ravine. A lot of trees are down. The trails are a mess and we lost a very good bridge (between pods two and four) when Mother Nature dropped a huge tree across it.
We will be very busy in the spring clearing and rerouting trails.
December 27, 2008
We hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas had a very merry day.
Both the weather and Christmas conspired to slow our progress. Marty has most of the top trim installed and I dropped off window casing and baseboard materials today. I didn't manage to get any work done but I did get some good photos in the fog.
There are so many birds that they empty the big feeder in less than two days. I can stand very close to the feeder now without bothering the chickadees.
December 14, 2008
What a productive weekend.
The birds finally found the feeders which were both empty. We saw chickadees, juncos, gold finches, nut hatches, cardinals and woodpeckers. The chickadees almost ate form my hand and the picture of the chickadee at the feeder (to the left) was taken with no zoom from inside the HICOP.
The drainage pipe on the tractor path was replaced. We held our breath as Gerry on the backhoe and Harold on the tractor made numerous trips up and down the treacherously icy hill. Now we can put down the bark chips and the repair will be done.
Best of all we now have lights in the HICOP and heaters are ordered. That is huge. There is no way that we can thank the A-Team that did the work enough.
Marty repaired all the labels on the tree identification course and found live specimens to replace the dead ones so once I update the map and draw the leaf pictures for Marty's booklet that project will be complete.
I am not going to attempt to name everyone who worked at camp this weekend because there are so many and I don't know some of their names. The camp committee was out in full force and nobody was moving very quickly when we left. We were all pleasantly exhausted and covered with mud.
Thank you everyone but especially John Wark for so graciously lending us the backhoe. Without it none of the work could have been started, never mind completed.
Rick Provo. We also owe you big time.
December 8, 2008
Wow! Lots got done on the weekend. We are getting closer. Thanks to Rick E, Cam, Harold and Gerry. You must all have been as tired as me after spending all day Sunday working out in the cold. Great job.
Another special thanks to Rick Provo for all the work and for scrounging materials. Without you this wouldn't be happening.
Thank you Linda for cleaning up our muddy mess. Cam was just joking when he asked you to do that.
Thanks also to the 5th Ancaster Venturers who carried the left over drywall up the hill. It is nice to see that gone.
November 30, 2008
Linda McKaig cleaned up most of the construction debris from around the HICOP. That is another big job done.
November 29, 2008
We were supposed to get power to the building this weekend but it has been postponed.
Marty did a fire lighting demonstration for Dundurn sub-area Scouts. He managed to light a fire using a bow and drill. That isn't at all easy to do and it is so cool to see.
Linda cleaned up inside the HICOP and I marked some of the trees. We spoke to Mark Sferrazza about geocaching and getting the GPS co-ordinates of all the orienteering markers.
The birds still haven't found the bird feeders yet.
November 24, 2008
The electricity has been put off for another week but things are moving along.
We found the missing trees on the tree identification trail on the weekend. Marty labeled the trees a number of years ago and they are overgrowing some of the labels. Three of the trees are now dead so we have some maintenance to do there. There is also a lot of dead-fall on all the trails which has to be dealt with. That will give me something to do next weekend since we won't be pulling wire.
November 16, 2008
Things are moving slowly on the building while we wait for power but it is coming and the breaker panel is in so we are almost ready for it. Another three weeks and we should be starting to set up displays. Yes!
The tree identification trail map is about half completed so watch for it.
I noticed that the log bridge on the perimeter trail down behind the pines was much improved and would like to thank the 88th Hamilton Scouts and Venturers for that effort. I understand it became a lesson in hypothermia.
November 10, 2008
We are no longer in test mode with this site. It is still very much under construction but www.hicop.ca is up and running as of noon today.
November 9, 2008
Marty has cleared an area where our fire pit will go. It is a natural amphitheatre and is visible from the HICOP windows. He also cleaned out all eaves troughs.
Today we were given a wonderful weather station that was purchased with camp Canadian Tire money.
November 8, 2008
We discovered that there is wire in the barn. That awesome news means that we can move forward now and not have to wait until spring for hydro in the building.
November 7, 2008
We have been working on the HICOP since last June and have made a lot of headway. Two large windows, donated by Savoy Trailer Installations, were installed by Marty Albert. He supplied lumber for headers and jacks as the original windows had neither. The wood burning stove and all it's shielding has been removed. Drywall was installed on all walls to make it easier to tack up displays. The drywall has been taped, smoothed and sealed. The walls have also had two coats of a latex paint, supplied and applied by Linda McKaig.
Most of the interior wiring is done. We still need to get hydro to the building and this will require a very expensive piece of wire.
Rick Provo has put a lot of man hours in to helping us and we can't thank him enough.
Turkstra Lumber kindly donated enough 1" X 4" pine to run as a molding around the top of the walls and to build out the window frames. We still need fifteen 8' lengths of pine casing and 80' of pine baseboard.
ICI Paints scanned a Scout shirt and kindly donated 5 gallons of exterior paint in a matching colour but applying it will have to wait until spring.